Everything about this race sucked.
Tensing up, my hand hovered over the glowing panel by the door. I held my breath. Then I pressed the open command.
The door slid open with a whoosh. I winced. Too loud?
Down on the floor, Phox twitched a little but didn’t wake up. Whew. He must’ve really been out of it.
I stood for a moment, letting the cool, dry air of the caverns pour over me. Silence—deep and eternal. The level of quiet down here in these caverns was absolutely crushing. Every move I made, every breath I took, seemed to shatter in my eardrums.
I stole one last look back at Phox, and then I stepped out into the darkness. By the glow of our running lights, I could easily pick out the abrupt drop of the cliff’s edge. Below it was nothing. Endless, eternal nothing. I wondered how far someone might fall before they ever hit bottom. Miles? Forever?
Falling like that, losing yourself in the dark, and never knowing when death was about to yank you under—it didn’t seem so different from the situation I was in now. I was falling. And I had no idea when or where the bottom would come.
“Brinna?” Phox called out to me.
I turned, watching him step off the ship to follow me, still bleary-eyed and scratching the back of his head.
Okay. This was it. No turning back. Showtime.
“P-Phox.” I gasped his name like a desperate plea.
He froze mid-stride, noticing where I stood on the edge of the cliff. His expression sharpened with a disapproving frown as he met my gaze again. “What … What are you doing out here? Get away from the edge. You fall down there and there’s nothing I can do to—”
“I’m ready,” I said, forcing my tone to tremble as though I were battling back tears. “I’m ready to jump. I’m ready for it to just … be over.”
All the color began to drain out of his face, making the ghostly spots on his skin all the more obvious. His eyes went wide. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m not kidding. Get away from the edge, Brinna.”
“It’s time, isn’t it? We can’t get out of here. And … And this way you don’t have to kill me. And we don’t have to watch each other die of thirst. I can’t … I won’t watch you die like that.” Biting down hard on my tongue brought tears to my eyes. God, I just hoped they were convincing. They had to be.
Phox shook his head, taking a few wary steps toward me. “No, Brinna. It’s not gonna be like that, all right? I know I said all that stuff before, but I was just being an asshole. We can find a way out. We’re not gonna die down here. Not like that. And not like this, either.” He stretched out a hand toward me, his mouth skewed into a desperate line. “Let’s go back inside and figure this out.”
In the distance, I heard it. The echoing, high-pitched whir of the spec-cam on approach. The shiny orb gleamed as it passed through the lights of our ship and hovered in close, the round lens focusing before slowly circling around. My heartbeat skipped and stalled.
I ripped the plasma pistol out of the holster at my hip and pointed it right at him.
Phox lurched to a halt immediately. His expression darkened, becoming cold as his jaw went rigid. “Really? You’re gonna shoot me if I try to save you?”
The camera hovered closer, zooming in on his face. Just a little more. That was all I needed. I’d probably only get one shot. I couldn’t afford to risk it on anything except a sure thing.
“S-Stay back,” I warned, taking a step closer to the edge. “I don’t want to hurt you, Phox.”
“Then don’t!” he yelled back. “Put the damn gun down and let’s get the hell out of here, all right? No one’s dying today—especially not you.”
The camera didn’t move.
Shit. How could I tempt it in closer? There had to be something it would respond to. A shot its programming wouldn’t be able to resist. Something the millions of fans would want—no, would need to see.
Oh, no. Not that.
But I didn’t know what else to try and time was running out. I figured I only had a few more seconds before he tried to tackle me or something and then everything would be ruined.
“I can’t. Not unless you say it,” I whimpered.
The camera spun, focusing on me.
He tilted his head to the side slightly, his chest heaving in frantic breaths as he took another stumbling step toward me. “Unless I say what?”
My hand holding the gun, aimed right at his face, shook. “Say that you love me.” The words were bitter on my lips. Please, Phox. Just go along with it. Surely, he knew I wasn’t serious. That I didn’t mean any of this. He had to know or at least be suspicious, right?
Phox’s mouth dropped open. All traces of wrath vanished instantly from his face as his brows drew upward. His eyes darted back and forth as though he were frantically searching for some indication of why I was doing this. “Brinna, I-I … We … You … ” His voice broke, faltering as both his corded arms dropped limply at his sides. His eyes clouded and his brows drew together, scrunching down into a look of total devastation.
Oh, god. He couldn’t believe I really meant all this. No! I knew he didn’t love me. It was a stupid thing to ask. We’d only known each other a couple of days, so asking something like that must’ve made it seem like I really was out of my mind.
But it worked.
The camera drifted in closer, passing between us like a small, white metal moon. It was totally focused on him, waiting for the moment. Waiting for him to say those words. No way it would miss a moment like this.
I set my jaw,
