He flipped the gun in his hand, leveling it in our direction. “Oh, relax. We’re legal.”

None of this made a damn bit of sense to me, and I really didn’t care at the moment. I glanced at Mia and saw frustrated defeat in her expression. We had powers, sure, but they were useless against bounty hunters who could leap ten feet straight into the air. Alexei might have fried them, but the mere fact of being on a space station kneecapped his abilities. “You’re anomalies?” I asked.

Hallam shook his head. “We’re so much more. I’ll tell you all about it on the ship. Come on, little girl. It’s time to go home. Your daddy’s worried about you.”

The mention of my father tensed every muscle in my body, my jaw locking too tightly to even reply to the taunt. My own frustrated defeat was mirrored in my friends’ expressions—and I glimpsed something like panic in Mia’s. I glanced at Alexei, hoping if she charged, he would catch her. Mia more than anyone hated confinement. I wasn’t at all sure she wouldn’t choose death over imprisonment, and if that meant taking the rest of us with her, well . . .

But before anyone could do anything, Hallam jerked as if someone had shoved an electric rod down his spine. He shot straight as a bar of steel, his body spasming, and then collapsed to the ground.

Priya spun. “Reinforcement!” she yelled. “We need—” Her voice cut off as she, too, went numb from an electrical burst and tumbled on top of Hallam.

Cage stood behind her, a powerful Omnistellar-grade stun baton in his hand. “This way!” he snapped. “Hurry, before they catch up!”

I didn’t wait to be told twice. He opened a nearby grate in the wall and the others dove through it. Panic drove me forward and I lunged. Everything vanished in a flash, a blur of motion and wind just like when Cage had carried me. I slammed hard against the grate’s opening, stilling my motion, and launched myself forward without thought, blind panic driving me. I scurried along so fast I jammed my elbows into the walls, drawing blood with every movement, leaving the others behind. The scent of the aliens filled my nostrils as every memory of pursuit swallowed me, blinding me and making me rush for any sort of freedom. Ghost claws tore at my flesh as I lurched farther into the darkness, bile teasing the back of my tongue and the sick, clattering hiss of their breath echoing in my ears . . .

“Kenzie!” called Cage. “Wait up!”

The panic dulled at the sound of his voice, although it didn’t abate. Obsidian. You’re on Obsidian. Running from bounty hunters, not aliens. I dug my fingers into the grating, forcing my heartbeat to return to normal. Bounty hunters. Dangerous, yes. But not aliens. Would these glimmers of terror haunt the rest of my life?