Chapter 4 4

They're all acting like nothing at all has happened.

I realize the Neron I began to form into a deadly weapon has dissipated.

Instead of determination, my focus to kill Cyrillius right here and now, I find fear singing in my blood and in my brain.

"You're a difficult woman to find," Cyrillius says.

My brain can't catch up. What just happened? Why...why whenever I think about doing what I came here to do, can I only think of the shrieks I heard?

Cyrillius smiles and stands, clasping his hands together behind his back, almost as if he is mimicking me. "I would be very interested to hear where you have been the past five lunars. I've had billions of eyes looking for you, and until now, you have gone undetected. Hiding that well takes special skill in this day and age."

"Go to void," I breathe as I glare at the man I hate more than anything in this entire universe.

Cyrillius gives a smile, condescending and controlled. "May I ask where you finally captured her?" He turns to Edan.

"She was trying to slip away from Laziria," he says, practicing the lie that isn't totally a lie. Because if the Kinduri dig into his mind, I need them to see what he says. "Brave little cack-she. I'd heard rumors she was there a while back, but slipped away. How arrogant must she be to think she could keep slipping in and out!"

Cyrillius makes a noise of acknowledgement and his eyes slip back to me. "So you stole a ship on Korpillion and went gallivanting about the Eon galaxy, is that it?"

I glare at the evil man, imagining all the ways I wish he would die.

His face distorts and flickers, a scream ripping through my brain.

I blink, shaking my head.

What is happening?

"Yes," I say. My lips form words before my brain can plan how I should handle this. "I took what I needed and I got off that planet before you could ruin everything."

"And what of the woman you worked with?" he says. He comes to stand in front of me. He's so tall. He towers a full head taller than me, looking down at me with those warm, brown eyes of his. "The woman who ran the mine? Reena McDyer?"

Reena. Reena. The offer on her head wasn't conditional on her being brought in alive. He wants her punished, permanently, for taking what he thinks of as his.

He wants her dead.

"She's dead," I say, putting as much confidence into my voice as I can. "It was something I hadn't thought about, that our immune systems might not take kindly to the ecosystems and bacteria of other planets. Guess they say get your vaccinations for a reason." I'm faking it, all this confidence. I have to be good at it. I have to be a good liar. "We both picked up a bug on one of the planets where we re-supplied. I fell unconscious after the worst few days of my life. When I woke up..." I let my words trail off, letting my eyes fall to the floor for show. "Reena was dead."

For just a moment, Cyrillius' expression is blank, his eyes boring into mine, evaluating everything I say.

He must believe me. Because a smile begins to form on his face.

"You slamming cack-" I lunge toward him, but am brought to my knees as a bolt of Neron energy rips through my body.

It hurts more than anything ever.

But then it feels good. Just one dart of pain and I instantly capture it inside of me. I hold onto it. I store it for later.

A wicked smile begins to form on my face as I look up at Cyrillius standing above me.

Screams. Shrieks.

Cyrillius' face distorts and the lights flicker as I begin to think about all the ways I'm going to cut him apart.

The breath catches in my throat, nearly choking me.

And like he knows exactly what is happening, Cyrillius smiles again. It's broad. His teeth are all straight, and the line of them is perfectly even, as if all his teeth were filed down to be the same length. There's even a dimple in his left cheek.

"I thank you for bringing her to me, Commander 12-3," Cyrillius says, looking to the side at the woman who led us into the Compound. "You can pay this young fellow and escort him back to his ship."

"He wanted to be paid by you himself before he leaves," the woman with no name, only a number, says.

"That's not entirely the truth," Edan says. My skin breaks out into goosebumps, fear showing on my skin in a physical way. "I need something from her and I don't intend to leave until she does it. I hope you will understand."

Slag, slag, slag, I think in a resounding chorus in my brain when Cyrillius looks over at Edan.

He's the most powerful man in the galaxy. He's responsible for the deaths of billions. Edan is just one tiny nobody. And he's just stood up to the giant.

"Considering you were able to capture the woman I had thousands hunting for, I will give one hour of my time as a thank you for your merits," the man says, chilling me. "12-3, bring the prisoner and her delivery man to my office."

I don't even get to take one breath after that before the man behind me yanks me back to my feet and I trip and stumble as he shoves me back in the direction we just walked.

Back through the line of Kinduri, I'm forced to walk.

We came all this way through the Compound just so that Cyrillius could show me off. Show that even I cannot hide from him. No one can.

I wonder if Arden will be talking about my capture tonight on her spacecast. I wonder if the galaxy will feel defeated just a little more.

Don't give up. I send the thought out into the ether. Don't lose your fighting spirit.

I'm marched down the hall and then to the right, down another hall. The ceilings stretch tall this way, and gold and Neron blue mixes among the ashy black that everything seems to be constructed of. There are intricate designs in the walls, laid into the floor, creating light paths along the ceiling.