Crimson Sky: A Dark Sky Novel (23 page)

Sawyer and Davin were still locked in deadly combat when I passed them. Sawyer’s attacks seemed slower, and there was blood on his shirt from where Davin must have scratched him. The Hellion himself was untouched, but his patience was wearing thin. It evaporated completely when he looked past Sawyer and saw me.

He snarled and shoved past Sawyer, charging us with alarming speed. Then he stopped and shouted in pain. Davin whirled around again, a bloody line crossing along his back. Sawyer finally scored a hit. His victory was short-lived, however. Davin came back swinging, becoming a blur of motion that Sawyer couldn’t defend. The Hellion kicked Sawyer in the chest, knocking him onto the ground. He groaned and rolled up, catching my eyes for a brief moment.

That single moment spoke volumes to me. He was telling me to run. To leave him, Gemma, and Nash. To be safe.

Riley grabbed my elbow and dragged me away from the fight. He’d managed to bring the majority of the survivors with him. I felt lost, leaving the three marauders behind, barely aware of my own footsteps as Riley pulled me through the door to the stairs that would lead to the docking bay. I drew us both to a stop, getting an angry glare from him.

“Get them to the docking bay and onto the ground,” I said.

He understood my intention immediately. “You’re not staying here.”

“No, Claire, you can’t!” Abby cried.

I handed my sister to Riley, looking at her. “I’m coming back, Abby. I swear it. But I have to finish this.”

I had to destroy the
Behemoth
. I had to save the marauders from their sacrifice.

Tears welled in Abby’s eyes, but she didn’t stop me. I glanced at Riley, who moved from the doorway and was letting the survivors run down the stairs in a dense cluster. He set his jaw angrily but nodded once.

“Run down the starboard side of the ship in the direction the explosions are coming from. On your right will be a spiraling metal staircase. Go up it and open the hatch. That’s where the cockpit is.”

I squinted. “How do you know that?”

He grimaced. “They brought me up there when they needed to check the helm. Sometimes the whole crew would be hungry.”

Riley turned and disappeared down the stairs with my sister, leaving me shocked, sick, and scared.

Turning my back to avoid temptation, I looked at the battle and the chaos that reined.

Relief filled me when I saw all of the marauders were alive, but only barely. Gemma and Nash lay on the ground, crawling to each other while trying to regain their footing. The latest explosion tore through the
Behemoth
’s side, which was now pockmarked with ragged holes that filtered grey light into the ship’s belly. Each speck of light grew larger and blasted away the shadows to bring daylight into the airship. The unmasked Hellions realized the danger they were in and raced for the shadows, forgetting about us and struggling to cover their bodies as the explosions rattled them off balance.

Turning my head from Gemma and Nash, who grimaced as they got to their feet, I looked at Sawyer as he tried to scramble away from Davin. His Hellion brother scowled at the light that separated them, trying to find his mask so he could save himself from it. I ran toward them, taking a flashbang from my belt. I had to buy time to keep the ship from crashing so I could I set up the Volt, and I couldn’t do that if the marauders were stuck fighting for their lives.

I twisted the caps of the flashbang and hurled it at Davin, watching the light intensify as it flipped end over end. Davin hissed and turned his head away, covering his face with his arm. While the flashbang flew and the Hellions scattered, I reached Sawyer and grabbed his arm. He jerked away from me, but got to his feet and nodded grimly.

“This way!” I shouted over the cacophony, hoping that Nash and Gemma would hear me. Without waiting for a reply, I spun on my heel and followed Riley’s directions to the cockpit. White light exploded behind me and the Hellions screeched.

Running down the starboard side turned out to be exceptionally dangerous. Pieces of sharp, warped metal lay on the ground, daring us to trip. Fierce wind screamed through the burst holes in the hull, whipping strands of blonde hair into my eyes. Over it all, I heard Davin shouting at the Hellions to follow us. I stayed as close to the light spots as I could. It would make them hesitate for a little bit, and that was all I needed.

My heart sang with relief when I saw that Riley hadn’t lied. I spotted the tall, spiraling metal staircase on the right side of the wall, directly behind the furnace room. I pitched to the side and raced for it, hearing someone curse behind me. I was grateful the marauders chose to follow me, even though I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep them alive.

My feet slammed against the hard metal steps, the echoes lost in the chaos below me. I swung around the curves of the stairs, praying that my footing wouldn’t catch. These stairs weren’t as steep as the ones connecting the
Behemoth
to the docking bay, but they were close. By the time I reached the top, my legs and lungs were burning. The door was airtight and locked with a hand wheel, and even with the adrenaline charging through my veins, I wasn’t strong enough to move it.

Sawyer and Nash didn’t hesitate. They shouldered past me and used their muscles to crank the hand wheel. Both men were bruised and bloody, but Sawyer looked worse than Nash did. His coat was all but tatters, blots of blood on his shirt showing me where Davin had clawed him. Welts grew on his cheeks and temples, his lower lip was split, and there was a growing bruise on his throat.

But it was his eyes that disturbed me the most. The grim determination and unleashed fury were rampant, barely hiding the deep sadness he thought we wouldn’t be able to see. Even though I knew deep down that I was enraged for his lies and deception, at the moment I couldn’t feel anything but pity for him. He thought his brother was dead, only to learn that he was very much alive, a monster worse than he could ever imagine, and now he was hunting all of us.

As Sawyer and Nash continued to turn the wheel, I gripped the railing and looked over. Davin had rallied the Hellions he could find. He was wearing his mask, but the other Hellions were mask-less. They dodged the spots of light as best as they could, but their caution was making them slower.

A chunk of the hull burst off of the ship, clashing loudly against the iron floor. Two Hellions were trapped in the light, both of them dropping to their knees and screaming in agony. I watched their skin blacken and peel, bloody muscles singeing and catching fire. In seconds, I saw the Hellions turn into humanoid flames, then crumble to a pile of black dust.

While I wasn’t grieving their demise, I also knew that was the last of the explosions. Now the
Behemoth
was simply going to crash.

“Claire!”

I jumped at the sound of my name, looking over my shoulder to see the door was now open. I pushed away from the railing and ran into the open door, letting Nash and Sawyer close it behind me. I skidded to a stop, looking around the
Behemoth
’s cockpit.

The shutter windows were drawn down and locked shut, too heavy to be pushed up. Control consoles with dark screens and blinking lights were set up on either side of the cockpit. A narrow, sharp edged table with maps strewn across it took up the middle of the long room. At the head of the table, resting on a platform with its back facing us was a high-backed chair that reminded me of a dark throne. Beyond that was another wide control panel which had to connect to the helm.

I felt uneasy in this place and wasn’t sure how I could work with such limited light, but I was going have to find a way. The door that the marauders had just closed and locked wouldn’t stay that way for long.

“You were supposed to use the remote to blow the ship!” Sawyer shouted.

“Kind of hard to do when you’re ambushed!” Gemma countered. “I wasn’t thinking about damn remotes when I was trying to keep my head on my shoulders!”

Running past the table and the throne, I found the steering wheel of the helm standing alone on its own circular platform. I glanced at both once before charging past to the main control console. I looked at them, trying to find a switch or lever that would open the windows. I needed to know how much time we had before the
Behemoth
collided with the ruins of Westraven.

Sawyer realized the same thing, shouting at Gemma and Nash to find the buttons. Past his commands, I heard a fierce pounding on the door. Davin was just outside, and he was desperate to get in.

“We can’t see anything!” Gemma yelled at Sawyer. “All these buttons look the same!”

“Then punch all of them!” he roared back.

Instead of helping the marauders, I bent under the central console and fumbled around for some kind of circuit breaker box to hook the Volt to. I was immensely grateful when my assumption turned out to be right– the
Behemoth
did require electricity to function. The closer it was to an electrical charge, the more damage my weapon would do.

It didn’t take long to find a suitable box. I didn’t know exactly what it connected to, but it had wires sticking out of its sides, and that was all I needed.

Just as I pulled my head out from under the console, metal began to scream in agony. Dreary light filled the room. I stood up and looked through the thick windows at the nose of the ship.

The white stones of Westraven’s collapsed buildings were in clear view, and far too close. It would be minutes before we crashed.

I whirled around, trying to hold back my panic as I looked at Sawyer. He stood at the helm, pulling at the wheel.

“You need to get us back in the air,” I pleaded.

“I can’t,” he growled, trying to jerk the heavy black wheel to the left. It jolted to a stop, not moving more than half an inch.

“Just for a couple seconds,” I tried. “I know where to put the Volt, but–”

“I
can’t
, Claire!” snapped Sawyer, silencing me. The door squealed as something began to push it open.

“The steering wheel is locked, and there’s no autopilot. That’s probably why the
Behemoth
has been hovering for years. It can’t fly unless the lock is overridden, which means I can’t control it.”

A flash of panic went through his eyes, and I knew he was scared. After everything he’d been through, surviving as long as he had, carrying burdens and responsibilities, he didn’t want to die.

And I wasn’t going to let him.

I took a step closer to the helm, never breaking eye contact with Sawyer, even as the door was steadily wrenched open. Hellions screamed against the light, and Nash and Gemma were shouting right back.

“Will an electrical charge fix it?” I asked Sawyer.

He hesitated, then nodded. “Maybe. Most of the locks are run by power, so short circuiting it could give me back control. If I had that, I might be able to land us.” He grinned crookedly, a half-hearted gesture that didn’t meet his eyes or make me smile. “Not very well, but we may not crash as hard.”

I nodded, looking at the control panel bolted at the base of the helm.

“Do you have anything that can short-circuit the lock?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered gravely. I dropped to my knees in front of the panel, took out my screwdriver and began to remove the bolts as fast as I could.

“You have something other than the Volt?”

I pausing the unscrewing, watching my hands tremble. Icy fear pinched my heart and made it hard to breathe. I forced my hands to move again.

“No.”

“Then what… Wait, you’re going to use the Volt for this?!”

“Sawyer!” Nash screamed. “They’re getting in!”

The young captain swung down from the helm and knelt in front of me. He gripped my arms and jerked me upright.