Renner vanishes in front of me, and I feel a small sense of relief that’s overshadowed by the appearance of three Drawxian soldiers—the Elite. They stomp in, covered head to toe in beetle black power armor, visors down. Faceless and massive. They are terrifying.
“Everyone on their feet.” The tallest Elite’s voice is edged with a metallic quality from his helmet’s speaker. He towers above the other two, which is shocking as they’re all over two meters.
Everyone stands, and I start forward when a sharp, whispered warning cautions me not to move. It’s Renner, and I can just imagine the angry look Freyda is giving him. She can hide him, but she can’t silence him.
He’s right though. I can’t be the voice for these people. It would put me in the spotlight.
I edge as unobtrusively as possible toward Gemma. Both heads of the pup in her arms bare their teeth, but she murmurs calming words to it.
“We’re looking for the renegade Byrenn Car-Tai, formerly a Lieutenant in the Drawxian Royal Guard. We have word he was last seen on this ship. Anyone with information is required to step forward.”
I bite my tongue. I want to remind them we are protected by intergalactic space treaties, not tied to Drawxian law, not to mention we’re nowhere near Drawxian space, but I doubt that will stop them.
“You there,” he points at one of the crew members, stomping forward. “Do you know of Car-Tai?”
Just then, the doors slide open, and Delmar rushes in. His eyes blaze with fury as he scours the space. He sees me but keeps searching, likely looking for Freyda. I see the moment he catches on to the plan for hiding Renner. He meets my gaze again—is that frustration or resignation?—then turns to address the tall soldier.
“I was just alerted by Sec-Sys that you are searching my circus. I own the bond on this ship, and you have no legal right to do this. I want you off my ship. Immediately.” Del is tall but not enough to meet the Elite eye to eye.
“By order of Mè Volur Tai, I am hereby authorized to act on pertinent intelligence related to subversive agents of our government according to section 106-46.d of the Intergalactic Acts Treaty.”
This soldier is more like a computer than a man. Is he a bionic?
“You.” The Elite shifts.
My stomach clenches, but I force my features to remain unaffected. He can’t see signs of deception or, like an iduos with a bone, he won’t let it go.
“You are,” he pauses, and his expression goes blank. Definitely bionic. He is accessing an internal network that will give him information on all members of the circus and crew. “Talie Zarna, the Soaring Starress.”
I will not show this soldier fear.
“What of it?” I think I hear a hiss, but I will myself not to look in Renner and Freyda’s direction.
“You recently had an addition to your act. Who was the man?”
His direct question forces me into a corner, but honesty is the best way out of this. Soon it won’t matter what I’ve told him if we hold to the plan.
“My intended. Renner Cartha.”
I definitely hear a gasp—or is it more of a groan?—this time, but the soldier seems distracted by my answer.
“You’re coming with us.” He reaches out to grab me.
“Stop this at once.” Delmar moves next to me. “You’re not taking my leading act anywhere.”
“We will interrogate her on our ship and return her in due time.” The Elite has all the emotion of a plasticine wall.
“I said, you’re not taking her anywhere.” Delmar puts himself between me and the Elite.
“Sir—”
The double doors slide open, and Roper walks in flanked by two other Elites. He’s a welcome sight, one of the biggest assets to my means of staying hidden these last five cycles. He sees me visible and not Renner, and anger flashes. It’s followed by a quick reassessment of the situation. But, before he can speak, the Elite next to him wraps a beefy arm around his neck and holds a pistol to his head.
Gemma gasps, and the iduos heads bark.
“What is the meaning of this?” Delmar is trying his best to be outraged, but I can sense an edge of fear to his words. The Elite’s intel is much more detailed than we’d expected. What else do they know?
“I do not permit the Hexalian to speak.” The tall Elite, whom I can now assume is the leader, turns away from Roper back to me.
“You will come with me.” He reaches for me again. His hand is covered in polyweave gloves, making his fingers look more like leonar tusks.
I want so badly to use my ability to send him soaring to the ceiling, but I can’t. Not only would it out me as Gravless, but it wouldn’t be much help seeing as there are four other guards. I’ve been working on extending my ability beyond my current limits, but sending five soldiers to the ceiling isn’t likely to work. Even if I could, it wouldn’t last long.
He firmly clamps my upper arm. I can’t help but make a small whimper of pain. That’s all it takes. Before I know what’s going on, the hand on my arm is yanked away, and the tall Elite slams to the ground.
Everyone dives for cover as one of the Elite at the door pulls out his blast pistol and starts shooting. I think it’s on stun, but there’s no way I’m taking a hit to confirm that suspicion.
I crawl under a long table and assess the situation. The tall Elite’s pistol is now pointed at him, floating in midair. I can only guess how incredibly frustrated Freyda is right now. Renner thinks he’s protecting me, but he’s endangering us all.
She can’t let go of him, or her ability will fade, making them both visible, but there’s only so much she can do to hold him—a trained soldier—back.
Gemma catches my eye, the pup snuggled against her as she hides under a table. She nods once in the direction of the guards at the front. I think I catch her meaning, but this is very, very risky. I’ll be placing all of my confidence in Roper’s ability to fix this, yet again…but it may be the only way.
“Fly Boy,” I shout.
The pistol wavers.
“Stun him.” It’s a command. I’m surprised at how easy they come to me now. I can’t take the risk he’ll kill the Elite, or our plan won’t work.
Renner pulls the trigger, and an orange blast hits the soldier in the chest—closer than necessary, which I’m sure is intentional. The Elite’s eyes roll back in his head.
“Now stop.” I add as much weight to my words as I possibly can.
The pistol drops to the floor, and I take a relieved breath. Then I see Renner’s last muffin slowly hover over the table before disappearing into what I can only imagine is his mouth. I can’t help the short-lived laugh. Only Renner would eat during a fight.
My amusement is quickly shattered by the sound of blast pistols pinging against the galley walls. Apparently Kell was prepared with a pistol of her own, and she’s firing back, orange blasts going wide but keeping the Elites preoccupied. She catches one of them, and he goes down stunned. I never would have thought the girl had it in her.
I focus my attention on the group at the back. Two others are behind one upturned table firing at Delmar, who’s made it next to Elixa behind another table. She must have known to bring a pistol because Delmar is using it while she covers her head and rocks back and forth.
The last Elite covers Roper’s mouth. He’s using him as a shield.
I bite my lip. I’ve got to time this perfectly if it’s going to work. My gaze seeks out Elixa, and I’m startled to see her looking back at me.
She holds up three fingers and slowly takes one down. Then the next. Then pauses, waiting. Finally, she pulls the last finger down, and I focus on the guard with his arm around Roper. I send his pistol shooting starward and focus all my energy on his arm. It jerks upward, clearly shocking the soldier, but it’s enough.
“STOP!”
I know the feel of Roper’s voice. It’s as if everything inside of you turns to slowly dripping Rinarian honey. A heavy, weighted feeling that makes thinking about anything other than his words impossible.
My control slips away, and the man’s arm drops, but he’s also heard the command, so he doesn’t move.
“Elites,” Roper says. “You will put down your weapons and form a row against the back wall.”
They obey immediately. Released from his command, my mind clears, and I come out from under the table. Roper will tell the soldiers exactly what they are to remember as well as what they must forget.
One crew member is sprawled out, but Delmar quickly checks him and confirms he’s only stunned. Everyone else comes out of hiding, looking a little battle-worn but intact.
I draw in deep breaths, even though I haven’t done much, and my heart feels like it might pound right out of my chest. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. We were going to handle this delicately and—
“Let go!” Renner’s disembodied voice interrupts the quiet.
He reappears as quickly as he disappeared, and he looks angry. Freyda looks equally furious, but she merely crosses her arms and stares back at him. She was only doing what I asked—what I commanded—her to do. Otherwise, she might have handed him over to the Elites without a second thought. She’s not a fan of Renner Cartha and the trouble he’s brought to us.
“You!” He rounds on me, fuming. “What were you thinking? You told them you knew me.”
“It was a calculated risk.” My words are as sharp as an iciline blade.
“Risk?” he shouts back. “You’re making things up as you go, and you’re going to get yourself and your friends killed.”
“You—I—” My temper holds my words captive, and I fight to free them. “You have no idea what we can do. Do you think you’re the only one capable of thinking ahead? Of having contingencies? Your interference could have gotten us all killed.”
His mouth opens then closes.
I’m angry, and yet the greater part of me is glad he’s all right. It’s ridiculous. He’s the one who was hidden, but he could have wrestled away from Freyda and foolishly turned himself over—or worse, interfered and gotten killed for his actions.
My heart thuds again, but this time with emotion at the thought of what could have happened. It plays out before me in grisly detail, and I’m about to lay into him—warning him if he ever scares me like that again….
I see movement behind him. It’s the tall Elite, he’s managed to battle the stun, and he’s wielding a pistol. It glows red and is aimed at Renner.
I act without thinking.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve gotten so used to Renner’s mass, or maybe the emotions of my fear are stronger than I know, but with the slightest twitch of my mind, he flies into the air just as the pistol goes off.
I shift to angle out of the way, but I’m too slow. The shot impacts with a fiery pain beyond anything I’ve ever known. It radiates out from the hit. The numbing, searing agony encompasses me. I fall back.
Sounds come to me in disjointed order. Roper yelling for the Elite to stop. Freyda’s scream. The iduos pups’ feeble barks. Renner’s cry of anguish.
He’s at my side the next instant, and I wonder when I let him down. Did I drop him?
“Are you hurt?” I ask through a fog of pain.
“Wha—” He cups my face between his hands. They’re cold with fear, and his eyes search mine. “Talie. Talie, what did you do?”
“I…I saved you.”
Emotion plays across his features, and he leans close. “You’re going to be okay. You hear me? You’re going to be fine.” His voice breaks, and I feel a hot tear trail down my cheek. His thumb catches it.
Then there are no stars. No sun-drenched light from Renner’s golden-brown eyes. Only blackness.