“Do I what?”asks Lyddie.
“Feel stupid that she fooled you.”
“I did, but not anymore. I’ve come to realize how ruthless and manipulative they are. Travis is right—”
Travis? She’s on a first-name basis with the new General?
“We need to flush them out of society.”
Screw you, you quat!
I draw another calming breath, ordering myself to listen.
“I’m here if you ever need to talk, Captain. That’s all I came to say.”
Where are they? I wonder. In his office?
His quarters?
A wall of red-hot rage slams into me. She’d better not be in his quarters.
“I appreciate that, Lyddie.”
Oh, does he now?
“Travis wanted me to tell you that Mr. Jones is requesting another—”
Her voice drops out.
Silence.
Keep talking!
I strain my mind, trying to listen harder, but I don’t know how tobring it back. I don’t know how it’s happening in the first place. How I’m controlling this.
“You keen, Darlington?”
I jerk out of my frantic thoughts to find Xavier watching me. His dark eyes hold a shrewd glint. He knows something’s up.
“Yeah. I think I’m going to head back to our quarters. Read the rest of this mission briefing before lights-out.”
“I’ll be there soon,” he says.
I push my chair back, shifting my gaze to Saint. I’d be fine leaving Xavier alone with Poppy, but he and Saint rarely interact, and I don’t entirely trust that dynamic.
“You’re not going to try to kill him, right?” I ask the mission lead.
“I’ll try not to.” Saint winks at me. It’s the most playful I’ve seen him since I got here.
Once I’m alone, I allow Lyddie’s conversation with Cross to replay in my mind. Why is she talking to him? Why ishetalking toher? About me, no less.
And what the hell is this ability?
I don’t even know whom I trust enough to ask about it. Kallister? Hawkins? No, not Hawkins. He makes me too nervous. And I’m not ready to tell Kallister, because he’ll have to disclose it to the rest of the Authority.
If I’m being honest with myself, there’s only one person I want to talk to right now, and the temptation to reach out to him gnaws at me until finally, I succumb to it.
I try to link with Cross.
