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  Doubtful that Stone would continue to keep his promise, I slid back the lock on the door and pushed it open, peering tentatively inside. Stone was lounging on a hammock he’d managed to make from a cut-up sack, which he’d somehow stretched between two towering shelving units. His hands were free, which didn’t really surprise me, but he was still wearing the leather strap across his third eye. He glanced up as we entered, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world, one leg dangling off the side of the hammock.

  “Stone, you and I need to talk,” I said defiantly, moving closer.

  He chuckled. “Nah, I don’t think we do.”

  “It wasn’t really a request.”

  “You forcin’ me to speak to you, now you’ve taken me freedom?” he asked thoughtfully. “An’ here was me, thinkin’ you’d be different. Lemme guess, that merevin Fed’s got you doing his dirty work?”

  “No, I’m here for my own reasons.”

  He cast a glance at Lauren. “What you doin’ with her, Ren? You decided to switch back now they’ve found ye? Can’t say I’d blame ye, though I’ll be fierce sorry to see you go.”

  I looked at Lauren. “Ren?”

  “New situation, new nickname.” Her cheeks flushed.

  “Are you saying you won’t speak to us?” I pressed, annoyed by his casual attitude. “How’d you manage to get out of your cuffs, anyway?”

  He grinned wolfishly. “Not the first time I’ve been caught in a pair of ‘em. There’s a knack to breaking ‘em. Easy, once ye know how.”

  “Stone, stop being an idiot and help us out,” Lauren barked unexpectedly. “You aren’t going anywhere unless this ship takes you back to your crew, so you might as well start cooperating. There’s still a revenge bounty on your head, so if you go outside, you’re going to find it impossible to get a ship to take you out of the Junkyard. If you answer a few questions that my friends might have, I’m sure they’ll consider taking you wherever you need to go.”

  I stared at her in shock, filled with a newfound respect. There was a startling authority in her voice that not even Stone could ignore. He was already sitting up straighter, looking at Lauren with a thoughtful expression.

  “Ye make a fine argument, Ren. I’ll hear what they’ve got to say, if it pleases ye. I guess I owe you a favor or two,” he said, after a brief pause.

  “Much appreciated,” she replied tersely, though a small smile was playing upon her lips.

  “So, what’s it ye want to know?” Stone asked, his voice relentlessly calm.

  “First, I want you to tell me what you know about Ezra and Orion,” I explained. “What are they up to? What have they asked you to scavenge for them? Have you noticed anything strange about them lately, or gotten any unusual requests?”

  Stone shrugged. “Never had no dealings with the boss man, Orion. My deals are done with Ezra, and I keep it pure business. If I don’t ask no questions, I keep my heart beating.”

  “That’s ridiculous. You must know something!” I said, exasperated. “What else has he asked you to get for him? The serrantium weapons must have been a nightmare to find, and he hasn’t given you the payment for them—you don’t need to protect him anymore. He’s not a good guy.”

  “Never said he was, and never said I was protecting ‘im. He’s nowt to me but a business associate. Besides, I’d have had me money if you’d not stepped in, tryin’ to capture me,” he replied. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I understand why ye had to do it—Ren’s a rare bird—but it’s plain fact that ye muddled things up.” He never once raised his voice, keeping infuriatingly cool.

  I, however, was starting to lose my temper. “You’re telling me you’ve never been curious? If Ezra is trying to get his hands on unbreakable weapons, then you must want to know what he wants them for!”

  “People’s business is people’s business,” he said simply.

  “What, and you don’t care about the consequences? You don’t want to know who he’s going to use those weapons on?”

  This seemed to interest him, his eyes narrowing in thought. I realized I’d hit upon a sore spot, especially after what I’d overheard Lauren saying—Stone’s entire race had been wiped out. Of course, deep down, he was going to care about the fights his shipments ended up playing a part in.

  Even so, he stayed as cool as a cucumber, a minor flicker of the eyes the only thing showing his true feelings. “No concern of mine.”

  It was time for me to change tactics.

  “Look, you might not want to tell me anything about your business deals, but you can definitely do something to help us.” I took a deep breath. “I want to make a deal with you, in exchange for your freedom.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Lauren looked at me in shock. “But I thought you agreed with the others.”

  “Stone, I want you to come with us to Earth, to destroy the rebel faction there,” I continued, not wanting to lose momentum. “Your powers are unique, and they could help us achieve the impossible. We need to get rid of Orion, Ezra, all of them, before they become an unstoppable force that we can’t do anything about. If that happens, they’ll wreak more havoc on the universe than any of us can imagine.”

  He leveled his gaze at me. “So, you want me to be your weapon—I got that right?”

  “Not a weapon, but we do need your powers to help us.”

  He folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. “Not interested in playin’ a game of war, I’m afraid. No one wins.”

  “I wouldn’t have had you down as a pacifist,” I retorted. “Is there some Draconian in you?”

  He opened his eyes again, his expression amused. “I’ve more reason to be pacifist than anyone,” he countered. “Though, I should say, it’s not quite like you’re makin’ out. I’m not against necessary violence on a moral level, per se—‘tis more of a personal thing.”

  “What, you just pick and choose what you care about?” I wanted to rile him up, but he was refusing to take the bait.

  “No, I know my moral compass is a wee bit squint, but on the matter of war and murder it points true north,” he replied. “I’ve known death on a scale you’d not be able to picture. I come home and me family, me friends, me greatest love—all of ‘em snuffed out like candles in a storm. Blood everywhere, bodies pecked at by Anubis hawks, eyes blank and all foggy like. Not a breather amongst ‘em. I flew all across my planet, on the off chance I’d happen on a survivor, but it was the same all o’er.”

  “Who did that?” I asked, remembering what Ronad had told me once, but wanting to hear it from Stone.

  “Coldbloods,” he said. “They thought us ambakas were a risk—with our powers, which you seem just as set on, we were a threat to ‘em. We never once tried to attack or nothing, but our very existence was a problem for ‘em.”

  “You were on a trade mission, is that right?”

  He nodded. “I’ve never known guilt like it. What I felt was unbearable. The fourth day o’ searching, desperate to find a breather, I gave up. I curled in a ball and wished for the same fate as everyone else. I didn’t wanna be the only one, y’know? There’s nowt lonelier than that, lemme tell ye.”

  “So, how come you’re alive? How come you made it out?” I urged, drawn in by his tragic tale. I’d almost forgotten the real reason we were even talking.

  “A group o’ Stargazers came down in their ship and found me. I think they wanted to get a grasp on what the coldbloods had done, to gauge the balance of judgment, but happened across me while they were at it.”

  I frowned. “The Stargazers?”

  “Ancients. The heart and soul of the universe. Ye could live a million lifetimes and never end up seeing one, but I was lucky—or unlucky, dependin’ how you look at it. They stopped me endin’ it all, told me I had a different path to walk on now. I couldn’t look back, only forward. I could see my new life as a gift, not a curse.”

  “Are they powerful? Do you think they’d help us, and be our allies?”

 
Stone cackled, his laughter going off like a gunshot. “You’d have a job finding ‘em. Mysterious, weird buggers. Don’t like to involve themselves if they can help it. Too many bad experiences, I reckon.”

  I glanced at Lauren, wondering if she knew any more information about these Stargazers, but her face had gone dreamy, as though she’d heard this story several times before. Perhaps this was the reason she seemed to respect him the way she did. After all, it was clear he’d been through a lot, regardless of the life of crime he’d turned to.

  “Okay, so maybe they won’t help us, but surely you will?” I insisted. “From what you’ve just told me, you’re the perfect person to help us take revenge on the rebel coldbloods. They killed everyone on your planet—doesn’t that deserve retribution?” I found Stone hard to gauge. Even for someone as laid-back as him, I couldn’t understand why he would strike up deals with coldbloods like Ezra, after what they’d done to his planet. Hell, the coldblood rebels hadn’t done half of that to my people and I wanted revenge so badly I could feel it bristling inside me, every time I thought about them infiltrating Earth.

  The laughter died in his throat. “My people didn’t believe in revenge. It’s a code o’ conduct I still honor. I’ve never put out a revenge bounty, and I don’t plan to change me ways now.”

  “I mean, come on, at least help us stop history from repeating itself?” I was practically begging now. Even if he’d managed to let go of what had been done to his people, enough to see coldbloods now as mere business associates, surely he’d have some empathy for a species in similarly dire straits?

  “You about to resort to fibs to get me on board? It won’t work. I’ve heard it all before.”

  Lauren stepped in, her voice firm but gentle. “Stone, nobody is lying here. Earth and its inhabitants are at risk of being destroyed, in the same way as your home planet, if we don’t do something to change things soon. It’s like I tried to tell you before: the rebels will colonize it and use my people for blood like they’re cattle on a farm if they succeed in taking over Vysanthe and manage to complete the immortality elixir. They will be unstoppable, and they will move through the universe, taking no prisoners. It will be a massacre wherever they go. You’ve seen it with your own eyes, and these guys have even less of a moral code than the ones back on Vysanthe.”

  Coming from Lauren’s mouth, the facts seemed to hold more sway over Stone’s thoughts. He appeared to be chewing it over, swinging more vigorously in his hammock. All the while, I expected him to close his eyes and say no, but there was always a slim chance he might not.

  With a sigh, he shrugged his shoulders. “Ren, ye make another fine argument. I never realized things’d gotten so bad over in your neck o’ the woods. If there’s global threat, no matter which globe it might be, who am I to run away like a coward?”

  I stared at him. “Are you saying you’ll help?”

  “I’ve got me terms, but you’ve got me help if you agree to ‘em,” he replied.

  “Stone, not everything has to be a trade-off!” Lauren chided, prompting him to grin.

  “They’re fair terms!” he protested, chuckling softly.

  “What terms?” I asked, bracing for the worst.

  “We need to meet up with the rest of our crew. They’ll want a slice o’ the action if things are going down. Plus, and here’s a life lesson for ye, you never wanna go into battle without a Rexombra at your side.”

  Lauren laughed. “Very true! Do you remember us getting into that scrap on Miramis, when those thugs were getting all cocky, trying to take those gems from us? They didn’t know what hit them! Alfa just appeared out of nowhere and knocked them all out. I bet they’re still trying to figure out what the hell happened.”

  “Man, Alfa was on fire. That was a good day,” Stone agreed, flashing Lauren a surprisingly tender smile.

  For a moment, I felt completely left out. So much had happened to Lauren that we hadn’t been around for, and it was weird to hear Stone refer to his crew as “our” crew, evidently meaning his and Lauren’s. She was one of them, and she was one of us—I just hoped she didn’t end up feeling torn in two different directions.

  “Where have you guys agreed to meet?” I asked, determined to bring the conversation back around.

  “Glossa,” Stone replied. “Safest planet in the universe, ‘less you count the hidden one the Stargazers live on. Only folks who’ve been there can find their way back. Pretty good security measure if ye ask me.”

  “Maybe we could go to the Stargazers’ planet after we’ve picked up your crew,” I said. “I know you said they were hard to pin down, but we could really use all the help we can get.”

  Stone shook his head. “You’ll never find it, and you’ll not get a soul to breathe a word of it neither. I mean, if you could even find anyone who’s been there—there ain’t many.”

  It made me wonder if he was one of those people who’d been there, and knew the Stargazers’ location, but he just didn’t want to tell us. Maybe he was afraid of them? Or, more likely, he felt honor-bound to keep their secret. I thought about pressing the matter, wanting to seize any opportunity we could to find new allies, but I had a feeling Stone would stay tight-lipped about it.

  “Fine, then we’ll set a course for Glossa, in exchange for your assistance on Earth,” I said, offering my hand for him to shake.

  He stared at it. “What d’you want me to do with that?”

  “Shake my hand. It’s what we do on Earth, to seal a deal.”

  He chuckled. “What a weird thing to do,” he murmured, shaking my hand. “Where I’m from, we stare into someone’s eyes for ten seconds. If ye want a deal with me, ye gotta do it my way too.”

  Reluctantly, I looked into his eyes, feeling desperately uncomfortable as the seconds wore on. Still, I was glad I didn’t have to stare into his third eye, experiencing that horrible sense of immobilization again.

  “Glad to have your help,” I said, once the ten seconds were up.

  “So, can I get out of this ‘ere box now?” he asked brightly. “You trust me, I trust you. Time to stretch me legs!”

  Lauren smiled at him, shaking her head apologetically. “Not just yet, Stone. You’ve still got to be given the others’ seal of approval before you can go roaming around the ship.”

  “How long’s that gonna take?”

  “I’ll come back and let you out once everyone else has agreed. Shouldn’t be too much longer, if they all follow Riley’s lead,” Lauren promised, pushing the hammock to make it swing violently from side to side.

  “Hey, you want me to fall outta this thing?” He laughed, gripping the canvas sides.

  “Just keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll be back before you know it,” she said, smiling. With that, she turned toward the open door of the storage closet and paused in the corridor, waiting for me to follow.

  “Actually, do you mind if I have a quick word with Stone on my own?” I asked.

  Lauren shrugged. “Sure, just don’t kill him or anything,” she half joked. “I’ll go find the others and let them know what’s happening. I think it’d be a good idea if we set off for Glossa now, before those pirates come looking for us.”

  I was pretty sure she had an ulterior motive for wanting to get to Glossa as soon as possible, given that she was friends with the crew there, but I didn’t say anything. After all, it was good for us all to expand our horizons. Had we stayed on Earth, we’d probably be doing the same thing, each of us finding our own way in life in our new cities and colleges, while trying to hang on to the friendships we’d had our entire lives. Yes, this was a little unorthodox, but it was pretty much the same thing, right?

  As soon as she was gone, her footsteps disappearing down the hallway, I turned back to Stone. Lauren might have been quick to forgive him for what he’d done, perhaps won over by his tragic sob story, but I wasn’t so easily manipulated.

  “I don’t know what you’ve done to fool Lauren into thinking you’re a decent guy—and hey,
maybe you’re not as bad as you seem—but if you EVER try and kidnap Lauren, or any of my friends, again, I will not hesitate to kill you on sight. I don’t care if you’re the last of your kind. If you put us through that hell again, I will make you extinct. Do you understand?” My voice was low and firm. I only wished I’d brought one of my knives so I could cut through his stupid hammock and send him falling to the floor.

  Stone smiled, his face as calm as ever. “All understandable, but you’ve forgot one thing—what if Lauren wants to come back to us? What if her path’s already moved too far away from yours? Her course could be different. And we’ll not turn ‘er away if she wants to stay with us,” he said casually. “I weren’t joking when I said she was a rare bird. Never known a lass like ‘er. She’s sharp as anything, knows how to keep her head screwed on in any situation, and has this wicked sense of humor that has us rollin’ on the decks. Most extraordinary person I’ve ever met.”

  I didn’t know what to make of him, now that he’d said that about Lauren. I’d been ready to huff and puff until the message got through, but there appeared to be genuine affection in his voice. His eyes had gone twinkly, a wistful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. To an outsider like me, it was clear he had feelings for Lauren, but he didn’t seem aware of them. In fact, it was pretty obvious that Lauren had feelings for him, too, though she didn’t seem willing to admit them either.

  They would make for a strange pair, but then again, a coldblood and a human had once seemed just as unlikely.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  After locking Stone back in the storage closet, I walked toward the cockpit, where Bashrik was setting a course for Glossa. Lauren had already passed the news on to him, and he didn’t seem too upset about joining forces with a known criminal. I supposed we were past all that, given our own misdemeanors. I just hoped that meant the others were on board too, though they were nowhere to be seen. I thought about going in search of them, but I was too tired. Threatening Stone had taken the last morsel of energy I had, forcing me to seek comfort in the copilot’s seat. I sank down, taking deep breaths as I stared through the windshield at the grimy canal.