“Keep going. Ceredes and Jeren will just have to catch up,” Kyte counsels sagely, but I feel the hunger in him, the desire to win.
Uaxin swipes her hair behind her shoulder, clearing her eyes, and moves her fingers even quicker on the controls. The lights on the front of the ship flicker.
“Smart. We don’t need those lights; we need more power to the thrusters.” Tilda turns up the music as Uaxin gives every bit of power to our rear engines as possible.
“We’re going to intercept,” Tilda practically squeals.
“I don’t want to intercept. I want to beat him and tag him.” I concentrate, feeling the craft with my mind somehow, as if I’m sending out tendrils that snake along the hull and into the virudivan engine. Blue, the most perfect blue, exists here. Pure energy. But I need more. I focus on that blue, demanding more of it, willing it into existence. The ship gives a noticeable lurch forward.
“Ummm,” Tilda calls, but she sounds far away. “We’ve reached critical speed, verging into unsafe territory here, Lana. Uaxin, lay off. Re-route the energy back to the—”
“No.” My voice shakes the entire ship. Because it’s not just my voice. It’s stronger, unbreakable, a command that must be obeyed.
Some alarm is going off, more than one. But I’m the flame, and I need more speed, more push. I paint more blue into the scene in my mind, filling it in as if I’m using a color pencil on art paper. Bluer and brighter, the power grows until the entire craft begins to shake.
“Lana, pull back!” Ceredes is on the comms, and I feel Kyte’s hands on me, his palms on my cheeks.
“Lana,” his mind whispers to me. “You’ve done enough. We’ve overshot the mark.”
“I didn’t get him?” I blink.
“I didn’t say that.” He kisses me hard, his hands on my throat as I finally pull away from the vivid blue and pour back into myself. His touch centers me, and I can finally think again. What have I done?
I pull away. “Are you all right?”
“We’re fine.” Tilda grins, though I can tell she’s covering her fear.
Uaxin gives me a small wave.
Kyte kisses me again, more gently this time. “That was good, but we need to work on—”
“Control,” Master Daviti calls through the comms. “I’ve seen it before. Three-hundred years ago. I saw it. Nix. She could do what you do. Join with the virudivan power and create more.” He jets around in front of my craft and hovers facing me, the sapphire moon looming huge behind him. “But you must be careful.” He sounds almost sober, and I could swear I see a look of worry on his face. “This kind of power, it can shatter an entire fleet of enemy ships, but it doesn’t discriminate. You can end up killing everyone around you. Friend or foe.”
“I didn’t kill anyone.” I wipe the sudden cold sweat from my brow. “I just made my ship go faster. That’s all.”
“That’s not all.” For the first time since I’ve met him, he sounds old. Too old and too wise. “You became one with pure energy. Youwieldedit. Great for flying. But even better for destruction. How do you think the circle won the last war?” His words seem to catch in his throat, but he pushes them out. “How do you think my Lirian died?”
My brows draw together. “I-I didn’t think about specifics. Are you saying—” My words are lost when an alarm sounds on my ship and a wide, circular section of space next to Daviti’s ship flickers.
I lean forward. “What is—”
“Oh, shit.” Tilda cries. “Reverse thrusters! Now!”
I could swear Master Daviti gives me a small, whimsical salute before a flaming airship bursts through the shimmering circle and crashes into his small craft, turning it into nothing more than fiery atoms lost in the endlessness of space.
19
Jeren
Ijump to my feet when the fleet ship appears through a wormhole. “Lana!”
Ceredes echoes the same cry in my mind as we race toward Lana’s ship. He slams on the comms. “Lana, are you there?”
“He’s dead!” Her shriek claws down the inside of my skull, and I grab my ears as if that can stop the pain—hers and mine.
Kyte’s voice comes through. “Lana, calm. You’re the captain. We need you.”
She gasps. “Oh, shit. What is that?What is that? All power to rear thrusters, Uaxin. Kyte, ready on the gun.”
