The apes slam into the Sky Runner’s sides as we clear the trees. I finally manage to get the door shut, which blocks out the screams as abruptly as someone switching off a radio. “Oh,” I croak. “Oh hell.”
“Hold on,” Vera says shakily, speeding us away from the forest. “This might get bumpy.”
Lament has slid halfway down in his seat, his eyes hooded, skin so pale he’s practically translucent. There’s a lot of blood, too much, and for a moment it’s all I can see. Jester is there in the back seat with us on Lament’s opposite side, holding a wad of gauze, applying pressure to the wounds.
“How can I help?” I ask. “What can I do?”
Try to keep him awake, Jester says.
I slide up next to Lament, ignoring the coppery smell, the way his whites are soaked through. I try to put my face in his line of vision. “Lament?” He focuses for a moment, but then his eyes start to drift closed. “Hey, hey, stay with me, okay? Talk to me. Tell me something.”
He gives a cough. “No.”
“Oh, oh good.” I can hardly catch my breath. “You’re still a stubborn bastard.” Except, my voice comes out like a dead frog because I’mthisclose to completely unraveling. I look at Vera in the pilot’s seat up front. “How far?”
“Four minutes.” She sounds like she wants to cry. “I’d shift into hyperspeed but we’d overshoot it. I’m going as fast as I can. I’ve called the others—Illiviamona is waiting and ready at the cargo craft.”
“Four minutes,” I tell Lament, but he’s closed his eyes. “Lament, come on. You have to stay awake.”
“Tired,” he manages.
“I know, hey, I know, okay?” I scoot even closer and take his hand. His eyes come open. I link our fingers together, and he blinks rapidly. “How do you feel? Listen, okay? I need details. Has the transformation begun yet?”
“Transformation?”
“You know. Theshift. I’ve read the legends, don’t think I haven’t. This is what happens after a monster bites you. You’ll start to grow fur and claws and before you know it, you’ll be howling at the moon.”
He wheezes a breath. “Idiot.”
Talking. He’s talking. This is good. “I’m just saying. That’s how it works, right?”
“I’m not awerewolf.”
“Are you sure?”
His eyes go unfocused.
“Lament.” I tug on his hand. “Want to hear a secret?”
Another wet cough. “You don’t have any secrets.”
“Sure I do.” I run my thumb over his palm, back and forth, little motions I doubt he can even feel. “I tried looking you up before I got to Skyhub. I wanted to know who my new partner was going to be.”
“Who says we’re partners?” he croaks.
That gets me smiling, and fucking hell, how am I supposed to not crumble into pieces? “Problem is, I could barely find any info on you. I even called in favors—do you know that NewsNet correspondent Rudy Rivon?—to try to help me dig upsomething. And for what? You were a painin my ass even before we met. But you want to know something?” I lower my voice so he knows I mean this. “I’m glad it wasn’t easy to look you up. I think if I’d been able to read about you before we met, I’d have come armed with all these preconceived ideas.”
“Because your first impression of me was so stellar.”
“No, I know it wasn’t. But it wasreal. And that’s—” My voice is trembling. “That’s what I want. You know? For this to be real.”
He doesn’t reply to that. But his hand tightens in mine.
“Almost there,” Vera says. “Beginning our descent.”
When we touch down, Illiviamona is waiting outside The Bargainer with the rest of the Sixers. There’s no stretcher on board, so I get my arm up under Lament’s good side and help leverage him out of the spacecraft as carefully as possible. “Take a step?” I coax, and he tries, but sways ominously. His pupils are too large; his wounds weep fresh blood. I think he must be in shock.
I attempt to stuff down a swell of emotion. “All right, here we go.” I swoop his knees out from under him and carry him the rest of the way into the cargo craft. He wraps his arms around my neck without complaint, and I think everyone must fear how bad of a shape he’s in, because even Vera—who would normally be falling over herself by this turn of events—doesn’t say a word.
