The Dark Sky Collection: The Dark Sky Collection

by Amy Braun

  Sawyer stiffened. I shared his unease.

  “It’s said that Hellions aren’t born, but created. If the Vesper deems them worthy, he takes away their humanity. He makes them monsters. They say he’s ushering in a new world, and that Aon will pay for the damage it brought to their home. Westraven will suffer the worst, because we were the ones that found the Breach. In the Vesper’s eyes, we were the ones that invaded. He just took advantage.”

  And now he’s looking for revenge, I thought.

  “That still doesn’t explain why he wants Claire,” Sawyer pointed out.

  “No, and I didn’t hear anything about that,” Riley rubbed his hands together slowly. “If they wanted something built, they could have chosen any engineer. But I agree that they want her specifically, and that he’s using Abby to get to her.”

  I looked down and swallowed my anxiety. I didn’t want to tell either of them that if she continued to suffer, I would probably give the Vesper exactly what he wanted.

  “How…What is he doing to her?”

  I could feel him looking at me, but couldn’t bring myself to return the gaze. My heart felt like it was wrapped in chains and held down by lead. Every beat was strained and heavy, constricted against my ribs. My sister’s affliction didn’t seem real, couldn’t be real, but every time I closed my eyes and pictured her face, there was blood and hunger in her eyes.

  “What she said,” Riley began tentatively, “it’s true. He’s found a way to get into her mind and infect her somehow.”

  I couldn’t stop the gasp escaping my throat. I covered my mouth with a shaking hand. Fresh tears blurred my vision. When I found my voice again, I could only utter one word.

  “How?”

  Riley looked down. “It’s one of his powers. He can control and manipulate the minds of anyone he meets. Hellion, human, doesn’t matter.” He paused and shook his head. “He’s not like the Hellions we know. He’s not even like Davin, who’s an anomaly in his own right since he can speak clearly and has memories of his old life.”

  Sawyer tensed again, but said nothing.

  “The Vesper is more,” Riley continued. “I’m not ashamed to admit that he terrifies me. The things he’s capable of doing…” He swallowed tightly. “I don’t even know how to begin describing them. I don’t want to.”

  Part of me wanted to press him for the details, no matter how awful they were, but I couldn’t do that to Riley. Not when he was so tightly wound, barely holding onto his sanity. I was at a loss for words, for any kind of action, but thankfully I wasn’t the only one with questions.

  “But Abby’s never met the Vesper,” Sawyer pointed out. “You said yourself that he was beyond the Breach regaining his strength.”

  “He is, but that doesn’t make him weak. I doubt even the Hellions know the extent of what he can do. Not that they really care. They worship him, and everything he does only increases their loyalty.”

  “But how is he doing it from the Breach?” pushed Sawyer.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You have to–”

  “I don’t know!” Riley suddenly shouted. “I learned everything I did when I was chained in my cell, freezing and barely alive. They starved me so I couldn’t move, and then they started tearing at me,” Riley pulled back the collar of his tunic, revealing jagged, angry scars that stretched from his collarbone to his upper left pectoral. “They waited until I begged for mercy, then left me to heal, and did it all over again. Forgive me for not wanting to spy on them and think there was any hope.”

  Riley roughly pulled his tunic back in place and bent over again, running his hands through the straight, pale blond hair that now reached his shoulders. Sawyer didn’t press him further.

  “I’ve had the Vesper in my mind, too. When he gets inside, he’s like a disease. He festers in your skull, planting words and ideas, making you think what he wants you to think. He destroys everything you are, and you never even know it’s happening until it’s too late.”

  Sawyer had nothing to say to that, either. For once, he actually regarded the traumatized young man with pity. I focused on Riley, my mind flashing back to his scars, the terrified look in his eyes when he was about to be thrown in the Behemoth’s furnace for fuel. If I didn’t know better, I would say he had forgotten it, blocked it from his mind so it couldn’t destroy him completely. But I heard his distant screams in the middle of the night. I saw how uncomfortable he was in the dark, or how he sometimes jumped when he heard a screech. Riley might have been holding up better than my sister, but he was still broken.

  “Thank you, Riley,” I said. “If you think of anything else, please tell us, but don’t go out of your way. We don’t need it now.”

  Riley looked up. His face was still full of distress, but there was unending gratefulness in his brilliant blue eyes. He nodded slowly.

  I turned to Sawyer. “We need to focus on closing the Breach.”

  He looked at me hesitantly. “We’ve been looking everywhere, Firecracker. We started searching for your parents’ ship, but you said you can’t remember the name.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I was a child when it happened. A lot has been on my mind.”

  Sawyer raises his hands defensively. “It’s been a decade, Claire. We don’t even know where the Breach is.”

  “Riley does. We should put aside looking for the ship and try to get more information. That could help point us in the right direction.”

  The moment I mentioned Riley’s knowledge of the Breach, Sawyer shot him a dark, untrusting look. I carried on as if I hadn’t seen it, and didn’t think the gesture was childish.

  “If there truly was a way, my parents would have found it. Garnet mentioned they were already trying to work on it. He told me when he…when he questioned me.”

  I slid my thumb under the chain around my neck and lifted the key into sight. Sawyer stared at it unhappily. I wondered if he was just being moody, or if like me, he was remembering the horrible torture I’d endured at Garnet’s hands when he asked me questions I had no answers to. I quickly hid the key under my shirt, telling myself that the painful buzzing under my skin was only brought on by unwanted memories.

  “Do you even know where to start looking?” Sawyer asked. “We’re not getting anywhere by asking seedy looters who would rather punch people than talk.” Though from the sound of his voice, he was searching for another fight.

  “My parents lived in the drafter district. We can start there.” I dropped my eyes. “In truth we probably should have started there, but I just didn’t think about going back.”

  Neither man said anything about my decision. Or my previous lack of one.

  “Let me know when we’re going. I’ll be ready.” Riley said, pushing to his feet and walking for the netting. He grabbed it then paused, glancing over his shoulder at me. Sympathy reigned in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Claire,” he told me. “For what’s happening to Abby, for your situation, everything. If you need me, I won’t be far.”

  His offer was so heartfelt and sincere that I ached to hug him for it. Having someone sincerely care about my plight made it slightly easier to endure. I smiled weakly as he descended from the Dauntless.

  “He’s hiding something,” Sawyer accused when Riley was out of sight.

  My smile vanished. I pivoted to face the marauder captain. He was looking over my shoulder, as though he expected his newest recruit to return and shoot him. I was appalled at his frigidness.

  “How can you say that? You saw what he went through,” I argued. “He was nearly thrown in a fire, remember? Of course he’s hiding something, and he has a right to. Who knows what he had to do to survive.”

  Sawyer’s golden eyes slanted down. “Exactly.” He dipped his chin until his face was just inches from mine. “Why let someone live as a servant for two years, then try to throw him in a furnace?”

  “He wasn’t a servant,” I defended. “He was tortured, forced to give them information on Westraven. I
t wasn’t his fault. Maybe he snapped and fought back. Maybe he tried to escape.”

  “That’s too many maybes, especially for someone who was close enough to hear the Hellions and find out about the Vesper.”

  I squinted. “You’re not seriously suggesting he’s a Hellion spy.”

  He matched my stare. “You’ve encountered the Hellions aboveground, Claire. How many have you heard speak Aonian?”

  I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t have to answer and give him satisfaction.

  “He’s up to something. You heard him command Abby. I find it hard to understand why his voice, a stranger’s voice, could get through to her when yours couldn’t.”

  I scoffed at that, not wanting to dwell on it and doubt Riley after he’d calmed Abby. “We need his help. He knows where the Breach is. He might even remember something about the Vesper. More than that, he’s part of this crew. We’re not going to abandon him.”

  His eyes flashed hotly. “I might not throw him out yet, but don’t get attached, Claire. Not until we know what his purpose is.”

  I took a breath to keep arguing, then stopped when Sawyer’s words finally registered. “Purpose?”

  He nodded. “The real reason he’s here. He could have done what the other survivors did when they escaped the Behemoth. He could have started a new life. But he stayed here. He gave away crucial information on Hellions, without asking anything in return.”

  I folded my arms over my chest and scowled at the pirate. “Not everyone is selfish and paranoid, you know. He could be doing this because he has nowhere to go, and he wants to be a part of something again.”

  Sawyer shook his head sadly, like I was the naïve child in this conversation. “Everyone is selfish, Firecracker. It’s how we survived the Hellions for so long.”

  I walked past him, going for the cabin door. I still felt Sawyer’s eyes on me, but he said nothing, and I refused to look back. I rapped on the door. Nash pulled it open and peered down at me. The scratches on his face were ugly, but didn’t seem very deep.

  “How is she?” I muttered.

  “Sleeping,” he replied cautiously. He frowned at my expression, glancing at his captain over my shoulder.

  “You and Gemma can get some rest if you want. I’ll watch over her. I should have been doing that anyway.”

  Nash’s frown deepened, and he looked at Sawyer again He was probably trying to figure out what Sawyer had said to upset me without actually asking and digging the knife deeper. I busied my mind, looking past Nash to Gemma, who was sitting by my sister’s bed with an even more bewildered expression.

  The big marauder turned to his lover and held out his hand. Gemma, who had been watching the whole exchange with blatant confusion and curiosity, rose and curled her fingers around his. I turned away from the doorframe to give them room, then slipped in as soon as they were on the deck. As I reached for the door, I head Gemma fire an accusation at her captain.

  “What did you do this time?”

  I closed the door behind me before I could hear Sawyer’s reply. I flipped the lock and pressed my back to the door. That was when I

  realized how fast my heart was pounding.

  To make matters worse, I was able to hear pieces of their conversation past the oak door.

  “That’s what you’re thinking?” Gemma barked. “Are you insane? No, don’t answer that. I know you are.”

  Sawyer’s reply was muffled, too distant for me to hear. Nash’s wasn’t.

  “Then why hasn’t he done anything, Sawyer? You have no evidence that he’s been anything other than helpful. You’re the only person who can’t seem to trust him. We all like him, and he cares deeply about Claire…” I barely heard Nash’s next words. “That’s what this is really about, isn’t it? The way he looks at Claire when you’re trying not to.”

  I pushed away from the door, determined not to hear the rest of that conversation. To think Sawyer’s animosity toward Riley stemmed from something as petty as jealousy…

  I shook my head. I wouldn’t let Sawyer’s words get to me. I trusted Riley. He was kind and supportive, caring of Abby, and he brightened whenever I walked into the room. He was the son of a Sky Guard, the noblest, most loyal soldiers in all of Aon. Sawyer was a mistrusting, moody, stubborn man who prided himself on being right and having things done his way. His father was a ruthless pirate, and his older brother was a literal monster.

  But damned if his words didn’t stick in my head. I believed Riley was telling the truth about the Vesper, but he never spoke of his time on the Behemoth. If he did, it was in snippets, fractions of information that reminded us how horrible the Hellions could be.

  My chest constricted at the thought of what he’d gone through for those awful two years. Riley must have been ashamed of betraying those in Westraven by giving up key points of attack, but under the claws of someone as cruel as Davin Kendric, who was himself under orders of the Vesper, what choice would he have had?

  My speculations about Sawyer and Riley vanished when I looked at the bed, where Abby lay in a cocoon of blankets. She held the sheets with a white-knuckle grip, her little body shivering. Her eyes were pinched tight, her breathing labored. I crossed the room and knelt by her head, gently smoothing blonde curls from her forehead. Abby whimpered, but didn’t wake.

  I stayed there until I felt satisfied that she would sleep until morning. Perhaps not sleep well, but enough. I got up from my crouch and padded quietly to a chair that was pushed against the table. I sat on it and placed a small wooden trunk under my feet. As comfortable as I could be, I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, hoping the exhaustion of the night would draw me into sleep.

  It didn’t.

  With everything that happened, my brain refused to shut down. I found myself reaching for the skeleton key, drawing it from under my collar and turning it in my fingers. The token from my mother used to bring me comfort. On cold lonely nights in the underground, I would lie on my cot, close my eyes, and hold the key close to my heart. I would remember sneaking into my mother and father’s shop in the basement of the house, watching them work in perfect synchronization to create gadgets and repair equipment. At times they would seem like a machine themselves, working silently together. Then I would see my father’s eyes light up when my mother passed him a tool, and the glowing smile on her face when his fingers lingered on her hand.

  I would think about how my mother never forgot to make me breakfast in the mornings. She would be wearing her dirty coveralls, washing her hands at the sink, looking over her shoulder and smiling when I came downstairs.

  I would play her last words to me over and over again, wishing I understood what they meant.

  One day you’ll use that key, and you’ll save us all.

  But how was I going to know when that day came? I still didn’t know what the key was for, or what it could possibly do to save the few survivors that remained. Even if we found the machine to close the Breach, would it be enough to stop the Hellions from cutting open the sky again?

  Would I go through all of these trials only to have them make no difference in the end?

  The Vesper was up to something. I had no doubts about that, and not just because he was hurting my sister to get to me. But if he was as devious as Riley claimed, then he would have another agenda. Something far worse than another invasion.

  What happened over there? What could the marauders and explorers have possibly done to the Hellions to bring them to Aon?

  An old memory drifted out of my mind, unfolding like a piece of crumpled paper. It hadn’t meant anything to me before, but thinking about the Vesper, trying to understand what he wanted me for, had changed everything…