Skye beamed. “That’s it.”
We hovered above the most glorious planet I’d ever seen. It shimmered and sparkled as though the surface was covered with white hot diamonds. Various colors radiated above it like a spectrum.
“It has to be a star—no planet is this bright,” I said.
“Trust me, it’s a planet.” She sighed. “Crazy beautiful, right? I’d give just about anything to visit there.”
I turned. “You can’t?”
She trilled a laugh. “Your naiveté is adorable.
I scowled. “Gee, thanks.”
She simmered the laugh down to a smile. “Well it is,” she insisted. She cleared her throat and looked outside. “Since Bahira is home base to the Council, nobody goes there without an exclusive invitation. I’ve never known anyone who has visited there. It’s all very secretive.”
A shiver ran through me. What would Skye say if she knew I had an invitation? Maybe I could give it to her. If Krane had really given it to me because he thought I was pretty, then wouldn’t he be thrilled to have Skye visit instead? She was Malibu Barbie after all.
“Orientation was the first time I’ve ever seen Lord Krane up close. Talk about creepy.” She grimaced.
Or, maybe not.
“So are you ready for your flying lesson?”
My attention snapped back to her. “Really? You’ll let me fly?”
She nodded. “This is a good place for practice. I’ve got us plenty far from Bahira’s flight restrictions, and there’s nothing for you to run into.”
I grinned and gripped the sides of the yoke. “Okay—what do I do?”
“The actual flying is not that complicated as long as you remember to push down to go down, and pull back to go up. The left-to-right is self-explanatory. Try it out and you’ll see what I mean.”
I took a big breath and pushed down on the yoke. The ship went down, just like Skye had explained. I gasped. “I’m flying!”
She smiled. “See? I told you it was easy. The tricky part is staying oriented, so use Bahira as a reference point.” She motioned to the planet below us. Try some maneuvers until you get the hang of it, then we’ll talk about the control panel.”
I nodded and practiced moving the ship in all directions, eventually even daring to do a roll and a dive. My cheeks hurt from smiling as Skye gave me flying pointers. Finally, she instructed me to come to a stop. She turned and gave me a high five.
“You’re a natural, Lark. If you were a Freedom Fighter, you’d definitely specialize as a pilot.”
“If only.” I ran my hands over the yoke and sighed. “How do you guys choose what you’re going to specialize in, anyway?”
“We don’t choose it; we’re selected by a program that knows where we’re most compatible—the same program Lieutenant Hardcastle used to know that you and Captain Harris were compatible for each other.”
I squirmed. No matter where I went I couldn’t escape the references to Rusty and me. Not even in space. “If you ask me, no program can compare to what someone feels in their heart.”
She shrugged. “Maybe ‘program’ is the wrong word. It’s more like technology that can determine what’s in a person’s heart—the very essence of their being.” She winked. “Trust me, it’s foolproof. Every Freedom Fighter gets placed this way, and no one has ever wanted to change.”
“And yet you don’t use this technology to pick the person you fall in love with, do you? You use Claiming for that.”
She arched a brow. “Where did you hear about that?”
I flicked at an invisible piece of lint on my sleeve. “Nadia told me.” I quickly changed the subject, grabbing the yoke. “So what’s next?”
Skye’s face cleared. “Well for starters, let’s get this thing right side up again and I’ll explain the panel.”
I frowned. “I thought we were right side up?”
She smirked. “Look at Bahira.”
I glanced out the window to see that the planet was upside-down.
“It’s easy to get disoriented. That’s why you need to get acquainted with the control panel,” she said.
After I’d brought the Starfox right-side up again, she pointed to the large control screen. “Think of this as your airship’s vital signs. Always keep tabs on what’s going on here. Most of it is self-explanatory, but I’ll break it down for you.”
I paid close attention as she listed several of the functions on the panel, having me practice flying while pressing things on the screen. I flew the Starfox in a straight line, then reached over to tap on the fuel screen to check the levels. A loud beeping sound startled me.
“What did I do?”
Skye leaned forward and tapped the screen a few times. Her eyebrows formed a V. “That wasn’t you.” She cursed under her breath and grabbed the controls. “My ship.”
I dropped my hands from the yoke. “What’s going on?”
Her tension was palpable as she switched into pilot-mode, flipping knobs and prepping the Starfox for hyperspeed. I’d never seen her so serious.
“There’s a Fury heading straight for us.”
“A what?” I gripped the sides of my seat, straining to see out the windows.
“A Lilthe fighter.” She tapped the screen again, bringing up the image of an insect-like airship. My heart stopped. It looked lethal.
“I don’t know how it got here. No Lilthe ship should be able to come within ten light years of Bahira without being detected.” She shook her head. “But we’re not going to stick around to find out.”
I held my breath as she hit the button for hyperspeed, but nothing happened.
“Please, no.” Her face paled and she hit the button again, but the Starfox didn’t move. She rapidly swiped through screens on the panel, trying to find the source of the problem.
My heart thudded against my ribcage. I couldn’t look away from the main screen, watching the Fury close in on the dot that was us. Another beeping noise erupted, this one much more alarming.
“Skye?”
“New plan!” She jerked the yoke back and we shot up like a rocket. The loud beeping continued as she flew in tight circles and twists and dives, her hands gripping the yoke for dear life. I stared at the control panel, trying to make sense of what was happening. The words, “Missile Lock” blinked in bright red.
We were going to die.
“Lark, calm down,” she ordered.
I realized I was hyperventilating. I forced myself to take in several slow breaths as we hit a turn and the G force flattened me into my seat. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. We have nothing to fear but fear itself, I repeated over and over.
The missile barely missed us as we dove out of the way.
“Oh yeah? Eat this, scumbags!” Skye yelled. She hit a red button and two missiles launched out of the Starfox at the same time as she arched the ship into an inverted swan dive. I jerked my head around to follow the path of the missiles. They honed in on our decoy, and exploded into the missiles Skye had launched.
“Yes!” I shrieked. “You did it.”
Skye’s mouth formed a line. “There will be more. Without hyperspeed we can’t outrun them. I need you to man the guns. It’s do or die time, Lark.”
I swallowed, the full reality of our danger sinking in. I nodded.
“Climb back there and I’ll tell you when to fire. It’s just point and shoot.”
I quickly unbuckled my harness, my legs jelly as I made my way to the rear of the aircraft. We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
I climbed into the gun bay and grabbed the handles. One red button at each thumb to shoot. Easy. I could do this.
“Get ready!” Skye yelled.
I swiveled the guns around until they were aimed at the Fury, which was opening fire on us. Skye evaded the fire, sending off a missile that fell far short of the enemy aircraft. Her wild maneuvering made it impossible for me to aim.
“I shoul
dn’t have taken that shot,” she called. “I’m out of missiles. You’re going to have to take care of them with the guns.”
Sweat beaded on my lip as I gripped the handles. “How many rounds do I have?”
“Plenty. But I’ll have to get you in range. Aim for the front. Don’t shoot until I tell you.”
I screamed as we spun in a sudden barrel roll.
Skye let out a string of words in a different language. “We can’t waste any more time. If we don’t destroy them soon, we won’t have enough fuel to get home.”
I gulped, my palms sweaty as I gripped the handles harder. “Just get me a clear shot.”
“We’ll come at them from below. Get ready!”
We came out of the barrel roll and dove beneath the Fury.
“Now!” she screamed.
I hesitated. I’d never used a weapon before.
“Do it now, Lark!”
I pushed down on the buttons as hard as I could. A stream of laser-fire shot out of the barrels, hitting just past the nose of the Fury. I moved the guns and fired again. My eyes widened as the lasers made contact. The ship caught fire and exploded.
“Yes! That’s how it’s done!” Skye yelled.
“We did it.” I put my hands over my head and blew out a long breath. “We did it!” I climbed up from the gun deck and ran to the front of the ship. Skye stood and gave me a tight hug.
“You were amazing!”
“I can’t believe that happened. I can’t believe I just destroyed an airship.”
Skye pulled away and looked at me. “You did what you had to. Those were Lilthe—the lowest form of low-lifes out there. You have nothing to regret. You saved our lives.”
My knees went weak. “I just destroyed an airship. How is no one going to notice that? I’m going to be sent home.”
She shook her head. “Not if no one knows it was us. We’re off grid, remember?”
I nodded and slowly sank into the co-pilot chair as Skye returned to the control panel.
“I’ve got to get the hyperdrive fixed or we’ll run out of fuel,” she said. “If that happens, then we’ve got even bigger problems on our hands. If we have to request an emergency landing on Bahira, we’re toast.”
I bit my thumbnail, praying she’d be able to fix it. Why had I been so stupid? I never should have agreed to go with her tonight.
Skye studied the screens, her face intent. “Uh-huh. I think I know what the problem is. Take the controls—I’ll be right back.”
I numbly reached for the yoke as Skye darted to the back of the airship. My eyes were drawn to the window. A cloud of debris floated where the Fury had been. I’d done what I had to—it was us or them—but I couldn’t keep from wondering how many lives had been onboard when their ship blew. Why had they attacked us?
“We’re back in business,” Skye said, sliding into the pilot’s seat.
I released the breath I’d been holding. “That was fast.”
She shrugged. “Easy fix. We would have been home by now if not for the incident.” She flipped the switch for hyperspeed, and it flickered to life. She turned to me with a grin. “Buckle up.”
I fastened the harness, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Skye had just referred to our near-death space combat as an “incident.” She was humming as she took the yoke.
A loud crackling noise made us both jump. The screen on the control panel flashed red as a voice carried over the speakers. It was a militant voice, though I didn’t understand the language. I turned to her, my hands gripping the armrests.
“Who is that?”
Skye looked panicked as she activated hyperspeed. The stars blurred, and we shot forward. Once we were safely in hyperspeed she blew out a breath. “We accidentally drifted into Bahira’s restricted flight zone. They were asking us to identify ourselves.”
My breathing shallowed. “Do you think they know that we destroyed the Fury?”
She paused and then shook her head. “If they’d seen the Fury, they would have come to our aid. And if they’d recognized my Academy airship, they wouldn’t have asked us to identify ourselves. We got out of there fast enough . . . we’re fine.”
I leaned back, wishing she sounded more convinced. If I had put the Academy or people back home in danger because of my stupidity tonight, I would never forgive myself.
Skye tapped the control panel. “ETA: ten minutes. You should be able to catch an hour or two of sleep before you have to get up for school. Just remember not to mention this to anyone. Especially not Gideon.”
“Don’t worry about that.” As much as I loved flying the Starfox, our encounter with the Lilthe wasn’t something I wanted to relive. Ever.
The minutes flew by, and before I knew it, Skye was dropping me off in the field by the Norths’ home.
“See you at school!” she chirped, giving me a wink.
“See you.”
I watched as the Starfox rose silently, the swaying grass the only sign of its movement. I waited until the ship was out of sight before booking it toward the tree home; fireflies igniting in a stream of lights behind me.
CHAPTER
Twenty-Five
My arms were shaking with fatigue as I climbed the ladder to my room. Birds chirped here and there in the predawn darkness.
With one final pull, I swung myself over the railing and onto the balcony. I half-walked, half-stumbled toward my bed.
“Where were you?”
I gasped, tensing into fighting position before my mind registered the voice.
Gideon stood from the chair by my dresser and came to me, his blue eyes simmering with anger.
I took a step back, shifting my weight. “I just went . . . out . . . for a little while.”
“You’ve been gone almost five hours.” He stared me down, gripping me with his tractor-beam gaze.
I looked down and lifted a shoulder. “I know. I’m sorry.”
He blew out a breath. “I tracked your cuff and saw that you were in space, Lark. Space. You’re not supposed to leave the house without me, and you left the planet.”
I slouched, feeling smaller and smaller with every word. “Well yeah, when you put it that way it sounds like a big deal.” Just a little hyperspeed travel and enemy combat. No biggie.
“Skye took you up, didn’t she?”
I met his eyes. “Gideon, don’t be mad at her. I made her take me.”
He folded his arms. “Oh really? You forced her to come get you and take you into space?”
“I made her a deal.” I chewed my lower lip and looked away.
He paused. “I see.”
When I dared a glance back at him, I wished I hadn’t. His eyes were filled with hurt and betrayal.
I winced. “It’s not like that. I would have told you to ask her to the dance regardless. Otherwise she would have been stuck with Slade.”
“Better her than my sister.”
“Look, I’m sorry.” I sighed and sank down on my bed. “I made a mistake.”
He shook his head. “I almost took an unauthorized airship to go after you, but I was afraid someone at the Academy would find out where you were.” He turned my face up to look at him, his eyes still simmering. “They wouldn’t hesitate to send you home if they knew. And if Skye ever got caught doing something like that, she’d lose her pilot’s license.”
“She promised me we wouldn’t get caught.”
His face darkened. “That’s a promise she had no way of knowing she could keep. A thousand things could have gone wrong, all of which could have jeopardized the Academy and worse still, your planet. You have a responsibility, Lark. What is it going to take to make you realize that?”
I cringed. It sounded so childish now; trusting Skye when there was so much at stake. If Gideon had any idea of what we’d just been through, he would go berserk. I lifted my eyes to meet his. “You’re right. About everything. I’m sorry.”
He searched
my gaze, his eyes tight. Sorry’s not enough this time. He straightened his shoulders and left the room.
I sucked in a breath and brushed angrily at the few tears that escaped. How could I have been so reckless? I fell back onto the bed and closed my eyes, but as soon as I did, the image of the Fury being blown to pieces filled my mind.
I sat up. Exhausted as I was, sleep wasn’t about to come anytime soon. Gideon was right, I had a responsibility to fulfill. The entire populace of my planet was in danger: my mom, Reagan—everyone back home, including me.
We were all going to be wiped out if our unit didn’t succeed. I’d been studying my books during rare moments of free time at the Academy. So far nothing had jumped out at me, like, “Hey, here’s the answer to saving your planet.” What was I missing? I slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the dresser, grabbing my satchel before tiptoeing back. Propping myself against a few pillows, I pulled the field journal out of the bag and adjusted my screens until I could read in the pre-dawn light.
I skimmed through the notes I’d been taking in class: Cooking, Botany, Construction, Medicine, and Chemistry. While it was amusing to read back through my notes, I still couldn’t understand why these subjects were chosen. Were we going to bake our way into being a better society?
I frowned and rubbed my eyes beneath the screens, setting the journal aside and reaching into the bag for my Bible.
I read the verse in Leviticus again, and then stared blankly at the page in front of me. The Bible was huge. There was no way I was going to be able to read the whole thing before our unit was over. Which passage would give me the answer? I wished there was some way to Google or ask Siri: Which verse in the Bible holds the key to saving planet Earth? I gave a short laugh and then blew out a long breath, running my hands over my face.
A glance out the window showed the sky lightening. I rolled my shoulders and turned to Genesis, chapter one.
CHAPTER
Twenty-Six
The Orb we took to school was almost as big as a bus. Gideon, Nadia, Cypris, Slade, Rusty, Skye, Isabel and I had all met and piled into one together. Skye gave me a wink when we met up, no trace of weariness in her from our overnight escapade. But she didn’t seem as chipper after Gideon pulled her aside and whispered something to her.
Silence of Stars Page 20
