A second later, she realized how far off base she was as she got a look at the station date and time.
“Four days?”
Gus’s eyebrows rose.That must be some kind of record.
Exactly how much of her soul’s breath did she sacrifice trying to save Caius for her to be out that long?
There was a note of wonder in her gaze as she studied the shaft she’d woken up in, finally realizing what about its presence bothered her.For her to be unconscious for that long, she would have had to drain herself nearly dry.
How then had she survived?
If she’d gone over the spine’s edge while conscious, there would have been a chance.She would have figured out some way to save herself.
But she hadn’t.She’d passed out the second she began tipping backward.Long before Titan’s Lord somehow caught her, stopping her descent without killing her or breaking any bones.Then it had grown a shaft around her to hide her from her enemies.
All acts that pointed to an intelligence and personal agency far beyond what a tree—even one as unique asdominus orbis terrarum—was capable of.
Never before had the flora she interacted with moved on their own.
No, that wasn’t necessarily the case, Gus corrected a second later.The choko tree that had offered its essence to Caius had done something similar.In both cases, the trees had responded to her needs before she voiced them.
That wasn’t just unusual.It was unheard of.
A new facet of her abilities maybe?
Whatever the case, it would require further study before any answers could be obtained.For now, she had more pressing concerns.Like ensuring Ryan received her proof before he set the rest of the forty-three on her.
No easy task given how they had left things.
The best way to ensure he got the information she’d acquired and actually reviewed it would be to send a runner.
Gus rejected that option before it could fully form.The chances of him killing anyone she sent were too great.Given what was happening with Belladonna, Gus wasn’t sure who she could trust anyway.
That left the same avenue of contact Ryan had used to notify Gus of his impending arrival.
Risky, since she had no way of verifying if he got the message, but it would have to do.
Creating an encrypted page only accessible via the link she placed on the message board was easy.After that was done, she finally got around to examining the notifications that had been flashing in the corner of her screen since opening her scroll.
One was a message from a contact.The rest were station bulletins.The red lettering denoted them as being of the highest priority.
Idly, she clicked on one.
“Station incident—all citizens are advised to steer clear of the spine and deck 16 until further notice.”
Gus stilled.
Deck 16?
That was where she’d left Anandra.
There was no way.How would they have known where to find him?
Gus had made sure to wipe her tracks, going so far as to avoid all cameras on deck 16 that would have led back to Natalie’s.She’d even taken one of the smuggler paths down to deck 11 to further muddy the water.
It shouldn’t have been possible.They couldn’t have found Anandra.
And yet, there was a sinking sensation in her stomach that said they had.
