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  I nodded. “We’re going to let you go today. We just need your ship to complete our mission.”

  He froze, starting to sob uncontrollably, the half-chewed fish tumbling out of his wailing mouth in stinky flakes. “My time has finally come! My mother warned me of this!” he cried. “I pray to the goddesses of the ocean, past and present, to carry my soul across the waves of paradise, and bring me safely to the waters of eternal happiness. May my hearts be light enough to swim and not sink.”

  “Killick, we’re not here to kill you,” I repeated.

  “You said you were going to ‘let me go.’ I know what that means—it is a euphemism for death. You are just trying to fool me, so I go quietly into the great unknown!”

  I didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh. “No, Killick, I really mean we’re going to let you go. We’ll put you in one of the escape pods and send you to the nearest planet. We’re going to throw in plenty of valuables, so you can easily buy passage back to your home planet.”

  Killick slithered into the pool, a wave of relief washing over his face. “You are really going to let me live? Do you swear it?”

  “I promise! We’re going to put you in a pod and let you go home,” I said firmly. “Sorry for scaring you like that… and sorry for stealing such an expensive ship. Honestly, we would’ve taken it even if it had been an old rust-bucket. It just so happened you had a really nice one.”

  He relaxed even further, lying on his back in the pool and kicking his feet. “My father will simply buy me another. It wouldn’t be the first time. I crashed my last one; he’ll just be pleased it wasn’t my fault, on this occasion. My father is Orcino Loligo, you know,” he said proudly, as though it was supposed to mean something.

  I moved over to the tub and sat down on the edge. “Oh, really?” I said, not sure what else to say.

  “He is a merevin deserving of the wondrous reputation he has attained. There are not many as famous as him,” Killick gushed, flashing me a knowing glance, like the mere mention of his father was meant to impress me. At the very least, he appeared to assume everyone knew who his father was. Realizing what I’d put the poor guy through in the last twenty-four hours, I decided to play along.

  “Of course, Orcino Loligo is legendary!” I said, pretending to be awestruck. “He’s your father? I can’t believe I didn’t see the resemblance. Now that you mention it, I can see the similarity!”

  Killick nodded along. “That’s what everyone says. My father and I share the same wave pattern across our skin, which nobody else has. It’s subtle, but you can really tell if you take a closer look.” He swam smoothly up to where I sat and shoved his bare arm in my face. Truthfully, it looked the same as the pattern I’d seen on Xiphio and the other merevins, but I wasn’t about to burst his bubble.

  “I see it!”

  “I knew you would.” He grinned, admiring his skin.

  It was becoming clearer that this guy was kind of a spoiled rich kid who had a good heart, but was a bit ignorant about life beyond the realms of his wealthy existence. He’d probably never had to do anything for himself in his entire life, and us stealing his ship and taking him hostage had been something of a shock. Now that he knew there was no danger, however, he seemed perfectly at ease with the situation, swimming around in the tub as though nothing was wrong.

  “Do you think your friends will be worried about you?” I asked, remembering the two other merevins I’d seen him with.

  Killick shook his head. “Goodness, no. They came on different ships and will be leaving on different ships. They probably figured I found a delightful young woman and took her away somewhere.” He flashed me a curious look. “I suppose that isn’t entirely a lie.”

  I grimaced, feeling embarrassed. “Yeah, sorry about leading you on like that.”

  “I enjoyed the charade while it lasted, fair maiden,” he replied, his cheeks flushing purple. “You were sublime in that gown, though you have a certain charm in these… peasant clothes.”

  “Still not going to happen, Killick,” I said, chuckling.

  “You do not find me attractive?” He looked crestfallen.

  “Amphibians have never really been my thing, but I’m sure you’re lovely.”

  He arched a mischievous eyebrow. “I can hold my breath for a really long time.”

  Ignoring him, I changed the subject. “Anyway, I just wanted to come in here and explain what’s going on, in case you were worried,” I said. “The thing is, we’re trying to rescue our friend and save our home planet from a powerful enemy, and we need this ship to do that. So, if you could… hold off on reporting us to the authorities, that would be greatly appreciated. I realize I have no right to ask, but right now I’m not above begging.”

  “A rescue mission?” Killick gasped, his eyes twinkling with excitement. “Please, you must allow me to assist you!”

  “I wouldn’t want to put you in that kind of danger, Killick. You’re a prominent figure, given who your father is, and I wouldn’t want to upset anyone by getting you mixed up in trouble,” I replied quickly, praying he wouldn’t try to stay with us. I was already wrangling one too many errant additions to our crew; we didn’t need another.

  “At least let me protect you!”

  I frowned. “Protect us?”

  “Yes, I will return home and lie to my father about this ship’s whereabouts,” he explained, grinning. “I will tell him that I gave it to some peasants, who were desperately in need of transport. And a new wardrobe.” I knew he didn’t mean any offense by what he said—he likely didn’t even realize he’d said something mildly insulting. I wasn’t about to point it out to him, considering he was essentially giving us his ship.

  “You’d really do that?”

  Killick splashed around delightedly. “I would, Miss Lapin! I will never forget your mercy or your boundless courage in the face of adversity. You are a queen amongst women, dear creature, and you should have a vessel to match your might.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say…” I paused, about to explain that what I’d done had nothing to do with mercy, because I’d never planned to hurt him, but I guessed it was probably easier to just accept his compliment. “Thank you for this, Killick. I will never forget your generosity and forgiveness.”

  “It has been my pleasure, Miss Lapin.”

  “Call me Riley, please.”

  He swam up and took my hand, pressing it to his lips. “It has been a wondrous feat of serendipity, our meeting in this manner. I shall forever be grateful for it.”

  “Thank you,” I repeated, feeling awkward. “Anyway, I should be getting back. I’ll be back soon to collect you, though. Will you be okay in the meantime?”

  “I shall await your return!” Killick declared, before diving backward in a seamless arc, slicing through the water with barely a splash.

  Taking that as my cue to go, I left the bathroom, wedging the door shut behind me. Stepping back out into the main body of the ship, I was surprised to find a smile on my face. After meeting both Agent Xiphio and Killick, I decided I rather liked merevins. They were a little strange, that was true, but they were undeniably charming.

  Chapter Eleven

  A few hours later, the escape pod was ready to go. Killick was in good spirits, shaking everyone’s hands and wishing us good luck in our endeavors.

  “Ah, so you were in on it, too?” he cried cheerfully, clapping Navan on the back.

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” Navan muttered. I could tell he didn’t quite know how to deal with the effusive merevin.

  Killick waved the apology away. “Don’t be ridiculous. Rescuers must do what rescuers must do! I would not stand in the way of triumph, or the salvation of your dear friend. I trust you will find her, wherever she may be,” he said brightly. “If you ever require further assistance, you will always be welcome in Almaghura. Mention my name, and you will be treated like royalty!”

  “And what name might that be?” Mort asked, his tone curious. He’d morphed back into
one of the Wander mechanics, not wanting to reveal his true face to the merevin.

  “Killick Loligo. A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he replied, shaking Mort’s hand.

  The shifter gasped. “The Supreme Minister’s son?”

  “The very same!” Killick beamed proudly.

  Mort whistled. “Well, cheers for being so accommodating.”

  “It is my honor to play even the smallest part in such a noble cause,” Killick insisted. “Even so, might I ask which planet you are sending me to?”

  Bashrik smiled kindly. “The pod is set to land on Twizig. It’s a trade planet, so you should be able to get a ride out easy enough.”

  “Never fear, I will find my way home,” Killick assured him, laughing. “I have been in far worse scrapes than this. Once, I woke up on a meteor after three days on the sauce, with no memory of how I got there, and no ship in sight! Even then, I managed to return home with very little fuss, though my father wasn’t pleased.” He grinned, as if proud of the act.

  We walked with him to the pod that Bashrik had set up, and stood around while Killick stepped inside, clutching several bags of his belongings and a credit device. He held up the latter, flashing a grin.

  “Help yourself to any more of these you find on board. I am forever losing them, all over this ship. Clumsy of me, really, but credits are just credits, right? I have more than I will ever know what to do with!” He laughed delightedly, sliding the device into his pocket. “Besides, there are plenty more for me to lose back home. Once I get back, anyway!”

  The pod itself was the size of the Snapper we’d used back on Vysanthe, with plenty of room and plush furnishings. He seemed happy enough as he stowed his things in the overhead cupboards and sat down.

  “All good?” Bashrik asked.

  “All good, coldblood!” Killick replied cheerily. “Ha, it almost rhymes!”

  Bashrik rolled his eyes discreetly. “I’m going to seal the doors, and then autopilot should take over, okay?” he instructed, moving to the panel at the side of the pod entrance.

  “Sounds excellent to me!”

  Bashrik pressed several buttons, causing the exterior and interior hatches to slide down and lock into place with a hiss of hydraulics. I could still see Killick through a small window in the doors, and he appeared to be singing to himself as Bashrik went through the final stages of the ejection procedure. I wished I could hear what it sounded like, but the thick doors made it impossible.

  A few seconds later, the pod disengaged with a jolt and floated off into the vacuum of space, a few jets burning brightly to move the pod in the right direction, heading for Twizig. I hoped he’d be okay, given what we’d put him through, and how generous he’d been with his ship.

  “Right, now that fish-boy is gone, I’m taking a nap!” Mort announced, morphing back into his natural state and turning to walk toward the main space of the vessel.

  “Not so fast, Mort. We’ve got things to do first. I think I should check the compass—see if we’re getting any closer to Lauren,” I suggested, knowing we needed to pick up speed if we wanted to catch up to her. So far, we’d been keeping our distance, the green dot always flashing a little way ahead of us, but now that gap needed to be closed.

  The others agreed, and we made our way back to the cockpit, where Bashrik had left the compass balanced on the dashboard. It was still flashing with three green dots, but one of them was lingering at the farthest edge of the map’s domain. In the time it had taken us to get Killick out into space, Lauren’s location had shifted dramatically, pushing the limits of what we could see on the holograph. Panic bristled through my veins.

  “Is she too far ahead?” Angie asked frantically. “Can we catch up to her?”

  “She isn’t getting away, Ange. Don’t worry,” Bashrik assured her. He slid into the pilot’s seat and pushed the throttle to full capacity, the ship firing forward with a forceful pull that sent me staggering backward. I kept my eyes on the compass, watching our agonizingly slow progression toward Lauren’s dot, which was already halfway off the map.

  “Is it just me, or has she stopped?” Navan asked, five minutes later, frowning at the holograph. True, the dot had been pushed to the very edge of the map’s limits, but it didn’t seem to be moving anymore.

  I peered closer. “I’m not sure.”

  “No, I think you’re right. The dot isn’t moving,” Ronad agreed, leaning over Navan’s shoulder to get a better look.

  “Which planet is that?” Navan asked, gesturing to a small gold circle that pulsed on the map. Since having the compass, I’d come to realize that the silver marks represented stars, bronze marks represented meteors and space debris, and the gold marks represented planets and moons.

  Bashrik scanned the map against the ship’s navigation system, picking out the planet that Navan was pointing to. His face fell as a set of symbols flashed up on the monitor. “You don’t want to know,” he muttered grimly.

  “What do you mean? Where is it?” I pressed.

  “It’s the Junkyard,” Ronad stated, shaking his head in disbelief. “Of all the planets in the universe, why’d it have to be that one?”

  Bashrik nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

  Navan didn’t look too pleased either, but nobody was explaining what the problem was. It didn’t sound too bad—it just sounded like the kind of place we’d visited on Wander. A planet covered in trash and scrap.

  “Can someone tell us humans what the hell is going on here?” Angie chimed in.

  “Yeah, what’s so bad about a junkyard?” I asked.

  Ronad shook his head. “Not a junkyard, the Junkyard.”

  Navan slipped his arm around my shoulders. “It’s a notorious planet, rumored to be inhabited by the worst criminals in this quadrant of the universe. Pirates, scavengers, robbers, gangsters, you name it—they’re all here,” he explained. “The authorities don’t even bother with it; they’ve all taken hush money to keep their distance. Plus, the last time a Fed team tried to raid it, they all disappeared without a trace. Nobody else wants to risk it.”

  “The Junkyard? That’s Ezra’s candy store. He’s always heading there to pick up weapons shipments for Orion,” Mort said suddenly, surprising us all.

  I frowned, remembering what Stone had said about delivering shipments to Ezra. It was impossible to be sure whether it was the same Ezra that we knew, but two and two generally made four. I mean, it made sense for Stone to go there, if that was the case. He was a dealer in black-market goods, after all, and the Junkyard was the perfect place for those kinds of people. I just prayed he didn’t plan to trade Lauren while he was there.

  “What does he collect for Orion?” I pressed, flashing Mort a curious glance. In the weeks we’d been traveling together, Mort had told us a lot about the rebels on Earth—how the base was set up, how many units they had, what they used to keep it shielded, how many failed trials they’d performed with the elixir to his knowledge, and how many soldiers Orion had at his disposal. It was a lot of useful information, which we were grateful for, but it always felt like he was holding something back. No matter how much it seemed like he’d hitched his loyalty to us, I still wasn’t sure whether I could fully trust Mort. Even he had told me never to fully trust him, and I was pretty certain he hadn’t been joking.

  Mort shrugged. “Just weapons. You name it, he wanted them. I saw a crate of implosion grenades once, but I never got a good look at the rest of the booty he brought back. I just know it wasn’t rainbows and marshmallows.”

  “So, this place is nasty. That’s the crux of it, right?” Angie said, her tone anxious.

  Bashrik nodded. “The nastiest.”

  “Well, we’ve still got some weapons. If we don’t attract too much attention, we should be fine, right?” she asked.

  “In a ship like this, the only thing we’ll do is attract attention,” Mort mocked. “They’re like piranhas down there. The minute we set down, we’ll have nothing but a frame to escape in.”


  “This thing does have a state-of-the-art invisibility shield, though, which I’ve been dying to use,” Bashrik remarked, gesturing to the control panel. “We’ll just have to park it somewhere isolated, where no one can accidentally walk into it. We can hide from the scanners if we’re smart.”

  “Good idea. We should probably make sure we’re armed when we land, too, like Angie said,” I suggested. “We could take a look around the ship, see if we can find any extra weapons lying around. I’m sure Killick must have some tucked away.”

  “I want to run a few diagnostics on the ship’s shield before we land,” Navan said, leaning down to kiss me on the lips. “Happy hunting. Hopefully, that merevin has a bazooka hidden away somewhere.”

  I grinned. “I’ll earmark it for you, babe.”

  “I can help you out,” Ronad offered. “I really know my way around this ship now.”

  With that, Ronad and I left the cockpit and wandered through the ship, rooting through every cupboard and cabinet, determined to find something useful. We still had the guns and one knife from the Coeptis, but we couldn’t exactly walk around with the spear in plain sight. It had folded smaller so we could bring it onto the maintenance transport and carry it throughout Wander, but it still wasn’t the most discreet of weapons.

  “You find anything?” Ronad asked, as we reconvened in the main space of the vessel.

  I shook my head, brandishing the feeble selection I’d managed to find. There were two knives, two huge staffs, and a gun of some sort—which I wasn’t entirely convinced was a weapon at all. It looked more like a drill, or some other kind of tool. Ronad had a similar collection, though he wasn’t trying to grapple with two cumbersome staffs, which we definitely wouldn’t be able to use anyway.

  “Where’s a good old-fashioned coldblood arsenal when you need one?” I joked.

  He laughed. “Tell me about it. I never thought I’d wish for a set of coldblood throwing stars.”

  “Do you think we have enough, with these knives and the guns we brought?”