Vomit rose hard and fast in my esophagus. I held my breath and swallowed. Emotion punched up and I punched it back down, squeezing my eyes shut until I could breathe without stomach acid hurtling up my throat again.
I shook. The hot-cold sensation wouldn’t leave me. It gathered, pooling in places that felt deep and empty and afraid inside me.
Shade reached across the middle of the cruiser and squeezed my knee. “We did it. We got them out. Brace yourself now. We’re jumping.”
I nodded, closing my eyes again. I swallowed convulsively. Seconds later, we jumped the hell out of there—and likely straight into our next disaster.
Chapter 4
SHADE
Tess finally spoke for the first time since we popped out of warp speed within sighting distance of the green and blue planet. People called Reaginine earthlike. As if they’d ever been to Earth. I knew I hadn’t.
“Reaginine is pretty,” she said numbly, watching out her window as we approached the Temple Lands after a long cruise over the jungle-covered southern continent. I’d wanted to arrive somewhere with next-to-no air traffic to make sure we hadn’t been followed before flying into this busier area.
I glanced over at her. She looked nauseous, which normally I’d blame on the long jump—my stomach still felt a bit twisted up also—but she’d looked sickbeforethe trip through hyperspace. Leaving Jax was the problem.
“You’ve never been here?” I asked, hoping to distract her.
“Dad—I mean, the Overseer—never let Mom and me come. We celebrated Emergence on Alpha Sambian, when it was actually autumn on our part of the planet.” She shrugged.
“Better than the dead of winter, like in Albion City. The cold made it hard to pray all day outside under Her rays of sunlight—metaphorically, anyway.” I winked, dragging a weak smile from Tess.
When it was midsummer at the Grand Temple on Reaginine, it was Emergence. It didn’t matter where you were in the galaxy—on a planet, in the Dark, whatever season on your rock or not—the citizens of the eighteen Sectors celebrated the birth of the Sky Mother on the summer solstice here on Reaginine. The Great Star was here, shining on us right now. And the heart of the Church of the Great Star rose before us in the form of pyramidal temples. My current destination was a hidden gem several kilometers beyond them.
“On Starway 8, it didn’t matter. There are no seasons on a spacedock, and we followed the universal calendar. It was just another date to me anyway, except we made cookies and didn’t have lessons.”
“That sounds better than freezing my ass off on a rooftop to get as close as possible to Her far-off rays of holiness.”
A fuller smile quirked Tess’s lips. “Careful, you’re sounding blasphemous.”
“Nah. My Sky Mother is concerned with the bigger picture.”
Tess snorted. I didn’t pick a fight. I got where she was coming from. The bigger picture didn’t look great.
She turned back to the jungle after only a cursory glance at the temples. “Do you think they have flervers here?”
I held back my amusement. The conflict in her was obvious, just like it had been on Albion 5. Cautious but curious. Nature scared her. She also loved the adventure of it. She’d face down an armed city goon with only her fists and feet for weapons, but she’d run screaming if an animal came near her.
Not that she was wrong. Some of the animals here could gobble up a human in one bite.
“I think flervers are a Sector 2 thing. I’ve never seen them anywhere else—although they do have snakes here.” And other things Tess didn’t need to hear about right now.
Her head thumped the back of her seat as she looked straight ahead again. “Great.”
I reached over and twined my fingers through hers. “The biggest snake might be your uncle. According to my watch, we have sixteen hours before meeting day starts.”
She sighed, her gaze straying back to the crowded temples. “Let’s find a place to dock, then.”
“I have that covered.” I let go of her hand and, with a swipe of my fingers, woke up my new com unit. I baptized it with a call to the automated reservation service on Reaginine. “Aisé Lodges. Private bungalow for two. Two nights total,” I ordered.
SEARCHING scrolled across the screen in green block letters.
Tess shot me a wary look. “Whatever that is, it sounds expensive. I can’t afford that.”
“I can.” The only thing I had left from my pre-outlaw life was currency. Might as well use it.
“Money can run out,” Tess said.
