“At worst, they’ll rip the ship apart,” Dathan said.
Great.She closed her eyes. Could anything else go wrong?
An alarm sounded.
Zayn let out a particularly creative curse and Eos raised her brows.
“Slaver ship coming up behind us!”
Her heart contracted. She twisted her hands in her lap, her nails cutting into her skin.
“How far?” Dathan bit out.
“We’ll beat them out of the nebula…if we don’t hit any more anomalies.”
“They won’t follow?” Eos asked.
“The Devil’s law ends at the nebula.” But Dathan’s frown was fierce. “So they probably won’t follow us. And once we’re clear of the nebula, we can use the cloak to evade them.”
“Ifwe get out,” Zayn said darkly.
Tension filled the ship. Eos tried to control her breathing, to remember the mantras she’d recited as a child. They’d kept her sane after her mother’s death, and helped her when fear and uncertainty had threatened to overwhelm her.
“They’re gaining. Two hundred miles.” Zayn pushed the ship, the boosters firing.
Okay, the mantras weren’t working. She felt like her chest was going to burst. She heard her rapid breathing, dizziness made her head spin.
“Eos, look at me.”
She glanced over at Dathan. Those blue-green eyes were so beautiful. It was so easy for a girl to lose herself in them.You wouldn’t be the first or the last.
Dathan pushed a strand of hair off her face. “That’s it, stay focused on me.”
The ship shuddered again, vibrating around them. A dull groan of metal under strain reverberated through the ship.
Zayn sent theInfinitasrocketing forward. “Hang on!”
A shower of electrical sparks burst from a side wall. Eos saw a bright silver flash and a wavy shimmer, like a mirage in Vedia’s central desert.
“Singularity!” Zayn yelled.
The ship spun, faster than Eos had thought possible. Through the cockpit windows, she caught a glimpse of the large slaver vessel. Her stomach turned, fear punching through her gut.
Then the ship was gone. Zayn turned theInfinitasagain and they were racing toward the edge of the nebula.
The sprinkle of white stars on black looked so close. So impossibly close.
“Slaver ship is one hundred miles and gaining.” BEll’s modulated voice came through a speaker.
“Come on, babe.” Zayn smoothed a hand over the top of the command screen. “I know I ask too much of you, but you can do it.”
Like the ship had heard his plea, they shot forward.
“Slaver ship is fifty miles,” BEll said.
They broke out of the nebula.
The red mists were gone and all that was ahead was perfect dark space and a scatter of stars. In the distance was the bluish orb of a gas giant.
