“I will if she’ll let me.” Reed jogged ahead and caught up to Priya. They engaged in a quick conversation, and then she reluctantly lowered her weapon, allowing him to lay his hand on her arm.

“Speaking of powers,” I said to Imani, “how the hell did you get everyone out of their cells?”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, that. I saw the security feed. It looked like you slipped the cuffs right off.”

“Apparently I can move through pieces of solid material now.” She shrugged, as if this were no big deal. “Only small ones. I tried getting through the bars earlier, and it didn’t work. But I can sort of make things intangible if they’re small and I don’t make it last too long.”

Imani made things intangible. Mia made people invisible. Matt resurrected. And me . . . I did everything, or seemed to. Was this a good thing? Were our powers increasing, or was our DNA shifting? Were we becoming aliens ourselves? That thought almost knocked me off my feet, but I forced myself steady. None of us showed any physical changes, and Liam hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort happening on his own planet. I clung to that hope.

Cage also seemed worried, or maybe only thoughtful. He caught me staring and smiled. Somehow that helped. Whatever changes the aliens might work on our DNA, we were still ourselves. We were in another alien-infested ship, seconds away from a grisly death, and once again trying to rescue one of my parents, but having Cage at my side made all the difference.

Part of me wanted to feel guilty over wasted time, over the tension between us, but I smacked that part of me down. I might have started building walls, but my suspicion of him was in some ways justified. We’d both kept secrets. Both clung to lies. Both let fear and anxiety drive us. Feeling bad didn’t make things better. It was time to let all of that go.

Ahead of us, Priya, now healed, beckoned me forward. Without being asked, Mia took a position on the other side of the door, the big laser cannon at the ready. We stationed ourselves around the corridor. Priya gave me a short nod. I swiped Dad’s omnicard, then jumped aside.

Nothing leaped out of engineering to greet us, so we advanced cautiously. With everyone wearing emergency lights, engineering stood out in sharp angles and shadows, fully illuminated. Priya, Alexei, and Mia blocked my view, though, so I didn’t see Dad until I’d taken a few steps inside.

He stood with his back to us, bent over a console. Blood still oozed from the wound on his head, but he was conscious and working. He must have heard us come in, must have seen the lights, but he didn’t look up from his task. “Dad!” I cried, half in relief, half in terror.

That made him hesitate a second. Then he continued plugging away at the console. “Dad,” I repeated, more fear in my voice. Cage’s arm tightened around my waist.