Chapter 33
The door to Seori and presumably Elijah’s quarters slid open in front of Wraith, revealing the Other Wife herself.
“They’re in MedBay. They’re morons. They’re probably trying to kill each other.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Can I crash here, or can you please just put me back in my fucking cell so I can get some sleep? Otherwise the Major’s little mental temper tantrum is going to feel like a Void-damned lullaby compared to what I’m going to do.”
Seori stepped back with a small smile, “Through there,” she pointed to a wall that did not have an opening in it a second before. “Guest room.”
“I’m not even going to ask about why a spaceship has guest rooms. Thanks.”
She walked across to the new door, spoke without looking back, “If he starts melting down again, wake me.”
The room beyond was small, containing a wide bed with a deep, lilac comforter on it and a tall counter along one wall. It smelled floral and comforting and alien.
“Or just kill him. Whichever is easier.”
The door closed on the sound of Seori’s laughter, even though Wraith wasn’t joking.
She collapsed face down on the bed. It was soft and welcoming. Much softer than her bunk on the Eventide.
Exhausted tears rolled down her cheeks and she screamed into the pillow for a long, long time, letting everything out.
Then she rolled onto the floor.
Curled up against the wall as she had nearly every night since her parole.
And finally slept.
Kael and Phantom—“Call me Elijah,”—sat on opposite sides of a round table in a small mess hall near what Elijah had confirmed was a MedBay.
Not the MedBay.
“So, when you said mentally tearing the ship apart, was that a metaphor?”
Elijah had served them bowls of soup from a large pot on the galley counter. Very good soup. Kael was starving; was already on his third bowl and his body showed no signs of being satiated any time soon. He wondered how long it had been since he’d eaten.
“No, I meant that completely literally.”
Kael tilted his head, spoon hovering over his bowl, and considered the man.
“How? I exhibit exactly zero signs of psionic ability. I know. I’ve been tested. And anyway, it’s so rare, it’s practically a myth.”
“You work for Strategic Intelligence, don’t you?”
“Am I wearing a sign? Because every member of your team has clocked me within seconds of meeting me.”
Elijah stroked his temple to indicate Kael’s optics.
“It’s pretty obvious if you know what to look for.”
“And how do you all know what to look for?”
Elijah shrugged, “SID ran the GHOST program. It’s not like we didn’t engage with your colleagues on a regular basis.”
Kael shook his head, mildly annoyed, but not sure why.
“I’m getting off topic again. You were going to tell me how I was somehow going to destroy this ship—this very large ship by the looks of things—with my confirmed non-psionic brain. And also how Wraith was somehow stopping me.”
“I never said I was going to tell you.”
“And now you sound like Shade.”
Elijah chuckled again, “Where do you think I learned it?”
Kael closed his eyes for a moment. Ate more soup.
He was feeling more like himself. Just struggling to focus. The missing memories were crowding nearer, but he wasn’t ready to face them yet.
“Will you tell me?” A beat. “Please?”
Phantom’s gaze sharpened, “That’s a word I didn’t think SID officers knew how to say.” There was bitterness in his voice. Old and scabbed, but never healed.
Funny how almost every member of Ghost Command seemed to be two people. Rina and Spook. Zane and Shade. Elijah and Phantom.
And Wraith.
Kael waited. Finished his soup.
Phantom got up and fetched him another bowl.
“Thank you.”
“We’re going to need Ash for this conversation,” Phantom, no, Elijah told him eventually. “I can make some guesses, but it’s conjecture. Also, Seori will want to hear it directly.”
“Seori?”
“A doctor.” He paused. Looked down at the table almost sheepishly. “My wife.”
The Choir was whispering to Wraith. Insistent. Incessant.
She needed them to shut the fuck up.
“You have a wife?”
Elijah nodded.
“And you still love Wraith?”
“I told you, already. Always.”
“And your wife is… okay with this?”
Elijah smiled fondly, and Kael could almost feel the love and affection he felt for his wife. “She’s always known. She saved me when I couldn’t save myself.”
“But… who do you choose? How do you choose?”
Phantom’s eyes locked onto his. The shift was immediate. Razor-edged.
“My choices are not the question here, Major.”
The tone was identical to Wraith’s.
Phantom stood. His face was a mask, but tension radiated, clear and dangerous.
“We should get some rest. Come on.”
There was something strange about the ship they were on. It wasn’t a design that Kael had ever seen or even heard of.
The faint vibrations of the engines were there beneath his feet if he took the time to feel for them, but everything else was… off.
It wasn’t a military ship.
It wasn’t a typical civilian cruiser or transport.
And he’d seen no other crew, even though the ship was large enough that they had been walking for several minutes down a long, curving corridor with no doors.
Another oddity.
“What type of ship is this?” he asked Elijah, who had settled back into himself as they walked.
“It’s called a Kraken.”
“Never heard of it.”
A small smile appeared on Elijah’s face. “It’s not what you’d call… common, Major.”
A door slid open ahead of them. Perfectly blended into the corridor wall. Beyond was a large, comfortable living space. Definitely civilian.
Elijah raised a finger to his lips and crossed to open another disguised door. He poked his head in with a half-smile, and reared back in shock.
Kael double-timed it to him. The man’s eyes were huge in his dark face.
At first glance he thought the room was empty. Then he spotted her, asleep, curled against the wall.
He sighed, looked at Elijah.
“Almost five years in a bare cell on a floating prison,” he told him softly. “Four months out. Comfort is as foreign to her as the Others are to us.”
Elijah winced.
Then, he carefully stepped into the room, bent down, and lifted Wraith. She curled into him before he laid her onto the bed. Kissed her temple.
There were tears on his cheeks as he stepped out again and gestured towards her.
“In you go, Major.”
“I can sleep on a couch.”
“No. She needs comfort, no matter how foreign it’s become.” He wiped his cheek. “And as for you? If you wake up and you’re not… you, again. It’s better for everyone if she’s grounding you.”
He turned away from Kael and walked across the living area and through a door on the other side.
Kael stood for a long time, just staring at Wraith. Thought about just sleeping on the floor, like she had.
Thought about Elijah’s words. His pain for her.
Then he stepped inside with a sigh that was lost as the door whispered closed.
Ever so carefully, he lowered himself onto the bed. Wrapped himself around Wraith the way she had done for him.
“Four times, Ash,” he murmured. “People are going to talk.”