Houston waved a hand at Romy. “Blonde skyling is bored with filing and has crawled back to her first job.”

That sounded bad. But it was the gist of what she’d said.

Atlas’s eyes darkened. “No.”

“You say that a lot,” she muttered.

Atlas watched her, grey eyes flicking over her face in consternation. Romy didn’t miss the shared glance between Houston and himself.

“You can’t keep swapping roles, Rosemary.”

She’d had about enough of that. “It’s Romy,” she snapped. “Use it.”

Thrym walked up behind her and rubbed her back. “Ro, what’s wrong?”

“What makes you think something is wrong?” Her voice shook. “I’m just bored from being alone in that room.”

“The job isn’t there to be entertaining. It’s there to be done.” Atlas’s jaw clenched.

Romy hated that he thought her lazy.

His glare was met with her own. She folded her arms.

“Well, can I pick someone to help me at least?” Safety in numbers, she thought.

The tall man in front of her was noticeably confused. The urge to tell him was overwhelming. But Lucas’s words haunted her. He was above the law. And she could only guess that meant he worked for the Mandate. Atlas and Houston stood no chance against them. Getting them involved would put them in danger, as well as Knot 27. Romy’s head throbbed painfully.

Atlas was watching her, not answering her question.

“Well?” she repeated in a weak voice.

Houston cleared his throat and Atlas jerked. He clasped his hands behind his back. “I’ll see who might be suitable to join you in storage. But it will take me a few days.”

Romy’s heart sank. Atlas’s face flickered at her reaction. A few days? What might Lucas do to her in that time?

Romy didn’t uncross her arms as she moved around Atlas to the doorway. She was disappointed she hadn’t gotten what she came for: an escape from Lucas. Part of her knew it was unreasonable to be mad at Atlas when he didn’t know all of the facts, but the rest of her was deathly afraid for her knot.

And she was learning fear could make you act in ways you never thought possible. She walked out of the room without another word.

Her feet dragged as she approached the storage room. She darted looks around the clearing, hopeless in the knowledge that Lucas wouldn’t show his face until she was inside and trapped.

Orange hair caught her attention. Nancy!

The girl walked casually across the clearing. Too casually, in Romy’s opinion. And she was all alone. Romy knew what that meant.

She raced after her young friend.

Nancy was nearly through the hidden panel in the alleyway when Romy skidded to a halt behind her. Nancy jumped at the sound, hitting her head on the fence.

“Jeez, you flamin’ Galah, why’dya do that?”