I hadn’t seen the other girls get taken but they must have been pulled away along with Hazel.
The ship’s thrusters engaged and turned around.
It was going to take her.
It was going to take them all.
If it broke through the atmosphere, I might never see her again.
I grabbed the nearest guardsman and snatched up his communicator and one of his knives. I ran toward the broken window and slid the knife through the strap on the back of the communicator. It was a powerful magnet that kept it firmly attached to the guardsman’s armor at all times.
I brought my arm back and threw the communicator as hard as I could.
It didn’t arch. It flew straight and true.
The ship engaged its rear thrusters and began to move away rapidly.
The communicator missed. But as it began to arch downward, the magnet engaged and it arched back up, attaching itself to the ship’s underside with a solid metallic thunk.
“Where will they take them?” Kal said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But if it’s on this planet, we’ll know.”
Please, let it be on this planet.
My heart was already beginning to break at the thought of losing her.
Hazel
The light was blindingly bright. Even with my eyes clenched shut, I could see it. Worse still, I could feel its effects.
It made me feel drowsy as if I’d been sitting behind the wheel of a car for hours on end and my mind had been wiped clean. Although I wavered on the spot, I didn’t fall or slump over.
But I acted as if I had.
The moment the light was gone, I eased my eyes open, ready to snap them shut an instant later if I caught even a glimpse of that light again.
But even a glimpse was likely too much.
I opened my eyes and a large purple square filled my vision. The after-effects of the light.
I was somewhere dark and cold. I didn’t recognize it.
I glanced out the corner of my eyes at the other girls. They stood like lobotomy patients, eyes glazed over and drool seeping out the corner of their mouths. Their arms hung by their sides and their necks might have snapped with the lack of movement.
Had they all been made comatose with the light? Or were some of them pretending the way I was?
I should say something. I should get their attention.
Somewhere in the darkness, a door hissed open and slammed shut.
I adopted my friends’ dead gaze and stooped over with my arms by my side.
Two Changelings ambled into view. Ugly, vile creatures.
“Do you think we got her?” one of them said.
“We’d better,” the second one said. “Slak isn’t going to be happy with us if we didn’t.”
“Which one is it? They all look the same.”
“Which one is what?”
“The future empress of these dirty Titan heathens.”
“I’m not sure. That one, I think.”
He pointed at me.
Please don’t come near me. Please stay away.
It was no use.
The creature shoved his ugly face in front of me. All I could do was stare blankly.
And drool.
“She doesn’t look like much, does she?” it said. “Welcome aboard, your royal whore-ness!”
He grabbed my breast and squeezed it painfully.
“I don’t know why anyone would like these hanging lumps of fat,” he said. “They don’t do anything for me. But it sure does feel good to be squeezing the tit the emperor likes sucking on. Maybe I’ll bite it off and send it to him.”
He lowered his mandibles to my breast and nibbled on it.
At least I had the bra for padding. That was something, at least.
“Nope,” he said. “Nothing.”
“Quit playing with the merchandise and give me a hand putting them in the pods,” the second one said.
The pods.
I shivered and felt sick to my stomach.
“Wait,” the first one said. “Did you see that?”
“What?” the second one said.
“I think she moved.”
Oops.
“She couldn’t have,” the second one said. “They were neuralized.”
“I’m telling you, she moved.”
The second one shoved his face up close to mine and peered closely at me.
“Nope,” he said. “She couldn’t have.”
“Let me neuralize her again just in case,” the first one said, snatching up a handheld machine.
What was I going to do?
I couldn’t let him use it on me.
And I couldn’t shut my eyes to avoid it either.
I was going to have to attack him or run.
The old fight or flight response.
But there were two of them and only one of me.
Could I take them both down? I could if I were a powerful Titan.
Damn it. Why wasn’t I a powerful Titan?
The second Changeling snatched the machine from the first one’s hand.
“Don’t neuralize her too many times,” he said. “She’ll end up a vegetable and then she’ll be useless to Slak.”
“I won’t turn her into a vegetable. I just want to make sure…”
“What’s going on here?” a deep, booming voice said.
Whoever they were, they were my savior!
My opinion changed when my hero entered the circle of light.
Slak.
Wait till Fiath learns who took me away. He was going to go insane!
But only if I could get out of there and send him a message.
But how?
How?
“Why aren’t they in their pods yet?” Slak snapped.
“We were just about to do it, sir,” the second Changeling said, putting the handheld neuralizer down and scowling at the first Changeling. He turned to us and spoke in a clear voice.
“Everyone to the pods!” he said.
The girl shuffled toward the six empty pods awaiting their cargo.
We stood in front of mine.
I couldn’t go inside it. I just couldn’t.
I would rather die.
Which left me with few alternatives.
“Get in the pods,” the second Changeling said.
It was now or never.
I yanked the tiny pebble with the razor-sharp edge out of my pocket and screamed as I swung it at the nearest figure.
It was the second Changeling. I caught the chest plate of his external armor and the blade sliced it but didn’t cut into him.
Shit!
“I told you!” the first Changeling said. “I told you she was still awake!”
“Don’t just stand there!” Slak said. “Subdue her!”
The first Changeling snatched up the handheld neuralizer and aimed
