He joins Hysan at the controls while I drag myself toward the jettison tube to get rid of the black opal. Twice Ochus has used it to find me, and I never want to see that face again. As the ship careens forward, I open the tube.
Hysan runs over to me. “What are you doing?”
“I have to ditch this opal.”
He seizes my wrist. “No, you don’t realize what it is.”
The ship starts talking, and Hysan sails back to the helm. He speaks to Equinox in terse phrases, more like a seasoned Zodai Guard than a diplomatic envoy. “’Nox! Engage all shields. Run progress scans. Activate maximum protections, and switch to energy-conservation mode.”
Before I can toss the stone, I hear the crackling whir of the shield generator, and every opening in the hull seals itself, including the jettison tube. I clutch the opal tight. We’re veiled, hidden from view, only a faint mirage in the night-black void. . . . No ordinary eyes can see us. But are we concealed from Ophiuchus?
Tension closes like a fist in my chest. The ship stops rolling, and for a full minute, we hold steady on course. I can almost hear Equinox’s artificial brain ticking and waiting for the next attack. My hand cramps from gripping the rail as we wait through another taut five minutes.
“Setting new course,” says Hysan, breaking the silence. We do an abrupt ninety-degree turn that hurls all three of us sideways, and the ship thrusts off at top speed, going anywhere but here.
Mathias rushes over to me, concern written across his face. I’ve never seen him frightened like this. “Rho, I thought you were having a seizure.”
“Ochus tried to strangle me.” Now that it’s over, I realize I’m still weak from the encounter.
Mathias turns even whiter. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t see him?”
“I didn’t see anyone.” He slides his thumb over my neck, but oddly, my throat doesn’t hurt anymore. “No bruises . . . do you feel pain?”
“No,” I mutter, the thoughts in my head growing fuzzy from his touch. He’s never been so openly affectionate with me before.
I’ve only gotten to known Mathias this last week, but when he’s around, my heart acts like this ship fighting off a Psy attack—its beat bounces all over my rib cage, and I can’t decipher the melody. Each time I try to figure out my feelings, I come up against the same wall: I admire him . . . I’m attracted to him . . . I like him . . . and wall.
I can’t go deeper than that.
Still gripping the black opal, I say, “Let’s not use this Ephemeris again.” Ophiuchus knows I’ve left Oceon 6 now. That’s all I needed.
“I’m sorry,” whispers Mathias. “Sorry I didn’t protect you.”
His apology haunts me long after he returns to the helm. He asks forgiveness for pain he didn’t cause, but he’s fine with undervaluing what’s in my head. He thinks failing to save me is worse than not trusting me. I’ve just found the wall: Mathias doesn’t see me as someone with insights to offer—he sees me as a little sister who can’t be left alone.
While he and Hysan work together at the screens, I sit near the nose looking out, trying to think of more important things. Like how the Helios I’m going to earn the Houses’ trust when I can’t even earn my friends’.
We change course repeatedly, but there are no more attacks. “Your veil worked remarkably well.” The sound of my voice is strange even to me after so much silence.
“Of course it did,” says Hysan, his cocky smirk never far from reach. He slides his hand across the console, beaming. “Can this day get any better? ’Nox and I get shelled by invisible bombs, right after a beautiful pirate steals our heart.”
“I’m flattered,” says Mathias. How can they joke when Ophiuchus is so strong, and we have no way of defeating him?
Hysan stares into my face like he’s reading it. “What weapon can attack through the Psy?”
His words startle me. “Did you see him, too?”
“Who?” Hysan reaches for my black opal.
I draw away, gripping it tight. “If we use this, he’ll find us again.”
“He?” Hysan frowns. “I think you have more to tell me.”
I zip the opal into my pocket, next to my Wave. Again, I probe my throat for nonexistent bruises. “Have you heard of Ophiuchus?”
Surprisingly, Hysan has heard the theory of a Thirteenth House. He says the secret society 13 has a strong base on Libra. Among my friends, I’m usually the one who knows the most facts about our universe. Yet for all the knowledge Mom drilled into me, she never mentioned anything about another House in the Zodiac.