Chapter 23 · What did you hear?

She peered over the edge. The platform floated twenty feet below them, held in place by a broken magnetic field.

The whispers rose around the chamber.

Mara heard her brother's voice among them.

Mara. Do not come down.

She jerked back.

Rhys caught her shoulders. "What did you hear?"

"Nothing."

"Try again."

"I said nothing."

"Mara."

"It sounded like my brother."

Rhys's grip became careful. "Your brother is not here."

"You do not know that."

"I know this facility."

"You know the corporation. You do not know him."

"If they brought him here, we would have seen a transport signature."

"Unless they wanted me to find him."

"Then this is a trap."

"Everything with you is a trap."

"Good. You are learning."

He moved to the edge and looked down.

Mara grabbed the back of his coat. "Do not jump."

"I was not going to jump."

"You were thinking about it."

"I was calculating."

"Your calculations usually end with broken bones."

"You are worried about me again."

"I am worried about the stabilizer."

"Sure."

"Do not smile at me."

"I am not smiling."

"You are doing the almost-smile thing. It is worse."

Rhys crouched and reached toward the shaft.