Phaedra felt Micah’s studying gaze beside her. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his brows furrowed. “You’re uneasy about something.”
She frowned, giving him a small shake of her head. “It’s just . . . the crystals. I don’t feel them anywhere near here.”
Micah opened his mouth to speak, but Zael’s sudden curse drew everyone’s attention.
He stood near the eight pods. “Jenna, how many of these were empty in your vision?”
“Six.” She stopped investigating the control panels and pivoted to face him. “The others contained the bodies of two crew members who’d died of ultraviolet exposure soon after the ship crashed here.”
Zael’s expression was beyond grim. “Only one of these has a body in it.”
“That’s impossible,” Jenna replied. “In the Ancient’s memory, he’d been certain there were two dead comrades in those pods.”
Phaedra’s stomach took a sudden plunge into her boots. “That means there’s one of them out there somewhere.”
“Holy shit,” Brynne hissed.
“We need to get out of here,” Micah said. “Now.”
“The crystals,” Jenna said. “We have to find them.”
Phaedra shook her head. “They’re not here. I would feel them if they were here, and I don’t.”
“Neither do I,” Zael said, his eyes grave. “They’re gone.”
Jenna raced back to the dashboard and pressed her palm against the glass. “We have to look for them, don’t we? We have to try—”
Brock stilled her hand with his. “Babe, we’ve got to go. Now.”
Micah linked his fingers through Phaedra’s and in a scramble of movement, they all hurried out of the chamber with him in the lead. He skidded to a stop as soon as they cleared the end of the corridor.
“Son of a bitch.”
There, on the other side of the open hatch, blocking the only exit from the craft, stood a seven-foot-tall otherworlder. Hairless, covered indermaglyphsthat ran from the top of his bald head to the full breadth and width of his bared torso, the Ancient glowered at them with blazing amber eyes. His huge fangs gleamed like daggers behind dark lips that peeled back in a sadistic smile.
Micah had a gun in his hand the instant he spotted him. He fired several shots, each one hitting its mark. Brock did the same, to no avail.
Laughing, the Ancient pressed his hand against the exterior of the craft.
“No,” Jenna shouted. “Oh, no. He’s going to lock us in!”
Zael and Phaedra both unleashed the power in their palms, sending twin balls of energy forward. Too late. The light hit the inside of the sealed hatch.
In less than a second, they found themselves sealed inside the ship.
Jenna flew at the door, holding her palm to the smooth metal in one spot, then another, and another. Nothing happened. The door remained closed.
Suddenly, everything got worse.
One of the dashboard panels behind them lit up. The ship started to hum to life.
“Shit,” Jenna gasped. “He’s reset the detonator. Oh, God, Brock. This can’t be happening.”
But it was.
“No,” Phaedra said, steeling herself. “Micah.”
She drew in a breath and suddenly he was there with her, wrapping her in his arms.
