Page 82 of Shades of Earth (Across the Universe 3)

It’s hard to think about all the bad when she reminds me of all that’s good. I throw off the sleeping bag, shivering in the night air, and cross the hall to the other room on the second story of this building, hoping to catch a glimpse of her red hair before it disappears into the night.

My stomach clenches as I stare out at the darkness.

She’s not alone.

43: AMY

The night air makes my skin prickle with goose bumps, but I relish the warm memories I’ve just made.

“Amy?” a voice whispers through the night.

I turn, a smile on my face, half expecting Elder to have followed me. Instead, Chris emerges from the shadows.

“What are you doing here?” I ask in a low voice.

Chris shrugs, an impish grin on his face. “I’m your bodyguard. ”

I roll my eyes but don’t object as he starts to escort me down the steps toward the lower level of buildings and my parents’ house.

He notices, though, when my steps grow slower and slower.

“You don’t want to go back to your parents, do you?” he asks seriously.

I shake my head.

Chris gives me a mock bow. “Right,” he says decisively. “Leave it to me. I’ll convince them we have to go back to the shuttle for some reason. ” He darts ahead, and soon I can hear the rumble of deep male voices as he talks to Dad. I can’t make out the words, but a moment later, Chris steps back out of the house—alone.

“Thanks,” I mutter as Chris leads me back to the shuttle. Centauri-Earth is not the place for a nighttime stroll, but right now I’d rather face pteros and darkness than my father’s lies.

“You know,” I say as we approach the shuttle, “there is actually another test I could run. ”

Chris laughs. “You and Dr. Martin ran a hundred tests today! There can’t possibly be anything else to examine from those little sample jars!”

I bump against his shoulder, which is hard as a rock. “Humor me,” I say, bounding up the ramp and throwing open the door on the bridge. We tested the ptero for gen mod material, which led to Mom’s discovery that the ptero contained a combination of DNA from Earth and Centauri-Earth. And we tested the people for Phydus once Elder and I came up with the idea that the people had been poisoned. But no one’s tested a ptero for Phydus.

“It’s probably nothing,” I tell Chris, half for him, half for me. The chances of finding Phydus in a ptero? That seems impossible. But then again, if Phydus is somehow a natural part of this world, why wouldn’t a ptero be infected?

I grab the ptero blood stored in the fridge and

set up the test.

“What are you doing?” He actually sounds interested.

“Elder and I figured out that most of the victims have a . . . ” I don’t want to say “drug. ” “They have a substance in them, something that could control them. If Elder’s right, and the aliens on this planet are sentient and they are attacking us, maybe the pteros have this substance in them too—and the aliens are using them to help target the attacks. ”

“It would be hard to control a wild animal,” Chris says doubtfully.

Not with Phydus.

I’m on the edge of my seat when the immunoassay dings to let me know it’s done. And even though I half expected it, I’m still surprised when I see the result.

Positive.

The pteros have gen mod material in them and Phydus. Elder thought he saw something when he was first attacked and later found the three-clawed footprint. The aliens are smart. They were watching us. And they must know some way to control the pteros, using them to attack.

“Find what you were looking for?” Chris asks, watching me closely.

I nod. “I’m ready to go back home now. ” Somehow, finding out the hidden truths of this world is making it easier to face the father I never thought would lie to me.