“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Turning down one last corridor, they finally came to the front of the ship, and Ruckus slammed his palm against a pad positioned at the side of the two metal doors. They whooshed open, and he walked through quickly.
“What’s the rush?” Delaney still wasn’t sure why he was in such a hurry. It wasn’t like they could reach Olena any faster.
“Just have a lot to do,” he told her over his shoulder, heading straight for a chair at the front left of the room.
It was the cockpit, with a curved ceiling and walls lined with different computer stations. The center of the room was empty, and so were the extra three seats in front of the weird setups, with buttons and technology she didn’t understand to the left and right. At the head, there was a large glass window that exposed what she’d expected to be a vast black, but was actually a swirl of rushing deep blues and purples.
“We’re already in fouge,” Gibus informed her. “That’s faster than the speed of light.”
Two leather chairs were positioned in front of a console that took up that entire space, one of which was occupied by a woman with sandy-blond hair. She wore it up in a tight bun at the back of her head, and when she glanced Delaney’s way, she gave a friendly smile and even lifted a hand to wave. Her eyes were a vibrant fuchsia with a deep blue rim, a bit eerie at first but then beautiful.
“Hi,” the woman said after a moment had passed in silence. “I’m Fawna. It’s nice to finally meet you, Delaney.”
It was strange that they’d never met before. Where had she been the whole time they’d been at the castle?
“I don’t work for Vakar royalty,” Fawna answered, as if having read her mind. “I’m a private blaster hired by Ruckus. Which means while you all had to play nice, I got to head into town and get drunk.”
Her odd mixture of both Vakar terminology and American momentarily had Delaney confused. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the weird assortment of words. Then she pieced together that blaster was probably their title for pilot. Guess that meant Ruckus seriously trusted her, if she wasn’t even part of Vakar military. He’d allowed her out of his sight with the massive secret of who Delaney really was, after all.
“Well then, when this is all done, I’ll buy you a beer,” Delaney joked.
Fawna smiled, but it was obvious from the look in her eyes that they were both really thinking the same thing. That neither of them expected to see the other ever again once this was over with.
“Have you signaled Olena’s ship yet?” Ruckus asked. His hands deftly moved over the panel in front of him, flipping black switches and pressing different-shaped buttons. “They know we’re coming?”
“They were surprised to find we’re ahead of schedule,” she answered, “but yeah, they know. Sounds like Mazus can’t wait to get rid of her.”
“That’s the Lissa,” he stated, “always causing trouble.”
Turning toward Delaney, he smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ve got a lot to take care of here. Can Gibus show you to your room? You should get some rest; you barely got three hours.”
Not really having anything to do there, she nodded and motioned toward the Sutter to lead the way.
“So,” Gibus said the second they were back in the halls, “I was thinking, instead of showing you to your rooms, we could head to my lab. Some of that stuff I managed to sequester away?” He leaned in close conspiratorially. “Yeah, you might be interested in seeing it.”
*
THEY SPENT THEIR time going over some of the gadgets he’d been able to grab, and the ones that he had permanently stowed on board. There were some pretty interesting things, including a jet pack, boots that adjusted to different gravitational pulls, and a plant that shrank instead of grew as it aged. Why he thought they’d ever need the latter was beyond her, but she had to admit it was cool.
There were other things, smaller things that reminded her of spy gear from the movies, and others that were so scientific in explanation, with big words like norepinephrine and whatnot, that she gave up trying to comprehend them half a sentence in.
She was nervous about being back in space, about having to see Olena … about how she’d left things with Trystan. The way he’d looked at her in the end, she was certain he was trying to tell her something, trying to promise something. She knew him well enough now to know that any promises he made were really threats in disguise.
The only reprieve from her fears was the fact that he couldn’t follow her, and once she was on Earth, she’d never have to worry about seeing him again. He’d go back to being Olena’s problem, and Delaney could go back to living her life, without looking over her shoulder every two seconds.
At some point the exhaustion must have gotten the best of her and she’d fallen asleep, for one minute she was sitting down in the corner of Gibus’s lab on one of his soft chairs, and the next she was waking up in an entirely different room.
With a frown, she blinked, slowly slipping out of her sleep state. The room was white, and similar to the one she’d woken in upon being kidnapped, though it was almost three times the size. Instead of a cot there was a bed, a king-sized bed if she had to guess, and so comfortable, it was almost like she was lying on a cotton ball.
“You’re awake,” Ruckus’s gruff voice came from the other side of the room, and when she sat up, she saw he was sitting at a desk built into the wall. He turned in the chair to better face her, resting his arms on his knees.
“How long was I out?” She glanced around. “And how did I get here?”
“Less than an hour,” he told her, standing, “and I carried you.”
When he didn’t approach, merely stood there with his hands clenched at his sides, her chest tightened in worry. Brushing the blankets off her, she got to her feet, remaining on the side of the bed and awkwardly crossing her arms.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing.” He shook his head, but it was hard to believe him when he dropped his gaze in the process.
“Ruck,” she said, waiting until he met her eyes once more. “Tell me.”
He seemed to think it over for a moment before finally coming to a decision. He was just about to open his mouth when the door across from him slid open and Pettus popped his head inside.
“They’re boarding now, sir.” He nodded her way with a small smile. “Morning, Delaney.”
She wasn’t so sure it was actually morning, but she greeted him back.
“Let’s go.” Ruckus moved over to the door, holding his hand out to her once he got there. Whatever weirdness he’d been experiencing a second ago was gone, shelved more than likely because of Olena’s arrival.
She hesitated, and he turned toward Pettus.