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Sinead’s wrist comm vibrated, announcing an incoming call. It said caller unknown. Sinead opened the call.

“Sinead, it’s Booby. I need your help.”

“Booby!” Sinead rocked back in her seat. Why was Talyn’s ship contacting her?

“Who’s Booby?” Holly whispered.

“A new friend,” Sinead said. “What’s the problem?”

“It’s Talyn. He’s about to do something he’ll regret.”

Sinead licked her lips and glanced at Holly. Her mind was a mess after everything they’d spoken about. She was still undecided if she should fight for Talyn or let him go. “Why should I care about that? He left me.”

“Talyn left to see his mom. She’s sick. He thought he could help.”

“Oh, I knew she wasn’t great.” Sinead had assumed the worst about Talyn. Now that she knew the truth, she felt lousy.

“That’s not important,” Booby said. “The visit went badly, and Talyn was injured.”

Sinead’s breath caught in her throat. “What did his mom do?”

“His mom has a stronger ability than Talyn and struggles to control it. Talyn’s mind was injured.”

Sinead swallowed, panic filtering through her. “He’s going to be okay?”

“Talyn won’t recover from what he has planned. He intends to be expunged.”

Sinead’s brow wrinkled. “I don’t know what that is.”

“I do.” Holly’s expression grew worried. “Lillips go through it when their ability becomes unstable, or they’re unable to keep other people’s emotions from overwhelming them.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad. I know Talyn struggles with his ability. An expunge will help him.”

“An expunge takes away everything,” Booby said. “It doesn’t just take the empath ability. It takes the individual. Talyn will lose most of his memories and all of his personality. He’ll no longer be considered a true Lillip. He’ll be a shell. He’ll feel nothing and be numbed from all emotion. There will be nothing left of the Talyn you know.”

Horror shifted down Sinead’s spine. “He can’t do that.” She couldn’t imagine Talyn disappearing. There was so much more she needed to know about him. So much she needed to tell him.

“That’s why I’m contacting you,” Booby said. “We must stop him.”

Sinead stood from her stool. “Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it. There’s no way Talyn is doing this to himself. When I’m around, I can help him.”

“Are you going to be around?” Booby asked.

Sinead sucked in a breath. Was she? When she was around Talyn, everything was great. She shouldn’t fight that. And Talyn hadn’t abandoned her. She’d behaved just like her mom, throwing away an incredible guy because she’d gotten her wires crossed and assumed the worst. Talyn deserved so much better.

“I’m coming for him,” Sinead said. “Booby, where are you? I don’t have a ship.”

“I do,” Holly said. “I can take you anywhere you need to go.”

“Really!” Sinead hugged Holly. “I didn’t know you could fly.”

“It’s a hobby. I haven’t taken the old girl out for a while. It’ll be good to have a run.”

“I’ll send you the coordinates,” Booby said. “We’re traveling to a clinic on Balsic. I’ve advised Talyn not to do this, but he’s not listening. I hoped you might change his mind.”

“We’ll leave as soon as we can. Stall him, Booby. Don’t let him do this.” Sinead’s heart thundered in her chest as the call ended. She opened a message showing the coordinates they needed to get to.

Holly looked at them and nodded. “We’re going through the wormhole.”