Midnight Sky (Dark Sky Book 2) (16 page)

I would deal with that when the time came.

Part of me must have gone insane at some point,
I thought as I curled my fingers around a loose piece of rubble seated over a black wire, and pulled.

The stone came loose, creating a ripple effect that tugged down other stones. There was a soft
click
before the first of the spears loosened. They made a harsh
crack
and then flew out of the hidden device like shot from a cannon. I watched them clear out, shooting harmlessly into the distance and landing with heavy
thunks
onto the snowy ground.
 

The ripple effect didn’t carry through the rest of the wall, so I moved along the rubble and pried free more of the stones. After about five minutes, I cleared out the rest of the spears, leaving nothing in the rubble wall.
 

I was about to call to the others when I heard a muffled
tick tick tick
behind me. I looked over my shoulder, peered into the stony wall, then spun on my heel to run for my life.

The shockwave and shattered rocks pounded into my back, knocking me off my feet. I landed hard on my stomach in the snowy dirt. I draped my arms over my head and waited until the debris settled around me.
 

It only took my crew a few seconds to reach me. Strong hands grasped my arms and pulled me to my feet. Riley stood in front of me, his face tight and furious, yet oddly relieved. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to hug me or shake me.

“Uh… you told me so?” I offered with a stupid grin.

Riley shook his head, then slid his hands around my back and crushed me to his chest. “You’re insane,” he muttered into my hair.

I stood there in his embrace, feeling cool fabric against my cheek. I didn’t mind it while I stood there with Riley. It was nice to feel safe again.

Someone cleared their throat heavily. I pushed back from Riley, finding Gemma standing nearby with an impatient glare on her face. I walked around Riley, still feeling heat flushing my cheeks. When I looked up again, Sawyer was standing on top of the rubble wall. He watched Riley with eyes that were mistrustful and… He caught my gaze and quickly looked away. The redness on his cheeks darkened.

Had Sawyer just been
jealous?
 

Beyond him, Nash had already crossed into the main courtyard of the old Sky Guard barracks. I climbed up the wall, trying to meet Sawyer’s eyes. He didn’t return the gaze. He was shutting down again. I thought about that lopsided smile, and how it had made me feel.

“Want to race?” I blurted.

Sawyer glanced at me then, confused. “Down an unbalanced rock wall and into aggressive enemy territory?”

I grinned. “Scared?”
 

Sawyer narrowed his eyes, but the glint was back. “Bored.”

He took off down the wall without waiting for prompting. I stumbled, trying to catch up to him, but Sawyer was quicker and more agile than me. He reached the bottom of the wall in little over a minute. He put his hands on his hips and smirked at me as I staggered down. I nearly lost my balance at the bottom, but Sawyer’s hand shot out and quickly steadied me.
 

“Nice try, Firecracker,” he teased. “Maybe in a decade you’ll be able to beat me.”

I scowled and pushed his hand off. Sawyer chuckled as I stormed past him, pretending to be angry when really my heart was leaping at the sound of that rare laugh.
 

I walked forward until I was standing in the middle of the snow-covered brick. I took a single step before the expanse of the garrison sank in.
 

The shattered walls stretched into the distance, so far that the opposite end could only be seen as a small, black line on the horizon. Broken rubble slanted into the courtyard of the barracks, but that was it. I once heard that the inside of Dovercourt had pockets of houses, dozens of homes where the Sky Guards could live with their families. Dovercourt had been a small city of its own, filled with a bustling retail square, restaurants and even a small theatre. However, the heart of Dovercourt was military. Troops would march back and forth through the squares and plazas, commence training exercises in designated areas, even using a special landing pad for their skiffs and sloops.
 

None of that was here now. All that remained were clumps of broken wood, some broken glass, and scattered bricks. Everything was smothered in the hazy white snow that leisurely fell from the clouds. There were no bloodstains or bodies that could be seen. It didn’t look like anyone had been here since The Storm.

The Barren had definitely lived up to its name.
 

Nash took the lead again, walking through the enormous white territory as though he remembered exactly where he was going. Which I reluctantly hoped was the case. If it weren’t for him, we would have no idea where to go. Gemma jogged to catch up with him, sliding her leather-gloved hand into his. Sawyer kept pace behind them, a flintlock still tightly gripped in his hand.
 

“I used to live here,” Riley said abruptly. I glanced at him, slowing down when I noticed the sadness in his eyes. “My father was a lieutenant with the 31
^st
Aerial Combat Division. They had airshows every month.”

I nodded. “I remember seeing those when I was little,” I confessed. “The way they navigated the sloops seemed impossible.”

Riley grinned. “They would cheat when they did the barrel rolls, you know. Everyone was strapped down tightly so they wouldn’t fall out, and it was the engineers who made the rocket propulsions that flipped them in the air. But even when my father told me how it worked, I was still amazed.”

His smile began to fade. “I was here when The Storm happened. I was watching the pilots train, thinking about what I would do when I was a Sky Guard. Then the clouds darkened, and this huge ship tore out of the sky, and started firing its guns…”

He trailed off, but he didn’t need to fill me in on what happened that day. I had seen it, too. From across the city, looking out my bedroom window and watching the skiffs peel out of from under the
Behemoth
like hornets from a shaken nest. The sharp, orange flashes as cannon fire erupted from the gigantic ship, the crumbling buildings and houses as they buckled from the attacks, the screams growing louder from the streets…

I blinked the memories away. There was nothing that could be done about the past. No one could have predicted the
Behemoth
’s arrival or the destruction it would wreak on Westraven and the smaller cities and provinces of Aon. Losses could never be returned. The most we could do now was endure the life we had, fight for it, and maybe one day make it better.

It was a lot to hope for. I saw my little sister’s face, and decided that her hope and happiness was worth fighting for.
 

“What are you thinking about?” Riley inquired.

I hesitated, then said, “I’m just wondering what will happen if this works. It’ll take a long time for Westraven to recover, and even then the marauders could take it over. The city won’t be what it used to be. If it ever does, we probably won’t be alive to see it.”

Riley shrugged with a gentle smile. “You never know. People come together in times of need. You and the marauders are proof of that.”

I frowned and said nothing about my doubts. Or my realistic expectations.

“You’re not doubting yourself, are you?”

“No,” I replied quickly. “Not at all. The Breach needs to be closed. The Hellions can never return here. But I’m worried about Abby. If something happens to me, what’s she going to do? Moira’s been a saint, but she’s not lucid all the time. Maybe they would find someone from Garnet’s colony to live with if I couldn’t be there, but what guarantee would I have that they’d be okay? Abby’s suffered so much, never known true happiness, and if someone hurt her…” I trailed off and started shaking my head. “I can’t put her through anymore pain.”

Riley put his hand on my shoulder and drew me to a stop. He stood in front of me, rubbing both hands up and down my arms. His eyes were soft and endearing, tiny pieces of snow spotting his thick blond hair like a crown.
 

“Nothing will happen to Abby, because nothing will happen to you. You’re going to survive, Claire. You’ll find a way to save us, and you’ll live a long, happy life with your sister.”

My heart swelled at the thought. It was a bitter pain, because thinking about a peaceful future felt like believing a lie.
 

“How can you be so sure?”

He smiled. His hands drifted over the tops of my shoulders, stopping when he gently cupped my neck. “I’m not. But it’s what you want, and what you deserve. So I want to help you get it.”

Riley’s thumbs rubbed against my throat, but I barely felt the leather of his gloves because of the bandages on my neck. His eyes moved back and forth, drinking in my features. The cold disappeared around me, my heart racing under my chest, aching with desire. I loved Abby and would fight for a future with her, but I couldn’t make her my whole world. One day she would want her own life, have her own passions and goals. The same things I wanted now.
 

There were things I didn’t know about Riley. Secrets and quirks I couldn’t understand. But I wanted to. Pieces of me were missing, and I needed them to be filled. Riley was here. He was willing. He wouldn’t push me away when I wanted to get close.

I should have wanted him more.

Yet when he leaned closer to kiss me, I averted my eyes. I could hardly see Sawyer past Riley’s arm, but he was still there. His gaze was on me. Only me. He smiled quickly, weakly, like he would be okay with Riley kissing me. He shrugged, like it didn’t matter to him.

But I saw the melancholy lingering in the tawny eyes I knew so well. The pain and understanding that he could have already lost me.
 

He was smiling because he wanted me to be happy with Riley, even if that happiness broke his heart.

Sawyer pulled me in, then pushed me back. He said he didn’t want to be with me because he thought I would get hurt, yet he turned to me when he felt vulnerable.
 

Then there were the looks he gave me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. His smile when we raced down the wall. That moment yesterday when he touched me like I was the most precious thing in the world to him.

He was either lying to me, or to himself. It made sense to give up on him romantically. I didn’t want to play his game forever. Riley would never toy with me.
 

But if something in Sawyer had changed, if he was trying to let himself open up to me…
 

I dropped my head to Riley’s chest before his kiss could touch my lips. His mouth landed on the crown of my forehead. I wished I felt the connection to it.

“We should get moving,” I whispered.

Riley exhaled heavily, his warm breath caressing my head. He took a step back, then curled his finger under my chin and lifted my head.
 

“If people aren’t willing to give you their best, then they don’t deserve you.”

He planted another kiss on my forehead, then turned and held out his hand, directing me to continue walking. I caught a glimpse of Sawyer’s expression before he too turned away. I hadn’t seen that much hopelessness in someone since I lied to my sister.

Chapter 9

After close to two hours of trudging through the frigid snow, my limbs were stiff and brittle, and I had to make ridiculous circles with my mouth to keep my jaw from freezing.
 

“Nash, I love you,” Gemma said with chattering teeth, “but if you say the entrance is another hour away, I’m going to have to punch you to get feeling back in my hand.”

She smirked at her lover, hoping he would smile back. It didn’t work.
 

“We’re almost there, I promise. When the riots slowed down and the Clans started improving their territories, they press-ganged engineers, Electricians, anyone they could get their hands on to make them an underground city. It’s kind of like the colonies, but nowhere near as nice.”

“Promising,” she complained.

Ten minutes later, Nash stopped. He checked his surroundings, then stomped on the ground with his boot. A sharp, heavy
clang
reverberated under his foot. He stepped back and knelt down, brushing away the snow with his hand. Two metal rungs were inlaid to a trap door. He scooped them up and pulled. Nothing happened, so he tried again. At the fourth try, I was worried that the door was frozen to the ground. We didn’t have much to warm us, and we couldn’t waste time going back to the skiff.
 

“Can’t really pull it open when it’s locked, can you?” Gemma teased, staring at the door.

“What?” asked Nash.

Gemma didn’t answer, dropping to her knees and pulling out the lock-picking kit from her pocket. Her gloves made it trickier, but she took two picks from the kit and placed them in a small keyhole in the trap door. Nash gave her space, clearly unfamiliar with the keyhole that Gemma was currently picking. Her eyebrows pinched together as she concentrated, relaxing when there was a tiny
snap
from the ground. Satisfied with herself, Gemma stood up and returned the lock-picking kit to her pocket.
 

She cocked an eyebrow at Nash, who pouted back. “That wasn’t there before,” he insisted.

Gemma chuckled and kissed his cheek. Nash grumbled something incomprehensible, then lifted the rings on the door again.
 

With a single grunt of effort, he pulled it open. We stared down into the darkness below. I took a torch from my belt and pulled it apart to shine light into the dark square near my feet. I could see the gritty stone bottom and the rusted metal ladder rungs just underfoot. Neither looked very secure.
 

“The tunnel will lead us to the dens. The Dogs will still be there.”

“And the other Clans?” Sawyer asked.

“I don’t know, but they wouldn’t give up all this territory. The original Clans might have had a little resistance, but they know the tunnels better than any new marauders that might pass through. If they weren’t killed, they’d be recruited so the old Clans would have more manpower to hunt for supplies. As for us…” Nash paused, his eyes distant with memories invisible to the rest of us. “The Dogs were in a fit when I left, remember? It’s been almost five years, so I imagined they’ve calmed down, but…” he shrugged. “They’re not really the forgive and forget kind.”