Adryel turned, and there, sticking her head out of a door, was Sereya, looking sleepy and puffy. “Are you okay?” Adryel asked her.
“I heard voices. I just wanted to know who was out here.” Her gaze darted from Adryel to Stron and back. “Are you okay?”
Adryel nodded. “Fine, thanks.”
She nodded. “I was… I was afraid that something else had happened.”
“You are safe,” Stron said. “We are patrolling the halls to keep all of you from the Galactic Alliance safe.”
“Thank you,” Sereya said.
“And I was escorting Adryel back to her residence.”
She grimaced, but nodded as Stron gestured for her to go back to her apartment.
Sereya watched as they walked away.
“You still don’t get to tell me what to do,” Adryel said.
“I believe I just did.”
“I don’t like you, Stron.”
“You are certainly challenging, Adryel.”
She gritted her teeth.
Attractive or not, she did not like him.
Not one bit, as he walked her back to her apartment.
And she wasn’t even going to think about how he knew exactly which one was hers, without her telling him.
“That has to be unnerving,” Janae said, gesturing to the windows.
Janae’s arrival today was a welcome relief and comfort after a sleepless night. After spending time with Stron, who really confused her, she spent the night tossing and turning and generally trying to decide what the hell he was all about. She couldn’t decide if she liked him, or wanted to bash his head in with a shovel.
The conversation had been both easy and also annoying. Not that he wasn't comforting—in that way that a stranger’s conversation could be comforting in a moment of alone time.
Just it wasn't the right kind of comforting. He was a complication that she didn't need to indulge in.
Yet she couldn't get him out of her mind.
He was better to think about, anyway, than the disaster that has become this trip.
She picked up her cup and held it next to her lips before speaking. “It's kind of like watching ants rebuild a crushed ant hill,” Adryel said. “Only bigger.”
“It is a horrible mess.” Janae touched the communicator that Graecey had given her. Though really, why she bothered, Adryel didn't know. It wasn't going to do her any good--the ship's gone.
Graecey's gone.
Pointless, as far as Adryel thought.
“I'm glad you're here,” Janae said, drawing her back into the conversation. “It is nice to know I can see you any time while we're here.”
“At least for the time being.” Because who knew how long that would be. Adryel wouldn't be staying here, not for very long, at least no longer than she had to. If she was the reason they were in danger, then she needed to get away as soon as possible.
Where that meant, she wasn’t sure.
