“Oh.” My relief has me sinking back into the my chair.
“Thanks to Treto, wedoknow where Earth is,” Anna says, turning her full attention on me. “That means you and Skylar have the choice I didn’t. You can go home, if you want to.”
For some reason this comes as a shock to me. All this time, and never once have I even thought about going home. In fact, I can’t say I’ve even missed it. But now, knowing I could?
“I haven’t been gone that long. People are probably only just starting to miss me,” I mutter, mostly to myself.
“Your family must miss you,” Deja offers.
“No. My family is all gone.” Tipping back my wine, I drink half the glass in one go. “I’ve probably been fired from my job, and my roommates will be looking for my share of the rent, but that’s all.”
“Would it be so bad to stay?” Anna asks me. “After all, Treto is here.”
A smile tugs at my lips, and I finish my glass. “Maybe.” But then another thought crosses my mind. “What about Skylar, though? Her parents must be worried sick.”
“Just because you choose to stay doesn’t mean she has to stay as well,” Deja assures me. “We’ll make sure she gets home.”
Suddenly the door bursts open, and Rovos barges in. “Treto’s been taken hostage.”
All of us turn to stare at him, too stunned to speak.
“He’s what?” Anna shouts, jumping to her feet.
I’m not sure if it’s the wine, but his words seem to take a moment longer to sink in for me. Meanwhile Anna and Rovos are arguing, and all I can hear is,Treto…hostage!
“Bela!” Skylar’s familiar voice cuts through my alcohol haze, and suddenly she’s throwing herself at me, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t—it’s all my fault!”
“Wait, wait, wait…” I push her back to see her panicked, tear-streaked face, then grip her narrow shoulders. “Start from the beginning. What happened?”
She sniffs, wiping at her eyes and nose before taking a deep, shaky breath. “Ravi was showing me the hangar, and Treto caught us.” Skylar’s eyes jump to Deja. “I didn’t know we weren’t supposed to be there. Another alien snuck up behind him with a gun. He wasn’t like any of you. He had, like, a tentacle beard! Actually, he looked a lot like Davey Jones, you know, in that movie. He said he was here to take us back to Lux, but Treto... He talked him out of it. That’s when he took him and Ravi, and I ran back here.”
“An unregistered cruiser just made an unauthorized jump,” Xan announces from the doorway.
“That goddamnedidiot,” I fume quietly, setting my glass aside. It takes me a couple tries to keep it upright before it falls over on its side anyway. “We have to go after him.”
“It’s not that easy,” Xan tells me, folding his arms across his chest. “The cruiser is unregistered. No doubt they jumped as soon as they breached the atmo, which means they could be anywhere.”
My eyes close, and I take a deep breath. I’m pretty sure I sway on my feet a little. “You guys have all this advanced technology, and you’re telling me there isn’t a way to track them?”
Rovos turns to look behind him at Xan, and something wordless passes between them. “Do you have trackers?”
“Trackers don’t work when the hyperdrive is engaged,” Xan says slowly. “We’ll have to wait until they drop out.”
I’m really struggling to follow along with everything that’s going on. And more and more people are squeezing into Deja’s small room. The newest one is Brox, who is standing just inside the doorway next to his father, with his eyes locked on Igid’s reclining form.
There isdefinitelysomething going on between them. I file that way for later and try to focus back on the argument happening between Rovos and Xan.
“So, are we going after them, or what?” I finally butt in, tired of waiting for someone to make a damned decision.
“It won’t take more than a moment to find them in theShade,” Igid assures me, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch.
Rovos and Anna share a look. “I’ll stay here,” she tells him with a nod in my direction. “You go find Treto and bring him home.”
Reaching out, Rovos cups the side of her face. “I promised time alone with you.”
“This is important. There will be other times,” Anna assures him quietly.
“I can help,” Brox speaks up.
