Page 260 of Commander’s Mate

Scarlet looked up.

“What?”

“Don’t promise forever. Don’t promise never. We’ve all had enough decisions made because we were terrified.”

Scarlet stared at her.

“You’ve been spending too much time with Harper.”

“Probably.”

I smiled.

Zoe looked at me.

“If Earth is found, are you staying?”

“No.”

The answer came quickly.

All three of them went still.

“I’m going home,” I said. “At least for a while. I need to see them. I need them to see me.”

“And Zared?” Scarlet asked.

“I don’t know.”

That felt good.

Not the uncertainty.

The permission to have it.

“I used to think finding Earth meant I had to choose Earth or him. Like there was one door and whichever one I walked through locked behind me.”

Nora nodded.

“And now?”

“Now I think the universe owes me more doors.”

Scarlet smiled faintly.

“That sounds annoyingly hopeful.”

“I’ve been kidnapped by aliens. I’m allowed to be demanding.”

Zoe looked around the registry room.

“What if my family wants me to stay?”

“They probably will,” Nora said.

“What if I don’t want to?”

No one answered immediately.