The Dark Sky Collection: The Dark Sky Collection

by Amy Braun

  “Let her through, boys,” called Ryland. “She’s part of this deal.”

  The Dogs shuffled apart enough for Gemma to shoulder through. She ran straight to Nash and threw herself into his arms. He crushed her to his chest, threading one hand through her hair and whispering something none of us could hear. Some of the Dogs whistled and taunted them, but they didn’t care. I looked away, knowing Nash would fill Gemma in on what Sawyer had given up. I didn’t want to see how it would hurt her. Not when Sawyer was hiding his devastation.

  “All of you get out of here! Poacher and Dwight, get a scavenging party started. Four men max. Looks like we’ll be taking a tour.”

  As the Stray Dogs cleared out, Sawyer began to turn away from Ryland. Scratches lined his arms and torso, and blood dribbled from a cut on his left eyebrow, but he didn’t seem to care about his physical pain. The despondence in his eyes had been caused by something else entirely. I broke out of Riley’s arms and rushed to him.

  “Take it back,” I told him.

  “What? The deal?” he muttered, not looking at me.

  “Of course the deal!” I burst. “You can’t give up the Dauntless!”

  “I can, and I did.”

  “But–”

  He dragged his head up. His eyes were heavy, like he’d aged a thousand years in the span of seconds. “Did you want to be a slave, Firecracker? Break your back working for him, then be broken in every other way?”

  I flinched at that, unable to argue.

  “That’s what would have happened, and the thought of that happening to you…” He broke off and looked down. He closed his eyes and strained out a sigh. “Do me a favor and let this go, okay? It’s my choice, not yours, and it’s the right one.” In a whisper, he added. “It’s just a ship, anyway. Believe me, if I had to choose between it and you…” He stifled a laugh. “It’s not a choice. It’s you, every time.”

  It didn’t sound like he regretted it. When he came out of the Crater, the first thing he did was point a gun at Ryland and give up his ship. For me.

  My eyes traced over the dozens of bruises and scratches covering his face and body. He had to be in pain, but he was lucky to be alive. They all were. If I hadn’t thrown the weapons in when I did, I could have lost one or all of them.

  Though I ached for Sawyer, the idea of what he’d done and what he was willing to sacrifice made my heart swell with warmth.

  I grabbed his face in both of my hands and lifted it to mine. He stiffened, but didn’t pull away.

  “I’ll get you your ship back, Sawyer,” I told him. “I’ll find a way for it to be yours again.”

  He sighed heavily, then drew back the breath to protest. I kissed him instead.

  I don’t know why I did it, why I needed it so badly right then, in front of Ryland, the Stray Dogs, and the rest of our crew. In front of Riley.

  Probably because I was grateful that Sawyer and my friends were alive. That meant something, and I wanted Sawyer to know it. I needed him to hope again. Regret could make him blind, and I didn’t trust Ryland not to betray us somehow.

  Those might have been good reasons, but they weren’t the real ones. I wanted Sawyer in a way I couldn’t explain. If he had died… I don’t know what I would have done. For all his stubbornness and distance, he was kind and selfless. Strong and brave. Never willing to give up on others or leave them behind. He pushed me, because he knew I could be stronger if I was pushed. His smile, the mischievousness in his eyes, even when he teased me with that damn nickname… I couldn’t bear to lose it. Or him.

  Sawyer didn’t hold me, but he relaxed for a moment. He kissed me harder, breathing deeply as if he could memorize me by scent. Then he put his hands on my arms and slowly pushed me away. He didn’t let me come back, dropping his eyes to the ground again. I let him turn and walk away, feeling stronger than before. My mind was clear.

  I could hear the others talking behind me, saying it was time to follow Ryland. I felt a hand on the small of my back, and all the elation I felt suddenly swelled into guilt. I looked over my shoulder to meet Riley’s gaze.

  And found it oddly blank.

  He was still there, smiling that gentle smile I knew so well. But there was nothing in his eyes I could read. No hurt or betrayal. Just… nothing.

  This wasn’t like him. Had I hurt him that badly?

  “Riley, I…”

  A small glint of light came back into his eyes. His smile tightened. “It’s all right, Claire. I understand.” He glanced over my head, to where Sawyer was walking. “We should get moving.”

  I hesitated, then clutched his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Riley lowered his gaze to mine again and smiled. His eyes remained unreadable.

  Promising myself I would talk to Riley later, to ease his mind and let him know I still cared for him, I turned and followed Sawyer down the cavern. His arms were folded over his middle, his back hunched and his golden eyes focused on the dirt floor. Like he was already resigning himself to losing the Dauntless after so much dedication to finding it.

  He never let me give up on myself. Now I had to do the same for him.

  Chapter 12

  The temperature difference from under the Barren and the top of it was jarring. Sawyer demanded that Ryland give our jackets and supplies back. He complied, surprisingly, even returning our jackets, my stolen tools, and my mother’s journal to me. I checked the journal, flipping through it to make sure nothing had been torn out. It was exactly the way I found it.

  Ryland’s kindness unnerved me, but I couldn’t question it yet. Not when he was leading us through the heavy snow to a darkening shape in the distance.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets and looked up. It was impossible to see anything through the grey clouds and heavily falling snow, yet I couldn’t escape the feeling that we were being watched. The only Hellions I knew of–the ones pitted to kill Sawyer, Nash, and Riley–were dead, their bodies dragged from the Crater to be burned above the Barren. Except for the six men trailing behind us, the other Stray Dogs and Runts were working in the tunnels. The open area stretched over miles, and I couldn’t see any outposts where other marauder Clans would be hidden. Supposedly, we were alone.

  The anxiety refused to leave.

  I tried to push it from my mind and look at the grey shadow ahead of us, the enormous, blocky shape that was finally taking form. Ryland stopped in front of it just when I thought my legs couldn’t take one more step. I blinked away the snow melting on my eyelids and sucked in a cold breath as I stared.

  The ship was a vessel larger than any I had seen before, almost as large as the Behemoth had been. Despite the size, it couldn’t be more different. It was a metallic frigate that spanned almost a quarter of the Barren’s open space. Thirty cannons were slumped under the heavy, rusted metal surface or buried under the collecting snow. A heavy gas tank bulged on the starboard side. Because of the thick graphtium plating, the tank was the only part of the ship that didn’t look damaged. Dents from cannonballs marred the ship’s hull. Thirty more cannons lined the next level of the ship. There was only one mast, used for the crow’s nest, and it was snapped like a broken arm. Two massive, double-barreled guns were latched onto the main deck behind the dual level command bridge. On the stern of the ship were blocky, italicized letters: Capital Meridian.

  A dull sense of longing filled me as old memories emerged from my subconscious. It had been years since I watched my parents board this vessel. I was only six at the time, but I remembered the day the Meridian set out on the Discovery. There was a parade, military men and women hugging their families and promising to return. Cheers and music and tossed confetti filled the streets as we celebrated a journey into the unknown. My mother and father had held me close and told me they would miss me. I had missed them, but the pain had eased when they came back.

  Now I missed them for an entirely different reason.

  Staring at the massive pile of rusted metal, once the pride of the Sky Guard’s Aerial Combat Divis
ion, it was hard to believe something so mighty had been brought so low.

  “How many times has it been raided?” I asked, taking some cautious steps closer.

  “Since The Storm?” Ryland snickered. “Maybe a dozen or so. The Barren was a warzone for a while. When things settled down, most folk tried to take as much as they could, but not everyone had the climbing gear. They took what they could reach. The resourceful of us took much more. But we still haven’t found everything. Not all the locks could be broken,” Gemma shot him a challenging look, likely assuming she could pick every lock on the vessel, “and a ship that big, you can be damn sure there are a thousand hiding places.”

  He gave me a sly look. “Not to mention how dangerous it is in there. Easy to slip and fall and break your neck.”

  Sawyer and Riley moved closer to me, which only made Ryland laugh again. I ignored them all, craning my neck to look at the Meridian. There wasn’t netting we could use like on the Dauntless, and even if there were, the climb was unnerving. I got dizzy just looking at it.

  Riley’s hand squeezed my shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded so I wouldn’t have to tell the truth. “Let’s just get up there.”

  I looked at Ryland. He whistled to his men. The Stray Dogs jogged forward, three of them unslinging thick coils of rope from their shoulders while the other three began setting up harpoon guns. We were on edge as the Stray Dogs worked. If Ryland were going to betray us, this would be the perfect place. Three of us would die if those guns were turned on us, and the other two would be overwhelmed. I could feel Ryland watching us from the corner of his eye, smirking and waiting for one of us to crack. We didn’t, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of a hundred eyes on me, hiding in the snow for the perfect time to strike.

  The ropes were fixed to the harpoon guns, the spear-edges swapped out for grappling hooks. The men walked right up to the Meridian, lifted the guns, and fired. The hooks spiraled through the air, flying up to the main deck of the ship, and wrapping around the railing on the side. Each rope was tugged to test its wait before the men stepped back.

  “Who wants to go first?” Ryland asked, jeering.

  “I’ll go with Claire and one of the Dogs,” Riley offered. “Gemma and Sawyer can come up next with Ryland. Nash and two more Dogs follow. The rest of you stay down here.”

  “You don’t give us orders,” one of the Dogs growled.

  Riley glared at him. A strange glow passed through his eyes, so fast I wasn’t sure I saw it at all. He was probably losing control of his temper. I shifted on my feet, uncertain if his anger had anything to do with the kiss I’d given Sawyer near the Crater, and too nervous to ask him.

  “The Hellions could fly over Westraven at any minute. It would be nice to have some warning before they follow us into the ship and kill us, don’t you think?”

  The Dogs scowled at Riley, but didn’t argue.

  “He’s right,” Ryland agreed. “Completely out of line, ordering you around, but still right. Poacher, you go with the soldier and the blonde. Once they’re halfway up, I’ll go with Nash’s woman and the captain of the Dauntless.” The nasty sneer turned to Sawyer. “Sorry. Former captain.”

  Sawyer’s face was blank, save for a twitch his in jaw. Riley put his hand on the small of my back and nudged me toward the Meridian. He led me to the rope on the far left and took the rope on the middle, keeping Poacher away from me. We started climbing without ceremony, and I ignored the lewd comments of the pirates below me by concentrating on the climb.

  Before resurfacing to the Barren, we’d been fed stale bread and leathery meat. Any cuts and scrapes we had were patched up, since Ryland had promised a long, arduous day. He was right. Even with the little strength I regained from the so-called food, my arms ached a little bit more with every foot. At the halfway point, I was sweating. Even Riley and the muscular, stout-necked Poacher were panting from exertion.

  The climb seemed like it would never end. Every step strained my shoulders as I pulled and ached my legs as I bent them against the dented hull.

  Don’t think about the pain, I told myself. The machine could be in there. Find it, figure out what to do with it. Think about closing the Breach and stopping the Vesper. Think about Abby.

  Images of her lying in the cabin on the Dauntless Wanderer, thick blankets doing nothing to stop her chills, swarmed my vision. Her too pale skin and eyes that were losing their green to the bloody crimson of a Hellion. The hurt and pain that couldn’t be stopped with any of Moira’s medicine. I had to find the machine and get it working as soon as I could. If something happened to Abby while I was gone…

  I forced myself through the rest of the climb. By the time I reached the ledge and pulled myself onto the main deck, my bones felt like rubber. Riley and Poacher climbed over beside me, breathing heavily and sitting down to rest their legs. Riley glanced at me, concern lighting his brilliant blue eyes.

  “Not as fun as climbing the Dauntless,” he told me with a smirk.

  I gave him a wobbly grin, then looked over the railing. Sawyer, Gemma, and Ryland were making their way up the rope. On the ground, Nash and the other Dogs looked like figures no larger than my pinky. I gulped and turned away from the railing, lifting my gaze up to the command bridge.

  “Can we walk up there safely?” I asked Poacher.

  He grunted as he got to his feet. “Slant’s not as bad as it looks,” he told me.

  I found that hard to believe, since the command bridge looked so off-kilter it was practically vertical. But Poacher crouched against the patchy-stained deck, put his hands in the splintered gaps on the wood, and used them to scale toward the bridge. I watched him move steadily, turning the gaps into hand and foot holds. I dreaded having to climb again, but time wasn’t a luxury I could afford. The sky was slate grey, so I assumed we were still in daylight, but the snow fell heavier now. If we were caught in a blizzard on the way back, it would be all too easy for Ryland to leave us to freeze.

  So I started climbing again, grateful my gloves were thick and I wouldn’t get slivers in my fingertips.

  Thankfully, this ascent was shorter than the previous one. Ten minutes later, we reached the window of the command bridge. Every window was broken, so getting in was simple. Standing on the slant was a little difficult, but I gripped the console to steady myself. Riley and Poacher moved to the back of the room and started pulling on the hand-wheel to open the door. I stood at the helm and waited for the others. Sawyer and Gemma trailed behind Ryland, both looking unsteady compared to the large pirate’s smooth gait. A couple minutes later, Nash arrived with two more Stray Dogs, all of them looking content to sit on the deck and wait for the energy to return to their limbs.

  The door screeched beside me, Riley and Poacher working together to pull it open. The darkness beyond it was gaping and uninviting, but there was no way I could turn back now.

  “Where would your parents build this machine?” Sawyer asked when he came up beside me.

  “Somewhere with a lot of space,” I told him. “They would need it somewhere secure, like a holding facility in case something went wrong.”

  “Like here?” Riley called from inside the door.

  I slid past Poacher and stood next to Riley on a catwalk that led deeper into the ship. Bolted onto the wall in a dusty plastic casing was a map laying out the entire ship. He was pointing at the starboard side, where I thought the fuel tank would be. Turned out it was an empty space labeled “ENGINEERING BAY.”

  “That has to be it,” I breathed, unable to keep the excitement from my voice. I reached around my belt to find a torch.

  “How do you know for sure this thing is there?” Poacher grumbled.

  “We trust her judgment,” Riley answered, as if that was the only answer needed.