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Back The Abyss Surrounds Us Save as PDF
Chapters (37)
  1. Dedication
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. Acknowledgments
  37. About the Author

She’s ruined Bao, perverted him even more than he already is. He’s been given human flesh as a reward for coming to his goddamn beacon, and I can’t erase that. And even worse, Bao’s proven her right. He doesn’t need fancy training, with beams and noises and beacons to tell him what to destroy. He’s already the monster she needs, and I raised him. I could have killed him, but I raised him.

I did this.

I let myself go limp until Swift’s the only thing keeping me standing. I keep my eyes fixed on the bloody stain, on Code’s legs sinking into the depths, on Bao as he plunges after them.

When Swift lets me go, I run.

21

21

The crowd parts. That’s the first surprise. The second is that Swift takes the time to wait for the captain’s approval before sprinting after me. I see Santa Elena nod to her as I glance back over my shoulder. My bare feet pound against the trainer deck as I leap through the hatch and take off down the hall.

“Cas!” Swift bellows from behind me, and it’s like a spur in my side. I skid around a corner and scramble up a set of stairs.

I still don’t fully know the ins and outs of the Minnow, but I know where I can go to escape her. It’s somewhere on the ship’s second level, near the stern, nested between a set of heating pipes that run down into the engine rooms below. Swift’s bootsteps come thundering up the stairs just as I spot it. I open the door, throw myself inside, and slam it behind me.

The harsh scent of ammonia and other weird cleaning solvents washes over me as I clutch the handle of the janitorial closet’s door. It feels so familiar, like no time has passed since the first hours I spent on this ship. If I root around on the floor, I’ll probably find that little blue capsule again. It’s tempting.

The handle jerks under my grip, and I hear Swift grunting on the other side of the door. “Goddamn it, Cas,” she groans, but I keep my hold. “What was that shit you were trying to pull back there? Do you want us both killed?”

I’m so out of breath, so disoriented that it takes me several seconds to reply. “You held me back. You stopped me from—”

“You wouldn’t have saved him. You would have just gotten us killed along with him. Jesus, Cas, he needed to die. He tried to kill us.”

“No one needs to die,” I gasp. “You’re so messed up, all of you.”

“Cassandra Leung, you’re a filthy hypocrite and you know it.”