Heaven's Queen by Rachel Bach

Author:Rachel Bach [Bach, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780316221122
Amazon: 0316221120
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2014-04-22T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

The scream went off like a siren, a sharp spike piercing right through the center of my skull. It would have sent me curling into a ball with my hands over my ears if I hadn’t been strapped down, not that that would have helped. Just like back in the clearing on Mycant and the emperor at Unity and the poor dead phantom on the asteroid and every single one of these bastards I’d ever encountered, this phantom’s scream wasn’t a sound. It was a force, as huge and immutable as gravity, and all I could do was grit my teeth and wait for it to end.

But as I lay there trying to keep myself together, a distant part of my mind noted that this scream sounded different from the others. Maybe I was grasping at straws, or maybe I was finally cracking for real, but where most phantom cries sounded angry or pained, this one struck me as excited, like the shout you give when you find something you’ve been looking for. That didn’t stop it from hurting like hell, of course, but there’s only so long a body can be shocked into stillness, and a few seconds later, mine had recovered enough to open my eyes …

Just in time to see the glowing tentacle slam down right by my head.

I rolled sideways on instinct, straining as far as the straps would allow, but that didn’t save me when the equipment bank beside me exploded into shrapnel. The phantom’s aura had killed the ship’s power, which meant I didn’t get showered in sparks when the breaker came off the wall, but I still ended up with a latticework of thin cuts down my right arm and toxic-smelling plastic dust everywhere.

I was still coughing to clear my lungs when I saw the glowing mass rise up again for another blow. Tied down as I was, though, I couldn’t do anything to get away. Fortunately, Caldswell was already on it.

Whatever our differences, the captain and I had always been on the same wavelength when it came to trouble. He couldn’t see the phantom like I could, but he’d been at my side when it had crashed down. By the time it lifted up again, he had his claws out and was slicing through my restraints. The second he was done, he shoved his arms under me, yanking me off the bed a split second before the phantom flattened it.

The crash of breaking metal was deafening in the tiny room, but the phantom didn’t lift up for another blow. Instead, the glowing appendage that had been hundreds of tiny phantoms less than a minute ago froze, almost like it was taking stock of the situation. But then, just as I leaned against Caldswell’s hold for a better look, the glowing flesh dimmed and sank through the floor like a ghost, plunging the room into darkness. I was blinking to adjust my eyes when I realized Caldswell was calling my name.

“Morris!”

“What?” I asked, looking up.

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