"Do you wish to rest?"
She shook her head. "Not yet. I don't think I could, anyway. I don't know what happened to the other girls. And the staff on the ship. It wasn't just us potentials, you know. There was the crew of the ship too."
"They are being taken care of," he said.
"You seem sure."
He blinked. "I trust my people."
She crossed her arms. "We were attacked. Not while you were picking someone, but after, when you were separated from our ship. The platform went down, and our ship nearly--"
The whole apartment shook like the world was shaking itself to death.
Power flickered.
Furniture moved, and whether she liked it or not, she fell into him. He caught her and held her securely, his hand over her head.
"Hey," she snapped. An automatic reaction to being pulled against a male. "Let go--"
"Shh," he said. Like he had more arms or something, she felt her whole body braced.
"We should get away--" she sputtered out.
"Wait."
The shaking ebbed.
Then everything went eerily quiet.
"I don't remember earthquakes being listed as some of the natural occurrences--"
"They're not."
Still in his arms, she looked around. His breathing was stable, but she could feel his racing heart in his chest. The thumping was strong.
Then she noticed the green-gold armor. That was the other arms she’d felt wrap around her, pull back, and start to recede into his body.
"That was your ridges? Your armor?"
He nodded, like he would speak, but was cut off by klaxons sounding.
She jumped. "What is that?"
"A warning," he said as the noise felt like it was stabbing her in the brain. Perhaps today was too much for her. Maybe she should have taken something to sleep.
Stars, it was crazy.
"Was that another attack,” she managed to squeak out.
"I don't know," he replied as he released her and crossed to the wall of weapons.
He pulled the one off the wall that she'd noticed before, the double-ended one that had the most scuff marks on the wall behind it. "We need to--"
Two Kantenans came into the apartment.
She jumped.
He brandished the weapon in a defensive position.
