I instinctively stepped toward Kolt. Something about the way she eyed him made annoyance flash hot within me.
At this, she smiled at me. “You can trust me. I have no love for the Empire. The thought of thwarting them and helping their enemy brings me no small amount of pleasure.”
“Thank you.” I lowered my gaze for a beat, embarrassed by my burst of jealousy. Why did I care if the woman liked Kolt? It wasn’t like we were a couple? I had no claim on him, so I shouldn’t mind if a woman liked him, right?
She swept an arm wide toward the secret door. “You can stay here for as long as you like, although I suspect you’ll grow tired of the close quarters soon enough.” Then her eyes danced over us. “Or maybe not.”
Distant shouts brought me back to the urgency of the moment, and I ducked through the opening and into the secret room. Kolt followed me, bending over entirely to fit through the low door. Once inside, the space was higher, although Kolt couldn’t stand up fully.
The woman started to slide the door shut, but I put a hand on the wood to stop her. “Wait. We don’t know your name.”
She smiled again, batting her lashes and dipping her head in a small bow. “I’m Athena. Let me be the first to welcome you to The Spectre Theater in the city of Kashara on the planet Gollun Prime.”
Then she dragged the door closed and shut us inside.
Chapter
Nineteen
Kolt
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled at the definitive sound of the door closing. We’d escaped one cell and run right into another one. I shook off the feeling and sat down, grateful not to have to bend my neck in the low space.
It was only when we were closed in that I fully took in the hidden room. And it was a room, not a cubby or a crawl space, which was something. I might not be able to stand without hunching, but Skye could. It must have been part of the dressing room that had been enclosed to make a secret space, which made me wonder how many others had hidden in here before.
Despite the slightly stale air, it wasn’t as stark as one might imagine. A bed huddled against one wall, pillows and blanketsrumpled as if the last inhabitant had left in a rush. There were no chairs, but a few stuffed ottomans with deep impressions in the center had clearly served the same purpose. The only light in the place came from a single, naked light tube, which was anchored unevenly to the ceiling with a dingy string dangling beside it, and the wood-paneled walls were bare. At least there weren’t marks counting off days etched into them like in the prison cell.
“This isn’t so bad,” Skye said, her voice unnaturally bright.
I grunted but had to agree. “It is better than the cell.”
She rubbed her arms, even though the room was warm. “It’s odd to be back in a contained space, though.” She took a few steps to the bed and sank onto it. “You don’t think she was lying to us, do you?”
I studied the human’s pinched brow and jiggling leg. She wasn’t completely pleased with our new accommodations, even though she attempted to smile.
I took her question to heart, deciding that there was no sense in lying to her. “I did not sense deception in the female. If she wanted to lead the Zagrath to us, she could have done that.”
Skye released a breath, and her leg stopped jiggling. “I think she was being honest too, but I wasn’t sure if it was because I wanted to believe her so badly.”
I thought back to the woman’s face when she’d told us about the Empire taking over the planet and enforcing restrictions and censorship. “She is no loyal subject of the Zagrath. I might not remember much about my past, but my instincts still work. Mine tell me that she wants to help us and that she enjoys the idea of fooling the enemy.”
Skye let out a small laugh. “I guess that’s good enough for me.” She swiveled her head to take in the entire space. “I wonder how many other people have hidden in here.”
I wondered how many had safely evaded the Imperial troops and if any had been found in the hideout, but if the Zagrath knew of the hidden space, the female who called herself Athena would not have offered it to us, would she?
Outside the sliding door, came the sound of pounding boots and raised voices, all muffled by the door and the rack of clothing. I held up a hand to warn Skye, but she was already silent and wide-eyed. Deep, male voices were met by higher female ones, and finally the authoritative chirp of a voice I was almost certain was the orange-haired stage manager.
I held my breath, expecting to hear the rack dragged aside and see the door fly open, but after a few more rumbling words, the footsteps faded and the voices disappeared. When I was sure they were gone, I released my breath.
“It worked,” Skye whispered. “They came into the dressing room but didn’t find us.”
“It would seem that Athena saved us.”
Skye nodded, slumping back onto the bed. “This has been a very weird day.”
I looked down at the odd clothing covering me and the blood that had dried on my hands. It seemed ages ago that we’d staged the scene in the cell and taken out the guard. Now that we weren’t running through the city and adrenaline wasn’t coursing through my veins, my leg pulsed with pain that had dulled into a distant throb.
I put a hand to the fabric covering the self-inflicted gash, grateful that there was no blood seeping through. That didn’t mean it wasn’t a worry though.
