The silence grated on Third’s ears.

She double-checked that she was merged with her surroundings, so she wouldn’t show up to a psychic scan, and cautiously slid her feet sideways as she moved south, her back to the building’s western wall. Crates and netting and all sorts of junk kept visibility to a minimum, and any sound would be far too loud in the warehouse. She barely dared to breathe.

“Seriously, don’t you have anything better to do than to pick on a Named version of your baby sister?” Janni’s voice asked loudly from across the warehouse.

Third grimaced. Nev was stubborn and self-absorbed, not stupid. A captive who suddenly started chattering was trying to distract her from something. And how would a psy-weak captive suddenly know rescue was coming, unless that rescuer gave her resonance?

“How well would that go over, do you think, if your people back home found out you’d targeted a Named?”

“That would require anyone to find out,” Nev answered coldly, her voice full of warning.

“Naw, if you were plotting to kill me, you would’ve done it, already. You haven’t even tried. You’re worried about what I have that Third doesn’t.”

Third had gotten close enough to overhear Nev’s answer of a huff. She tried, hard, to send Janni a mental Shut up!, but she knew better than to hope it had gotten through. Or that Janni would listen even if she heard it.

The cut-off yelp and scent that followed made Third freeze. She’d rather be torn by zombies than electrocuted. At least with zombies, you could keep fighting even as they chewed on you. Electrocution caused paralysis, and then you had to deal with burns, which were a lot harder to heal with what medical supplies that Nameless were permitted to use—never mind the long-term effects on the skeleton and internal organs.

She forced herself to keep moving, but her discomfort knocked her off-balance, and she bumped into something metal that gave a hollow clang.

Third immediately grabbed a breath and sprang away—too late. Nev grabbed her telekinetically by the throat before she could get out of range. She forced her pulse to steady and slow. Panicking would only make her run out of oxygen sooner.

The grip about her neck yanked her forward. Third lost her footing and barely caught herself before she struck her chin on the cement floor. Grit drove into her palms, and the impact jolted up her arms. Possible fracture in her wrist.

Third managed to grab another breath before Nev realized she’d loosened her psychic grasp, then Nev yanked her up, high enough that Third had to teeter on tiptoe to avoid putting all her weight on her neck.

Nev glared at her, the fully active soft mods glowing through her veins and swirling over her skin. “Third.”

Third’s usual response to that was a flippant ‘Sis,’ because Nev loathed being reminded that she came from stock so bad that all her siblings had ended up Nameless. There had been others, beyond First and Third, but only the three of them had survived to date.

But even if Third had been able to breathe and speak, she wouldn’t have been stupid enough to antagonize Nev now.

“By all that’s holy,” Janni said, sounding more shocked than she probably realized. “I’ve never met a Nev who would treat me like that.”

“You’re Named,” Nev replied icily. “Not a waste of supplies.”

Janni, still crouched in the same cage Third had seen earlier, narrowed her eyes at the back of Nev’s head.

Third had never felt safe or comfortable enough to do that, but she’d lived with Janni for some time, now, and she recognized the signs. “Don’t!” she managed to gasp.

Nev sneered. “‘Don’t’?” She lifted her hands, and energy jumped out of the veins and danced around her fingers.

Third adjusted her hormones so the terror wouldn’t take over—carefully, gradually, because Nev could notice that kind of thing, and it was something that either Nev couldn’t do or Third wasn’t supposed to be able to do. Third never had been suicidal enough to figure out which, not after how Nev had reacted upon even suspecting Third could control her body like that.

Janni’s glare moved to that energy Nev was playing with, and a wry smile tugged Janni’s lips. “Pe-rett-tee,” she said, with such a soft r that she was mixing petty with the pretty, even if that wouldn’t have been obvious to most hearers.

Nev turned towards her, nose curled with contempt. “Pretty?”

Janni shrugged as if nonchalant, though she was too tense to truly be feeling comfortable. “My Nev doesn’t play like that. Says it’s a waste of energy.”

Nev’s focus whipped from Third so fast that she nearly fell off her feet. Third caught herself in a crouch before her knees hit the floor, and she focused on breathing quietly, on not reminding Nev that she was there, on not distracting Nev from retaliating against the insult.

Janni bit off a yelp.

Third sprang forward before anxiety could stop her, and she struck Nev about the middle. They fell together, Third on top, and she grabbed her sister’s hair and slammed Nev’s head to the concrete as her own intake of breath cut short.

Pain darted through her fingertips from Nev’s scalp, and Nev grabbed her neck with a hand.

Third smelled cooking meat and felt her heart stop.

Male growling and muffled clanging came to her ears, sounding as if she were wearing earplugs.

Someone grabbed her by the back of her neck and flung her away from Nev. Her mind processed the feel and scent of the calloused hand, and she realized it had been TamLin just as her back and head struck something.

She managed to turn, to land on her stomach, and pain shot up her arms. Definitely fractured.

Third smelled more burning flesh, heard snaps and grunts and thuds, but she couldn’t so much as lift her head. She grimly focused through the pain to get her heart and diaphragm working again. She couldn’t do anyone any good if she passed out.

Her pulse and breathing jumped straight into double-time, and she wrangled with them, seeking to get them back to healthier levels.

A hand that felt as if it buzzed wrapped around her throat. Third was still having to focus too hard on her breathing to be able to move, to be able to get away.

“Take your bitch,” Nev said over her. “Take her and go, or this dies.”

Test her! Third begged silently, though she knew they wouldn’t. If she died here, she couldn’t end up the girl in the cage who was digging out her governor chip.

She heard the retreat of three sets of footsteps—Janni, First, and TamLin. TamLin was limping. Nev stayed put, not moving nor making a sound.

Seconds ticked by. Turned to minutes.

When was she going to be put in the cage?

Nev snorted and pulled her hand from Third’s throat. “Idiots, all of them.”

Because they’d cared enough about her survival that they retreated rather than letting Nev kill her Nameless shield.

“At the very least, TamLin should’ve known better than to… Eh, but he isn’t ours, is he? Where’s ours?”

The scent of burned flesh and hair tickled Third’s nose, familiar yet not, because Nev usually contained this particular ability of hers. Usually had no reason to use it.

Memory fluttered up. Of coming returning early from a mission to find TamLin lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Of that very smell, mixed with salt and…

Loathing filled Third, as much toward herself as her sister. She’d left him alone with Nev more than once. He must’ve thought she hated him.

Her eyes stung, her shoulders shook, and she gasped with a sob.

Nev picked her up via telekinesis and threw her in the cage that had been so recently vacated by Janni. Her vision flashed black then spun, telling Third that she was perilously close to her limits.

Nev slammed the cage shut, locked it, and turned on the crane it was connected to. The cage swayed as it rose, making Third dizzy.

“It would be polite of me to thank you,” Nev said. “It will be ever so amusing to watch Second try to rescue you.”

Ice gripped Third.

Ice, then the wildfire of fury. Nev had planned this all along—using Third as bait to draw Second to her.

Second was navigator class, and she wasn’t handicapped like most Nameless. She would come for Third.

She would come, assuming Third had been the target all along, and it would be the death of her.

And there was nothing Third could do to stop it.