Romy shook her head. “Nancy has a hiding spot for the guns at the clearing. I don’t think anyone else knows where it is.”

“But you know where the car is.”

She grew still at his statement.

Elara squealed and danced on the spot. Phobos watched his knot mate’s willowy movements in consternation.

Romy folded her arms, lost in deep thought. The group had always planned to steal a car, courtesy of Elara, and ditch it somewhere along the road. It would be easier for a recovering Deimos and would get them a reasonable head start on Tina’s force if they could get their hands on the unknown car right away.

The teenagers’ car provided the knot with an easy solution to a difficult problem.

But Romy felt uneasy at the betrayal of Nancy’s trust. The bluntly-spoken girl had saved her from Lucas, if only for a day. Her brow furrowed at the thought of the young people meeting at the car one day, only to find it gone, stolen by the space soldiers they looked up to.

But protecting her knot trumped any others, any day. And since crashing on Earth, that included making decisions to protect them that she didn’t necessarily like.

She looked up to Phobos, returning his wink. “I guess I’m forgiven for forgetting breakfast?”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Elara eyed the Hull in mistrust.

Romy didn’t blame her. There was a person pressed up against the glass staring at them.

“What’s the plan?” Phobos muttered.

Thrym bent his head towards the group. “Elara and I get the food. You guys circle back from opposite sides. They won’t know where to look. Meet at the girl’s table.”

“Nancy,” Romy supplied.

The knot looked at the building, and Elara exhaled loudly.

Phobos stepped forwards, determination on his face. “Let’s do this.”

The Hull wasn’t so bad when they split everyone’s attention four ways. Nancy eyed Romy as she approached the earth girl’s table. Her same friends from yesterday surrounded her today.

“The whole knot is braving the Hull today,” she said.

Nancy acted blasé, but it was at times like this, when she used Orbito terms, that Romy wondered just how much the other girl knew about the space stations.

Romy caught the twinkling of Nancy’s teasing violet eyes. “It helps when we can sit at a table with people that don’t stare.”

“That don’t stare, Fred,” Nancy hissed at her friend.

Romy followed Nancy’s gaze and caught Fred’s open-mouthed expression. Looking to see what he was starting at, she held back a grin. Thrym was approaching, arms laden with plates. Fred was obviously in awe of her knot mate. And why not? Thrym was the perfect image of a space soldier: muscled, tall, strong. She jerked her thoughts to a halt.