by Amy Braun
A low groan and a whimper of pain sounded around me as I was released from the embrace. The air felt colder now that Gemma and Nash released me.
Remembering their names cut through the fog in my head. I opened my eyes to see what was happening around me.
The two lovers were the first people I saw. Nash sat under the central console, white dust, fresh blood, and angry purple bruises covering his dark skin. He cradled Gemma in his big arms, pressing a long kiss to her temple as she tightened her face in pain. She held her forearm to her chest, breathing heavily. I looked at the lump on it, and knew it was broken. The bone would have to be reset soon if it was going to heal properly.
Crawling out from under the console, I looked at the extensive damage done to the Behemoth.
All of the windows had been blown out, littering the ground as snow and rubble drifted into the cockpit. The equipment was crushed under the weight of the stones, a few random wires spitting out their last sparks. Piles of black ash were smeared into the dust and snow, the remnants of the Hellions that fought their way into the cockpit.
But I couldn’t see Davin, and I couldn’t see Sawyer.
It hurt to move, but I couldn’t sit still and wait for the pain to end. Not when he could be lying broken and hurt somewhere. I stumbled around the cockpit, grabbing anything I could for support regardless of how rough it felt. I felt the cool winter wind blowing against my back from the large window. When I turned around the helm, I found him.
“Sawyer!” I cried in a harsh rasp. My throat turned raw from screaming.
I limped toward where he lay, crumpled under the port console. I collapsed onto my knees, feeling the angry bite of glass digging into my knees. I fisted Sawyer’s coat and dragged him out from the console, wishing I could lift him off the broken glass. I rested his head in my lap and pushed the hair from his eyes. Blood seeped out from a cut above his eyebrow, staining my palms and soaking in his hair. His eyes were shut and he wasn’t breathing.
“Sawyer!” I shouted again, shaking him roughly. He remained limp. “Sawyer!”
I shook him fiercely, struggling to breathe past the lump in my throat. It couldn’t end like this for him. He gave us the best landing he could, and he needed to see what he’d done. He needed to know that he saved us.
After the way he looked at me before I unlocked the helm, I couldn’t lose him.
“Damn it, Sawyer, wake up!” I choked out.
He remained motionless. I sobbed and bent down, pushing my lips against his. Sawyer’s skin was still warm, and there was no resistance when I opened his mouth and breathed into him. I pulled back to take in more air, then reached down and gave it to him.
I swore I felt him move, but I couldn’t be sure. I was traumatized and hurt, and wouldn’t have been surprised if my body were playing tricks on my mind. I had to keep breathing for Sawyer until I saw his chest rise and fall on its own–
“Claire?”
I pulled back from Sawyer and looked at Nash. He was standing with Gemma in his arms. He held her tight to him, mindful of her broken arm. He didn’t seem to be willing to let her go. I imagined I looked horrendous, but Nash looked more confused than alarmed.
“What are you doing?”
My voice became lodged in my throat again. I had to swallow before I could speak, and even then I still sounded weak. “He’s not breathing.”
Nash glanced at Sawyer as I held him, then relaxed. “Yes, he is. I can see his chest moving.”
“Thanks for ruining the moment, Nash.”
I whirled around when I heard Sawyer’s voice, warm and seductive and mischievous. The smile he’d held back for so long finally broke across his face. Sawyer opened his eyes, tawny irises shining and alert. I shoved his head off my lap.
Sawyer rolled onto his stomach to avoid hitting the floor, grinning wickedly. “That wasn’t very nice. I was comfortable.”
If he didn’t look so battered, I would have hit him. “You bastard! I thought you were dead!”
He smirked. “And you did an excellent job of nursing me back to health, Firecracker.” The sparkle in his eyes began to die as he took in my sorry state. “Are you all right?”
I nodded slowly so my head wouldn’t hurt so much. “Sore, but fine.”
Sawyer pushed himself up until he was eye level with me, shifting so our knees were touching. He gently moved some of the hair from my eyes, taking my chin in his hands and moving it from side to side. His thumbs stroked my cheeks absently, his touch so soft I could have cried. I closed my eyes and sighed out, forgetting everything around me but Sawyer’s gentle hands. We’d both nearly died to save each other, and I didn’t want to leave this moment. When I did, I would remember that Sawyer didn’t care for me the way I did for him, and that he’d hid a terrible secret from me–
My eyes snapped open, meeting his with fear. “Where’s Davin?”
Sawyer stopped caressing me, drawing his hands away with a weary breath. He roughly shoved his fingers through his hair, and I cringed when I saw the wound on his head. It was so deep it would probably become a scar.
“He’s gone. He dragged me over here before I was knocked out.”
“What do you mean?” Nash asked, slowly walking closer with Gemma. She hadn’t said a word since the crash began, leading me to see how shaken she was. Healing her arm would be difficult, but I knew Nash would move mountains to get care for her.
Sawyer captured my attention again when he stood up, took my hands, and helped me to my feet. I felt steady enough, but his hands lingered on me until I pulled away. He wiped the blood away from his head, trying and failing to act casual.
“After the other Hellions burned up, I got in a lucky strike. I thought I knocked him out, and had to glide the ship in. Just before we touched ground, he grabbed me and pulled me from the helm. He promised me the Vesper would get his revenge, and the Hellions would finish what our families started. Then he kicked me and knocked me out. I don’t know if he lived after that or not.”
But we all agreed on the same thing. If we couldn’t see Davin’s body, then he likely escaped. I was certain we hadn’t seen the last of him. He didn’t seem like the type that was easy to kill. We destroyed the airship he’d likely captained, and he wasn’t going to shrug away this defeat. The only reason he left us alive was because he wanted to torture us to death with his bare hands.
I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself, instinctively grasping the skeleton key tucked under my shirt. As I turned it over in my fingers, I thought about the warning Davin gave Sawyer. What revenge was he talking about? The Discovery hadn’t exactly been welcomed by the Hellions, but what could the explorers and the marauders have done to make this race of monsters so vengeful?
I stopped turning the key and gripped it tightly, shoving it under my shirt. I could no longer run from the truth like I wanted to. I needed answers, which meant tracking down anything I could from my parents’ old lives and finding out what they had planned to do with the key. If it could close the Breach like Garnet said it could, maybe it would keep the Vesper and the Hellions from continuing their attack. I could only hope that they didn’t have another massive airship like the Behemoth waiting in their world. There was no way we could endure a second Storm.
Glancing past Nash and Gemma, I looked through the destroyed window that framed Westraven. We had landed somewhere in the market district, close enough to the underground that they would have definitely heard the crash over their heads.
I walked past the marauders to the window, stepping out of it and feeling the cool, early winter breeze on my face. Dust fluttered to the ground while I stood in the middle of destruction. It was impossible to tell if anyone had been crushed under the Behemoth, but I couldn’t let my thoughts linger on that idea. Not when my mind was spinning over what we had accomplished.
I turned and looked up at the Behemoth. It still retained most of its shape, but the smoke no longer coughed out of the stern. Its raging engines were silent, a
nd the docking bay and skiffs were crumpled messes under the ship’s weight.
We’d done it. The impossible. We tore the Behemoth from the sky.
I lifted my head, sure it was all a painful dream. But all I could see were grey clouds and tiny, falling snowflakes. A huge weight released from my chest.
The Behemoth had been destroyed.
I stared at the sky, and saw nothing. No raiding skiffs, all of them shattered in the crash or stolen by the victims. No ghastly ship looming over our heads, taunting us with its power and striking fear into our hearts. Nothing but rippling grey cloud.
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. I couldn’t remember a time when the sky looked more beautiful. I smiled.
Voices behind me caught my attention. I turned and watched as a handful of survivors emerged from behind the broken buildings. They moved tentatively, peeking out from corners and manhole covers like mice waiting to see if the cat was gone. I recognized some of them from Garnet’s colony. After so long underground, they had to squint to adjust their eyes to the brightness around them. They looked even paler and sicker in the light, but they continued to move closer. They had to see the fallen ship for themselves. They had to know they weren’t dreaming. The Behemoth could no longer haunt them. There would no longer be raids that kidnapped husbands and wives, sons and daughters. They were safe.
For now, I reminded myself. Davin and the Vesper are still out there. The Hellions will return. This moment isn’t going to last.
But I would take it. I would breathe it in and remember that for the first time in a decade, I could stand without fear. I could look at the skies and stop fearing that a skiff would come and separate me from my sister.
Thinking of her drew my attention away from the survivors as they approached the ruined airship. I heard their skepticism and disbelief. Praise was given to the marauders as they exited the cockpit, and many survivors were talking about what could be salvaged. They intended to take the Behemoth apart and use any parts they could. It seemed fitting to me.
But I couldn’t care less about the Behemoth’s deconstruction. I looked away from the survivors, and searched the empty spaces between buildings, hoping to see the only person who mattered to me.
After spinning in circles and seeing nothing, my eyes stopped on a small blonde girl with big eyes and bloody clothes. My heart skipped when I saw Abby. I forced my aching legs to work as I ran to her. I didn’t even know she was still with Riley until she yanked her hand from his and raced toward me, tears bursting from her eyes. My heart swelled with joy as I dropped to my knees and opened my arms. She collided with me and wrapped me in a tight hug, accidentally reminding me of all the bruises and cuts I had.
But those didn’t matter. She was safe and alive. I stroked her hair and soothed her, promising that I was all right. Abby held me tight, her tiny body shaking against mine.
“I thought you were gone,” she whispered. “You left me and the ship crashed and I thought–”
I pulled out of her embrace and held her shoulders. Tears streaked Abby’s dirty cheeks. She couldn’t stop crying or shaking. I knew it hadn’t been easy for her to watch me leave, knowing what I would do, but I’d never meant to hurt her.
“I’m so sorry, Abby,” I whispered. “I had to stop them. I just… I had to.”
Abby broke into fresh tears and buried her face in my chest, tightening her grip more than an eight year old girl should have been able to.
“Don’t go again, Claire,” she sobbed, her tears wetting my shirt. “Please don’t go. I won’t have anybody if you leave. I won’t know what to do, I’ll be scared–”
I shushed her, stroking her tangled hair and holding back tears of my own. “I’m not going anywhere, Abigail. Never again. The monsters are gone. Nothing can hurt you. I won’t let anything hurt you ever again.”
A flicker of doubt crossed through my mind when I made that promise, but I crushed it before it grew. Losing Abby had been devastating. I wouldn’t let it happen a second time. I would die first.
“She’s a brave girl.”
Still cradling Abby, I looked up to find Riley kneeling down in front of us. A gentle grin softened his features, but it didn’t hide the scars on his body. His striking blue eyes were alert and easygoing. He hid his trauma better than anyone else I knew.
“When she saw where you were going to land,” he deftly avoided the word ‘crash’, “she directed us where to go. She almost jumped off the skiff before I landed it, she was so determined to get to you.”
I threaded my fingers through Abby’s hair, grateful she’d stopped shaking. “She is brave,” I agreed. “Thank you, Riley.”
He smiled and waved his hand. “There’s no need, Claire. You were the one that rescued me. Protecting your sister is the least I could do.”
Carefully prying myself from Abby’s embrace, I took my sister’s hand and stood up. My body felt stiff and pained when I moved, but Riley was quick to take my elbow and steady me. I forced a smile onto my face when I stood up.
“Where are the others?” I asked when I looked over his shoulder and couldn’t see any of the other hundred emaciated men, women, and children.
Riley’s smile turned into a frown. “Seems that those volunteers weren’t lying about their skill. While I was in the air, they split up. They all sailed over Westraven, but in different directions. I swore one or two were going for the barricades. I couldn’t track them all. The ones that touched ground close to us were gone when we landed. I had to make sure Abby didn’t get hurt, so I don’t know where they went. I’m not sure how many we’ll see again.”
I nodded. “Good.”
He blinked, confused. “Good?”
“Yes. They’ve been trapped in that awful place for who knows how long. They deserve to run wherever they want now that they’re free.”
A hundred lives had been spared torture from the Hellions. I couldn’t say what would happen to them now, but I hoped that they would find some kind of peace. At least it would be their own.
Riley’s confusion disappeared and became a smile again. My heart warmed at the sight of it.
“Do you know where you’ll go?” I asked. I was grateful for the way he guarded Abby. I wanted him to live a life that would distract him from the nightmares he was bound to have.
He shrugged. “Part of me wanted to ask Sawyer if I could join his crew, but I don’t know if he’d have me along.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Partly because he doesn’t trust me, and would trust me less if he knew I was the son of a Sky Guard.” He smirked. “It’s a good thing my father showed me a thing or two about flying smaller ships. Otherwise I might have crashed the skiff you set me on instead of landing it smoothly.”
His words were teasing, but I still gaped. The Sky Guards were the soldiers of Westraven, among the first casualties when the Hellions attacked in The Storm. Before that, their sole purpose had been hunting down and arresting marauders.
“Also, I don’t think he’d want me to get close to you. I saw him looking at you when the battle started, and he seems like the dangerously jealous type.”
I scowled. “Sawyer doesn’t have feelings for me. If anything, I’m a new, useful friend. He doesn’t see me the way you think he does, and he doesn’t control my heart.”
Riley beamed at that. I couldn’t stop the flush that filled my cheeks. “Then I may change my mind. Are you part of his crew?”
“Not yet, but he’s asked. We haven’t talked about it in a while, and with everything that’s happened, I don’t know how well we’d work together.”
I glanced at the ground, wishing I could sort out my thoughts. I cared about Sawyer, nearly broke when I thought he was dead, but couldn’t look past the knowledge that was he Davin Kendric’s brother. He went back and forth with me, rushing to my side at one instant then running away from me the next. I wasn’t sure I could handle that kind of push and pull from someone who made it clear they weren’t intereste
d in me.
Riley walked closer to me, resting his hand on my shoulder. I looked into his brilliant blue eyes and felt words escape me.
“You’re an extraordinary woman, Claire. Anyone can see that. Sawyer will want to have you around, but you’re more than a worker. Anyone who can’t see that is a fool, and doesn’t deserve you.”
I could have swooned. For most of my life, all I had been was an engineer. The only thing anyone wanted me for was to repair something they often broke themselves. I was seen as a tool, not as a person. That was the only reason Sawyer agreed to work with me.
But Riley didn’t see me that way. After spending so much time with monsters, he would see me as a person, someone to spend time with and know rather than a resource. I couldn’t do anything about my blush when it finally filled my cheeks, but Riley didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he smiled more, and leaned closer to me. My heart jumped.
