Broken Moon Series Digital Box Set

by F. T. Lukens

“Of course I am, you idiot. I got your message.”

  “You didn’t reply.”

  “Because I didn’t know if you were safe.”

  She broke away and held him at arm’s length. “What the stars are you wearing?”

  Asher’s laugh, loud and happy, startled Ren in its intensity and joy. Asher wiped at his eyes. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “You too, little brother. Now, who do I owe these credits to?”

  Asher gestured to Cass. Rowan walked forward and handed Cass a card. “Two thousand credits.”

  Cass plucked the card from Rowan’s hand and passed it off to Zeke. “Run it.”

  Zeke took it to the computer by the bay door. He scanned it and, after a few tense moments, nodded his head.

  “Thank you for returning my brother to me. We’re leaving now.”

  Looping her arm with Asher’s, as if staking a claim, she nodded at Ren. “Come on, little one.”

  “Wait just a minute,” Cass said. “I am thinking maybe two thousand is enough for your brother, but not quite enough for the techie.”

  Ren froze, stomach sinking.

  “Are you going back on your deal?” Rowan asked. She tapped her fingers along the handle of her pulser. “Because that’s generally frowned upon in the circles we both run in.”

  Cass nodded toward her sons and the bay doors began to slide closed. Asher grabbed Ren’s wrist and tugged him to join Rowan’s side. Ren looked anxiously back at the door as the two halves creaked toward each other. They wouldn’t make it through.

  “I transported an admittedly dangerous technopath for four days while his warrant was blasted all over the nearby planets and drifts. If anyone finds out he was traveling on my ship, I could be in serious trouble.”

  “A risk you agreed to,” Asher pointed out. “You knew before we left the planet.”

  The door clanged shut, and Malachi and Zeke moved to block them in. Asher turned to face the brothers while Rowan kept her body turned toward Cass and Cyril. Ren didn’t know what to do. He twisted his fingers together; fear welled in his throat. He didn’t want to be captured again, and as his heart beat faster, his power flickered to life in his gut. The ship hummed around him, and the more amped up Ren became, the more he could feel the vibrations of it in his skin.

  “A risk I agreed to because of an implied threat.”

  Rowan’s eyebrows twitched up. “The beanpole threatened you? With what? Eating all of your food for the journey?”

  “You obviously don’t know what he is.”

  “He’s a scared kid. And I’m not leaving here without him, but I sure as hell am not paying any more credits. So either you let us walk out of here or you’re going to have a problem.”

  Cass crossed her arms. She looked at her boys, and they moved toward Asher. He dropped into a defensive crouch and Rowan pulled her weapon. The sound of metal scraping against the leather of her holster was loud in the tense silence. With a steady hand, she leveled the pulser at Cass.

  “What was it you said about faith, Ren?” Asher bit out.

  “I thought… I didn’t know.”

  Panic crawled along Ren’s limbs, followed closely by the pulse of electricity. His hands shook; the control he had managed to gain over the course of the journey unraveled with each harsh breath. In a feedback loop, his anxiety combined with worry over inadvertently releasing his power, which fed into his heightened sensitivity to the ship and its systems.

  “Stay calm, Ren,” Asher said. “You’re starting to glow.”

  “I can’t,” he said, his breath coming in pants. He clenched his hands at his sides, but he knew that didn’t matter. It hadn’t mattered in the courtyard with Jakob and it didn’t matter now as the dam splintered.

  “Look, Cass,” Asher said, staring down Malachi and Zeke, “you’re about to have a problem if you don’t let us go. And as scary as she is, it’s not my sister.”

  “You can leave. I’m not keeping you here,” Cass said. “But the boy stays.”

  Ren blinked and his vision went blue. The ship vibrated around him. He could feel the mechanism for the door. It was their way out. He could reach it. He could. And then, he’d disable the engine and their communications. They wouldn’t be able to report to the Baron. They wouldn’t be able to leave. And while he was at it, why not cut the ventilation? Disable the life support? They couldn’t hurt him if they couldn’t breathe. They couldn’t talk to the people who were after him if they had no air.

  “Ren,” Asher said. “Ren, come back.”

  Distantly he felt Asher’s fingers gripping his arm. But it was secondary to the grip of the ship. In the ship, he wasn’t afraid, wasn’t panicking. He was safe there.

  “Ren, we can leave. They’re letting us leave.”

  The words sliced into Ren’s consciousness and he gasped and came back to his body. His surroundings were no longer tinged blue. He glanced around the cargo bay. Cass stared at him, pale and trembling. The door to the drift stood open, and Zeke and Malachi huddled to the side.

  “What happened?” Ren whispered.

  “You opened the door. They agreed to let us go. We’re leaving. You okay?”

  Ren pushed a hand to his temple. He felt muzzy and disconnected. “Yes, I think.”

  “Good.”

  Rowan eyed him, but shoved her pulser into the holster. “Let’s go.”

  Rowan didn’t turn her back on Cass and her family, but Ren did as he followed Asher down the bay ramp and into the drift itself. Asher kept his hand on Ren, which was good, since it steadied Ren’s clumsy gait. Asher guided Ren through the crowd with Rowan half a step behind them.

  “What the hell happened back there?” she demanded. “What the hell is going on? Who are you?”

  “I’m Ren.”

  “You’re the package from my brother’s message?”

  “Yes, he’s the package.”

  “You two have explaining to do. Lots of explaining. But first, I’m feeding you. You both look like you could use a hearty meal.”

  “That’s the best idea you’ve ever had, sis.”

  “You’re complimenting me? Now I know you’re hungry.”

  The sibling banter washed over Ren. He focused on Asher’s voice, and as before, it pulled him to the surface. His haze dissipated and he was able to look around.

  The drift was far busier than the space dock. People of all shapes and sizes bustled around him, dressed in various forms of clothing. A group of men and women walked by wearing colorful robes and handing out flyers about the end of the universe. Phoenix Corps recruiters, their insignias unmistakable, held tablets and talked to young people. Ren stared so hard at a woman on stilts that he almost bumped into another woman who had a large snake draped over her shoulders. Children raced on hover boards, laughing as they dodged through the crowd. The drift was riotous with sound and color, and that was only the people. The tech was just as loud. Signs blinked and flashed. Trash receptacles whirred. Drones carrying packages and mail buzzed overhead. Music and announcements played over the comm system, but Ren didn’t know how anyone could pay attention to them above the din of people talking, laughing, bartering and living.

  Asher pulled Ren past a window and Ren dug in his heels. His eyes widened as he stared out of the drift into the stars. On the Nomad, Ren didn’t have a view of the outside. But here was space, vast and dark, rotating outside of the thick panes of glass, and Ren stared in awe. Asher stood beside him. Rowan stood at his other shoulder.

  “A duster, huh?” she asked.

  Ren pressed his hand against the glass; his fingertips left smudges. “It’s beautiful.” He swallowed down the joy. His brother had believed Ren would never see the stars from space, that he would never make it to a ship, much less to a drift. But he had. He had, and it was everything he had dreamed; and yet it wasn’t home. It didn�
��t seem fair to be staring out at the terrifying beauty of space but wishing for dirt and dust.

  He missed his home with an all-consuming ache, and he laughed at his silliness. Here was everything he had imagined as he lay on the sand that day, the lake lapping on the shore, the spring air cool on his skin. And here he was. And he couldn’t help but want to be home.

  “As much as I want to stand here and admire the frightening vastness of space, I do have a ship to run.”

  “Give him one more minute,” Asher said. He knocked shoulders with Ren. “What did I tell you about the sights?”

  Despite everything, Ren grinned. “You weren’t wrong.”

  “You’re both idiots,” Rowan said, but she smiled. She ruffled Asher’s hair before pulling him close to her side.

  * * *

  Rowan escorted them through several levels of the drift until she paused at a wide entrance under a flashing sign proclaiming Restaurant. Ren and Asher followed her into the building. Ren’s stomach growled at the smell of food wafting from the kitchen and his eyes widened at the sight of servers carrying laden trays. In his village on Erden, a tavern served beer and a bland, watery stew. This was certainly no mere tavern, and Ren tried to suppress his excitement and his inexperience.

  He needn’t have worried. Rowan conducted all the business, waving over several servers and piling plates on the table until it was overflowing.

  “Eat,” she commanded, pushing a plate toward Ren. “And in between bites, you can tell me everything.”

  Over the long meal, Asher and Ren relayed their stories. Absently rubbing his shoulder where the scar dissected the Phoenix Corps tattoo, Asher spoke of his injury and his capture. He kept his account short and to the point.

  “And then you met him?” Rowan asked, pointing toward Ren.

  Asher nodded. “Kept in the cell next to mine.”

  “Because,” she said as she wiggled her fingers, “of the glowing eyes.”

  “Yes,” Asher said around a mouthful. “But don’t worry. He’s working on controlling it.”

  “I’ve gotten better,” Ren added. He swallowed and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

  Rowan handed him a napkin. “Stars, an actual star host. And he’s a teenage kid with hardly any table manners.”

  Asher laughed. “He’s something, isn’t he?”

  “Sure is,” Rowan said. “Now, tell me how you escaped.”

  During their lunch, Ren was distracted by everything, but contributed as needed, all the while shoveling several different varieties of food into his mouth. While Asher was more refined, he was just as enthusiastic. Rowan wrinkled her nose and muttered “Boys,” as they ate.

  Afterward, she guided them to her ship, keeping one hand on Asher and the other on the holster at her side.

  The drift was loud; the conversation of individuals, the announcements overhead and the music drifting from the open doors of bars all mashed together to create a cacophony. It was wonderful and vibrant, and Ren basked in it. More than once, Asher had to collect Ren from where he had stopped to observe something, a stall of trinkets, or an entertainer, or the view from the occasional window.

  It was a wonder Ren didn’t get lost.

  Underneath it all, the sights, the sounds, the taste of the air, Ren could feel something more. He could hear the hum of the systems that kept the drift livable—the thrusters, which spun the structure to create gravity, the ventilation systems and the air scrubbers, the water recyclers. He could feel the vibrations in the soles of his feet and the tips of his fingers. And sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, he could see a blue-tinged flash of components on the other side of the gleaming metal.

  His star wasn’t out of control, not yet. Ren wasn’t stressed and he wasn’t tired, so he had a grip on his power. But it was present all the same, a tremor under his skin, an inkling in the back of his mind.

  “We’re here,” Rowan announced, sweeping her arm to show off the Star Stream. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

  The ship resembled the Nomad, though it was older, a little more rundown. It was a merchant ship with a large cargo bay. It didn’t gleam, and it looked as if it had quite a few miles on it, but it radiated a sense of home Ren hadn’t experienced in many long weeks. Ren liked it immediately.

  Bending close, Rowan whispered in Ren’s ear. “Keep the glowing business between us. At least, until they get to know you. Okay?”

  Ren nodded.

  She patted his head. “Good.”

  Sitting on a cargo crate at the end of the bay ramp was a young woman with dark skin and long, curly brown hair. She looked up from a book and shot to her feet, her brown eyes going wide and her mouth dropping open.

  “Ash?” she said.

  “Penelope? Is that you?”

  Laughing, she ran toward them and grabbed Asher into a firm hug; her feet lifted off the ground as he spun her.

  Ren’s stomach churned and he attributed it to all the food. He wasn’t jealous. He shouldn’t be jealous. He had no reason to be jealous.

  “You were the package? Oh my stars, does your mother know? How have you been? Where have you been? Your hair is so long! Rowan, why didn’t you say anything?”

  Asher set her on the ground and placed his hands on her upper arms. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

  She beamed, her pretty face splitting into a grin. She punched his shoulder, and Asher failed to hide the wince. However, only Ren noticed.

  “You, my dear friend, have been missed. I can’t believe it’s been years. You look the same, except for the hair. And the scruff.”

  Asher brushed the blond locks off his forehead. “It’s been a while.”

  “Oh!” Penelope said, noticing Ren. “And who are you? Are you a friend of Ash’s?” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Penelope. I was Rowan’s friend first, but I’ve known Ash for years. Ever since he was a little menace running around causing ventilation scares.”

  Ren tentatively took her hand. Her fingers were calloused and grease-stained.

  “Penelope is our mechanic slash medic slash cook. This is Ren,” Rowan said with a small smile. “He’s a mechanic too.”

  Penelope lit up and gripped Ren’s fingers hard. “Oh, brilliant! I love talking about ships and parts and systems and everything there is to know about how they run. It will be so great to have another person on board to help me. I assume you’re coming on board, right? Are you going to finish the run to Delphi with us? I hope so.”

  Ren’s eyes bugged. He couldn’t pull his hand away. She continued to pump it and then she tugged him onto the ship, leaving Rowan and Asher behind.

  Asher laughed. “Penelope, you’re scaring him. Slow down a little.”

  She dropped his hand, and Ren snatched it back as if he’d been burned.

  “I am so sorry,” she said, putting her hand to her mouth. “My husband is always going on about how I babble when I’m excited. I haven’t seen Ash in forever and I know his Corps regiment was captured and I love meeting new people.”

  Husband. That was the only word that registered in Ren’s mind, and whatever irritation he had felt with Penelope dropped away. She wasn’t so bad.

  “Speaking of, has Lucas charted our course? We should be getting underway.”

  “Yes,” Penelope said, blushing. “He has. And we’re ready to go when you are, Captain.”

  “Great. Let’s get these two into their quarters and we’ll head on out.”

  Rowan pressed a large button near the bay door and engaged the mechanism. The ramp rose slowly, creaking along until it fit snugly into its slot. Another pair of doors slid shut behind it, creating a seal.

  Asher walked up behind Ren and slapped him on the back. “Now, we’re safe,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I can finally relax.”

  “And contact Mother,” Rowan said, brushing by t
hem. “Get settled, then come to the bridge. And Penelope, find the little one some clothes.”

  Ren tried not to bristle at the nickname, but with Asher by his side, smiling and relaxed, he couldn’t complain.

  Penelope looked him up and down. “We had a passenger a while back who left a bag behind. I think his clothes might fit you. Come on. The room next to Ash’s is empty. We’ll get you set up in there. And then you can meet my husband and my brother.”

  Ren followed quietly along and took comfort in the rumble of the engines and the fact that he was among Asher’s friends and family. He didn’t think he could share Asher’s sentiments about feeling safe, however. Abiathar was still looking for him, and the Baron was going to follow through with his supposed destiny, with or without Ren’s assistance.

  * * *

  Ren was pleasantly surprised to find his new accommodations had an attached shower room, which he shared with Asher, whose room was on the other side. It was filled with amenities Ren hadn’t seen since he was forced from his home. He washed with soap, scrubbed until the water ran clear and then let the warm water beat on his shoulders. He shaved the minimal scruff that had grown on his upper lip and chin, and tried not to look too long at the color of his eyes, knowing they could flash blue at any moment, or the hollow of his cheeks. Both were reminders of the castle, and he wanted to forget that, at least for a moment.

  His tugged his brown hair away from his face, but it was futile. He thought about a haircut before deciding to leave it alone. He cleaned his teeth and swished mouthwash. Ren smelled cleaner than he had in a long time. And that made him feel infinitely better.

  He dressed in black pants, which were an inch too short, and a soft long-sleeved blue shirt that fell to his knuckles. Then he walked around the small square space of his new quarters.

  The room was about the size of his dungeon cell, but he had a bed and a dresser for the new clothes. He had a comm on the inside of his door and a button so he could talk with everyone on the ship. It was a novelty he wouldn’t ever use. He only wanted to talk with Asher. Rowan scared him. Penelope overwhelmed him. He hadn’t met Lucas or Ollie yet, but he couldn’t see becoming attached to them either.