Crimson Sky: A Dark Sky Novel (25 page)

I stared at the sky, and saw nothing. No raiding skiffs, all of them shattered in the crash or stolen by the victims. No ghastly ship looming over our heads, taunting us with its power and striking fear into our hearts. Nothing but rippling grey cloud.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. I couldn’t remember a time when the sky looked more beautiful. I smiled.

Voices behind me caught my attention. I turned and watched as a handful of survivors emerged from behind the broken buildings. They moved tentatively, peeking out from corners and manhole covers like mice waiting to see if the cat was gone. I recognized some of them from Garnet’s colony. After so long underground, they had to squint to adjust their eyes to the brightness around them. They looked even paler and sicker in the light, but they continued to move closer. They had to see the fallen ship for themselves. They had to know they weren’t dreaming. The
Behemoth
could no longer haunt them. There would no longer be raids that kidnapped husbands and wives, sons and daughters. They were safe.

For now,
I reminded myself.
Davin and the Vesper are still out there. The Hellions will return. This moment isn’t going to last.

But I would take it. I would breathe it in and remember that for the first time in a decade, I could stand without fear. I could look at the skies and stop fearing that a skiff would come and separate me from my sister.

Thinking of her drew my attention away from the survivors as they approached the ruined airship. I heard their skepticism and disbelief. Praise was given to the marauders as they exited the cockpit, and many survivors were talking about what could be salvaged. They intended to take the
Behemoth
apart and use any parts they could. It seemed fitting to me.

But I couldn’t care less about the
Behemoth
’s deconstruction. I looked away from the survivors, and searched the empty spaces between buildings, hoping to see the only person who mattered to me.

After spinning in circles and seeing nothing, my eyes stopped on a small blonde girl with big eyes and bloody clothes. My heart skipped when I saw Abby. I forced my aching legs to work as I ran to her. I didn’t even know she was still with Riley until she yanked her hand from his and raced toward me, tears bursting from her eyes. My heart swelled with joy as I dropped to my knees and opened my arms. She collided with me and wrapped me in a tight hug, accidentally reminding me of all the bruises and cuts I had.

But those didn’t matter. She was safe and alive. I stroked her hair and soothed her, promising that I was all right. Abby held me tight, her tiny body shaking against mine.

“I thought you were gone,” she whispered. “You left me and the ship crashed and I thought–”

I pulled out of her embrace and held her shoulders. Tears streaked Abby’s dirty cheeks. She couldn’t stop crying or shaking. I knew it hadn’t been easy for her to watch me leave, knowing what I would do, but I’d never meant to hurt her.

“I’m so sorry, Abby,” I whispered. “I had to stop them. I just… I had to.”

Abby broke into fresh tears and buried her face in my chest, tightening her grip more than an eight year old girl should have been able to.

“Don’t go again, Claire,” she sobbed, her tears wetting my shirt. “Please don’t go. I won’t have anybody if you leave. I won’t know what to do, I’ll be scared–”

I shushed her, stroking her tangled hair and holding back tears of my own. “I’m not going anywhere, Abigail. Never again. The monsters are gone. Nothing can hurt you. I won’t let anything hurt you ever again.”

A flicker of doubt crossed through my mind when I made that promise, but I crushed it before it grew. Losing Abby had been devastating. I wouldn’t let it happen a second time. I would die first.

“She’s a brave girl.”

Still cradling Abby, I looked up to find Riley kneeling down in front of us. A gentle grin softened his features, but it didn’t hide the scars on his body. His striking blue eyes were alert and easygoing. He hid his trauma better than anyone else I knew.

“When she saw where you were going to land,” he deftly avoided the word ‘crash’, “she directed us where to go. She almost jumped off the skiff before I landed it, she was so determined to get to you.”

I threaded my fingers through Abby’s hair, grateful she’d stopped shaking. “She is brave,” I agreed. “Thank you, Riley.”

He smiled and waved his hand. “There’s no need, Claire. You were the one that rescued me. Protecting your sister is the least I could do.”

Carefully prying myself from Abby’s embrace, I took my sister’s hand and stood up. My body felt stiff and pained when I moved, but Riley was quick to take my elbow and steady me. I forced a smile onto my face when I stood up.

“Where are the others?” I asked when I looked over his shoulder and couldn’t see any of the other hundred emaciated men, women, and children.

Riley’s smile turned into a frown. “Seems that those volunteers weren’t lying about their skill. While I was in the air, they split up. They all sailed over Westraven, but in different directions. I swore one or two were going for the barricades. I couldn’t track them all. The ones that touched ground close to us were gone when we landed. I had to make sure Abby didn’t get hurt, so I don’t know where they went. I’m not sure how many we’ll see again.”

I nodded. “Good.”

He blinked, confused. “Good?”

“Yes. They’ve been trapped in that awful place for who knows how long. They deserve to run wherever they want now that they’re free.”

A hundred lives had been spared torture from the Hellions. I couldn’t say what would happen to them now, but I hoped that they would find some kind of peace. At least it would be their own. 

Riley’s confusion disappeared and became a smile again. My heart warmed at the sight of it.

“Do you know where you’ll go?” I asked. I was grateful for the way he guarded Abby. I wanted him to live a life that would distract him from the nightmares he was bound to have.

He shrugged. “Part of me wanted to ask Sawyer if I could join his crew, but I don’t know if he’d have me along.”

I frowned. “Why not?”

“Partly because he doesn’t trust me, and would trust me less if he knew I was the son of a Sky Guard.” He smirked. “It’s a good thing my father showed me a thing or two about flying smaller ships. Otherwise I might have crashed the skiff you set me on instead of landing it smoothly.”

His words were teasing, but I still gaped. The Sky Guards were the soldiers of Westraven, among the first casualties when the Hellions attacked in The Storm. Before that, their sole purpose had been hunting down and arresting marauders.

“Also, I don’t think he’d want me to get close to you. I saw him looking at you when the battle started, and he seems like the dangerously jealous type.”

I scowled. “Sawyer doesn’t have feelings for me. If anything, I’m a new, useful friend. He doesn’t see me the way you think he does, and he doesn’t control my heart.”

Riley beamed at that. I couldn’t stop the flush that filled my cheeks. “Then I may change my mind. Are you part of his crew?”

“Not yet, but he’s asked. We haven’t talked about it in a while, and with everything that’s happened, I don’t know how well we’d work together.”

I glanced at the ground, wishing I could sort out my thoughts. I cared about Sawyer, nearly broke when I thought he was dead, but couldn’t look past the knowledge that was he Davin Kendric’s brother. He went back and forth with me, rushing to my side at one instant then running away from me the next. I wasn’t sure I could handle that kind of push and pull from someone who made it clear they weren’t interested in me.

Riley walked closer to me, resting his hand on my shoulder. I looked into his brilliant blue eyes and felt words escape me.

“You’re an extraordinary woman, Claire. Anyone can see that. Sawyer will want to have you around, but you’re more than a worker. Anyone who can’t see that is a fool, and doesn’t deserve you.”

I could have swooned. For most of my life, all I had been was an engineer. The only thing anyone wanted me for was to repair something they often broke themselves. I was seen as a tool, not as a person. That was the only reason Sawyer agreed to work with me.

But Riley didn’t see me that way. After spending so much time with monsters, he would see me as a person, someone to spend time with and know rather than a resource. I couldn’t do anything about my blush when it finally filled my cheeks, but Riley didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he smiled more, and leaned closer to me. My heart jumped.

“We should get back,” I said before he could do… whatever he planned to do. “We’re all pretty tired.”

Riley tilted back and nodded, still smiling but looking somewhat disappointed. He grinned at Abby then walked toward the
Behemoth
. I turned to follow him and caught Sawyer’s eye. He had been watching us, and he didn’t look pleased. He quickly turned away and walked to Gemma and Nash, but there was no mistaking what I’d seen on his face when he looked at me.

Anger, hurt, and sadness. Maybe Riley was right. Maybe Sawyer wasn’t willing to share.

But I wasn’t a possession. I was freed from Garnet and the Hellions. I was able to make choices for myself, and the only person who would never ask me to give them up was the same person I would die for.

Abby stared at the
Behemoth
with fear and wonder. She sensed me looking at her and met my eyes, giving me a weak smile.

It was small, but it was a start. This day was a new start for all of us.

Chapter 16

Abby’s scream woke me up for the second time that night.

I shot up from where I was sleeping in the cabin and scurried over to her side, quickly wrapping her in my arms and using my chest to muffle her cries. I rocked her gently, smoothing her hair and telling her she was safe. Abby’s screams lessened, but her tears flowed freely. I held her and exhaled.

The two weeks that followed the collapse of the
Behemoth
weren’t as smooth as I hoped they would be. Fights and riots broke out over Westraven as the colonies emerged from the underground, everyone desperate to take whatever they could from the destroyed ship and hold it over their heads. It was only luck and a well-timed punch from Sawyer that let me get the Volt back from a greedy man who was ready to break my arm for it.

It only took a week after the Behemoth’s fall for other factions of marauders to come out of hiding and take control of whatever and whomever they could. Sawyer said he stayed away from them, but I didn’t believe he wasn’t talking to them when he went on scavenging missions with Nash. He claimed he was trying to find information on Davin, and maybe he was, but I didn’t voice my disbelief.

Gemma’s arm was still healing in its cast, but she avoided infection and returned to her usual, chatty self.

Even Riley was adapting to his new position as the
Dauntless
’ rigger. Despite his initial reluctance to add him to the crew, Sawyer grudgingly admitted he needed more help manning his ship, and that Riley had natural skill.

The only one having trouble adapting was Abby.

Her nights were constantly plagued by visions of the Hellions. They became so bad that we had to sleep on the opposite end of the ship so the others could rest. Constantly waking up to comfort her was exhausting, but Abby needed an anchor to reality, especially now that we were in the air again.

“I’m sorry, Claire,” my sister mumbled.

“Shh, no,” I soothed, pulling back to smile softly at her. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”

I tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Abby looked better than she had in years, cleaner and fuller now that Sawyer was trading in Westraven freely. But the green eyes that I knew and loved so well were haunted now. Abby never really talked about her time on the
Behemoth
, and I didn’t ask. I wasn’t going to force her to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. It was enough that she suffered through it. I wanted to put that horrible time behind us and build a better life for my little sister.

Yet I always asked in case she needed to clear her mind, “Do you want to talk about it?”

As always, Abby shook her head. She snuggled close to me, resting her head on my shoulder. “I just want it to go away,” she murmured. “I want it to be over.”

I rubbed her arm slowly, reminding myself that the needles were gone from her body. She was safe here with me.

“It will,” I promised her. “It’ll take time, but the nightmares will go away. I’ll stay with you until they do.”

Abby bit her lip. “I know you will, but they won’t go away, Claire. They’re just getting started.”

I twisted my head awkwardly, trying to see her face better. “What do you mean?”

Abby quickly pulled her head away from my shoulder and brought her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and looked at her feet, blocking her eyes from mine.

“Abby, what are you talking about?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Abigail–”

“Please, Claire.” The fear in her voice stopped me. “Please don’t make me.”

When she sounded so heartsick and scared, how could I? Slowly shuffling over, I put my arm around her shoulders. “All right. I won’t. But you can tell me anything, Abby. You know that.”

She nodded. “I know.”

Abby took a breath to speak again, then changed her mind. We sat in silence—me waiting for her to tell me what was scaring her, and her saying nothing. After a long time, Abby said she wanted to walk around the ship. She needed sleep more than a walk, but I wasn’t about to deny her wish, especially when she was getting used to flying among the clouds.

The
Dauntless Wanderer
was currently the only airship over Westraven, but it wouldn’t be long before others joined it. For now, Sawyer was content with the isolation, moving back and forth among the clouds and watching for any Hellion ships or skiffs.

Being in the air at night was strange. Even before The Storm, my parents hadn’t allowed me to travel with them at night. Too dangerous, they said. I wondered what they would think. Not only was I flying on an airship at night, I was doing so with Abby in the company of marauders, one of whom was part of the Kendric family. I doubted they would approve, but I wasn’t sure I approved of their secrets either.

Pushing them from my thoughts, I watched Abby walk around the deck. She wandered around without a destination, until she saw Riley sitting on a crate near the mast. He was coiling some rope, stopping and smiling broadly when he saw Abby hurrying toward him.

Like my sister, Riley looked better now than he had when we found him. He was putting on more weight and beginning to look his age. He cut a handsome figure, and I couldn’t deny that I was becoming more attracted to him. He understood what Abby was going through, and looked after her when I needed to work or rest. If I couldn’t help my sister, I went to Riley for help. He was more than eager to give it.

“Hey, Abby,” he grinned. “Exploring with your sister again?”

“Kind of,” she muttered. “I had a nightmare and woke her up.”

“That’s okay,” chimed Riley. He looked at the clear sky. “It’s a beautiful night. Not the kind anyone should be sleeping through.”

We looked up, and I had to agree with him. Now that the
Behemoth
was gone, the clouds had dissipated and revealed a velvety night sky with stars sprinkling its length. The moon hung like a shining jewel, its light covering us in a cool caress.

“Can you show me more constellations?” Abby asked Riley.

He smiled at her. “Of course I can. Do you have your book?”

Abby gasped, embarrassed. “I forgot it! I’ll be right back!”

Without another word, she ran from to the cabin to find her journal. Riley chuckled as she ran, coiling the rope in his steady hands. I looked at him gratefully.

“Thank you, Riley,” I said. “Leaning constellations helps her relax.”

He shrugged, focusing on the ropes. “I figured I’d teach her what I knew. I remember my father teaching me when I was on his ship. It interested and challenged me when I was younger, and after The Storm…” his hands slowed, “after The Storm, it was a way to keep sane.”

Seeing the sudden tension growing in his shoulders, I sat down on the crate beside Riley. We were so close that our arms touched, and when he shifted to make room for me, he ended up getting closer.

“You have nightmares too, don’t you?”

Riley tried to loop the rope again, then sighed and gave up. He turned it in his hands absently. “It was horrible, Claire. The things they did to me, what they made me see…” He shook his head. “They were going to kill me before you showed up.”

“Why? What did you do for them?”

“Information,” Riley admitted bitterly. “I’m the son of a Sky Guard, so I know all of Westraven. They wanted to know where to attack, when, and how many people they would find.”

Riley looked at me pleadingly, as if he were sure I would reject him now. “I didn’t want to do it, Claire. I tried to resist, but they’re the masters of torture. They broke me, and I was scrambling to hold myself together…”

I clutched his hand, which had been twisting the rope. Riley stiffened, and I could feel his pulse racing under my touch.

“It’s not your fault, Riley. No one can blame you for what you did. No one should. The Hellions would have raided regardless, and no one is invincible.” I squeezed his hand, trying to concentrate on something other than the heat of his gaze. “But the
Behemoth
is gone. It’s over for now. There’s nothing else you need to tell them or us.”

I almost didn’t see it, the flash of anxiety in his eyes. Riley controlled his emotions better than Sawyer, but there was no mistaking it. Like everyone else on the
Dauntless Wanderer
, Riley was hiding a secret. I wasn’t going to ask him about it, not when he would make Abby happy, but I wouldn’t forget that look. Whatever he was hiding, I would need to know about it soon. Defeating the
Behemoth
was an enormous accomplishment, but the Hellions would have more than one trick up their sleeve with the Vesper.

So I faked a smile, clutched Riley’s hand, and bade him goodnight. I could feel him watching me as I walked away, smiling for real when my sister rushed past with the journal Gemma had found for her. Secrets or no, I didn’t think Riley would put us in danger. He wanted to be as far from the Hellions as he could be, and who was I to blame him? If my mother’s key weren’t directly related to the monsters, I certainly wouldn’t seek them out. Not even for revenge.

As I wandered to the stern, I found Nash and Gemma working together with some crates. Or rather, Nash was working again as Sawyer’s quartermaster and boatswain. Gemma was unable to do her duties as a rigger and master gunner, so she stood off to the side with her hands on her hips and argued with her lover.

“I’m not a dainty flower, Nash,” she huffed. “I can still do my job.”

Nash set down one of the crates and nodded to her cast. “Not while you have that on, you can’t. I’m not letting you risk damaging it again when it’s still healing, so you’re just gonna have to sit there and look pretty.”

Gemma scoffed and turned her head away, but I spotted the blush in her cheeks. So did Nash, who chuckled under his breath.

“Is there anything I need to do?” I asked.

Both marauders looked at me, relaxing and smiling warmly.

“Nah,” answered Nash, coming around to put his arm over Gemma’s shoulder and pull her close. “The
Dauntless
runs perfectly. Hardly any kinks or unreliable equipment, thanks to you. Couldn’t have asked for a better engineer, but right now we don’t have anything for you to do.”

His smile was a little nervous, and Gemma voiced why.

“Don’t leave,” she told me. “You’re part of this crew now. One of us. We don’t take in just anyone, you know.”

“And,” Nash said, “we owe you, Claire. We owe you a thousand times over. Sawyer will never admit it, but we’ve survived mostly on luck. But you’ve gone out of your way to save us from things we never would have lived through. The Junkers, the bomb in the substation, the
Behemoth
, all of it.” His arm tightened around Gemma, sincerity pooling in his dark eyes. “We’ll never be able to thank you enough. But thank you, Claire.”

Warmth filled my cheeks and heart. As much as I fought their trust in the beginning, as much as I told myself I was just using them to save my sister, I knew now that it was a lie. Nash, Gemma, Sawyer… they were more than a crew of marauders to me now. They were my friends.

I laughed a little. “I’m not planning on leaving,” I assured her. Then I thought about it, and added, “At least not yet. I don’t intend to make promises I can’t or won’t keep.”

Gemma frowned, all traces of humor gone. “You’re saying that because of Sawyer, aren’t you?”

I concentrated on her and Nash, everything but the man standing at the helm over our heads. “No, it’s not…”

But it was. If Abby and I left the
Dauntless
, it would be because of Sawyer. He had only grown more distant, speaking to me only when he had to. Davin never came up, but if I was going to work as his engineer, I had to know the truth. Secrets had gotten me into every mess I’d fought my way out of. If I kept going on like this, secrets would get me killed.