As soon as Jak’ri’s feet hit the floor, his knees buckled. Had the guards not gripped his arms in crushing holds, he would’ve collapsed in a heap.
Jak’ri?
He sucked in a breath as a voice sounded in his head. It was that of the woman he’d been dreaming about. The woman from—
The guards cursed him in Gathendien and dragged him forward.
Jak’ri cursed them back in their own language, earning himself a cuff across the side of his head.
Earth! She’d said she was from Earth.
He swore, wishing the alert hadn’t woken him. He hadn’t had a moment’s peace since the Gathendiens had captured him and Ziv’ri.
Jak’ri?
He stiffened. Forcing strength into his limbs, he gained his feet and looked around swiftly.
He’d heard it again. The Earthling’s voice. Ava’s voice. Was he hallucinating?
Some of the potions these grunarks had dosed him with in the past had made him see things that weren’t there. He’d even thought his brother a monster with knife-like teeth once and nearly attacked him.
Blinking furiously, he tried to clear his vision and glanced over his shoulder.
Saekro and Kunya, the Gathendien scientists who routinely tortured him, trotted out of the lab.
Two guards “escorted” Jak’ri to his cell. Two more stood sentinel at the lab’s entrance.
He faced forward. The only other person present was Ziv’ri. And his brother had been unconscious for two days now. Or more. Jak’ri was never certain how long he’d been unconscious when he awoke.
After opening the door to his cell, the guards shoved him inside.
His legs unable to support him fully, Jak’ri stumbled and fell, scraping his hands and knees on the rough floor.
Swearing, he sank down on his ass and sent the guards an obscene gesture as he watched them leave.
Jak’ri?
He swallowed when Ava’s voice echoed inside his head again. His heart beat sluggishly inside his scarred chest. Was she real?
No one had spoken to him telepathically since…
He shook his head. He didn’t know how long he and his brother had been held here. But the Gathendiens dosed them with nahalae to block their ability to communicate with each other mentally.
Was it beginning to wear off? Or could he possibly be developing a tolerance for it?
Ava? he thought, then held his breath.
Minutes passed.
Ava? he thought louder. But no answer came.
Perhaps he had imagined it.
Perhaps he had imagined her.
Sadness filled him as he mustered what strength he could and crawled over to the bars that separated him from his brother. “Ziv’ri,” he whispered. The bars were far enough apart for him to reach his arm through yet close enough to keep the rest of him in his cell despite the weight he’d lost while at the Gathendiens’ mercy. The bars could also be electrified, something the guards delighted in doing when the doctors weren’t around to complain about it possibly interfering with their experiments.
But the guards seemed distracted today and paid him little heed. Leaving the door open, the grunarks clustered together in the hallway outside the lab and murmured over whatever carried to them via their ear comms. So Jak’ri risked it.
Reaching through the bars until his side and face were wedged against them, he managed to snag his brother’s wrist and pulled. Pain shot up his arm and across his chest as he dragged Ziv’ri closer until he lay only a hand’s span away.
The younger male didn’t rouse or make a sound.
“Ziv’ri?” Jak’ri uttered softly. Brushing his brother’s long hair back from his face, he pressed a palm to his forehead. Ziv’ri’s skin was moist. An alarming heat rose from it, fever induced by whatever new bioengineered virus the Gathendiens tested. “Brother?” he called.
Not even the flicker of an eyelid.
Ziv’ri? he thought.
Still nothing.
Despair filled him.
How much longer could the two of them endure this?
Leaning against the bars, he rested a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
They had to find a way to get off this cursed ship. The nahalae had prevented them from using their telekinetic abilities to secure their release. But there had to be some other means they could employ.
He closed his eyes. They needed to escape before the Gathendiens succeeded in killing Ziv’ri.
Ava?
And before their experimental concoctions drove Jak’ri insane.
Ava’s heart raced in her chest. Panic quickened her breath. “Evie, are there any weapons on board?”
Silence.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized it wasn’t complete. Her watch face glowed on her wrist. Thank goodness the Lasarans had replaced its battery with a higher tech one that wouldn’t need charging or replacing for at least five years. Tapping the surface of the smart watch, she typed in her access code then scrolled down to activate the flashlight.
The whole pod shook. A thunderous thunk startled a cry from her as Ava gripped the arms of her chair.
The hair floating around her face abruptly fell to her shoulders as weight pushed her down in her seat. Either the artificial gravity of the pod had been restored or she was experiencing whatever gravity the Gathendien ship produced.
Shit. Was she on the Gathendien ship?
Those bastards had tried to wipe out Earth’s population with the vampiric virus and had nearly succeeded in doing the same with a different virus on Lasara. What was her best play here?
Unfastening the harness, she slid out of the chair and looked around with the help of her watch’s flashlight.
Evie’s evasive maneuvers had dumped everything that wasn’t secured onto the floor. Wrappers from the nutrition bars and MRE-like meals she’d subsisted on for the past two weeks now littered the small space. So did the shirt and jacket she’d discarded before sleeping.
Ava dropped to her knees beside the go bag wedged against the tiny lav that housed the weird space toilet. Pawing through the bag, she yanked out clothing as she searched for a weapon. Eliana had helped her pack it with photos and keepsakes she didn’t want to lose, spare clothing, extra nutrition bars, and other survival essentials. Ava and the other gifted ones hadn’t thought they would need the bags. They were, after all, traveling to Lasara aboard a huge warship carrying a full regiment of Lasaran ground forces and fighter pilots as well as countless Yona warriors who would die before forfeiting a battle. But they’d humored the Immortal Guardians and—
There! As soon as Ava spotted leather, she latched onto it and yanked it out. She didn’t own anything made of leather so it had to be a weapon Eliana had stuck in there.
Once she saw it, she swore. It was a blade. A dagger. A very sharp, expertly crafted dagger. But Ava had been hoping for one of the… whatever blasters so many of the Lasaran soldiers had carried on their hips. Tronium blasters! That was it. Tronium blasters.
Like the handguns back home, the alien weapons had seemed simple enough. Just point and shoot. Instead of firing projectiles, however, they fired…
Well, she wasn’t sure, actually. It looked like balls of energy that could burn holes through just about anything. And since the weapons had tiny but powerful batteries, running out of ammunition wouldn’t be a problem. If she stayed in the pod and sheltered behind the chair, she could pick off Gathendiens one-by-one with a blaster as they tried to enter the pod.