“Listen to me,” Sylvan yelled at them. “Merrick, turn the ship around. You can’t go through the fold like that. Something is going on.”
“Doing…my best…” Merrick’s eyelids were drooping and his motions were sluggish. “Trying…” And then he and Elise vanished to be replaced by the shot of the small spaceship hovering just outside the red gash in space.
“Merrick, no!” Sylvan shouted. But even as they watched, the small ship accelerated into the fold…and disappeared.
“This isn’t right.” Sylvan looked upset and Sophie could feel his worry through their bond. “What happened to them?”
“It almost looked like they’d been drugged,” Olivia said, frowning.
“Exactly.” Sylvan shook his head. “Listen, Olivia, you and I had better go get things ready. They’ll be coming out our side of the fold in just a moment and we’ll need a detox kit on standby just in case.”
“Got it.” Liv was already on the move and Sophie couldn’t help thinking her twin could still be surprisingly quick when she had to be, despite her advanced state of pregnancy. But before Liv could even get out the door, Kat spoke.
“Wait,” she said flatly.
“Wait for what?” Sylvan demanded. “They may be ill or injured when they get here.”
“If they get here at all,” Kat said.
“She’s right,” Lauren put in, pointing at the viewscreen. “Look, it’s showing our part of space now. There’s the moon and the Earth.”
“But where is the ship?” Sophie looked up at Sylvan. “Shouldn’t it be here by now? Isn’t the transfer from one part of space to the other supposed to be instantaneous?”
He frowned and she felt his anxiety surge again. “Yes…yes it is,” he said in a low voice.
“So where are they?” Kat asked. “Could they be, I don’t know, lost? Lost in the fold somehow?”
“I hope not,” Sylvan said grimly. “If they are—if they have somehow gotten trapped between the space around Rageron and the space around Earth…”
“What? If they’re trapped, then what?” Liv demanded.
Sylvan ran a hand through his hair. “They are most likely dead.”
Chapter Thirty-six
Elise woke up because a thousand tiny hands were tickling her. She snorted surprised laughter and sat straight up—or tried to anyway. Thick black straps were holding her down. There was one across her waist and another across her lower legs. The same kind of straps were wrapped around her wrists and her hands appeared to be tied down to her sides.
Oh my God, I’m trapped!
The thought should have engendered a wave of panic but instead, the tiny tickling hands returned and Elise found herself laughing again. She twisted helplessly from side to side, as far as her restraints would allow, trying to get away from her invisible tormentor. It was useless—whoever or whatever was tickling her stayed with her, forcing her to giggle madly when she knew she ought to be scared out of her wits instead.
It was the exact same way Elise had felt the one and only time she’d allowed the dentist to give her nitrous oxide. He had assured her it would help her endure a very painful root canal, but to Elise, it had been a terribly unsettling experience. All through the drilling and filling she kept on laughing, despite the fact that she could still feel most of the pain. And the whole time she’d been thinking, I need to stop laughing—this isn’t funny at all. It hurts! But she had been completely unable to stop until the dentist had turned off the gas and released her from the chemically-induced spell.
Chemicals…a drug…the sweet smell in the ship right before everything went black…Had she and Merrick been drugged? And was she being drugged now? Laughing convulsively, she looked at her right arm, which was strapped by her side. Sure enough, some kind of IV tube was taped to the inner crook of her elbow. Through the clear tubing, Elise saw bright green liquid running into her arm. Was that what was causing her to laugh uncontrollably?
Even as she watched, the color of the liquid changed from bright green to deep blue. Suddenly, Elise was overwhelmed with sadness. Not just sadness, though—a sorrow so deep it engulfed her like a bottomless sea. Her crazy laughter turned instantly to sobbing.
Merrick, she thought, reaching out to him through their bond. Where are you? What’s happening to me? Who’s doing this?
For a moment she thought she felt him trying to respond…then, nothing. Was he being held somewhere, having his emotions chemically manipulated just as she was? Or was he dead, forever beyond her reach? That must be it, Elise thought, despair overtaking her as she sobbed helplessly. I thought I felt him, but it must have been my imagination. Just wishful thinking. He’s dead—gone forever and I’ll never, ever see him again.