by F. T. Lukens
Ren looked up into Asher’s concerned gaze. “Yes?”
“You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“What did you find in the system?”
Ren focused on Asher’s touch, clammy and warm, on the back of his hand. He focused on the cold air. There was no heat in this part of the citadel, and he had goosebumps on his arms.
“Nothing really.” He didn’t stumble over the lie. “I looked at that beacon again. We could send someone up to the tower to retrieve it. It’d be a way for the encampments to communicate with each other.”
Asher eyed him. “That’s a good idea.” He nodded at the console. “Anything about Vos’s plans in there?”
“Nothing but what that message said. To report somewhere else.”
“Huh. That’s unfortunate.”
“Yeah.”
Ren stood. His middle fluttered at the pointed look in Asher’s eyes.
“You know,” Asher said, pulling Ren close. “It would be a shame to waste this secluded room in an abandoned citadel where we used to be prisoners.”
Ren laughed, his lie momentarily forgotten. “Was that a horrible pickup line?”
“Did it work?”
“Yeah, it did.”
Asher pulled Ren away from the console, then backed him up against the wall, caging him in. He splayed his fingers over Ren’s jaw and tilted it up. “You’re cold.”
“Are you going to warm me up?”
“Now that was a bad line.”
Ren laughed breathlessly. “Well, you know what they say about—”
Asher sealed his mouth over Ren’s, cutting him off, kissing him softly, thoroughly.
After a few long moments, Asher broke away. His eyes were bright in the artificial glow of the lights, and his expression was not one that Ren wanted to see after kissing.
“What’s wrong?”
Asher met Ren’s gaze, unflinching. “I just… don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”
The statement was so earnest that Ren’s heart stuttered with affection and then sank. His and Asher’s relationship was never going to be easy, not like Sorcha’s and Jakob’s. It would always be in question, especially while Asher remained in the Corps and Ren was a star host. That much had been proven to Ren months ago on Mykonos and confirmed along the way—aboard the Star Stream, by VanMeerten, by his parents’ confession, by the message from Vos. There would always be doubt, suspicion, distrust, and Ren couldn’t promise Asher anything. He couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t burn up from the inside or that he wouldn’t detach completely, so his humanity would be lost, and everything that made Ren himself would be gone in a spark and a bang.
“You haven’t lost me yet,” Ren said. “Despite my best efforts.”
Asher kissed him again, surged forward, and captured Ren’s lips with renewed desperation. Whatever this was, whatever feelings were warring within Asher, be it hope because of Jakob’s and Sorcha’s reunion, or despair at the revelation of the Corps’ actions, or even simple nostalgia at revisiting the site where they first met, Ren didn’t know. And he didn’t need to know.
He sank into the kiss, wrapped his arms around Asher’s shoulders, and hung on.
It was nice to be a teenager, to forget all that awaited them outside the door, and to give in to being alone, in the dark, with someone he was attracted to, held affection for, and wanted to be with. Any ties to the program, the beacon, the citadel, fell away, and all Ren could feel was the pass of Asher’s lips over his own, the heat of Asher’s body so close, and the ache in his chest that this may be taken away from him, too.
They kissed until they heard footsteps in the hallway and hushed voices and saw the approaching glow of a light.
Ezzy appeared in Vos’s office, holding a torch above her head. Beatrice was a step behind.
“There you are,” Beatrice said, hands on her hips. “Just as I thought.”
Asher stepped away, straightened his clothes and cleared his throat. Ren smoothed his hair, but he couldn’t hide his kiss-swollen mouth or the pink of his cheeks.
Ezzy’s gaze flickered between them and she frowned, confused at first, then embarrassed when she realized what she had walked in on, and then heart-broken. She bit her lip and blinked rapidly. Her hand shook as it held the torch. Ren’s shoulders slumped, and he looked away; he couldn’t watch the tearful expression on Ezzy’s features. He awkwardly shuffled farther from Asher and rubbed the back of his hand over his tingling mouth.
“We’re setting up a watch rotation. Do you want first or last?” Beatrice didn’t notice Ezzy’s demeanor, and Ren didn’t want to draw attention to it.
“I’ll take first,” Asher said. “Ren needs to sleep, since he didn’t last night.”
“Okay. I’ll take last. Jakob can have the middle. I’m sure he and his girlfriend will be awake anyway.”
“What about me?” Ezzy piped up, brandishing the torch while flames dripped onto the stone floor. “I want to take watch.”
Beatrice smirked and messed up Ezzy’s hair. “Believe me, it’s better to sleep, kid.”
Ezzy flushed, indignant.
“I’m not a kid. I can do the job. I don’t need protecting.”
“Fine, whatever, let’s go back to the main hall.” Beatrice turned away from Ezzy and rolled her eyes at Asher and Ren.
Asher ignored the gesture. “We need to discuss getting that beacon down from the tower tomorrow. Ren says it would be a good way to connect the two different encampments and maybe find others.”
Nodding sharply, Beatrice walked down the hall, and they followed with Ezzy trailing behind.
Once back in the main room, they gathered around the fire and talked about the day ahead. Ren nodded off several times before Asher suggested he go to bed. Ren didn’t argue. He didn’t have the energy. Suddenly exhausted from the day, he found a blanket and an empty spot on the rug next to the fire and fell into sleep. The chatter of the others was his lullaby.
* * *
Ren woke from a dream suddenly, disoriented. He blinked his eyes in the low light; the only glow came from the embers of the fire and the low-slung pink of dawn through the large window. His thoughts were in a fog. What had pulled him out of sleep? The rest of the group was still and quiet; no one stirred. Ren was curled in a ball next to the fireplace under his blanket with his pack for a pillow. He lifted his head and found Asher at his back and Jakob spooned around Sorcha nearby, but all asleep. Ren was drifting back to sleep when he heard it.
“Ren.” The voice was muffled from static.
Ren sat up slightly and found a comm next to his pack. He hadn’t put it there the night before, but he recognized it as one he and Ezzy had found together.
Ezzy. “Ren, please. Please wake up. Please.”
Ren grabbed it. “Ezzy?” His voice was rough from sleep and loud in the quiet. Asher stirred beside him.
“Oh, thank the stars.” She sounded strange, as if she were scared of getting in trouble,
“Where are you?”
“In the tower, getting the beacon.”
Ren rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Why are you in the tower? We decided Jakob and Asher would bring it down. And why are you whispering?”
“Because they’re here. Ren, they’re everywhere.”
“Who?”
“The birdmen.”
Ren snapped to full wakefulness. He pushed off the blanket and scrambled from the makeshift bed. He accidentally kicked Asher, who grunted and opened his eyes, scowling.
“Okay, first thing, are you safe?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, second, are we safe?”
She didn’t answer for a long moment. “No.”
Asher jumped to his feet. He woke Jakob first, then Sorcha, and in moments they were all mobilized, quietly bu
t quickly packing and preparing.
Jakob hung over Ren’s shoulder.
“What do you see, Ezzy?”
Her harsh stuttering breath came over the comm. “I see them all around the castle and in the courtyard. And some of them went into the keep and…” She started to cry, and Jakob snatched the comm.
Ren handed over comforting duties to someone better equipped and turned to the others. “What do we do?”
“I can’t raise Fox,” Sorcha said, her own comm in her hand. “He’s not answering.”
“Which means what?” Asher asked.
Sorcha’s mouth turned down. “They’ve got him.”
“Where’s Beatrice? I thought she was on watch.”
“How did Ezzy get out if the door was shut and barricaded?”
“We are coming to get you,” Jakob said, over the din of their questions. “Don’t worry. Stay put. Shut yourself in or whatever you have to do. But I am going to come get you, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You’re in the highest tower, right?”
“Yes.”
“There is a good chance they won’t come up there. So you’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.”
Jakob’s tone didn’t waver or tremble, but his hand clenched the comm tight, and his jaw clenched with worry.
Sorcha strode toward the main door, where the barricade of chairs and tables was in place. “We’ve got to figure out where they are and get everyone out of here.” She grabbed a stunner and hefted it. “We have weapons but I’d rather—”
She was cut off by a loud knocking on the door.
Everyone froze as if they were playing some child’s game. They waited.
There were voices and footsteps and the scuffle of people—and a long pause. Ren held his breath. Asher squeezed Ren’s hand. The noise on the other side of the barrier ceased. Ren tensed, his muscles taut, his heart pounding so loud he could feel the pulse in his ears. Then he heard the high whine of weapons charging swiftly followed by a bang.
The door heaved inward; the wood cracked and splintered under the assault, and the group leapt into action. They picked up bags and weapons and ran from the entrance to gather behind Ren, Asher and Sorcha.
“Well,” she said wryly, “we’re not going out that way.”
The door bulged against another loud push and clatter. Ren heard the charge of weapons and smelled the burning wood.
Asher pulled his pulse gun.
Ren reached for his power and let it warm him from his core to his toes and fingertips. He succumbed to it; his vision washed blue.
“As much as I want to play ‘last stand’ with you all right now, I think it might be better if we run,” Jakob said, prod in one hand, comm in the other.
The door splintered, and there were shouts from the other side from several voices.
Ren swallowed and poked with his star, and the ping back from the weapons almost overwhelmed him. “There’s too many. We won’t stand a chance in this open area.”
“Into the passageway,” Asher commanded. “Go. Now. Run!”
The door fell in.
They ran. Ren shoved the younger kids in first, through the partial doorway, and then he ducked in, clambering through the small space. As they moved, Ren smacked into Beatrice returning from down the corridor. He skidded and almost lost his balance before righting his body. Asher was the last in, ducking behind a piece of the door. He held onto the iron ring of the knocker and pulled it shut as a stunner blast rocketed into the wood. Splinters rained on the floor.
“What is going on?” she shouted.
“Where have you been?” Ren grabbed her and turned her around, pushing her away from the half-open door and out of the line of fire toward the wall. “I thought you were on watch.”
“I was, but then I saw Ezzy was gone and went to look for her.”
“She’s in the high tower,” Jakob said.
“What the hell is she doing up there?”
“Trying to prove herself.”
There was another blast, this time closer.
Ren readied to send a burst of power, his fingers outstretched, but Asher grabbed his hand and shook his head.
“Not yet. We may be able to talk our way out of this, and we don’t want to give you away if we don’t have to.”
“Talk our way out of this? They’re shooting at us, Ash. In case you didn’t notice.” Jakob clenched the comm in his hand. “And my sister is out there.”
“All the more reason for me to try and talk.”
“Asher will stall,” Sorcha said, tucking a wayward strand of her short hair behind her ear, then hefting her weapon. “Jakob and I will find Ezzy’s route and lead the others out of the citadel. Bea, you stay here and be Ash’s back up in case this strategy doesn’t work.”
“I don’t take orders from—” Another blast into the wood cut her off and everyone ducked away.
“I’m staying with Ash,” Ren said. He took the comm Sorcha slapped into his hand.
“That was never a question. We’ll keep in touch.”
They didn’t have time for a touching goodbye. Jakob’s punch to his arm and Sorcha’s quick kiss to his cheek would have to do. And then they were gone, disappearing down the corridor, leading the rest of Sorcha’s small group to find Ezzy and escape.
Beatrice pulled her weapon from the holster on her back. “Okay, what’s your plan?”
Asher pulled out the shiny metal tags he always wore. He slipped the chain over his head, and, with a quick breath, he kissed the twin pendants. He stood from a crouch from behind the half-closed door and tossed the tags into the main room.
“Wish me luck,” he said.
“No! Ash! What? What are you doing?” Ren whispered harshly, but Asher had already stepped into the line of fire, hands raised.
“Don’t shoot. I am Corporal Asher Morgan with the Phoenix Corps, stationed on Mykonos Drift, under the command of General VanMeerten.”
Ren scooted closer to the door and closer to Asher. He couldn’t see into the room. He didn’t know what weapons were leveled at Asher. He didn’t know how many of the Corps had entered and were facing Asher down. All he could see was the profile of Asher’s face, and it wasn’t enough to gauge what was happening. His military mask had fallen into place.
Beatrice huddled next to Ren.
“Be ready,” Ren said, voice low.
“To run?”
“To save him.”
“You didn’t tell me he’s Corps.”
“Shut up.”
Asher took a step forward. There was no verbal response, but Ren heard the scrape of boots on stone, and then the jangle of medal.
“You are far away from home, Corporal Morgan.”
“I’m on a special assignment. These people are under my protection.”
“Scan these,” the voice said.
Ren swallowed, throat tight. He hated not being able to see the soldiers, hated relying only on what he could hear and the nuances of Asher’s flat expression. He was difficult to read, and Ren didn’t want to miss a tell or hesitate a second too long and have Asher injured.
“I’d like to know whom I am talking to,” Asher said.
The leader scoffed. “I’m Corporal Chase Zag.”
“How did you know we were here?”
“My scouts have been tracking a small group of potential revolutionaries for days. We lost them for a day or so, but thank you for turning off the beacon. That was a sure sign they’d made their way into the citadel.”
“They are not revolutionaries. They are citizens of this planet.”
“Anyone caught scavenging tech is considered dangerous. Not that I have to explain anything to you, Asher Morgan, since I’ll be taking you into custody now.”
“Into custody? On what charge?”
> “A quick scan of your identifications shows you’ve gone AWOL.”
“That’s a mistake,” Asher protested. His brow furrowed, and he changed the grip on his pulse gun slightly. “I’m on a special assignment ordered by General VanMeerten.”
“Huh. I guess it’s pretty funny that her signature is on this order of capture.”
“It’s an error.”
“Then you can take it up with her. Now, the question is, are you going to come quietly, or is this going to get messy?”
Ren coiled his legs beneath him and called his power to his fingertips. He closed his eyes and sent out a wave to pinpoint the weapons. Five. Only five. Where had the others gone? He looked up at Asher and saw the slight shift in his posture.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble,” Asher said evenly.
“Shame,” the voice said, closer than before. “I like it when they fight.”
Asher slid his foot slowly back. “I have no intention of fighting.”
Corporal Zag made a disappointed noise.
“But you’ll be happy to know,” Asher continued, inching gradually backward, his body clearing the plane of the door. “I do plan to run.”
Ren sprang. He jumped in front of Asher and pushed a blast of power outward, disabling the weapons in the immediate area. He grabbed the other leaf of the double door and slammed it shut. Beatrice jammed her weapon into the brackets on the back, effectively locking the door from the inside.
A loud thud echoed as a body hit the door, and the wood rattled in the frame.
“That’s not going to hold them long.”
“No. Let’s go.”
They ran to Vos’s office and through the exit at the back of the rounded room, firmly shutting the door behind them.
They were in another passageway, this one long and arched, with doors down either side.
“Oh, cogs,” Asher breathed. “How do we get out of here?”
“Ezzy found a way; so can we.”
Ren lifted the comm to his mouth. “Sorcha? Report. Um… over.”
“We’re outside,” she said, tone hushed. “Safe for the moment. Hidden. But they’re everywhere. Ren, we need help, your help, or we’re not getting out of here. Over.”
Ren shuddered. “Okay. Tell us how to get to you and we’ll be there in a flash. Over.”
