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“Wait. Who are you? Show me your identification card.”
I hesitate, then reach for the access chain in my pocket. The little gold circlet should be what he’s looking for—right? I haven’t had to do this in ages, given that we don’t follow the same rules on Jaya.
I hold it up.
His eyes narrow.
“You’re not—”
He stops, choking. I cock my head, wondering if he inhaled wrong…and then he falls to the side, landing with a thud as opalescent eyes meet mine.
Malix.
“Come with me,” he says, grasping my hand.
I stumble forward and Malix weaves his way through a crack I hadn’t noticed in the wall, glowing green vines all around us. Sensation surges where we touch, my mind spinning at the profound pleasure that emanates from our point of contact. No—this is a crisis, I can’t just enjoy his touch right now…
I take in his appearance, exercising restraint. There’s black fluid all over him, the rest of him practically glowing in the light from the vines. I peer at him for a minute before I pick up on the acrid scent of meat, and I realize it isn’t some strange ichor on him, buthuman blood.
“Frankie,” I gasp.
“Up ahead,” he says. He lowers his voice. “She’s wounded. Don’t…don’t let on how bad it is.”
I blink at him. “You know I’m a horrible liar,” I say.
“It’s time to learn how,” he mutters.
He keeps walking, pulling me along with him. I can smell Frankie’s floral scent up ahead, mingling with the tang of blood. It must be bad, and I’m sure she’ll se it in the flare of my eyes and tail.
But when I finally catch a glimpse of her, I wonder if she’ll be able to see at all.
Her face is almost completely covered with a torn strip of cloth, her hand pressing it to her face. She’s trembling—out of fear or blood loss, I’m not sure. Her right eye shines with tears, the blood and grime there streaked with saltwater.
“Holy shit—Taraven?” she whispers.
I rush past Malix and kneel in front of her, reaching for my satchel. Malix hovers behind me, watching my every move.
“I brought medicine,” I say. “Can I see the wound?”
She twitches—I think she’s trying to nod—and carefully removes the cloth from her face. There’s so much blood that I can barely make out her features, but her eye, her cheek…
I have to make an effort not to turn away.
Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to notice.
“It hurts like a motherfucker,” she mutters. She speaks mostly out of the right side of her mouth; the trail of the claw mark ends at the opposite corner. “He cut the shit out of my face.”
“I can see that,” I say. I pull a bottle out of my bag and put it in her hands, closing her fingers around it. “Drink this; it’s a highly distilled variety ofderize. One sip will help with the pain, but it might make you sleepy.”
She shakes her head. “No—no, I need to be alert. Just stop the bleeding and let’s get going.”
I exchange a look with Malix and he clears his throat. “You’re in no state to continue,” he says. “I’ll go on alone.”
“Hell no,” she says. “We came here to shut down that weapon, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. I’m not going back now. Not after everything, anddefinitelynot if I’m leaving behind either one of you. We’re back together and we’re staying that way.”
“Stop talking,” I say, taking her by the hand. She glares daggers at me with her good eye, but I smile helplessly. “We know you’re not going anywhere without us. I can stop the bleeding and get you battle ready…but it’s going to hurt.”
“Of course it is,” she groans. “You don’t have some kind of magic alien fixer-upper?”
