Nepra’s cold air hit her face, nipping through her jacket like needles.
She dragged in a breath.
The ground underneath her soles wasn’t soil. It was glassy black stone.
This bleak place was Ryker’s world. Audrey had spent the entire night planning how she would hurt him when the man finally stood facing her, which was inevitable now after what she’d heard earlier. It wasn’t a question ofifshe would have to go through Ryker; it was a question ofwhen.
Fury simmered inside her gut, twisted with loss and anguish.
At least no one had watched her sleep. Small mercy.
The same dull sky greeted her as she walked across the dirt away from the safe house. Nikos jerked his chin at the decayed truck, ordering her inside while the cuffs vibrated around her wrists.
She didn’t obey right away. Instead, she looked up at the Golden Moons, as someone had called them. Three rocks chained around a brutal star. With Nepra being the third moon, the sight of the other two in the sky made her lonely and afraid.She rubbed her forehead, forcing the anxiety away. How far from home was she? And how many armed men stood between her and Cary?
She hadn’t imagined the psychic leak at the station. Emerson had seen Cary. She was alive. That thought sustained her.
“Keep moving,” Nikos snapped, shoving her.
Audrey shot him a look poisonous enough to curdle blood, then climbed into the covered truck bed. Inside, the air contained a permanent taint of dirt, smoke, and chemicals. Not enough to strangle her, but enough to remind her this wasn’t Earth, no matter how much she wanted to lie to herself. The gravity was close enough, and the oxygen was breathable, but everything else only proved how far away from home she really was.
Shrubs clawed out of the dry ground as if desperate to live. No trees like Earth’s—only bony, alien things. Above them, birds cried in brief, mournful bursts. Tidally-locked planets meant one section was always in the sun, one in the twilight, and one in the dark. If she was freezing here on the light side, what was it like on the dark side? She shuddered, imagining the cold there; a winter that never ended.
She shut her eyes, leaning her head against the cold metal, listening to the three men speak Voírían in the cab. Her improvised weapons, the comb and the toothbrush, sat hidden in her pocket like small, comforting lies. Little things she’d already used to hurt people in prison. Little things she could use again. And she would.
She repeated the plan she’d formed last night: if she reached Home Field alive, she would get close to Ryker, hurt him if she could, and escape in the confusion if she couldn’t. Ryker wasn’t the end of this. He was just the thing standing between Audrey and Cary, and she would use him, go through him, or kill him if she had to.
You’re a monster. You’re a monster. You’re a monster.
If they expected her to be tame, they didn’t know her at all.
The truck growled along a ragged road for hours. Audrey peppered the men with questions, casually hoping to pry open any crack she could use later.
“Where are we going?” Audrey asked.
“Home Field,” Nikos said.
“When will we get there?”
Nassar snorted. “Days. Soon, we’ll abandon the truck since it’s too visible. After that, it’s a long walk.”
Audrey blinked. “You can jump worlds, but you still hike through the mud?”
Basir twisted in his seat. “Teleportation isn’t for poor Voíríans. The Aggregate controls the roads. On foot, we’re shadows.” His tone was oddly pleasant—like he enjoyed teaching her. She didn’t reciprocate.
“Charming. Why control travel? Why not let people go wherever they want?”
Basir tilted his head. “Is everyone on Earth free to go wherever they want?”
Her jaw went rigid at that fact, but she skipped to her next question, “How do you know English?”
“It’s Aggregate Standard,” Nassar said. “Every planet uses it.”
“That makes no sense. English is a newer language.”
“According to your records. But records and history books can be manipulated, especially when you’re the foremost civilization in the galaxy.”
“What’s a Level Zero civilization?”
