“I think we reached it sooner than Asteran expected.” I crouched by the pool and filled my water bottle, blocking any thoughts of arachnids drinking from the same spot with their tube-like mouths. Gross.
Nova did the same. We both gave Leo a knowing stare.
“Oh, all right!” He unscrewed his bottle and filled it to the top.
Nova opened her backpack and pulled out a bag of apples and oranges. “Here. I’m sure you’re hungry.”
I took an orange, not wanting to tell them I’d already eaten soywafers with Asteran. They’d want to know what we’d talked about and what I’d learned. I had a feeling Asteran had told me in confidence, and I wasn’t about to gossip about his sad past.
Leo crunched into an apple. He had a few crushed protein bars in his bag, and he offered them to Nova and me. I refused, but Nova took one. Guilt sticking to me like spider webs, I did offer my soywafers from the other room, but they both passed.
“So, what are we going to do with Tauren?”
Nova chewed the hard soywafer and took a swig of water. “He’s bound to wake up soon. I’ll offer him water and let him walk around, but then I think I should put him back under.”
“I’ll help.” Leo threw his apple core into the corner. “I’d like to get some payback for my chin.”
Nova gave him a stern shake of her head. “You’re not going to kick him back in revenge.”
Leo grinned. “No, but I don’t mind sticking him with a needle.”
Even though my brother’s sick revenge fantasy disturbed me, I was relieved I didn’t have to help. Asteran’s story came back to me, and my stomach sank in shame. I can’t put it off forever.
I couldn’t just blurt it out right before we left for our mission, either. By the way, Tauren, you suck. I don’t want to be your lifemate. This kind of serious talk deserved honor, respect, and time. I nodded in agreement, and we all left for the control room.
The floor quaked under our feet as we walked up the tunnel’s steep incline. I fell against the wall. Pain blossomed through my arms as I braced myself.
“What’s going on?” Leo caught Nova.
Nova pushed him away in annoyance. “Let’s go find out.”
We increased our pace as the shaking intensified. I wobbled from side to side as the floor lurched. I hoped Asteran had control of the ship and we weren’t crashing through an asteroid field.
When we reached the control room, Asteran was bent over the orb. We came beside him. His fingers wrapped around the top of the curve. The red light illuminated his face, bringing out every sharp angle. His swirly tattoos glistened around the intense concentration in his eyes.
“What are you doing?” Nova shouted over the thunderous din.
“Brace yourselves.” Asteran’s face didn’t leave the orb. “We’re landing.”
“Landing?” Leo screeched. “Already?”
“Over here.” I directed them to the spot where Asteran and I had sat together against the wall. It was far enough from the orbs and the crystal, should they topple over. If they flew across the room, that was going to be another story.
Leo and Nova sat on either side of me, and we huddled together as our teeth chattered from the vibrations. Changes in gravity, from lightheaded dizziness to bone-pulling force, made my stomach heave. Across the room, Tauren shook, and I wondered if we should have woken him or at least moved him by us. We were responsible for his safety, even if he’d crashed our mission. I wouldn’t want him dying for a cause he didn’t believe in.
“We should move Tauren!” I shouted as I held on to both Leo’s and Nova’s arms.
The floor pitched underneath us, and we started to slide to the tunnel’s mouth. Nova wrapped her arm around a stalagmite. I held on to her waist and Leo held on to my legs. Asteran braced himself with his legs, gripping the orb with his long fingers.
Tauren slid across the room. I cringed as he hit the wall. Blood trickled from a scrape on his forehead. His eyes fluttered open. His mouth moved as he shouted something.
I wouldn’t want to wake up to this. He was tied and helpless, and we couldn’t reach him. Guilt tainted my soul.
The fact I didn’t like him made the depth of remorse even worse.
The shaking subsided as the ship leveled. Every muscle in my body had tensed. I let go and breathed with relief. We weren’t dead.
Asteran called back to us. “We’ve entered the atmosphere. We’re drifting down.”
Nova shouted across the room. “Tauren, are you okay?”
He shot us a laser-eyed stare. “You guys are so screwed.”
Leo shrugged and stood, brushing himself off. “Sounds okay to me.”
The orb filled with smoke. At first, I thought Asteran had broken it in the landing, but then broken pillars of a city poked through the haze. The orb displayed the terrain below. A chill crept over my shoulders. We flew across Asteran’s ruined world.
I joined Asteran at the orb, looking over his shoulder at the smoky ruins. Flames, roaring out of control, covered patches of forest. Other places were blackened to the ground. Buildings stood gutted and broken in abandoned husks. Perpetual twilight hung in the debris covering the sky. Volcanoes on the far ridge, miles away, spewed mushrooms of dust into the air. It was so awful, I wanted to close my eyes and pretend it wasn’t there, but a morbid curiosity and disbelief kept my eyes peeled. “The whole planet looks like this?”
He nodded, his jaw tightening as if he held in a tremendous amount of pain. “I was their last hope, and I failed. I wish you could have seen it the way it was.”
I placed a gentle hand on his arm, and we witnessed the ruin together, in silence. I had no soothing words to offer. What could you say to remedy such profound devastation and loss? I couldn’t fix Asteran’s planet, but I could give him my support.
Then the truth hit me like a laser in the heart. If we failed, this could be Paradise 21. Clammy shivers crept over my body, and I leaned into Asteran’s warmth. We had to beat the arachnids together, even if it meant we didn’t make it back. This cause was beyond all of our personal agendas. Never did I imagine I’d be doing anything remotely important. I was an average student, interested in beautiful flowers and smelling like strawberries, and always attuned to a gorgeous face. Look where my superficial pursuits had led me: on a mission to save the world.
Nova untied Tauren while Leo stood, pointing a laser should Tauren try to overwhelm her. She offered him food and tended to his wound. They didn’t ask me to help, and I was thankful to be free to stay with Asteran. He needed me more, anyway, even if he didn’t speak of it.
“Over there.” Asteran pointed to a dense, gray forest on the horizon where the flames had yet to spread. The foliage drooped under a thick blanket of ash, withered and lifeless.
“Are you sure?”
He blinked and a portion of the forest enlarged within the orb. He pointed to a small obelisk protruding from the leafy ferns. Swirly symbols, much like his tattoo, were etched along the sides. “I’m certain of it.”
The ship hovered over a clear spot of shards and dirt before the edge of the forest.
“This is as close as we’re going to get.” Asteran glanced at my hand on his arm and spoke under his breath. “Hold on to me.”
I snaked my arm around his and tightened my grip, feeling his muscles beneath his sleeve.
He turned to the rest of them. “Brace yourselves. I’m preparing to land.”
Chapter Nineteen
First Steps
“I’m coming with you,” Tauren ordered as we packed our bags for the trip.
I shook my head. Even on the wrong side of the laser, he tried to boss us around.
“And I’m King of the Universe.” Leo strutted back and forth in front of him, holding his weapon. I could tell my brother was enjoying this. “Lyra’s the Pop Rock Queen of the New Dawn.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Leo. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
Leo nodded as if he had full authority on the
matter. “No problem, sis.”
Tauren fought against his bindings. “It’s not fair for you to run off and leave me stranded in this ship. I want to get home, and the only one able to fly this hunk of metal is Mr. Golden Skin over there. If something happens to him, then I’m stuck here on this ruined world.”
Asteran looked up from the orb, but he didn’t say anything. Challenging Tauren wasn’t his style.
“Well, you should have thought of that before you walked on this ship.” Leo crossed his arms.
Tauren widened his eyes in frustration. “I had no idea it was going anywhere.”
His words reminded me of the question I’d had before. Just what was Tauren doing on the ship?
“Enough!” Nova put her hand up. “This bickering isn’t getting us anywhere.” She turned to Asteran. “This is your planet. What do you suggest?”
He glanced up from the orb, and the red light diminished. “We cannot leave him tied in this ship. If something happens to us, he’ll need to take care of himself.” Asteran studied Tauren as if determining his intentions. “If we free him, he’ll follow us. It is better to keep him in our sight at all times.”
Tauren nodded in a weird agreement with Asteran. “Listen, I’m not out to shoot anyone or take over. There are way too many of you against me, and I know Blue Hair won’t fly us back until he gets his revenge. I’d just like to ensure my safe return by making sure you don’t do anything else that’s stupid.”
Nova looked at me like I had the final say. I was still his “lifemate”, after all.
I glanced at Tauren, and his eyes pleaded with me. It was the first time I’d seen him vulnerable. For a nanosecond, I sympathized with him. Then I remembered all the jerky things he did and squashed that thought. As much as I didn’t want him to come, he didn’t deserve to be left behind in a strange ship on a ruined world. “I say he goes.”
“Oh, man, by the Guide, why?” Leo whined.
I tried to think of an easier answer than the fact I had underlying guilt from not telling him I didn’t want to be his lifemate, coupled with the fact the guy I did want stood in the room. My life couldn’t get more complicated.
I settled for a halfway answer and put my hands on my hips. “Because Asteran isn’t sure if these people are alive and we’ll need all the help we can get.”
“That settles it then, three to one. Tauren comes with us.” Nova hefted her bag on her back.
I zipped the top of my pack. Since I’d handed out weapons to Asteran, Nova, and Leo, the bag felt lighter. I’d stuck both the webbing thrower and the microbe spray into my belt. Now I only carried some food, an extra sweatshirt, and my water bottle, among a few other little things. The seething volcanoes convinced me I wouldn’t need the warm socks for the trip to the surface.
Asteran led us through the ship. I followed him, with Tauren at my back. Out of all of us, Tauren was the least likely to use violence on me. At least I thought so. He’d grabbed me a couple of times in private when angry, but never in public when others were around. I figured I was pretty safe. Besides, I had a hunch Asteran would be all over Tauren if he so much as touched me.
Nova and Leo followed in the back. Poor Nova had to put up with Leo’s complaining, giving me a vacation. We traveled the narrow tunnels to the edge of the ship, where a single orb stood on a metal pedestal in front of the wall. Smaller than the orbs in the control room, this one reminded me of a crystal ball.
“There are no portals to this ship, only walls.” Leo clutched both sides of his face. “We’ll never find a way out.”
“There are portals. You just have to look for them.” Asteran approached the orb. He waved us back. “Stay where you are.”
As he gazed into the orb, a square formed in the hull as the metal began to melt. Twilight shone through cracks. Smoke trickled in, and we covered our faces. The air reeked like burnt leftovers in the oven, of used charcoal and decay. The stench overwhelmed me as the wall poured itself into a ramp and the ashen forest claimed the space around us.
My throat constricted until I choked. I dug through my backpack and pulled out the mask Alcor had given me to use with the microbe spray. I’d teased him at the time, saying a mask wasn’t going to make much of a difference when I strolled through arachnid territory, but now I was eternally grateful.
Nova and Leo did the same. The filter managed to block most of the smoke.
“What about Tauren?” I’d forgotten we only had enough masks for ourselves. We hadn’t planned on a stowaway.
“Guess he’ll have to wait behind, after all.” Leo adjusted his mask.
“That’s not necessary.” Tauren ripped a piece of his uniform from his sleeve and wrapped it around his mouth. “This will do just fine.”
“It stinks.” Leo pinched his nose through the mask.
Asteran turned toward us with tears in his eyes. “It is the smell of death.”
My courage shrunk to the size of a pea. Could I really go out there onto a ruined world, with death surrounding me? I could barely watch the funerals on the New Dawn, when the coroners used to send the coffins into deep space.
I steeled my nerves, needing to be strong for Asteran. This was his planet and these were his people. He shouldn’t face the ruin alone.
“Come on.” I took his arm. “Let’s do this.”
Asteran retrieved his mask from the bottom of the backpack I’d given him, and he strapped it over his face, so only some of the tattoos swirled past the edge, like vines reaching for the sun.
We walked out onto the ramp. The twilight sky stretched above us in a churning sheet of dust and ash, with lightning streaking the far horizon. Volcanoes thundered in the distance, and the earth quaked. If we stayed too long, it seemed the planet would fold up upon itself, smothering us in soot. The worst was yet to come.
My boots crunched into the ash, breaking pieces of the porcelain street underneath. The gravity was lighter than Paradise 21, much like it had been on the New Dawn most of my life.
Asteran walked with stiff resolve as he approached the obelisk. He collapsed to his knees and ran his fingers over the markings.
I crouched beside him. “What does it say?”
He sighed, brushing a tear from his cheek. “It warns of trespassers on sacred ground.”
Nervous panic shot up my legs. “Are we trespassing?”
Asteran stood, gazing into the ashen forest. “Considering the circumstances, I assume the elders will overlook our desecration.”
We entered the forest, careful not to stir up too much soot and dust. Even with a mask, decay overwhelmed me, strangling my throat until I could smell nothing else. Branches drooped under thick ash. Leaves, dried by the scalding air, crumpled at my feet. One flame and this whole forest go up like kindling for a fire.
“What happened to this place, anyway?” Tauren reached toward a dried branch, and it morphed to dust at his touch, turning his fingers gray.
“The arachnids invaded, space brain.” Leo trudged behind us, snapping pictures with his wrist locator. Why he wanted to remember this, I wasn’t sure.
Tauren growled. “I know that, but a full-scale invasion wouldn’t cause planetary ruin in terms of climate change.”
Asteran nodded. “Tauren’s correct. The weapons we used against the arachnids caused large-scale fires and destruction, which spread when the arachnids overwhelmed us. The rise in global temperature set off some of the largest volcanoes on Priavenus, which filled our sky with debris. With the sun gone, life failed.”
Tauren swung at a low-hanging branch. He’d taken the lead with Asteran, carving a path for the rest of us. “That was smart.”
Asteran’s shoulders sagged. “It was our last chance to defeat them.”
“Well, we’re going to defeat them now.” I tried to stay positive. While everyone else saw death, I imagined the ash lifting and all the trees and ferns springing back to life. This forest must have been quite a majestic sight, with green branches reaching all the way to the
sky.
A branch cracked behind us, and we all turned around. With her locator, Nova scanned the area where we’d come from. “Movement to the southeast.”
“What is it?” Leo whispered as he crouched behind a hollow log.
Asteran lifted his nose to the air and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, releasing the air slowly through his nose. His eyes flickered open. The irises had turned an alert, bright gold. “We’re being followed.”
Chapter Twenty
Mercy
I raised my gun. Nova and Leo did the same. Nova and I had chosen the webbing guns, while Leo had taken Tauren’s laser. I wished we all had lasers, but when we weren’t on a mission, Crophaven took them back to the armory. Alcor’s inventions would have to get us by.
“What is it?” Tauren turned to Asteran with anger in his eyes, like it was all his fault.
“I don’t know.” Asteran reached behind him and brought out the same gun I had.
“What do you mean you don’t know? It’s your planet.” Tauren wiggled his hands at Leo. “Give me a gun.”
“Not in a million years.” Leo’s eyes didn’t leave the path of footsteps we’d left in the ash. If anything wanted to track us, all it had to do was look down.
“Thirty million species inhabited Priavenus before its fall. It could be any one of those.” Asteran gestured for us to stand beside him. “Stay together.”
“Could the arachnids still be here?” Leo whispered as he and Nova tiptoed behind Asteran.
“Unlikely.” Asteran held up his gun and took a step forward. “They got what they wanted. There’s nothing left here for them.”
“Maybe they abandoned one of their kind?” Leo’s finger tightened over the trigger.
Nova shook her head. “I doubt it. They’re all connected psychically.”
“Then what could have survived this?” My hands shook, and I tried to calm myself so I could hold my gun straight. Some adventurer I was.
Another branch broke and we all stilled. Thunder boomed. Ash started to rain over us, collecting in our hair. “There!” Leo pointed. “It came from that direction.”
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