14
JESSICA WOKE with a shock. She sat up, peeling sweaty sheets from her legs, wondering why she was awake, since it was still pitch dark. But then she heard faint shuffles from the darkness of the hall—and a giggle.
She heaved herself up and groped around the crates on either side of the door. The bottom crate still glowed faint blue, allowing her to see enough to find a makeshift weapon: a metal bar of some sort. She closed sweaty hands around it, and she waited, pressed against the wall next to the door.
Voices came closer, Pengali voices, female voices. Familiar.
Jessica lowered her makeshift weapon. That sounded like . . . “Ikay?”
A moment of silence, and then a couple of dark figures came in through the doorway. “Anmi, Anmi.” Ikay enclosed her in a hug, with her characteristic m
