There was no sign of Mia as the miners advanced into the warehouse, not giving any indication that they noticed anything amiss. Two men and a woman approached, joking and chatting, checking crates against something on their tablet. Cage’s chest convulsed against me with each breath, and my fingers turned white as I clutched the edge of a box, frantically scanning for anything that might reveal our presence and coming up empty. We were safe—for now.

But what if they didn’t leave? They wouldn’t come in merely to check one crate. Whatever they were doing, they’d make their way through the whole warehouse, which meant sooner or later, they’d find us. I closed my eyes, fighting for a plan. I hadn’t fled a secured prison only for some errant miners to capture me.

I gauged the distance to the doorway. If we stayed quiet, we could escape without alerting them and make our way to safety, wherever that might be.

I twisted in Cage’s arms. “Hey,” I whispered, and he turned, brushing his cheek against mine. “If we—”

A crack of electricity and a yelp of pain erupted from the other side of the crates. Without thinking, I shot to my feet in time to see the female miner pivot as her companion went down. Before she made a sound, a burst of stun gun fire, seeming to originate from nowhere, struck her in the back, and she collapsed too. The third miner met my eyes, his gaze wild. “What . . . ?” he managed before he joined his friends in the dirt.

“Mia!” I shouted, fury overwhelming common sense.

She appeared with a shimmer and arched an eyebrow in my direction. “Yes?” she asked.

“Where did you get that?”

“From Imani.” She returned it to the other girl. “Here. Thanks.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” I demanded.

Mia produced a revolver from her waistband. “You’d rather I used this?”

I closed my eyes against a wave of revulsion. “I thought we agreed to leave that on the ship.”

“Why would we? It has seven shots yet. It’s useful.”

Useful for killing people. My hands clenched into fists at my sides. How was I supposed to explain my sudden, irrational terror of that gun? It was the gun I’d held in my hands as I targeted the alien, when my shot went wide. Matt’s face suddenly appeared before me, his blond hair streaked with red, his eyes wide and staring. Because I’d missed. And I’d missed in the worst way possible.

“Kenz,” said Cage softly, a hint of warning in his tone. He was the only one who knew about Matt, and the only one who could follow my thoughts at the sight of the gun.

Somehow, I managed to keep my voice calm and steady. “Mia, there had to have been a better way to deal with this situation.”