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“You going to tell me what’s up?” Caryn asked. She lay on her side with her head perched on her hand, casually watching Onnika pace the room with swift, angry steps. Onnika had been surprised at first to find Caryn in their room instead of the mess hall. Hiding out from her overbearing admirers?
“What’s up is that we’re out of here as soon as we get to the next stop.”
Caryn sat up, alarmed. “Why?”
Pointing to her holo-gear, she replied, “Because they know what these are. It’s only a matter of time before they all become fixated on discovering we’re Faieara.”
Caryn turned thoughtful. “I think we should tell them truth.”
Onnika whirled on her. “Are you mad? I mean, have you lost your ever-loving mind?”
Instantly contrite, Caryn quickly amended, “Perhaps they don’t have to know thetruthtruth. What if they just thought they did?”
“What are you saying?”
“What if we claimed to be from a race no one has ever heard of? And say that no one can know of us for our own safety?”
More lies.Gods, I’m so sick of lying.Although there actually was a ring of truth to that. They did belong to a race that barely anyone knew of. And they were in danger whenever their powers became known. She now worried it wastooclose to the truth.“Might work on the others, but I fear Zeek is too smart. He’s one of those brainiac types. Whatever story we come up with, eventually he’d figure out we lied to everyone…again. More and more, I’m sensing their determination to discover the truth about us. Then we’ll be in the same predicament as always.”
“Maybe not. It’s natural for them to be curious about us. We did show up out of nowhere.” Then she paused and cleared her throat, resuming a little sheepishly. “What if we…tell them the truth?”
Onnika shot her a baleful look.
“They all seemfairlydecent,” Caryn continued. “And you’re getting really close to Aidan, aren’t you? I don’t need your kind of gift to see you’re developing feelings for him.”
“I am not!” She crossed her arms and resumed pacing. “I was close with Ziggy, too. Remember how that worked out?”
“Ziggy was a kid.Wewere kids.”
“And what of you and Rice?”
Caryn flinched as though she’d been slapped.
Onnika instantly regretted bringing it up. “All I’m saying is we have to continue to remain vigilant.”
Caryn shifted on the mattress and swung her legs over the edge. “We don’t need to admit what we are if we can work out a plausible reason for why we wear the holo-gear. They’re used cosmetically, right? Perhaps we can simply say our people find them attractive. Or we can tell them it’s a religious thing. That might at least buy us some time.”
She must really want to stay, Onnika thought. Or was it her gift guiding her? She usually didn’t put up so much resistance when Onnika decided to alter their course. Onnika hated admitting the next bit. “I don’t think I can lie to Aidan again.”
“Sorry. What now?”
She sat on the mattress next to Caryn. “When you said we should finally go home, I got so happy. Well, not happy, exactly. Relieved is more like it. I’m so tired of running. Of hiding. Aren’t you?”
Caryn sighed and nodded. “So I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. Should we trust them or not?”
“There’s something else.” Onnika hesitated, hating to cause Caryn pain, but she needed to know. “Ash and Lear have been trying to get close to you for a reason. They’re trying to lure you into telling them everything about us. To get our secrets. They’ve made it a competition. Aidan put them up to it.”
Caryn went quiet for a moment. “How long have you known this?”
She looked away. “Since Roukii. I didn’t say anything because I thought it would be nice for you to have a couple of attractive men vying for your attention, and I knew they wouldn’t get anything out of you. You’re a stone wall when you want to be.”
Caryn briefly closed her eyes, looking pained.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you as soon as I realized what they were up to.”
“I should have realized,” Caryn replied dully. “Ash changed his tune pretty quickly there, didn’t he? I feel so foolish.” After a long silence, she cocked her head. Her gaze went distant in that mystical way it did when she was working her magic. Onnika waited, her heart rate speeding up. When Caryn spoke again, she sounded doleful, yet resigned. “Despite everything, I still think we should stay.”
Onnika muttered a curse, but didn’t argue. She’d grown to have more faith in Caryn’s abilities than Caryn did herself. If Caryn felt they should stay, they’d stay. It didn’t matter what Onnika wanted. Which meant, yet again, she’d have to try and smooth things over with Aidan.
She reached out with her powers, trying to glean his current mood. Unfortunately, her powers weren’t that exacting. She could only interpret someone’s mood based on their current intentions. Which didn’t bode well, because right now all Aidan intended was to stop wanting her.
The realization made her eyes burn with the threat of tears.I’ve ruined everything.
To keep Caryn from seeing her distress, she ducked out of the room, for the first time in her life not knowing what to do next.
