Reed finished his healing and the boy launched himself to his feet, dragging himself out of the crevice and shoving past us. “You’re one to talk,” he tossed over his shoulder as he stormed down the corridor. “How did you deal with the aliens?”

“That was Mia,” Cage said crossly to the kid’s retreating back. “And also, bloodthirsty aliens. So, you know, not the same thing.”

Reed flopped back in the crevice and stared up at us, shaking his head. “This is getting worse, you know. More fights. More stupid little arguments. People waking up screaming because someone passed them on the way to the bathroom in the night. The original plan, the drifting through space to freedom thing? That’s not going to work unless we get a whole team of psychiatrists in here with us.” He looked thoughtful. “Think Omnistellar would sponsor us? It’d make a hell of a live vid series. Watch the Anomaly Kids of Sanctuary deal with their alien-induced PTSD, on the aliens’ ship, no less! Live and in color!”

Cage stared at him blankly. “In color? What else would it be in, shades of green?”

“You really need to learn your history,” Reed sighed.

I jumped in before he could launch into a lecture. Reed was usually about the best-natured among us, but get him going on spaceships, or racing, or technological history, or anything, really, with an electronic focus, and you’d be there the rest of your life. “Thanks, Reed. We’ll keep an eye on things.” I caught Cage’s sleeve and dragged him in the opposite direction.

Once I had him around the corner, though, I glanced both ways and met his gaze steadily. “He’s not wrong. People are starting to freak out. We’re living on an alien ship, Cage. Every inch of it reminds us of those things.”

“If you have another plan, I’m all ears.”

I shrugged helplessly, and once again that tension built between us. Cage and I had been together every step of this journey, from the moment the aliens attacked Sanctuary, through our devastating near misses, discovering the chip that meant I had powers of my own, escaping the station . . . We hadn’t known each other that long, but the sheer breadth of our shared experiences made it feel much longer. We slept side by side in the same crevice at night, worked out together during the day, argued over the best course of action.

And yet . . . every day, we seemed to grow further apart. Lying about me killing Matt? Cage’s idea. Venting the aliens into space? Ditto. And he kept doing it, every moment of every day. I couldn’t help but wonder . . . was he doing it to me, too?

“Hey,” he said, reaching out. For a moment it seemed like he might take my hand, and my skin tingled in anticipation, but his fingers fluttered softly back to his side. “You all right? You vanished again.”