“That energy—it can’t fall into the hands of the Nihil,” Reath said quietly.

Cohmac held up a cautionary hand. “Do not reveal your presence if you can possibly help it.” There was no knowing exactly where the two Nihil were on the station, or what they might be doing. “But seek out any evidence of their activities since we departed. We must know what their plans have been before we can know how to counter them.”

Reath nodded as he set aside his exosuit helmet. “Nan was sneaking around in the lower tunnels. That’s probably where I should start.”

Cohmac nodded. He didn’t like letting an apprentice go into such a hazardous situation alone, but he and Orla would have to give all their power to the effort that lay ahead. Reath could be shielded from that danger, but no others.

“The visions we had before,” Orla said, frowning. “There’s something about them—”

“What?” Cohmac had taken them as no more than nightmares generated by the nearness of so much negative energy.

“Something familiar, when it wasn’t before.” Orla paused, then shook her head. “I can’t explain it yet.”

“Whatever answers we can get, we need soon.” With that Cohmac walked into the station, Orla at his side, readying himself for whatever came.

How did these tunnels get even darker?

Nothing could be blacker than black, but it seemed to Reath this particular blackness had really, really tried. He made his way forward very slowly, setting each foot down silently. The beam from his glow rod illuminated only the thinnest sliver of the curving walls around him.

Before long he found the circular hatch where Dez had died, which led to the path he and Nan had traveled down before. At that time, Reath had been looking for answers about Dez. He no longer trusted Nan’s explanation for why she’d been there. What had she really been after? Whatever it was, he’d probably kept her from it.

Time to figure it out. Hague and Nan had clearly had a secret agenda throughout their stay on the station, and Reath didn’t intend to let it slip by him again. If he managed to confront and arrest them, he intended to hold them responsible for everything they’d done.

Cautiously, Reath spun the hatch open and eased his way through, reminding himself, Be careful about the helix rings—

I don’t actually see the helix rings—

Since when is this tunnel white inside?

The hatch slammed shut.

Reath wheeled around and tried to push it open again, but no. Through the thin slits of the door, he saw no light or movement; nobody was out there. Whatever had happened with the hatch was automatic. But an automated system could kill him as surely as any being’s malice.