Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1)(28)

“This way,” Marko said, and led us on. “Let me show you the library and the entertainment room.”

We were midway through the tour when his comm buzzed. “Are you almost done? We’re already forty minutes behind schedule.” Chao-Xing. The tone was just short of rude.

He sighed. “Give me five minutes. I’ll be there soon.” Turning to us, he added, “That’s just her nature. Okay, we’d better wrap this up. Remember: relax today. Tomorrow, start focusing on your goals.”

That wasn’t nearly enough information. “But why do we have to—”

“Understand this, Zara. I can’t address your curiosity right now. One day, you’ll see. But please accept for now that there are reasons for everything we do in the program.”

“There’s usually a shitty reason for secrecy,” I said, and was a little surprised when Beatriz nodded. “It just seems strange that we’re being dumped so fast, okay? I haven’t forgotten what that dude said at the hotel. Or how you brushed it off.”

Marko hesitated as his H2 flashed. “I told you, he had problems. They should have been caught earlier, but that’s why you’re going through this shakedown period,” he said. “Candidates need to be quick to learn, quick to adapt, from the jump. There won’t be anyone to hold your hand later, so if you can’t handle it, we need to know that fast, before we leave the Sol system. We’ll check on you at the end of the week.”

Damn. I was probably safe from Deluca, but all kinds of things could likely go wrong out here. Maybe this week was a kind of extreme personality test; they needed pioneer or hermit types, who wouldn’t crack halfway through the Tour.

Unlike Gregory Valenzuela. I instinctively liked Marko, but I wasn’t sure I could trust him; still, my options on Earth weren’t better. Assuming he was on the level, it wasn’t like I had a lot to give up. Now that Derry had sold me out, I only gave a damn about Mom and Kiz. They were fine on Mars—out of my old man’s reach—and Derry had gotten the last favor he could expect from me. I was less sure of what Deluca could do to my mom and sister, but they would be semi-celebrities for a while. That would help protect them.

Besides, I liked a challenge.

“All right, we got the gist,” I muttered. “Take off, then.”

“You’ll do fine,” Marko said. “Nadim can answer any other questions you have. Good luck, you two.”

Beatriz tightened her grip on my arm as Marko strode away and vanished down the corridor. I didn’t move for a while, not sure what to do.

“Did they leave?” Beatriz asked.

“Not yet.” There was a pause of about a minute . . . and then a little shiver in the thick, strange gravity that I felt through the soles of my boots. Beatriz squeaked, closed her eyes, and clung tighter. “Now they have gone. Do you want to see their departure?”

“Sure,” I said, before Beatriz could say she didn’t, and a broad patch of skin in Nadim’s wall just . . . disappeared. “Holy shit!” I couldn’t hold that back, and I felt a rush of two things at once: disorientation and exhilaration. Like falling toward infinity. It was so beautiful. Velvet black, shot with colors that I’d never imagined, and below, the bright spinning ball of home. The silvery flash of Leviathan.

And the tiny, insignificant shape of the shuttle moving from Nadim off into the distance, heading for another ship farther out.

I stepped forward to rest my hands against the transparent skin, staring. Nadim still felt warm and silky, but I was looking out at the cold vastness of the universe. It almost felt like I was moving outside, drifting into the beauty. It was wrong to feel both small and home at the same time, but it felt like I was meant to be here. I’d never felt that way before. I’d always been restless, looking for something I couldn’t find.

Here it was. A strange kind of home.

“I think Beatriz needs you,” Nadim said apologetically, and I jolted back into my body, stepped away, and the window disappeared. He was right. Beatriz had collapsed into a chair with her hands covering her face, not quite crying, but close.

I claimed the chair beside her and touched her shoulder. She flinched. “Hey,” I said. “You all right?”

“I’m fine,” she said, very faintly. “I’m sorry. It’s just—”

“Strange? Check to that. They dragged me out of rehab for this.” I leaned forward. “Tell me what you need right now.”

She gave a hitching little laugh and dropped her hands to her lap. “Home?”

I didn’t know what home meant to her. A place? People? A view? I couldn’t help with any of that. Maybe a distraction would work. “So you’re giving up. That fast.”

She looked up at me—confused for a second, and then heat building behind those eyes. “No.”

“Then quit hiding in a corner. We’re in space. You knew this was coming.”

“Knowing something isn’t the same as experiencing it!”

“Serious question,” I said. “Because if we’re going to be depending on each other, I need to know: you going to freak out on me when I need you?”

Her lips parted. She formed an answer, then swallowed it. Then stood up. A little wobbly, but she steadied it. “It was just a surprise,” she said. “I’m fine. Nadim? I’m fine. You can—open the window.”