Aria tried to catch her breath as he walked up. She wanted to run away. Or ask him the millions of questions that swirled in her mind. She didn’t do either. Her legs wouldn’t move. Her lips wouldn’t form a single word.
In the pause that spread between them, she realized the Komodo had stopped. Any doubt that Sable had staged a coup of his own vanished.
“I sent my men for you,” Loran said.
“I didn’t like them. They were shooting Guardians.”
“I was trying to help you,” he returned, frustration adding a rough edge to his voice. “The Hovers are leaving. Peregrine and Cinder are already outside. You need to come with me right now.”
“What about Roar? What about Soren?”
“My allegiance is to Sable, Aria.”
“Yes, I know, Father. Mine is not.”
Loran shifted his weight, shadows falling over his gray eyes. Aria wished she could read the emotion in them. She wished she hadn’t just spat father at him, like it was an insult. “Are you going to force me to come with you?” she asked.
“No—I’m not.” He glanced down the hall and then shifted closer. “I want a chance to know you, Aria,” he said, low and urgent. “I’m trying to prove I deserve it.”
“And I’m trying to believe you!” Her voice rose, sounding shrill and unfamiliar to her own ears. She backed down the hall, suddenly desperate to retreat.
Loran didn’t stop her.
He watched as she spun and sprinted away.
30
PEREGRINE
Move, Tider! Hurry up!”
Struck between the shoulders, Perry stumbled forward, crashing into a man rushing the other way. Pain tore through him, sharpest in his ribs. He recovered his balance and glanced back.
The man escorting him out of the Komodo was a giant. Perry’s height, but built like a mountain, his eyebrows pierced with metal studs. “You want to untie my hands? I’d walk faster with them free.”
The giant sneered. “You think I’m an idiot? Shut up and keep moving.”
Slowing his steps as much as he could, Perry scanned every hall and chamber for Aria and Roar. For Cinder. Sable’s men poured through the narrow halls, but he saw far fewer of Hess’s men.
Perry passed a room with a group of Guardians. They looked panicked and lost, like the rest of the world shared a secret. He shook his head. His gut feeling had been dead-on. Sable had beaten Hess at his own game. Perry had known as soon as the giant had stepped into his chamber minutes ago.
“Get up, maggot,” the Horn soldier had taunted, flinging a bundle of ragged clothes at Perry. “Put those on. It’s time to go.”
It had been far too soon. Only an hour had passed, not the four Hess said he’d needed.
Now the giant’s voice boomed at Perry’s back. “Faster! Move your feet, or I’ll knock you out and drag you outside!”
Perry didn’t see how that would help. He’d be harder to carry; that seemed obvious.
Abruptly, the giant pushed him through a door. Perry stumbled halfway down a ramp before it hit him: after days in the Komodo, he was finally outside.
He pulled the cool air into his lungs as he took a few steps over the loose dirt. The night smelled of smoke from fires that smoldered on the distant hills. His skin prickled with the familiar feel of the Aether. The sky churned red and blue and terrifying—a fearsome sight, but worlds better than being trapped in a small chamber.
Hovers lined the field before him, just as when they’d arrived, but the Komodo looked different from the coiled snake he’d seen before. Now it stretched backward and forward, unspooled, its links running in a straight line.
“Peregrine!”
Sable stood with a cluster of men a short distance away. Perry didn’t have to be pushed to walk over to him.
“Ready to see the Still Blue?” Sable smiled and lifted a hand to the swirling sky. “Eager to leave all this behind?”
“Where are they?” Perry asked, anger burning in his blood.
“Cinder is loaded up and waiting for you. You’ll see him in a moment. As for the others . . . Roar is an aggravation at best, but only a fool would leave behind such a pretty girl as Aria. She’ll be here soon. When this is all behind us, I hope to get to know her better.”
“If you touch her, I will rip you to pieces with my hands.”
Sable laughed. “If they weren’t tied behind your back, that might actually concern me. Take him,” he said to the giant, who hauled Perry away.
Across the field, hundreds of people loaded crates onto Hovers. They were a mix of Horns who seemed to know little about preparing Hovers, Guardians who were trying to help, and Guardians who had no idea what was happening. Angry shouts volleyed back and forth. Total chaos.
As the giant pushed him toward a Dragonwing, he noticed armed men along the roofline of the Komodo. Everywhere he looked, he saw firepower. Dwellers and Outsiders taking sniper positions. He couldn’t tell whether they were working together or in opposition. It didn’t seem clear to them, either.
He climbed into the Hovercraft, taking a final look across the crowds massed along the runway, hoping to see Aria and Roar.
“Keep going, Tider,” said the giant. He struck Perry between the shoulder blades, sending him stumbling into the Dragonwing.
Perry moved to the cockpit. Cinder slumped in one of the four seats, looking almost asleep. He’d been given warm clothes, and a gray cap fitted snugly over his head. Off the Dweller drugs, he already looked healthier than hours earlier.
When he saw Perry, Cinder’s eyes flared with relief. “They told me you were coming. What took you so long?”
“Damn good question,” growled the giant. He pushed Perry into the seat beside Cinder.
A Dweller peered back from the pilot seat, his face beaded with sweat and drawn with fear—no doubt owing to the gun pointed at his head by the man in the adjacent seat.
“If it isn’t Peregrine of the Tides.” The man with the gun leered, showing a mouthful of brown teeth as he smiled. “You don’t look like all that much.”
“He isn’t,” said the giant.
“Heard you got your wings clipped,” said Brown Teeth, his pistol never leaving the pilot’s head.
As they laughed, Perry took in the situation, noticing the pilot’s hands were free. They’d have to be, for him to fly the Hover. Perry drew a breath, hoping to find something in his temper besides fear.
“I’m going to tie your feet,” said the giant. “If you try to kick me, I will put a bullet through your foot, and then I’ll start hurting you. Understand?”
“I understand,” Perry said, though he didn’t really.
When the giant knelt, he kicked.
The giant’s head whipped back, his teeth snapping. He fell in a massive heap, wedged in the aisle between the seats.
The pilot reacted quickly, shoving away the Horn’s pistol. The soldier lunged, and the two men fell on each other, a jumble of gray and black wrestling in the close space in front of the controls.
Perry stood, hunching in the low cabin.
“What are you going to do?” Cinder asked.
“I don’t know yet.” Perry didn’t see a knife or tool he could use to free his hands. His options limited, he turned back to the fight and waited. When he saw his opening, he drove his knee into the Horn soldier’s head.
The man slumped, staggered for a long second. Enough time for the pilot to scramble to the floor and grab the fallen pistol.
He swung the weapon from Perry to the Horn soldier. His lip bled freely, dripping onto his gray uniform, and fear iced his temper, sharp and white at the edges of Perry’s vision.
“Easy. Easy, Dweller.” Perry could almost hear the pilot’s struggle. Friend or foe? Enemy or ally?
“You’re their leader,” he said, through labored breaths.
For a second, Perry thought he was being mistaken for Sable. Then he realized he wasn’t. The pilot knew of him.
“That’s right. I’m goi
ng to help,” he said, keeping his voice steady. “But I need my hands. I need you to cut me loose. . . . Can you do that?”
31
ARIA
As Aria sprinted through the narrow corridors, she watched the Komodo unravel. Dwellers and Horns pushed past her in a frenzy, their panicked voices carrying to her ears. No one knew what was happening. Only one thing was clear: the Hovers were leaving, and everyone was desperate to reach them.
Except her.
She ran, darting past people, finally reaching her chamber. The door was open. She shot inside and stared at the empty bunks.
No Soren or Roar.
Aria cursed. Where were they? She dove back into the corridors. Rounding a corner, she almost ran smack into Roar.
He yanked her close, his voice soft but scolding. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“How did you get out?” she asked.
“Really?” Soren barely slowed to a jog. “You two can’t talk about this later?”
Roar reached behind his back and handed her a pistol. “Hess came for us,” he said, answering her question. “He’s planning something. He’s trying to put a stop to Sable.”
Soren took them to a heavy door, swinging it open. A cool gust swept over her as she darted outside, free of the Komodo at last.
Crowds milled by the fleet of Hovers. Guardians and Horns postured around each other, occupying the same field but standing separate, groups of gray and black. Their voices were low and warning, snarls before the bite. Funnels of Aether flashed in all directions, scoring bright lines down the night sky, but the Komodo sat under a pocket of less-threatening currents—for now.
“Where’s Perry?” she asked as they moved into the throng. She couldn’t see over the heads around her.
Roar scanned the field, shaking his head. “I don’t see him. He’s probably in a Hover already with Cinder. But I know who can tell us.”
Sable.
A sudden cry rose from the crowd, and the earth began to tremble, vibrating beneath her feet. She looked up, wondering if she’d misjudged the Aether. Blue and fire-red tempests swirled above, but she didn’t see any funnels forming.
“The Komodo!” Soren yelled.
Aria didn’t understand. People scattered away, shouting as they searched for cover. As the crowd around her thinned, she saw the Komodo—saw segments of it. The command center had disengaged into individual units. Black and hunched and beetle-like, each huge segment rolled on their tracks, the roar of their engines shaking the air.
Aria’s head whipped to the other end of the clearing. The Komodo units were surrounding the runway. On top of each one, she saw gun turrets rising up, their barrels aiming at the Hovers, and snipers now stood in perches along the rooflines.
Hess. He wasn’t going to let Sable take them without a fight.
Aria grabbed Soren’s arm. “This is your father’s plan? To shoot us?”
He shook his head. “Not us. He has to send a message to Sable.”
“We’re all together, Soren! Look around you.”
“It could work! But he better be prepared to—”
“Sable!” Hess yelled.
At the sound of his father’s raised voice, Soren took off running. Aria followed, threading through the crowd, hoping Roar was still behind her.
She broke through the press and arrived at the edge of a circle of people. Hess stood at the center. Alone.
He wore full military dress. He held a gun, and he was also wearing a Smarteye.
“Sable!” he yelled again, searching the people around him. “I know you’re here! Pay attention! Watch what happens when you force my hand!”
An explosion sent Aria flying backward. She fell to the dirt, the wind rushing out of her lungs, stunning her for an instant that went on forever. She rolled into a ball and slammed her hands over her ears as she gasped, struggling to recover her breath. The sound of the explosion had blown out her eardrums, and pain lanced into her skull. She couldn’t hear herself coughing. She heard nothing but the rush of her own blood, her own heartbeat.
Someone grabbed her arm. She lurched away, then saw that it was Roar. Fire reflected in his dark eyes as he spoke words she couldn’t hear. A massive cloud of black smoke rose behind him, blocking out the Aether.
He took her arm and helped her up. A gust of hot air blew a pungent, chemical reek into her face, stinging her eyes. At the far end of the fleet, fire engulfed a Dragonwing—part of the craft already scorched down to its steel ribs.
Roar’s grip on her arm tightened. “Stay here. Stay with Soren. I’m going to find Perry. Aria, can you hear me?”
She nodded. His voice was faint, but she heard him. Not only what he said but also what he meant.
Roar had to find out if Perry was in the Dragonwing covered in flames.
Roar’s eyes moved past her as Hess screamed again.
“Come forward, Sable! Come forward, or I will destroy every one of them! They’re my ships! I will not let you have them!”
“Yes,” Soren said. “Pressure him.”
“Calm yourself, Hess. I’m coming.”
The sound of Sable’s voice rooted Aria—and everyone—in place.
“Where are you?” Hess searched the ring of people around him. “Come forward, coward!”
Aria spotted Sable as he slipped past a few of his soldiers. “I’m right here.” He gestured to the burning Hovercraft as he approached Hess. “I would have come without all of that.”
Panic crept over Aria with every step he took. He wore a knife at his belt. But Hess had a gun.
She sensed movement behind her. Horn soldiers closed in, forming a wall around them. Roar caught her eye and shook his head. It was too late.
In seconds, Aria felt a gun press against her spine.
Kirra smiled and said, “Hi.”
They were stripped of their weapons. Her, Roar, and Soren. Trapped, all three of them. Again.
“We were going to do this together, Sable,” Hess said. “That was the arrangement we made.”
Sable measured Hess in that same quiet way Perry had. The way of Scires. The flames from the exploded Dragonwing roared in the silence, the fire a bright spot against the night.
Perry wasn’t in that Hover, she told herself. He couldn’t be.
“Together?” Sable said. “Is that why you were planning to betray me?”
“You gave me no choice. We made a deal, and you broke it. Tell your people to stand down. We leave on my orders, like we planned, or no one leaves. I’ll level every one of the Hovers to the ground.”
Sable took a step toward Hess. “Yes, you’ve said that.”
Hess lifted his gun. “Don’t come any closer.”
“I always keep my word,” Sable said, still advancing in deliberate steps. “I didn’t break our deal. You only believe that I was going to.”
Aria noticed the crowd loosening. People dropped back, responding to some instinctive signal.
“I will shoot you,” Hess said.
“Yes, yes, yes, do it!” Soren chanted at her side.
Time slowed, every second lasting an eternity. Aria couldn’t move, couldn’t utter a sound.
“If you shoot me,” said Sable, “then my men will cut you down next. That doesn’t sound like a solution, does it? It sounds very similar to what you’re proposing . . . all or nothing. Lower your gun, Hess. You got what you wanted. We’re at a stalemate, and we both know you won’t pull that trigger.”
“You’re wrong about that,” said Hess. “Stand back.”
“Shoot him!” Soren screamed.
Sable’s eyes snapped to Soren. “Bring him here,” he said to his guards.
Hess found Soren in the crowd, his face transforming with fear. Then everything happened at once.
Soren yelled, “No!”
Sable shot forward in a flash, drawing his knife and slashing it across Hess’s chest. Hess rocked back, his scream shrill as it broke into the air.
/> The wound was shallow, grazing instead of piercing, but to a man who’d never known real pain, it was debilitating.
Hess gasped, eyes glazing as the agony paralyzed him.
Sable moved in again.
He drove the knife into Hess’s stomach and ripped downward.
Hess sank to his knees, his flesh and blood spilling through skin and uniform, pouring onto the earth.
32
PEREGRINE
Perry saw everything.
Taller than everyone in front of him, he had a clear view of Sable as he flayed Hess open.
Time came to a stop as Hess crumpled, his blood darkening the dusty earth. The moment of absolute silence felt familiar, reminding Perry of when he’d slain Vale. Power felt tangible. Its shift unmistakable. Something had just ended, and something had just begun, and every person there sensed it: a change as startling and inevitable as the first drops of rain.
Soren’s scream broke the spell, a deeper sound than his father’s final cry, low and anguished, springing from his gut. Then gunfire broke out, sudden and everywhere.
Perry shot forward, sprinting toward Aria and Roar. Horns and Dwellers fired at each other as they ran for the Komodo, for Hovers, for any place to take cover. Bodies fell lifeless to the ground. Ten, then twenty, cut down in seconds.
“Aria!” he yelled, pushing through the stampede. She stood at the center of what was quickly becoming a bloodbath.
In a break in the crowd, he spotted Sable surrounded by a dozen of his men, who protected him in a human shield.
Roar’s words rang in Perry’s mind. Cut off the head of the snake.
Perry could do it. He only needed one clear shot.
Roar’s whistle cut sharply through the gun battle.
Perry’s head whipped to the sound. Roar stood fifty paces away. A Horn soldier held him by the arm, shuttling him to the Komodo. Perry saw Soren and Aria beyond Roar, both of them also under the gun.
Perry slowed and set his feet. He aimed the pistol, finding his mark, and pulled the trigger.
He hit the Horn soldier who had Roar—a square shot to the chest. The man flew back, falling to the ground, and Roar lunged free.
Under the Never Sky: The Complete Series Collection Page 79