of your brain that you have never used before.” He glanced at her then back at the report. “Again, the details are beyond my understanding.”
She was still exploring her psychic abilities, so she didn’t press him on that. “You said you sensed cracks in Selina’s psyche. Is there anything like that in mine?”
“Neither I nor the medical scans detected any evidence of mental illness or instability,” he assured her. “You said your abilities are different from Haley’s and Selina’s. If the results differed, it stands to reason that the procedures did too. We’ll know more when we reach Sarronti Prime.”
She nodded, relieved by what he’d told her yet concerned that the situation could change. Haley had seemed fine a few hours ago. “So it’s hurry up and wait until Velmar recovers?”
“Or until someone comes up with a viable alternative.”
With another thoughtful nod, she lapsed into silence and tried not to worry herself sick.
The next five days passed in a blur of anxiety and boredom. Ayran and Jaron took turns supervising the ship, which consisted of babysitting the scanners and hoping for a miracle. Nikki hung out in the dining room/lounge that also served as her bedroom. Ayran showed her how to activate the entertainment system, but all the programing was in Sarronti so it didn’t do her much good. She made a game of trying to figure out what people were saying from the context, but it was more fun to ignore the obvious and invent outlandish dialogue.
Jaron shared almost every meal with her, if emergency rations could be termed a meal. His charm and ready smile made the food bearable, but concern for her friends was always in the back of her mind. What if Jaron’s mother couldn’t heal them? If Haley and Selina ended up institutionalized because of her, Nikki would never forgive herself.
“Stop it,” Jaron said softly but firmly.
She looked at him, struck as always by the perfect symmetry of his features. “Stop what?”
“You’re blaming yourself again.” He claimed that he wasn’t empathic, but he’d proved over the past few days that he could effortlessly read her expressions. “None of this was your fault,” he insisted.
“Unfortunately, that’s simply not true. Zerna asked for me by name. I was their target.” A flood of tears followed the confession. This was the first time she told anyone and the guilt had weighed heavily on her heart.
“What are you talking about?”
“When I first woke up on Cretz, Zerna was there and she asked which one of us was Nichole Harmon.” Emotion choked off her words for a moment before she could swallow passed the lump. “My friends were kidnapped because they were with me, but I was their target.”
“If that were true, they’d both be dead,” Ayran said from behind her.
She turned her head as Ayran crossed the galley and sat down next to Jaron. Ayran’s red and black hair contrasted starkly with Jaron’s bright green. Ayran’s appeal was rugged, overtly male, while Jaron was elegant and regal. She looked from Ayran to Jaron and back, unable to decide whose eyes were more beautiful. It was like choosing between priceless emeralds and rare pink diamonds. Were all the Sarronti this esthetically pleasing?
“I’m serious.” Ayran’s deep voice drew her wandering mind back to the present. “If Zerna only wanted you, she would have disposed of the other two as soon as the ship left Earth. That bitch is ruthless.”
Nikki had thought about this a lot during her captivity as well as since their escape. Zerna and/or her partner had a specific reason for wanting Nikki, but there must have been some value in taking Haley and Selina or they would have been left behind. Or killed, as Ayran so blithely pointed out. “What if they were testing the procedure on them before they used it on me? Maybe that’s why they are in worse shape now.”
“It’s possible. Who did they start with?” Jaron asked. “Who did they ‘take’ first?”
“Me,” Nikki admitted. That pretty much shutdown her one and only theory. Without more information, she couldn’t even make an educated guess.
“What you’re feeling is similar to survivor’s guilt,” Ayran told her. “You’re doing better than your friends, so it must be your fault.”
Nikki wanted to believe them, to exonerate herself but there was other evidence to consider. “Then why did Zerna know my name?”
Ayran looked at Jaron then shrugged. “That one is strange.”
“It gets worse,” Nikki told them. “Selina heard Zerna talking about one of my cousins. His name is Lance Egerton.