“I can help her. I need your magic on that door before we get sucked into space,” Danny said. His grip loosened, making space for Hawk to extricate himself. As soon as Hawk was out of the way, Danny injected something into Sky’s shoulder and Sky’s chest rose and fell. Hawk’s spirit eyes detected a faint red glow emanating from her skin as her breath returned.
Drawing as much courage as he could muster, Hawk flew to the rear door. As much as his spirit eyes had healed on Terrana, the power controlling the door was too faint for him to register. The airlock was holding, but the external door was open. The gears on the ship were trying to trigger the airlock to open, but the secondary alarm countered that and triggered a safety mechanism that prevented the gears from connecting and kept the door shut. He needed to stop the gears turning and then close external door, so he pressed his hand against the hull.
Sky had done this. She’d broken the ship and if she’d succeeded before they sealed off the bay, they all would have died. Sky was pressed against Danny, her eyes open and glassy, her trembling hands grasping at the oxygen mask. An aura of red light seemed to pulse around her, growing larger until he couldn’t see her or Danny.
“I can’t do this with Sky so close!” Hawk hollered to Danny. “She blinds things.”
Not wasting a second, Danny launched with Sky to the mid-deck hatch and pulled her into the galley. The hatch sealed, and Hawk turned back to the rear door. Its energy seemed brighter to his eyes now that Sky’s glow no longer filled the room. Saskia had said the command to open the door was coming via Sky’s Virp. Flying to the panel, he jammed his fingers against the metal, letting his spirit hands disconnect the input circuit. As soon as the command line dropped, the mechanical door close triggered. They were safe again, but Hawk started shaking.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Saskia asked, grabbing his shoulders and turning him around so she could see.
Hawk pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. He pointed up. “Amanda.”
“Morrigan can get her. Help me tether the ‘sled,” Saskia replied.
“People first,” Hawk said, shaking Saskia off.
“If that ‘sled hits the hull wrong, it could break the ship,” Saskia pointed out, tugging his arm. “This is putting people first. Come on.”
7
The flashing alarm in the bay turned off and Danny heaved a sigh of relief. It felt like Sky’s body was rattling worse than the ship, but at least she was breathing again. He pulled her through the crew hall toward her quarters on mid-deck, but the oxygen tank got caught on the hatch, forcing him to pause. He felt bigger and bigger heaves of her chest with every breath and she moaned into the oxygen mask. Sky’s skin had gone from blue to splotchy red, and she kicked feebly at the air in between gasps.
“Tray, report,” Danny vrang, tapping his Virp to check in on his brother.
“Looks like the door is sealed. Chase is helping me fix our course,” Tray replied, his voice tight. “How are my back-up pilots doing?”
Danny sucked in his cheeks, picturing Amanda’s free-floating, bleeding body. “Still assessing injuries. I’ll send Hawk up as soon as the Bobsled’s tethered.”
“The Bobsled?” Tray balked. “When Sky said she had to leave now, I didn’t think she meant now!”
“Have you seen her sleep at all since we left Terrana? I don’t think I’ve seen her in her chair,” Danny said, untangling the tank and waiting in the hall. He knew spirit-carriers didn’t require much sleep, but Sky often caught catnaps while he and Tray were cooking. She said it helped to listen to them chatter while she dozed. Now that Sky’s body had stopped shaking, he felt less rattled. He wanted to go to the infirmary on the lower deck, but he didn’t want to upset Hawk’s ability to use his hybrid power.
“I haven’t seen her sleeping, but I know she’s in bed with Chase every night,” Tray said.
“Hey!” Chase interjected. “That’s private information.”
“Then you two should be quieter,” Tray teased.
Danny bit his cheek, suppressing a twinge of jealousy. His bed had been feeling empty now that Amanda was healthy enough to sleep on her own. “Chase, does she sleep?”
“Never seen her close her eyes,” Chase said. “She said something once about Hawk’s dad being the magic sleep aid. So, what? It’s been six months since she’s had a good night’s sleep?”
“I’ll get back to you,” Danny said, cutting the comm.
Sky took hold of the mask, taking slow, even breaths, and then she pointed to the spot on her arm where the jet had pricked her. She looked at him questioningly, her blue eyes filled with worry.
“Hyproxin. It’s just to help you breathe,” he said. Sky was the first spirit-carrier Danny had ever met, but the lore he’d studied said that seers needed the medicine or their visions would overwhelm them. He hated forcing it on her like this.
Sky looked skeptical and her body twitched as she doubted each breath, fearing her lungs would close again.
“Captain, the Bobsled is secure,” Saskia vrang. “We’re sealing the bay and running a full check on pressure seals and controls.”
“Good work,” Danny replied. With Hawk’s work done, he felt safe taking Sky down to the infirmary. He didn’t understand the interplay of their powers, but given the emergency, the details hadn’t been important. “What about Amanda?”
“Morrigan has her in the infirmary,” Saskia replied. “Concussion and abrasions, but no broken bones this time.”
Sky pulled the mask away from her face. “You’re all in danger. I need to leave,” she rasped.
“You did leave. You left Terrana three days ago. You have not arrived anywhere yet,” Danny replied, pushing the mask back to her lips. “Saskia, you and Hawk get to the bridge as soon as you’re done. I’m taking Sky to the infirmary.”
“Captain, how is Sky?” Hawk asked.
“Breathing again,” Danny said. Then Danny looked at Sky. “Have you caught your breath yet? Oxygen isn’t cheap.”
Sky pressed her face into the mask, and Danny hooked her body against his so that they could float together to lower deck.
“We’re six hours from Aquia. Think you can keep from killing us for six more hours?” Danny asked.
“It’s too late,” Sky panted. “It already killed me. I have to get off the ship.”
“Sky, you are not dead. Your body is warm against mine. If you leave this ship right now, you die, and I can’t let you do that to yourself,” Danny said. He paused, waiting for her to appear contrite, but her determination never wavered. “I’m not ejecting you into space to die. You’re going to the infirmary and you’re going to sleep for a little while.”
“You can’t make me,” Sky groaned, shoving the oxygen mask at him and trying to push away. She was weaker than he’d ever seen her. Then she gripped her arm, squeezing where he’d injected her. “Did you make me?”
“Hyproxin is not a sedative. I told you. It’s something to help you breathe,” he said. A part of him worried that she’d whack him with the tank.
“I’ve never heard of it,” she said, her nose wrinkling.
“You? The eternal student?” Danny teased. “I’ve been offering it since I met you and you never once asked what it was.”
“Because I thought it was a sedative. Sounds like a sedative,” she said. She closed her eyes briefly, but then her whole body convulsed and her eyes shot open. “Nope.”
“If you’ve never had it, then you could probably sleep for a week on the dose I gave you,” he said. “You might have visions, but you’ll be able to breathe.”
“Not safe—”
“It’s safer than opening the airlock and having the whole crew sucked into space,” Danny said. “I’m not asking you to do this alone. I’ll talk to you the whole time. I know you rest better when you can hear me.”
Sky fumbled for her satchel, trying to draw her grav-gun, but she could barely control her hands. Danny snatched the gun first, taking it from her and tucking
it in his boot. He dragged her to the infirmary, ignoring her protests, praying he was doing the right thing.
In the infirmary, Morrigan had Amanda strapped to the center bed, unconscious and underneath the aqua-seal while she performed minor surgery. Danny’s heart lodged in his throat, but he focused on Sky.
“It’s that Elysian drug, isn’t it? You trust the medicine of the creature that let Amanda die,” Sky whispered, shaking again, but not fighting him. Leaving her adrift, he found one of the finger monitors and slipped it on her so he could track her breathing.
Hawk came to the door, glancing in uncertainly. He held out a thermos to Danny. “Tray said to bring tea because it’s your solution for everything,” Hawk said.
Danny chuckled, glad his brother’s sarcasm was intact.
“You killed me,” Sky said, squeezing the device on her finger, messing up the readings.
Danny wedged the tea thermos into her hands. “Drink this and think non-deadly thoughts.”
Sky tipped the straw and sucked. “Needs sugar.”
“That’s a good start,” Danny said, pressing her toward the bed. “You are going to rest. These monitors will alert me when the Hyproxin metabolizes, and I need to wake you again.”
Sky tried closing her eyes again, and her fist tightened on his shirt. Her ears went red. “What if it kills me?” she asked.
“It nearly did in the bay. You stopped breathing. But I gave you Hyproxin and now you’re breathing again,” Danny said. “Drink your tea.”
“What if it kills you?” she asked. She tapped the finger monitor against the thermos and tried closing her eyes again.
“Did you see something?” he asked seriously.
“It doesn’t talk to me. It kills me,” Sky whispered back.
“Non-deadly thoughts, Sky,” Danny said. “Anything you want me to ramble about while you sleep?”
Sky started to say something but sipped the tea instead.
“Is Saskia fixing the damage?” Danny asked Hawk.
“Yeah,” Hawk said, distracted.
“Then I need you at the con.”
“Chase is there,” Hawk replied.
Danny shook his head. “We have just had a major upset. I need someone at the con that can use both hands.”
“But Tray—”
“Doesn’t have your skill,” Danny pointed out. “Sky will be okay. She just needs to rest.”
Hawk crossed his arms and stood his ground. Whatever was going on in his head, Danny didn’t have the energy to fight him. If Hawk didn’t want to be on the bridge, then Danny had to be there.
“Okay. I guess Hawk is talking to you,” Danny said, taking Hawk’s hand and putting it on Sky’s. Sky looked startled, but when she started to protest, Hawk whispered something in Rocanese that seemed to placate her.
“The medicine I gave her won’t put her to sleep. It should keep her breathing while she closes her eyes,” Danny said. He pointed to the monitor, then typed a few commands to route the readings to Hawk’s Virp. “This number will drop to sixty when she falls asleep. If it gets above seventy-three, that means the medicine has stopped working, and you have to wake her up. I don’t care how long it has been or how peaceful she looks. Her life depends on you waking her up. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Captain,” Hawk said.
“If you need a break, you call me or someone else to watch her.”
Hawk nodded again. For him, Sky replaced the mother he’d left behind in Rocan. His place was by her side.
“Sky, are you okay?” Danny checked.
Sky shook her head, but she was looking at Hawk. Danny touched Hawk’s shoulder encouragingly, then floated over to Morrigan and Amanda. Her wound didn’t look so bad up close, but Morrigan wasn’t practiced at micro-g medicine and she was taking her time with the knitter.
“Morri, how is she?” Danny asked.
“Don’t call me that,” Morrigan groused, the tone in her voice telling Danny she was far out of her depth. “There’s no bone damage. She got punctured by the railing, but the wound isn’t that deep. I’ll have her knit in a few minutes. Concussion is my best guess for her being unconscious. With the psych meds she’s already on, I can’t give her anything, so we just have to wait. So, she may or may not be okay. Care to tell me what the hell is going on with your patient?”
“Sleep deprivation. I hope,” Danny said, glancing back at Sky.
“You don’t think she saw something coming?” Morrigan asked.
“If Cordova weren’t safe, she’d tell us,” Danny said, swallowing the fear that Morrigan had stirred.
“I didn’t see,” Sky slurred. “Amanda saw.”
Danny was going to ask her what, but suddenly Amanda groaned, and her body convulsed against the restraints that held her to the bed.
“Oh, thank Zive,” Morrigan murmured, jamming a suction tube into Amanda’s mouth to catch the droplets of acid she hacked up. “Hold still, sweetie. We’re almost done.”
Amanda’s eyelids fluttered and her fingers splayed. Danny took her hand and hovered near her face, batting away the halo of sweat forming around her skin.
“How’s your head?” Danny asked, his voice soft and calming.
“I see sparkles,” she said, pressing her cheek to his hand. She spoke Terranan, which used to mean she was pained or stressed. Terranan was the language she knew best, and her using it was not as sound an indicator of her mental state as it used to be.
“Sky seems to think you had a premonition about Cordova,” Danny hinted.
Amanda twisted against her restraints, but never let go of his hand. “Have we ever met a spirit-carrier?”
“Um. Yes,” Danny said.
“Not Sky. There were others. At least two,” Amanda said.
“No. I don’t think so. But given how closely Sky guards the secret, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t know,” Danny said. “You really saw something?”
“I saw them arguing. I don’t know if it’s a memory or a premonition. But it can’t be, can it? I echo hybrids. I don’t echo spirits. I never have. I always know when they’re there, but they don’t talk to me. There’s no one else on this ship that sees the future, right?” Amanda said, her gaze wandering to and fro, her fingernails digging into Danny’s hand.
“You saw two spirit-carriers arguing? Were they with Sky?” Danny asked, exchanging a look with Morrigan. The doctor wasn’t wearing a translator.
“Sky is scared,” Amanda said. “She doesn’t want to die like I did. She doesn’t want to become empty like me. I don’t want to be empty. I don’t even remember what I dreamt of being before I died.”
“You were going to race sailboats,” Danny said. Knowing her memories would never come back, he tried harder to remember all the things she’d told him before she Disappeared.
“Sailboats?” Amanda said. “There are no sailboats on Terrana.”
“You were going to go to Quin and do something crazy, like race sailboats. That’s what you told me,” Danny said.
“I got the crazy part down,” Amanda sighed. She glanced down at the puncture wound Morrigan was sealing and squirmed. “I saw Jo again. I feel like I see him every time I close my eyes. I hear his voice. I miss him so much.”
“I miss him, too,” Danny said. He’d lost too much of his life searching for Amanda when she Disappeared. He wasn’t going to repeat that mistake looking for Johann. And he wasn’t going to let Amanda lose her life to searching, either.
“How are you feeling, Amanda?” Morrigan asked gently, speaking Lanvarian.
“Good as new,” Amanda smiled weakly. “I’ll go land the ship now.”
Morrigan laughed. “Keep dreaming.”
8
The sound of running water muffled the steady thump of Jeremiah’s footfalls as he jogged the Lilac River walk next to Collette. The air was chilly, and Jeremiah concentrated on breathing through his nose, at least for the first part of the run. His and Collette’s morning runs kept getting pushed earlier and e
arlier so they could still fit them in with their magistrate duties. The sun would rise in twenty minutes, bringing out a plethora of other morning joggers and swimmers. Until then, it was just them and the fishermen.
Glancing sideways at his wife, Jeremiah smiled to himself. As much as he loved running beside her, he liked even more being a few steps behind. Her skin was getting lighter because she’d found her first age-spot last month and refused to go past the border into direct sunlight anymore. The white hairs that had once been camouflaged with blonde highlights stood out more against her darkening hair. Having gone completely silver himself last year, Jeremiah was glad to know he wasn’t growing old alone.
Collette’s eyes were on the sky, and it always amazed him that she could keep running without looking where she was going.
“Are you looking for that flying attack gator or a super meteor?” he asked, giving her a pinch.
“Yes,” she frowned, looking at her arm when he pinched it. “Something nearly killed that woman.”
“Or someone. We haven’t ruled out a person,” Jeremiah said. The defensive wounds were limited to the woman’s arms, but the gashes went down to the bone.
“The path was crowded. How could something appear, attack, and vanish?” she said, this time looking into the sparsely wooded park area. “We’ve never seen a cursed child with teleportation ability. And those wounds did look like a gator attack, but there was no sign of a gator. Do you think spirits can possess animals?”
“The Prince of Law will figure it out. We’re perfectly…” he paused, suddenly feeling paranoid. “We’re fine. We’re safe here.”
“You think so?” she teased, bumping his elbow.
“Hm,” Jeremiah sighed. “I really hoped Corin would run with us today.”
“At this hour? You’re lucky I’m running with you,” she laughed. “He’ll be fine. Now that you’ve excused him from Festival. It was the right thing to do.”
Premonition: A Space Opera Adventure Series (The New Dawn Book 7) Page 5
