Stargazers

by Bella Forrest

  The four of us bundled into the chamber between the interior and exterior doors, with Lauren standing safely behind the former as the hatch closed. She stared at us through the window, making hand signals to make sure we were okay. Bashrik and Ronad, who was clutching the sleeping Nova, appeared beside Lauren. The three of them wished us well, their faces concerned. I kept my eyes fixed on Nova, silently promising her I’d come back as I lifted my mask to my face and felt the suction grab hold of my skin. For a moment, I thought the pressure was going to suck out my eyeballs, but it quickly eased, a flow of steady oxygen circling through the mask.

  On a count of three, the airlock door opened and the four of us jumped out into the nothingness of the Vysanthean sky. I wasn’t sure what was stopping us from being sucked out, but I had a feeling it had something to do with the suits. Navan went first, followed by Angie, then me, with Stone bringing up the rear.

  At first, there was nothing but the sensation of dropping like a rock. I could make out the landscape below me and see the prison up ahead, but my suit was doing nothing to hold me up. I struggled to turn over my shoulder, trying to get a look at the Fed ship, but the whole thing was cloaked, hidden from sight. Remembering what Lauren had said about stretching out my arms, I forced them wide, the air currents catching the material and lifting me up for a moment. As I curved my arms backward and kept them straight, the momentum and strong winds began to drive me forward, my body zipping through the air like a bullet, headed straight for the underside of the prison.

  The other three were in the air around me, the four of us moving in a weird formation as we flew, quite literally, under the radar of the sky prison. A small square panel on my wrist showed our flight trajectory, my fellow fliers flashing a pale purple while the prison loomed a deep blue. At the far side of the underbelly, a red light blinked. I presumed this simple beacon was Jareth.

  We surged toward the blinking light, folding in our fabric wings as we neared, the suits triggering their magnetic effect, just as Lauren had said they would. With an awkward jolt, we stuck to the underside, our bodies pressed flat to the glass. I tried to call out to the others, but the wind carried my voice away.

  Instead, I focused my palms on a small section of the glass, the rubber gloves vibrating violently, my whole body shaking with them. A moment later, a patch of the pane shattered away, tumbling past me in a rainstorm of glinting shards. The droplets bounced harmlessly off my mask, disappearing down toward the planet’s surface. I made the mistake of looking at just how far down the ground was. The sight of it turned my stomach, forcing my gaze back toward the gap in the glass.

  Before any of us could climb through the opening, the sight of ships closing in distracted our attention. They’d come out of nowhere and were moving fast, heading toward the prison, painted with rebel patterns and colors. Gray, black, and white, swirling along the sides. I turned a panicked look toward the others, fearing we may have been noticed, even though we were tucked beneath the belly of the prison. Either that, or the rebels planned to attack the prison themselves. I mean, the ships weren’t even bothering with cloaks. Evidently, the rebels wanted the queens to know they were under attack. If they couldn’t hit the ground because of the sleeping mist, they were going to hit the queens where it would hurt, presumably intent on releasing the worst of coldblood-kind back into the world.

  I scrambled through the hole in the pane, praying it had led us to the right place, only to find myself standing in the hallway close to where Jareth’s cell had previously stood. I could see the frosted exterior of the cell, just down the corridor, facing us on the curve of the prison’s ringed walkway. The coordinates hadn’t been precise enough… We were still going to have to break Jareth out the regular way.

  “What the—?” Navan grimaced as he stood beside me, Angie and Stone appearing a moment later.

  “Aye, I were worried ‘bout that,” Stone remarked. “This ‘ere prison spins, right, like it were on an orbit o’ some sort. Yer pa’s cell might o’ been ‘ere twenty minutes ago, but it ain’t now.”

  “No, but it’s right there,” I said, pointing toward the frosted pane.

  “Well then, what are we waiting for?” Angie replied. “Stone, you might want to whip your mask off for this one. We’re going to need that eye of yours.”

  He nodded. “Right y’are.”

  With his third eye released and ready to freeze, we rushed toward the cell holding Jareth, hoping he was still there. I couldn’t see his shadow moving around inside, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. We’d just reached the panel to defrost the glass, revealing the inmate within, when a familiar voice called out to us from a cell nearby.

  “Hey, Riley!” I could only see her shadow moving behind the frosted wall, but I’d have known that voice anywhere. Seraphina was behind the glass, and it sounded like she needed our help.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Seraphina?” I ran to the panel of her cell and pressed the button that sheered out the frosted glass, revealing my friend. Her raven hair was disheveled, her almost scarlet eyes turned toward us in fear, her rounded stomach visible beneath a torn nightgown. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

  Seraphina cast a mournful glance through the glass. “Queen Gianne put me in here after learning of Aurelius’s betrayal,” she replied rapidly. “Aurelius had put me in a safehouse, way out in the tundra, hoping to collect me once he and Ezra returned to Vysanthe, but the queen found me anyway. She threw me in here instead of killing me—apparently, her bloodthirstiness stops at very pregnant women.” She stroked her distended belly absently, making me feel a weird pang of envy. I hadn’t been able to enjoy my own pregnancy. Then again, I doubted the child growing inside her was one Seraphina had welcomed, considering who the father was.

  “We heard you were pregnant. It’s a long story, but we encountered Aurelius and he told us.” There’d be time to tell her everything once we’d sprung her out of prison. “Now, let’s get you out of here before the rebel ships arrive and turn every evil bastard in this place loose.”

  She frowned. “The rebel ships are coming here?”

  “We saw them as we were breaking into the prison. They’re on their way here, and they look like they’re in the mood for a fight. No cloaking, no transmissions, just broad daylight attack,” Navan replied, offering a kind smile. “It’s good to see you again, Seraphina. Sorry you’re in here, and sorry for… well, you know.” His gaze drifted across her pregnant stomach, but her hands continued to stroke the rise of it in an almost defensive way. Clearly, despite the father, she had chosen to love the baby growing inside her. After all, if she hadn’t wanted it, she would have postponed the gestation.

  “Good to see you, too,” she said. “As for these rebel ships, my guess is that Aurelius has been to the safehouse and found me gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s heading here to ‘rescue’ me, after finally finding out where Gianne put me. That snake is a hideous excuse for a sentient being, but he’s besotted with the idea of this child. He’ll have been looking for me since the moment they arrived here.”

  Xiphio’s words came back to me as Seraphina and I looked at one another. Orfaio had hinted that Seraphina should be the true queen of Vysanthe, but there was no time to explain all of that to her now. We had to get her out. Otherwise, she might never be able to fulfil that destiny. Plus, I wasn’t entirely sure how much I was allowed to tell her, in order to keep external factors from influencing it one way or the other. Then again, if Xiphio had told me, surely that meant I was supposed to tell her? It was a hard one to figure out.

  “Okay, not that this chat hasn’t been delightful, but we need to get out of here before axe-murderers and psychopaths start running wild,” Angie chimed in. “I don’t fancy being cut to ribbons by some nutcase coldblood.”

  Seraphina laughed. “Your friend has a point.”

  “See, I told you I was the brains of the outfit,” Angie said triumphantly. “So, boys, if you two could get on
with springing Jareth out of his cell, Riley and I will put our superior minds to freeing this enormously pregnant woman. Preferably before she gives birth on the jail floor.”

  Navan nodded. “I’ll send word for the others to wait under the opening in the walkway, so we can drop down when we’ve freed them. As soon as you’ve got her out, you go on ahead. Don’t wait for us, okay?”

  “Okay.” I flashed him an encouraging smile, reaching out to squeeze his hand.

  “Aye, what he said. Get this lass as far from ‘ere as poss. We’ll be hot on yer heels,” Stone added, as the two of them turned and sprinted down the hall toward Jareth’s cell. I could still just about see them from where we were standing, though Jareth’s cell was on the curve of the prison’s ring, his door obscured.

  “So, what is the plan?” Seraphina wondered. My gaze was distracted by the sight of rebel ships surrounding the prison. I could see them through the outer pane of her cell, some of them flying toward the landing pad above.

  Angie glanced at me. “Good vibrations?”

  “That’s what I was thinking, though we’ll have to pick up the pace. It won’t be long until the rebels are inside, one way or the other. I doubt they’re concerned about using the front door.”

  “Then palms to the panes, people!” Angie pressed her gloved hands to the glass on the far right of Seraphina’s cell front while I walked over to the left and pressed my palms down firmly. We looked at each other, giving a nod, before the vibrations of the suits surged into the glass.

  “Get back, Seraphina!” I called. She stepped to the far edge of the room, the glint of rebel ships silhouetted behind her. If they fired at the exterior window now, they might be able to snatch her before we could get her out. That was, if they even knew where she was. I was hoping they didn’t.

  The vibrations rumbled across the pane, the sheer force of them making my body judder. Cracks began to form, splintering across the glass like silvery veins, connecting in a chaotic network. Angie’s vibrations met with mine, and we pushed more and more through the pane, pressing harder and harder until, finally, with one exhausted but victorious explosion, the whole thing shattered. Glass cascaded downward, settling harmlessly on the ground with a crunch. Beyond the windows, the ships were getting closer, moving in formation. Our time was almost up.

  “Come on,” I urged, flashing a look at the boys, who were still working away at Jareth’s cell. I didn’t want to leave them, but I had to follow Xiphio’s last words to me. If Seraphina was supposed to be the true queen of Vysanthe, then we needed to break her free.

  Seraphina waddled toward us, her vast size making her slow and awkward. Angie and I grasped her, spreading her weight across us both as we helped her out of the cell and carried her toward the hole we’d made in the floor, just up the hallway. There was fear on her face, her gaze flitting toward the hovering ships beyond the walls of the prison.

  “I am sorry for slowing you down,” she murmured, the strain showing.

  “You aren’t slowing us down,” I assured her. “Can you still fly in your condition?”

  “I’m uncertain, Riley. The baby is so heavy and has sapped much of my energy, but I believe I can fly for a short period of time before I get too weary.”

  “Okay, well, we’re going to lower you through the hole. Once you’re through, you need to drop down. We’ve got a ship waiting below, but you won’t be able to see it until the airlock opens for us. Angie and I will be right behind you, if you just hover for a while. Can you do that?” I was nervous for her, not wanting to put her in harm’s way.

  She nodded. “I believe so, though I won’t be able to hold myself up for long.”

  “It shouldn’t take too long for the others to catch you, and we’ll be there to guide you.”

  She gave me a small smile. “I trust you, Riley.”

  “Come on then, down you go,” Angie said, helping Seraphina sink to her knees so she could shuffle through the gap. Before she could reach it, I stepped toward the edge of the hole we’d forged in the floor of the prison, keeping an eye out for the Fed ship. The others had been told to reveal themselves once they were under the prison’s radar.

  However, instead of the cloaked vessel I was expecting, a very different ship sat in the airspace below. A rebel ship hovered there, streaked in white, gray, and black. The windshield was directly underneath us, giving us a clear view of those in the cockpit. Manning the helm was a face I didn’t want to see—one none of us wanted to see.

  Aurelius was driving the ship, no doubt lying in wait for us. Even if he hadn’t seen us make the hole, he had to know there was something fishy about it.

  “Crap, Aurelius is down there!” I hissed, just as the weaselly coldblood looked up through the glass, his eyes connecting with mine. His face twisted into a mask of fury as he saw me. Given our last encounter, I guessed he was still bearing a grudge. I could only have imagined the trouble he’d gotten himself into with Ezra after letting us escape. “He’s seen us! We need to run!”

  Angie gaped at me. “What?”

  “We need to find another way out!”

  Casting one last glance through the hole, I saw Aurelius disappear from the cockpit, a hatch swinging open on the top of the vessel. I didn’t need to wait and see who was coming out. Aurelius would be chasing after us—there were no two ways about it.

  I pulled Seraphina’s arm across my shoulders, with Angie doing the same, and we helped her along the curved corridor toward the spot where we’d left the boys. Ahead, the crumbled remains of Jareth’s cell taunted us. Navan and Stone were long gone. I wondered if a guard had come along and distracted them, forcing them to go in the opposite direction. Whatever it was that had happened, they weren’t here anymore, and we really needed them. The only person who could stop Aurelius in his tracks was Stone.

  “This way,” I urged, dragging Seraphina along the same route I hoped Navan and Stone had gone down. Behind us, I heard the crack of glass and knew Aurelius was gaining on us fast.

  Slipping a few of the knives from the bandolier across my suit, I turned back and hurled them at the vapid coldblood, praying they might slow him down, if nothing else. I wanted to make him pay for killing Mort, but a few measly blades weren’t going to do it, now that he was immortal. For the moment, I’d have to make do with inflicting as much harm as possible to get Seraphina away from him.

  One of my knives thudded directly into his heart, and he crumpled to the ground behind us, keeling over face-first. A split second later, he got to his feet, yanking the knives from his chest without flinching. They’d taken him by surprise, nothing more. Cursing under my breath, I threw as many blades as I could in quick succession, one landing squarely at the base of Aurelius’s throat. Blood bubbled up for a moment, but still, it did nothing, the coldblood continuing to stalk forward. The only advantage we had was that he couldn’t open out his wings in these corridors, as the space was too confined for him to use his damaged one properly.

  “How many times do I have to kill you?” I snapped, leaving Seraphina to lean on Angie as I hurled knife after knife, ensuring I kept a few back in case we needed them later.

  “At least a few times more,” he growled, his face a mask of pure rage.

  “We must set them loose, dear Riley,” Seraphina whispered.

  I frowned. “Set who loose?”

  “The prisoners. They’re our only hope of distraction.”

  Angie shook her head. “No way, José. What did I say about psychopaths and axe-murderers!”

  “She’s right,” I said reluctantly. “If we’re going to keep Aurelius occupied and get the hell out of here, we need the other prisoners. After so long cooped up, they might just cause enough chaos for us to escape.”

  “When some prisoner is wearing my eyeballs as a necklace, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Angie muttered.

  As I continued my onslaught against Aurelius, knowing I was coming to the end of my bandolier, Seraphina staggered over to one of the p
rison control panels, her fingertips dancing across the buttons. There was a flash of green before sirens started blaring, the high-pitched wail screeching in my ears. Lights whirled wildly as the doors to every cell lifted around us. It would take a few moments for the prisoners to realize what was going on, but as soon as they figured it out, all hell would break loose.

  “This way!” I roared, turning around and scooping Seraphina’s arm around my shoulder.

  Like explosive charges going off, the prisoners burst out of their cells, tearing out into the hallway, their shouts of victory filling the air in a chilling chant. They could taste freedom, and they weren’t going to allow themselves to be imprisoned again, any time soon. A few launched themselves at Aurelius, their wild eyes fixed on him, likely recognizing him as the sidekick of Queen Gianne—the one who’d put them in here. They wouldn’t be able to kill him, but at least they’d slow him down.

  That’ll keep you busy for a while, though, I thought, focusing on Seraphina.

  “We need to find Navan and Stone,” I said, hurrying along. “Stone can freeze the prisoners and the rebels, giving us some time to get out of here.”

  Angie nodded. “Good thinking.”

  Now that all the cells were open, we could see through to the other side of the prison ring, no frosted glass getting in the way. There, running along the opposite side, were Navan and Stone, with Jareth held between them. Evidently, they were trying to get back to the hole in the ground, not realizing that our guys had been replaced by a rebel ship. I wanted to call out to them, but there was no way they’d be able to hear us from here.

  “We need to get up and over,” I said, gesturing to one of the staircases that led to the upper floor. “The guys are over there, and we can’t risk going back. If we head up, we can run to the other side and come down the stairs over there.”

  “I really am sorry for slowing you down,” Seraphina replied miserably.

  “You’re doing just fine,” I encouraged her, the three of us heading up the stairwell to the upper floor. Here, the prisoners were still safely tucked away in their cells, leaving us with an open stretch of hallway to reach the other side. It was a long walk, but it was better than trying to fight our way back through a crowd of hyperactive criminals hopped up on freedom.