Prologue
Nausika raced around her house her heart pounding in her ears. She could feel the fear building in her chest. The blood thumping through each small capillary in her face. The arteries in her neck exasperated by the vitamin shots they given her the day prior and vein relaxants for cryo.
You weren't supposed to overexert yourself.
Your brain could shut down.
You heart could burst.
She threw her clothes around the room and let out furious shriek.
There were no neighbors left to hear her and complain. No families to wince. No dogs to howl.
It was gone. Her brothers medication.
It wasn't there.
She'd come back for nothing.
They were going to leave.
He heart hammered, and her chest seized in pain. The wardrobe groaned as she braced herself against it her knuckled whited from the strain under her dark tan.
Her brain pulsed between her ears, behind her eyes, her skull felt small and tight.
She sucked in a breath and it sputtered in through trembling lips.
No.
She need to calm down.
She needed to find it.
When the last wave of ships arrived, prices on Nova Three would sky-rocket for at least a year before supplies reached demand. They couldn't afford a new medication for him. The may not even have it. And Darian couldn't go a year without it.
His cough had gotten so bad. It shook his little body, and she could see the pain in his eyes.
She sucked in a breath. Blew it out. And repeated. But her hands were still trembling.
She still had a half hour.
Just one more look.
