Page 195 of Carousel

I shrug. “I like it.”

I do. And Cosmer will know where to find me.

“Goodnight, then,” she says. Knowingly, she adds, “Girl in Love.”

“Goodnight, Riss,” I say again. “My reluctant friend.”

That sets her off into nasally laughter again. I can still hear it as I close the door.

I sleep restlessly. I check the bed next to me every time I wake, but to my overwhelming disappointment it remains empty.

At some point, I feel a pressure between my temples. I know it must be Drake trying to enter my mind. I keep him shut out.

I’m almost finally in deep sleep when bells ring out. In my blurred state, I think maybe it’s Cosmer, coming home to me at last.

But it isn’t. I’m still alone.

And there’s a problem. Because this isn’t the morning bell. It’s more urgent, and it’s accompanied by the sound of a loud, long horn. Lights haven’t come on. My body is telling me it’s still night.

I tie my hair up in my ribbon and open my door. All along the hallway, other pilots and soldiers are opening theirs. Some are running, fleeing from their rooms, overstuffed satchels at their sides and oxygen cannisters on their backs.

What is happening?

A solid mass appears by my side. He takes my arm.

“Evacuation order,” Drake says. “Get your oxygen mask from under your bed. Then we need to go.”

CHAPTER 34

The Ultimate Betrayal

People are descending the stairs en masse, and Drake and I, pressed together, end up in a pushing, shoving throng that isn’t moving.

“Why are we even evacuating?” I shout over the clamouring of soldiers, while being jostled.

“Unclear. I still don’t have a radio.”

I barely take a step onto Deck 3 before Drake grabs me and hauls me off to the side, knocking the breath out of me. It takes me a moment to work out why he did that, but then I see it. A brawl has broken out directly in front of us.

It lasts only seconds. A tangle of limbs, before the pilot who had been attacked is knocked unconscious with a punch to the face. The two soldiers swipe the key to his ship from around his neck, and scarper.

“I don’t understand,” I mutter, still in Drake’s arms and breathing his air – I think I’m too overwhelmed by the situation to shove him off. His legs are pressed between mine, and I’m trying not to think about it. “We all have our own emergency stations. Ours is starboard on this deck, like Riss said.”

“Planning goes out the window when people panic.”

And they are. Panicking.

More and more people are pushing past us. Scrambling to get to the nearest docking pods. I don’t think anyone is evacuating to the area they’re supposed to.

Drake seems to realise what we’re up against at the same time I do, and he grasps my shoulders, his body still tight against mine and his heat still smothering me.

His voice is a command. “Wait here. I will use my magic to get us on a ship. It will be less intimidating if they only see one of us, and they know me now.”

His legs slide out from between mine, his hands slip from my shoulders and he takes off. I stare at his retreating back, feeling cold suddenly, and somehow – and this is the part that makes no sense to me – like I just lost a part of me.

I don’t want to be here, in this chaos, alone.

“Ara!” someone yells. “I’ve been looking for you.”