In the hallway, my breath clouded in the dark with every quick gasp. A deep chill racked through my body and trembled a squawk from the hinges on the Vicious door as I shut it behind me.
My eyes swam with tears at the sudden exhaustion that diminished my energy to zero. I staggered down the hallway, my knees threatening to give out because I couldn't think I could take much more.
The Saelis. On this ship. Why were they here? Had they somehow found out about the Vicious? Were they going to get their revenge?
Arms shot out of an open door and snatched at my coat. With a shout, I tried to wrench out of them. They hauled me inside, spun me about, and held me in place while the very pilot I hated most looked at me with wide, terrified eyes. Whatever he'd been planning to say seemed to change when it reached his mouth as his gaze drank me in.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "Did you see something? The Saelis are boarding - "