Page 40 of Shades of Earth (Across the Universe 3)

“Laura? Lauren?” Dad shakes his head.

“Lorin?” I ask quietly.

“That’s the one. ”

Lorin had been wearing a Phydus patch, and I’d been guiding her before the storm, before I let her go. If she wandered off in the chaos of lightning and thunder, it’s my fault.

He looks down and notices my face. “Amy, don’t worry,” he says, squeezing my arm. “It was rainy and dark last night, but Juliana is a good tracker; she’ll find them now that the suns are up. ”

The radio at Dad’s shoulder crackles to life. He steps away from me, pressing the button to confirm that he’s ready to receive a message. Emma’s voice comes out over the radio. “—Found them, sir,” she says, her voice fuzzy.

“Gupta and the shipborn woman?”

“Not Gupta,” Emma says. “But the shipborn and Juliana. ”

“Good. Send them back to the ruins. ”

“Sir, I can’t. ”

“What?” Dad asks.

“Sir, they’re dead. Both of them. ”

20: ELDER

The first thing I feel when I see Amy running up the steps to the buildings on the second level, her red hair swishing behind her, is relief.

She’s alive. She’s awake, and she’s fine, and she’s alive.

The second thing I feel is fear.

The look on her face tells me that something is very, very wrong. “What is it?” I ask.

“Dad just left with Mom and some of the scientists,” she says, breathless. “He told me not to leave . . . told me not to tell you. . . . ”

“Tell me what?” My insides are churning.

“They found Lorin. ”

“And?” I ask, already dreading the answer. Kit and I spent the better part of yesterday compiling a detailed list of every single person from the shuttle. Losing Lorin in the crowd ate away at both of us; we can’t let that happen again. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“She’s dead. ”

My eyes widen with shock, then anger. Dead? “How?” I demand.

Amy shakes her head. “She’s dead, and so is Juliana Robertson, who’d been sent to find her and Dr. Gupta. I don’t know how. Dr. Gupta’s still missing. I just heard—”

She heard about the deaths, and even though her father forbade it, the first thing she did was tell me about them.

“Where?” I ask.

Amy shakes her head. “I don’t know. Near the lake, I think. ”

“I have to go. ”

She grabs me by the elbow. “You can’t. Dad would be furious—”

“So?” My mind is racing. The dangers of this planet are so much greater than I originally thought. The reptilian bird that tried to eat my face, marred footprints in the forest of something nearby, watching us, the flowers that nearly drowned Amy, and now two more are dead. . . .