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And scud, how could I use this knowledge against her?

“I don’t think I can explain it,” I said, testing my theory. Indeed, she didn’t come after me as our shields rose. No other ships left Brez, despite Brade’s warning. She was here to talk, not duel. This fight was an illusion.

Had I finally figured out one of Brade’s traps before she sprang it?

“Can you try?” Brade asked. “I feel…lost sometimes, with my powers. That there’s so much to learn, so much to understand—and that I’ll never understand myself until I do.”

Scud, she was a good actor. There was real emotion behind those words—and I was impressed despite myself. Even knowing what she was doing, it almost worked.

If I was right, then I had no way to escape. She probably had a dozen ships watching, ready to hyperjump in and attack me themoment something went wrong. I couldn’t run, but maybe I could stall. Until my powers returned.

So I talked, knowing full well that I was playing a dangerous game. “You’d have to go into the nowhere, Brade,” I said. “Completely. Not just with your senses. Step into a portal, and seek something called the Path of Elders.”

“You just made that up.”

Technically, Chet had made it up. So I was confident I wasn’t giving her anything too valuable. “No, I didn’t,” I said. “I visited special sites around the belt of the nowhere. They gave me visions of the past, helped me learn, helped me grow into my powers.”

“And the delvers?”

“I brought one with me,” I said. “When I was in there, it approached me. You remember that one at Starsight? The one you summoned, and I drove off?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“It came to me, in ahuman form.It traveled with me. Tried to understand me. Befriended me.”

“Well, that’s creepy.”

I stopped myself from saying more. I was straying too close to the truth.

“Spensa?” she asked.

“It’s difficult to explain, like I said,” I told her.Just keep talking.“I leaped through that portal on Starsight, and didn’t know what to expect. I ended up in a jungle, and—”

“The delver,” Brade interrupted. “The one that traveled with you. Scrud…that’swhat I felt. It melded with you somehow, didn’t it?That’show you cut through inhibitor fields.That’swhat’s going on. You’ve captured one? Or made a treaty with it?”

Scud. I didn’t answer.

“Hell,” Brade said. “Andthat’swhy they’re afraid of you, isn’t it? Something to do with that bond. IknewI felt something familiar about you.”

“I understand them,” I said to her. “In a way no person ever has before, Brade. You’re not going to be able to control them. I can promise you that. You’re mistaken if you think you can. Help me escape. Together we couldreallyfigure out the delvers, and maybe make the galaxy safe from themforever.”

“Huh,” Brade said. “Yeah, not interested. All right, guys. That’s probably all we’ll get today. Come on in.”

I jumped despite myself as two dozen starfighters appeared around me in a tight formation. I boosted away immediately, but Brade just hit the kill switch on my ship, shutting down the boosters. One of the other ships flew after me and grabbed my ship with a light-lance tow cable.

I felt like an idiot. This time I’d anticipated her, even managed to figure out her ploy. But still she beat me. I pounded my controls as Brade edged her ship up to mine.

“Technically, Ididn’tuse my powers against you,” she noted. “So, if it matters, I kept my word.”

“You killed my ship in space!” I shouted at her.

“I saved you,” she said. “From being annihilated by all the other ships that arrived to destroy you. You took too long, Spensa. I warned you that if you did, the fight would be joined by others.”

I leaned back in my seat, frustrated.

“Did youreallythink that we’d just be able to come out here and duel?” she asked, sounding amused. “If this wasn’t a setup, the two of us would have been swarmed moments after leaving the station.”

“What now, boss?” someone said over the line.