For the first time, I wonder what that would be. He said he left Ithiss-Tor because sexual relations between his people sometimes became deadly. So that means he’s been alone this whole time? Not that it’s any of my business.

On some level, I’m aware I’m losing myself in these inane speculations in order to distract myself from the soul-scouring fear engendered by the echoing shrieks. The Teras sound so goddamn close now; they should be on Vel’s screen.

Two red signatures blossom on his handheld, dead ahead. Then two more, except they aren’t where they’re supposed to be.

The ceiling above us shakes, disintegrates like the dry dirt of an insect hive. Crumbles down on us in great clods that shimmer with the eerie light. I can’t see them, but I can hear them overhead, claws working. Their terrible keens reverberate inside my skull, making me feel like my brains will bleed out my nose.

“Behind!” Hit yells.

And then they come at us from both sides in a terrible rush.

* * *

CHAPTER 36

Jael spins and fires, a ruddy orange cone jetting from his weapon. Ahead of us, Vel takes the ones coming down the corridor in front. Then we’re trapped.

Burning on both sides, like standing in the middle of a charnel house and praying you don’t catch, too. I shake all over.

Shrill cries of rage echo through the tunnels. The smell seems to enrage the ones trying to get at us from above, but the opening isn’t quite big enough yet. Claws rasping, they make a hole like the one I saw half a kilometer back.

Hit eyes the ones above and then leaps. Her knife shimmers in a silver arc as she stabs at . . . nothing. But somehow she hits. The Tera screams in agony. When she severs the claw, it drops in a spatter of green fluid and lies visible on the softly glowing stone floor, opening and closing as the nerve endings die. Apparently the smell of blood, any blood, maddens them. Because overhead, an ominous thump and another scream says the monsters have turned on each other.

“Move!” Vel shouts.

Agreed. We don’t want to be here when the ceiling gives way entirely. Ahead, the two Teras still twist and char, inky black smoke roiling from their putrid flesh.

“Dive and roll,” Jael adds. “Apart from Dina of course. You should have enough lift to get past them. If your clothing catches, don’t panic.”

Easy for him to say. He doesn’t have burn scars.

The bounty hunter leaps past with a well-timed spring, hits the stone floor with his hands, and tucks into a neat roll. Hit follows suit with a natural grace that suggests she’d be dangerous on the dance floor, too. Cursing, Dina maneuvers until she can glide by. In its death throes, one of the creatures sends her careening into the tunnel wall.

She skids in a shower of sparks to the end of the corridor, where Hit stops the sled with a boot. “I’ve seen better flying from a drunk aircab driver.”

Occupied with stabilizing the sled, Dina mutters, “Bite me,” in lieu of a more creative comeback.

The pilot grins. “I just might.”

Dina’s head comes up, her face pale. But before I hear what she says, Jael gives me a shove from behind. “Get moving, Jax.”

As if to punctuate his words, a huge chunk of rock crashes to the floor just in front of me. The fight going on overhead sounds savage. Terrifying. Five meters above, they’re devouring each other alive and shattering stone in the process.

But I can’t. There’s actual fire curling from the sizzling meat. He’s lucky I haven’t puked all over his boots.

“Jael,” I begin shakily.

“Oh, for Mary’s sake,” he bites out. “It’s a good thing you don’t weigh much.”

“Wha—”

“Vel! Think fast.”

And then I’m launched, sailing toward the bounty hunter. Everything blurs as I tumble, crash into him, and go down. Jael lands on top of me in an ungainly pile. I suspect he may have cracked my rib with his knee, but before I can bitch about that, the tunnel collapses in a great mound of rubble and dust.

There’s no going back now. I couldn’t get to March even if I wanted to. Mary, I hope the warning came in time.

Three more red shapes appear on Vel’s handheld. And lucky us—they’re on our side of the block.

Hit nudges Dina farther down the new passage as Jael shoves my head down. Vel fires over the top of us, lighting the closest one. They’re not smart, these Teras, because they try to push past, and then shriek as they’re burned. We see their flesh where it chars. It’s odd, like a tear in consensual reality: seeing a shadow suddenly flare into full view through a tendril of licking flame.

Jael fires twice more in quick succession, engulfing all three of them. In narrow tunnels where we control our movements, these monsters are vulnerable. First they can’t spot us easily, and then they’re alight.

When we reach the surface, it will be a different hunt for them.

“Halfway there,” Vel says as we get our breath. He sets me on my feet. “Anything broken?”

I wince and rub my side. “Not sure. But I’m ambulatory, don’t worry.”

“You better be,” Dina says. “You’re not hitching a ride.”

Flicking a look at Jael, I ignore her for the time being. “You really believe in tough love,” I mutter, sotto voce.

It’s a throwaway complaint. I’ve made thousands of them in my life. In fact, I should be thanking him for saving my ass.

“I don’t believe in love at all,” he returns, equally quiet. “It’s just a name people give the endorphins that spring up after some really hot fucking, and the justification they use to manipulate the shit out of each other afterward. Now move your ass. I want to see starlight sometime soon.”

“Is it nightfall?” Hit asks. “I’ve lost track of time down here.”

She’s right. I don’t even know what time we left the camp or how many days we were down there. Without a sunrise to help mark its passage or a ship’s computer to keep track for me, I have no more sense of time than I do direction.

“There are four hours left until daybreak,” Vel advises us, after some tapping on his handheld.

“How long will this last kilometer take?” Dina wants to know.

I’m glad she asked because now I don’t have to. My shoulder aches from hauling my pack. I hope 245 is okay in there. After Vel snatched me in Maha City, she asked me to install her in a droid body. She didn’t enjoy watching what happened without being able to impact events, which means I was right about her AI chip. Since we’ve been together, she’s evolved from her original function, and I now consider her a friend.

As a bonus, she’ll also prove invaluable as an aide. If I upgrade her, she can function as my assistant on Ithiss-Tor, too. She’ll coach me on customs and etiquette with a precision no human aide could match. So once we’re out of here, I’ll see about buying her a body from Pretty Robotics. When I have cred, that is.

Of course I could take Jael’s advice and charge it to Chancellor Tarn. He wouldn’t quibble over a personal aide, would he? Never mind that I could hire a human one much cheaper than I could requisition a suitable frame for 245.

My internal monologue keeps me sane. I manage to filter out the distant stench of acrid smoke that’s burning our oxygen. Block out the tons of stone that make me feel like I’ve been buried alive. Mary, I have so many hang-ups. If I wasn’t scared of them, too, I’d see a Psych about it.

People would laugh their asses off if they knew how much of my tough act comes from pure pretense. During our plodding progress, Vel checks and double-checks to make sure there are no deadly surprises lurking around each turn. I keep my eyes on Dina’s sled. It has a series of lights along the bottom, giving a faint glow that frosts the metal.

The others watch the tiny screen on Vel’s handheld. We’re slaves to it. I’m aware that the tiniest mechanical malfunction could cost our lives. And technology has a tendency to break down around me for no apparent reason.

I remember the busted phase drive we suffered on the Folly, just after we reached Marakeq. From what Dina said, there was no logical reason for it. And that kind of thing happens to me all the time. When our Skimmer exploded, I thought that might’ve been me, too, until I learned otherwise.

For like the fifth time, Jael asks, “Anything?”

Until even Vel loses patience with him. “Have I failed even once to alert you if there was?”

Damn. That’s Vel-speak for, Will you please shut the fuck up already? I don’t think anyone’s ever managed to get on the bounty hunter’s nerves before. To my knowledge, he’s the king of cool. I don’t know whether Jael should be praised or pitied for this accomplishment.

“No,” the merc says grudgingly. “Sorry. The quiet’s just making me nervous.”

“It’s like the eye of the storm,” Hit agrees. “You can sense something’s coming, feel it prickling over your skin, but you don’t know what until it explodes in your face.”

To my surprise Dina laughs. Might be the first time I’ve heard her do so since the attack that maimed her. “I think I like you.”

Hit flicks a look over one shoulder. “You flirting with me?”

“Would you like me to be?” Dina actually tosses back her hair.

“That depends on your intentions.” Damn, but the woman put some heat into that. I even felt it, and I’ve never hit on a woman when I wasn’t drunk.

“Is it dirty that this turns me on?” Jael asks nobody in particular.

“Yes,” Vel answers, without looking away from the device that’s saved our lives. I can’t fault him for that. I’m also impressed with his coordination; I’d have walked into several walls by now. “Ahead, it looks like the incline to the surface.”

As if in answer, a cool, fresh wind blows down over us.

“What are we waiting for?” Hit demands. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

* * *

CHAPTER 37

There’s an actual door at the top of the slope, a solid metal one meant to keep stuff out. I hope it’s well camouflaged on the other side. We pause here, with freedom on the other side of the door. We’ll have to navigate the lock to get out, but one thing at a time. At this point, preparation is key.

“Is anyone bleeding?” Jael asks. “Check carefully. I have some liquid skin if you are. We need to seal you up.”

Everyone conducts an inspection, and we find minor scrapes here and there. The merc oversees the application of the liquid skin, making sure we’re ready to go out in the wind. Dina’s fingers are raw from where she hit the wall.

I find a scratch on my elbow. Hell, I’m lucky it’s not worse, the way Jael hurled me like a javelin. I’m not particularly aerodynamic.

“This might sting a little,” Jael murmurs.

Why is he smiling? I hiss as he squirts my elbow, and I feel the sealant bond with my existing skin. Best bandage in a bottle that credits can buy.

“Everyone good?” Lofting the liquid skin, Jael checks us all one last time.