Page 165 of The Last Hope

Tears sting my eyes.

“I can… stand,” Zimmer says weakly.

Mykal keeps Zimmer in his arms. “Not yet. You’re barely even speaking the words.” He has immeasurable grit and an iron-willed heart, and even drenched in sweat, muscles strained and aching, even with a broken hand—Mykal is able to hold another person upright.

The noise outside becomes caustic. Banging. Sawing. “OPEN UP!” someone screams.

“We can’t go through the window,” I say. “So what else is there?”

“Maybe we can reach the roof?” Kinden offers a solution, staring up at the suite’s ceiling. “There has to be a way up.”

“Or we can use her,” Padgett says pointedly, eyes on Zima.

Court follows her gaze and nods. “She’s teleported me once. She could do it again. But we need to be touching.”

The eight of us huddle together. I’m in the middle, holding the baby, and everyone has at least one hand or finger on me. Stork’s good arm is thrown over Court’s back, and I can feel Stork’s weight like I’m carrying it myself. All along my shoulders.

Stork’s fingers lightly brush the top of my head.

“Okay.” I breathe and glance down at the baby. “You can teleport us now.”

She yawns and then smacks her lips.

Fyke.

Kinden glares. “She’s useless. This is a waste of time.”

“Give her a second,” I snap.

“Take us to Earth,” Stork tells our daughter. “Please.”

“Wait.” Padgett frowns deeply. “We voted. We have to find her parents first.”

“We already did,” Court replies.

Zimmer tries to keep his eyes open. “They’re allowing us to take her?”

“Yeah, they are,” Stork says, looking at me.

Wood splinters, the door cracking, and the voices on the other side become clearer. “All eight of them are in there, sir.” Light streams underneath the frame.

Panic bubbles, and we all fixate harder on the baby in my arms.Come on, Zima.I don’t know how her abilities work exactly, but we have no other solutions.

“Court, you should ask her,” I tell him. The baby was fond of Court in the future, and maybe she’ll only listen to him.

Court takes a tight breath. “Little one,” he says in his softest voice, which isn’t very soft at all. “Teleport us to Earth.”

My world spins.

Everything around me swirls and dizzies like blood rushes from my head too quickly. It’s a worse sensation than coming down from a Juggernaut high. I blink hard a few times, trying to right myself. Warm light illuminates harsh steel walls.

Gods, this isn’t right. Earth can’t be made of metal.

“Bloody hell,” Stork murmurs as he looks around. “She teleported us inside a ship.”

He’s right.

Lights flash on the dashboard, and I recognize the two-person cockpit. The entire starcraft layout is what I memorized all those months ago at StarDust. It looks exactly like theSaga,which is back on theLucretziain the docking bay. While not Earth, that’s the second-best place she could have teleported us.