Luckily for her, she was so quiet that most people didn't pay much attention to her, and their minds tended to invent a rational explanation when she disappeared-so far everyone just thought she was incredibly stealthy. One moment Lilli was sitting at a long table sandwiched between a group of younger children and a handful of soldiers, and the next she was gone. This time it had happened in the cafeteria. The last thing he needed was more people's attention. He glanced over his shoulder at the open hallway and hit the interior key to close the door. 'A mistake?' The words came out in a shout. In a barely audible voice, she mumbled, 'It was a mistake.' She looked down at her wool bedcover and plucked an invisible piece of fuzz. What could she possibly say that would make him understand her behavior? 'And?' The tiny chamber was not even two arm spans across, with a wide metal crossbeam on the ceiling that made it feel even smaller.Ĭhase stood shaking his head, almost speechless with anger. Lilli glared at him from her narrow bed, where she sat hunched with her back against the wall, knees drawn up toward her chin. The door slid open almost soundlessly, and he stormed into his sister's bunkroom. He stopped short in front of one of the dozens of identical doors and stabbed at the entry key embedded in the wall.

How on Taras had this happened again, after everything he'd tried? Asking, begging, threatening-nothing seemed to work on her. His swift footsteps echoed off the walls of the metal corridor as he rushed through the soldiers' quarters of the starship Kuyddestor, muttering dire threats under his breath.

For the fourth time in as many days, Chase Garrety was mad enough to spit nails.

The lost planet by rachel searles