8

Aboard Ego’s ship, everything was rounded and smooth and white. The three Guardians had barely settled in when Ego excused himself to lie down in a recessed couch in a small room off the main space. Mantis went with him. After he lay down, she touched his forehead and whispered, “Sleep.”

Ego’s eyes closed.

Peter watched from across the room. When Ego was asleep, Peter lingered there for a long time. His conversation with Gamora was fresh in his mind. He took his wallet out of his pocket, the same wallet he’d carried when he was ten years old. Inside was a worn picture of the man he had pretended was his father. Peter looked at it for a long time. After so many years, could this really be happening? And was it really connected to his ability to hold an Infinity Stone in his hand back on Xandar?

Another question rang in his mind: Who am I, really?

Only Ego could answer.

After a while, he found Drax and Mantis sitting together. Peter joined them around a couch that was round and white like everything else. “Hey,” Peter said to Mantis. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“No one has ever asked me a personal question,” she said, which he took to be permission.

“Your antennae. What are they for?”

“Their purpose?”

“Yes,” Drax interrupted. “Quill and I have a bet.”

Peter dropped his head in disappointment. “You’re not supposed to say that.”

Drax ignored him. “I say that if you are about to go through a doorway and it is too low, they save you from being decapitated.”

“Right,” Peter said. “And if it’s anything other than you specifically being decapitated by a doorway, I win.”

“They are not for feeling doorways,” Mantis said, taking the question seriously. “I think they have something to do with my empathic abilities.”

Gamora had entered through the closest doorway. “What are those?”

“When I touch someone, I can feel their feelings,” Mantis explained.

“You mean read minds?”

“No. Telepaths read thoughts. Empaths feel feelings. Emotions.” She turned to Peter. “May I?”

“Oh, all right,” Peter said. He was curious.

She put a hand on his and her antennae glowed a bright white. “You feel...love,” she said.

Immediately, Peter was uncomfortable. “Yeah, I guess, I feel a general unselfish love for everybody—”

“No,” she said. “Romantic love.”

Uh-oh, Peter thought. He knew where this was going. “No, no I don’t—”

Delighted, Mantis pointed at Gamora. “For her!”

“No, that’s not—”

Drax roared with laughter, drowning out whatever Peter had been about to say. “She just told everyone your deepest, darkest secret! You must be so embarrassed!” Still laughing, Drax turned to Mantis. He could barely contain his excitement; he slapped his chest. “Do me! Do me!”

Mantis leaned over and placed a hand on Drax’s chest. A moment later she, too, burst out laughing. “I have never felt such humor!” she said, collapsing on the bench next to him.

She bounced up, still riding the wave of Drax’s humor, and skipped over to Gamora—but when she reached to touch her, Gamora caught her gauntleted wrist and held it away. “Touch me, and the only thing you’re going to feel is a broken jaw.”

Mantis looked crestfallen. She turned back to Peter and Drax. “I can also alter emotions to some extent.”

“Yeah, like what?” Peter asked.

“If I touch someone who is sad, I can ease them into contentment for a short while.” She glanced over at Gamora. “I can use it to make a stubborn person compliant.” Then she returned her attention to Peter. “But mostly I use it to help my master sleep. He lies awake at night, thinking about his progeny.”

“Do one of those on me,” Drax said.

Mantis walked over to him and laid a palm on his forehead. “Sleep,” she said. Drax’s head tipped back and he started snoring like a buzz saw.

That’s a pretty good trick, Peter thought. XYU70OWBvO79obGRAgRbcTC88JhrDGrIGMq2zZN9hlOSPrvR3YmFlIqTqwwTx/sA