All three looked up as she passed.
“Hi, Ava,” Natalie called with a smile.
She waved. “Hi.”
“Want to join us?” Mia asked.
Ava shook her head and wrinkled her nose. “I’m all sweaty from training with Eliana and need a shower. Maybe afterward?”
“Sure.”
The bathroom in her quarters was small enough to make her wonder how Taelon and the other guys on the ship managed to avoid bonking their elbows whenever they showered. The men out here in space tended to be quite tall… and broadly built since most were soldiers packed with muscle. Yet even Ava, who stood at a mere five foot three, felt cramped in the sanishower.
Once clean, she donned a comfortable pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.
Lasaran culture required men and women to wear clothing that covered everything except for their heads and hands. Ava didn’t have a problem with abiding by that rule. Or the one that forbade men and women of childbearing age from touching if they weren’t lifemates. She thought it an acceptable sacrifice to make in exchange for a new home on a Utopian planet. Lasara was free from war and strife. It bore no famine. No hunger. No hate. So no one on Lasara would dislike, distrust, or seek to harm Ava or her friends because of their differences. No one would try to kill them or capture them to harness their abilities for their own gain, as had happened so often in the past on Earth.
On Lasara, Ava and her friends would find only peace.
No sooner had the thought struck than alarms began to blare.
She jumped, startled by the loud sound. What the hell?
“All crew members to battle stations,” a male voice called over the ship-wide speakers. “Repeat—all crew members to battle stations. We are under attack.”
Oh shit!
Ava hurried over to her door and opened it.
Her friends filled the open doorways of the other Earth quarters, their eyes wide.
The ship rocked beneath their feet as a muffled explosion carried to their ears.
Ava grabbed the doorframe and held on as more explosions followed.
A blurred form streaked toward them from farther up the corridor, then Eliana skidded to a halt in front of them.
“What’s happening?” Ava blurted.
Eliana shook her head. “Grab your go bags. Quickly.”
Panic flared on every face, including her own, Ava guessed as she ducked back into her room and grabbed the backpack Eliana and the other Immortal Guardians had encouraged them each to pack in case of emergency.
Eliana was waiting impatiently in the hallway when Ava returned. “The ship is under attack,” she announced, face grim.
Attack? Attack from whom?
“I’m going to get you all to the escape pods as a precaution.”
Oh crap.
Without further warning, Eliana bent, folded Ava and Natalie over her shoulders, and—unhindered by their weight or that of their packs—raced away with preternatural speed.
Ava’s head spun as the world around her tipped upside down and zipped past in a dizzying blur. She grunted when Eliana stopped abruptly.
“Get inside,” she ordered as she set them on their feet. Then she darted away again.
Disoriented, Ava glanced around, noted the bank of escape pods, then shared a petrified look with Natalie.
Each headed for a different entrance and climbed inside.
Ava barely had time to set her bag down before Eliana returned in a blur with Mia and Michelle slung over her shoulders.
Another Immortal Guardian shot past, then zipped back toward them.
Simone appeared. The French immortal swept Ava and the others with a quick glance and turned to Eliana. “Where are the rest of the gifted ones?”
Though Taelon and his sister Ami had assured Seth—the powerful Immortal Guardian leader—that the ten gifted ones from Earth would be welcomed on Lasara, Seth had nevertheless tasked five Immortal Guardians with watching over them and protecting them.
“Their quarters,” Eliana said. “I’ll go get them. Help these get settled in the pods.” She left so quickly she appeared to vanish into thin air.
Simone helped Ava secure her bag and strap herself into the single seat the pod provided.
Out in the hallway, Eliana returned with Sam and Emily, then left again.
“All set?” Simone asked.
Ava nodded, incapable of speech. She was too scared.
Simone patted her shoulder, then left to help the others.
Ava’s heart pounded in her chest as the alarm continued to blare and one explosion after another rocked the ship.
“Shield integrity compromised,” the ship’s computer announced in a pleasant female voice. “Shields at seventy-nine percent.”
The scent of smoke carried to Ava’s nose.
This couldn’t be happening. How the hell could this be happening? They were traveling through a freaking wormhole or qhov’rum or whatever they called it! How could someone possibly be attacking them?
Dani, one of the other Immortal Guardians, arrived with Allison and Charlie over her shoulders. Rachel followed with Liz and Madeline.
Michaela—the fifth immortal—skidded to a halt beside them, conducted a quick headcount, then zipped away again.
More booms rocked the ship as Dani, Rachel, and Simone secured everyone else in pods. The hatches began to close.
“I’m going to help Eliana and Michaela evacuate the Lasarans,” Simone said.
Rachel nodded. “We will, too.”
“Be safe!” Dani called before they sped away.
The pod hatch sealed with a thunk.
More booms shook the ship.
“Shields at fifty-four percent,” the computer reported placidly.
Ava clutched the armrests in a white-knuckled grip.
This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.
“Shields at thirty-two percent.”
Boom. Boom. Boom.
This was an advanced alien warship! It couldn’t be destroyed!
Could it?
“Shields at twenty percent.”
Her breath shortened to panicked gasps.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
“Shields at thirteen percent.”
A rumbling sound abruptly arose. Sudden pressure shoved Ava back against her seat as light flickered on and off behind the escape pod’s impenetrable crystal window.
Oh shit. They were launching the pods!
A heartbeat later, black space filled the window.
A small gray craft shot past, followed closely by a sleek black fighter.
Light flashed as the black craft fired its weapons.
Two more craft shot past.
Then the bright walls of the qhov’rum filled the window, blocking out everything else.
Ava’s eyes widened as the pod flew toward it.
Light exploded around her. A screeching, grinding noise filled the pod, so loud it was almost deafening.
Crying out, she covered her ears.
Then quiet fell, broken only by her rapid breathing and the pounding of her pulse in her ears.
Eyes wide, Ava stared through the window at calm black space.
“Evie?” she said, voice hushed. Wasn’t that what she’d heard the Lasarans call the computer on the Kandovar? They’d mentioned something about naming it after the engineer who had installed it… or maybe designed it… but she couldn’t remember if it was the engineer’s name or the initials E.V.
“Yes?” the same female voice from the ship’s computer responded.