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“You’re telling me what I can and can’t do?”
Lucca channeled something she rarely pulled out of her arsenal—her disappointed mother’s voice. Soft velvet over promised retribution. “I’m telling you I’m not gonna watch you fly around in a ship that’s about to explode with half your body covered in acid burns. If you do not listen to me right now, I am going to get very,verymad. I want you to fly to Morwong’s,landit, andwait for your wounds to heal.”
For a moment, he was stunned. He broke his silence with a cough. “I… didn’t know you could sound so stern.”
“Don’t get on my bad side,” she warned sharply. She would torment him with his own ship if she had to.
He laughed, his words rough with strain. “Fine, you win this battle.”
“It’s not a battle! I’m scolding you,” she said.
“Is it weird that I’m into this?”
“Is it weird I want to strangle you right now?”
He cleared his throat.
Finally, he set his ship on a limping course for the Astral Reef with Lucca on his trail. The damage had spread over the entire body of his ship. If it knocked off life support, Caligher would lose his air.
He could survive in outer space for a limited time, up to two or three days if he was lucky. But she knew he couldn’t hold his breath for weeks.
Which forced her to make a choice, then and there. If Caligher’s ship failed him, Lucca would let him on hers.
He’d learn what she was.
It would be a disaster.
But she wasn’t going to leave him to die. That was a line she had to draw. Caligher was her only friend out here, and his death was out of the question.
And that forced Lucca to come to another disquieting conclusion. She wanted to fix this. Fix this lie. And repair the damage she’d caused.
If only she knew how to start.
CHAPTER4
LUCCA
???
Lucca stood alone in the cold airlock, pressed against the inner door, trying to get back into safety. The walls rattled, mimicking that thin, haunting noise the shuttle had made when it launched her up from Earth—sounds that made her believe the rocket was falling apart, that she was about to die. Entering space with that shattering darkness around her had been indescribably frightening.
This airlock was no different. Bolts slowly threaded out before popping free, pelting her. The walls peeled at the seams as if a can opener had gotten to them. She could already see the glittering expanse of space through the warped cracks.
She was going to die.
She searched for salvation through the window to the rest of her ship.
Patrick stood beyond the window, eager to watch her die. He even had a bowl of popcorn, their sleek kitchen microwave in the background.The buttery, salty scent was on point.
“You’re going to get killed up there, babe,” he said with his mouth full. Past and present clashed. Lucca was dreaming, maybe. She wasn’t so certain. The fear was as tangible as an icy fist clasping around her heart.
She pointed to where the button should be. The one to let her into safety.
Please press it, she mouthed. No sound came out. The panicky terror she felt was ghastly.
The button’s RIGHT THERE, she insisted, pointing at it. Jamming her finger at the window. She beat her fist on the glass but nothing reached her ears.
Silence.
