26. Athena
Athena
“They’re missing?” I asked over the strident bursts of the alarm.
Hal’s stricken expression twisted into something less sure.
“I wouldn’t say that. It’s just that I’m afraid they got lost in this maze of a ship.
” He waved a hand in the general direction of the ship’s core, which was, indeed, crisscrossed with all sorts of floating stairs, swinging bridges, and steel cage tunnels.
“I told them not to go far, but Vern was dead set on finding the kitchens.”
Lettie nodded, her own shock clearly fading. “That sounds like Vern. Always hungry, that one.”
“But he went with his friend, right?” Vallia asked, peering into the room behind Hal.
“Dell?” Hal said, as if still learning the name. “He’s a quiet type, and lets Vern do most of the talking, but he did offer to go with Vern.”
I wondered if either man got a word in edgewise with Hal around, but I nodded in agreement with the stage manager. “Then I’m sure they’re fine. They probably got turned around—”
I didn’t even finish that thought before Vern bustled up with Dell a few steps behind him.
Lettie swatted at her brother. “Where were you?”
The lanky guy looked embarrassed as he glanced back at his friend. “We got a bit turned around, and then we got separated.” His face morphed into a grin. “Then Dell found me and helped us retrace our steps back here.”
“No luck with the kitchens?” Vallia asked, her voice barely audible above the sirens as she pat Vern’s arm sympathetically.
His mouth drooped. “No.” He glanced toward the center of the ship where red light pulsed along with the alarm blasts. “You don’t think there’s a fire in the kitchens, do you?”
I hadn’t given much thought to what the sirens might be reporting on, but I suspected alerts on an alien warbird weren’t uncommon, and I doubted it had anything to do with a mishap in the kitchens. Not with as many raiders as were thundering past us. “I doubt it.”
Vern whooshed out a breath. “Good. I’d been hoping to get more of that Vandar bread. It’s not simnick, but it’s very yeasty.”
Dell hadn’t said much since their return, but he nodded along with Vern, while Lettie rolled her eyes and groaned at the continued bread talk.
“Thanks for bringing him back in one piece,” Lettie said to Dell. “My brother has never had the best sense of direction.”
“Hey now!” Vern spluttered, his cheeks reddening. “I’ll have you know I worked in the shipyards of Kashara. I had to keep track of lots of vessels coming and going.”
Lettie narrowed her eyes at him. “And how many times did you get lost among the rows of vessels?”
“Wouldn’t say I got lost,” he grumbled. “But so many ships look alike. You walk down one row, and it looks just like the one before it.”
Lettie shot me a look that said she’d been right, but she didn’t argue with him about it.
“We’re just glad you found your way back.” I jerked a thumb behind us and raised my voice to be heard. “It’s crazy with all the raiders running around now.”
Vern ran a hand through his short hair. “A few of them almost knocked us off our feet when we were crossing those swinging bridges.”
I flinched at the thought of how the suspended bridges swayed when only one person crossed them. Crossing them as multiple raiders pounded across at the same time must feel like an earthquake.
The sirens stopped wailing and the pulsing red light stopped. I took a breath, relieved that we didn’t have to shout over it, although my ears still rang.
“Thank the stars,” Hal said again, his voice a bit too loud.
The door across from his opened, and Hatch and Ringo popped their heads out. “What’s this? Everyone’s here?”
“Athena came to visit us,” Lettie said, “so we came to visit you boys.”
Hatch studied Athena. “You okay?”
Ringo straightened, as if remembering where she was staying. “Is that warlord treating you right, Athena?”
“He is,” I assured them. There was no need to share the fact that he made my heart race or that he made me question how long I could hold out before breaking my vow to myself.
Neither man seemed convinced and even Hal folded his arms across his chest and eyed me. “We all saw the way he looked at you, sweetie. There was nothing altruistic about this rescue mission.”
“Wait until you hear about where she’s sleeping,” Lettie said in a stage whisper.
Hal’s eyes popped wide and he pressed a hand to his heart. “Don’t tell me he has one of those floating beds or restraints attached to the headboard.”
Vallia’s head swung to Hal. “What’s a floating bed?”
The stage manager’s cheeks pinked, and he twitched his shoulders. “You know the ones I mean. They’re made of water and you feel like you’re adrift in the middle of a sea.”
“Now I’m more curious about where you’ve been sleeping,” Lettie said as she peered down her nose at Hal.
Hal huffed out a breath. “I thought we were talking about where Athena is currently sleeping when she’s sharing the Raas’s quarters.”
As if they’d all remembered that this was the more salacious topic, heads swung back to me.
“It’s no big deal,” I said, forcing my voice to sound light. “Lorken doesn’t actually sleep in a bed.”
Vern cocked his head to one side, looking like a confused puppy. “Then where does he sleep?”
“He prefers to live like the Vandar did long ago when their hordes were on land and they occupied tents,” I said, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “He sleeps on furs.”
Ringo lowered his voice. “You have to sleep on the floor on nothing but fur?”
“It’s a pile of furs and they’re on a platform,” I said. “It’s surprisingly comfortable.”
Hal shook his head. “I don’t like this. They spilt us up and Athena has to sleep with the Raas, who apparently thinks he’s still roaming around like a barbarian and sleeping in a tent. Now there are alarms going off. What’s next?”
“Exactly what I was wondering,” a gravelly voice said as Raas Lorken and his majak appeared behind us.