So when I push the button for the outer hatch, I stay in my Hunter form, and when the outer hatch opens, the blob and I float peacefully away from the StarLeague’s high-security weapons lab.
The Peacemaker departs.
And I am alone.
* * *
Space is big.
It’s empty and black and cold, with faint, silent points of light that, when you get close to them, become stars seething with heat or busy stations or cloud-covered planets.
But mostly space is empty.
I remember what my captain once said to me. People travel with you for a while, she said. You’re always alone in the end.
But Captain Astra said something else to me too. The big, important thing that she told me when Electra and I were about to leave on our mission to rescue the shapeshifters.
I was wrong, she told me then. Sometimes you don’t end up alone. I will always come for you, Trouble, she said. Always.
And Electra? I asked, because she and I needed to be kids together.
The captain smiled, and kissed the top of my head. And your friend, yes.
So I wait. And I think. And I listen.
There is no other person in the entire galaxy like the Hunter. It’s made up of bits and pieces of other kinds of beings. It’s a mongrel, just like my dog puppy form. Before, the Hunter was a monster. Now it’s just me. I’m a kid. I’m a weapon for keeping the people I love safe. I’m waiting for my captain. She’s coming; I know she is. And Reetha. And Shkkka and Telly and Amby. And Electra, my friend.
I wait and wait. Me and a blob of goo—who might, just might, be a baby shapeshifter.
The dark of space seems to go on forever.
And then, at last, a ship appears. It’s a dented tin can of a ship, a lighter shadow against the darkness of space. As it comes closer, the outer hatch slides open. The Hunter gathers the blob and drifts nearer to it, then enters the airlock. The outer hatch slides closed. Air flows into the airlock. As it does, I shift.
The form I take is a completely familiar shape. A warm-blooded mammal. Soft body, no exoskeleton. Air breather. Hair on the top of my head. Hands, feet, face, a mouth for talking with.
A human.
When I open my human eyes, I can see the whole family waiting in the passage beyond the inner hatch. Reetha, Amby, Telly, all three Shkkka. Electra, with a bandage on her leg.
Captain Astra, who is smiling and crying at the same time.
I can’t wait to tell her that while I was waiting for her to come for me, floating in the deep velvet of space, I heard it. I never thought I would, but I did.
I heard the sound of the stars, Captain.
They were singing.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to:
My besties: Deb Coates, Jenn Reese, and Greg van Eekhout.
My intrepid agent, Melanie Castillo, and everybody at Root Literary.
EditorK, the amazing Kelsey Murphy. Thanks also to the team at Philomel/Penguin Young Readers, including copyeditors Marinda Valenti and Abigail Powers, associate editor Cheryl Eissing, designer Monique Sterling, cover designer Tony Sahara, cover artist Pétur Antonsson, associate publisher Jill Santopolo, publisher Ken Wright, Elise Poston and Gerard Mancini in managing editorial, Kara Brammer in marketing, Lauren Festa in digital marketing, publicist Lizzie Goodell, Felicia Frazier and everyone in sales, Jocelyn Schmidt, and Jen Loja.
The Maud, John, and Pip, and all my dear families.
My wonderful colleagues at Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City.
For book help, Anna Catanese, Ali Borger-Germann, and Phillip Tyne.
Sukie Brown for the word vegetably.
And Taylor Swift, for the theme song.
About the Author
Sarah Prineas is the author of the Magic Thief series, the Winterling trilogy, Ash & Bramble, and Rose & Thorn, and Heart of the Land from the Spirit Animals series. She lives in rural Iowa with her husband, two kids, and two cats. You can visit Sarah online at sarah-prineas.com.
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Trouble in the Stars Page 17