My skin crawled as we passed the closed command center. I suspected other areas of this ship, areas with large concentrations of people like the downstairs dormitory, were equally gory. I had no desire to find out firsthand.

We reached the office without incident. I swiped Dad’s omnicard, stepped inside, and stopped short.

Dad was gone.

“I left him here,” I said, panic lending volume to my voice. “Right here. He was hurt. He couldn’t have moved far, not by himself.”

Matt gently pushed me aside and crouched where I pointed. “There’s blood on the carpet,” he said to Priya. “No trail or anything, though.”

“He couldn’t have moved without help,” I repeated, staring at the empty space as if I might will him into existence. “I never should have left him. I should have . . .”

“What?” Priya demanded, her tone gentler than I expected. “Sat here with him in the dark and waited for a monster to attack you?”

“I don’t . . .”

“If the aliens got him, there’d be more blood. He probably woke up and dragged himself to a more secure location.” She glanced around the room. “Nowhere to hide in here. Our best bet is to stick to our original plan. Find your friends. The girl who talks to computers can locate your father.”

My head jerked up. “Matt,” I said. I hated to ask him for any favors, but . . . “Does your power still work the way it used to? I mean . . .”

“I know what you mean,” he said softly. “I’ve been looking for other human life off and on since we discovered the command center. That’s how we found you.”

“And? Do you sense anything now?”

He frowned. “Yes. Something. Someone. Farther along this corridor. I can’t tell how many or who, though. The aliens always messed with my abilities.”

“That’s it?”

“No,” he replied, but very slowly. “Kenzie, I really can’t say for sure. I think . . . there’s someone in engineering.”

Hope sparked in my chest. “It was empty when I checked earlier.”

“And now it maybe isn’t. I don’t know.”

Something clattered in the hall, and we all jumped to attention. Hallam jerked his heavy gun toward the exit and scowled. “This is getting us nowhere. Priya, what are your orders?”

She glanced at me, at the closed door, at Matt, but her expression never changed. “Engineering is right across the hall, but it’s big and full of hiding places. It’s safer once we have reinforcements. We’ll stick to our original plan and check the armory. If nothing else, we can upgrade our weapons.” She raised a hand, forestalling my objection before my lips even formed the words. “We’ll head to engineering after.”

It looked like she expected me to argue, but she wasn’t wrong. Part of me didn’t know where I wanted to head first, anyway. My father seemed like my last link to my old life, but my friends were my family in so many ways now. It was almost a relief to have the decision about who to save first taken from my hands. “All right,” I said. “But let’s hurry.”