Midnight Sky (Dark Sky Book 2) (15 page)

I hesitated, then quickly said, “There’s not much left. But I found their passbooks. They have photos of Mom and Dad in them.”

She shifted to sit up a little higher. “Can I see them?”

Feeling a twinge of guilt, I said, “Will you promise to eat when Moira comes back in?”

Abby frowned, then nodded. I stood up and walked to the table where the passbooks were. I scooped them up and brought them back to the bed. I opened my father’s first and turned it to show her the photograph.
 

Abby looked at it with curious eyes. “He looks serious.”

I smiled. “He wasn’t. He was always joking with me and Mom.” I set his passbook aside and opened the second one. “This is her.”

My sister’s eyes went from the photo to me. “She looks like you.”

I felt a pang in my chest, but managed a smile. Abby looked at the photos again, studying them, perhaps making her own memories of the parents she never met. She looked at me with wide, curious eyes. The same eyes I recognized before disaster crashed into our lives.

“Can you tell me more about them?” she asked.

In the conversation that followed, I told her about more than our parents. I told her about what was going on with the crew and gave a description of the old house. I didn’t tell her about the squatters, the Hellion attack, or the bloodshed. When she asked about the bandage around my neck, I lied and said I scratched it when we were escaping some marauders.
 

Abby probably knew it was a lie, though she didn’t say anything, and I admitted even less. I hated the dishonest dreams I filled her head with, but I would shoulder the guilt if it meant she would hang on for one more day.

Chapter 8

Dovercourt was a shadow of what it used to be. The only structure that remained standing was an expansive, stone and mortar wall that circled ten miles around the district, protecting the Sky Guards and their families. The seventy foot wall had been pulled down in places, the result of cannon fire from the
Behemoth.
The gaps were filled in with jagged pieces of rebar and broken flagpoles that stabbed toward us in a crooked row, a mockery of the barricades set up by the Hellions when they took Westraven. Cannons on the two remaining watchtowers pointed outward, targeting us though no one could be seen manning them.
 

Light snow drifted down from the pale grey sky. The snowfall seemed innocent, betraying us with bitter, cutting cold. I hunched over on the skiff, keeping my gloved hands in my pockets and trying to retain as much body heat as I could. Riley sat close to me, hiking his shoulders so the collar of his jacket covered his mouth. Nash and Gemma stood at the helm of the skiff with Sawyer. She huddled close to Nash, and if I hadn’t seen the puffs of air coming from his mouth, I would think Sawyer was frozen.
 

Gemma was still fuming at Sawyer’s refusal to take the
Dauntless
. She actually tried to slap him, but Nash stopped her and took Sawyer’s side. He reiterated that his old Clan, the Stray Dogs, closely monitored the Barren. If there were guards on the wall that saw the
Dauntless
coming, they would warn the rest of the Clan and set up a trap for us, even if we hid the airship somewhere in the streets.

Gemma snarled and pouted for a while, but despite her best efforts, she couldn’t keep throwing verbal jabs at Nash. His expression and demeanor had become sullen and distant.
 

I glanced at Nash as Gemma rested her head on his shoulder and laced her fingers through his. He stared at the jutting spikes with a distant look on his face. I had no idea what he was thinking, but he didn’t look like the relaxed, easygoing Nash I’d come to know. Replacing him was a man who was as hard as the crumbling stone walls and as cold as the winter wind sweeping around us.
 

“Leave the skiff here,” Nash instructed, never moving his eyes from the sharp entrance in the wall.
 

Sawyer hadn’t said much to the crew aside from some basic orders, but he didn’t argue with his friend. He followed whatever directions Nash gave, turning the skiff to a small, caved in side of the wall. The niche would partially obscure the Hellion ship, hopefully keeping it from the eyes of thieves.
 

Nash jumped out of the small ship, holding out his hand to lead Gemma down. Sawyer followed, pulling up the collar of his coat with one hand and resting the other on the flintlock attached to his belt.
 

Riley was the next to exit. As soon as his boots touched the ground, he turned and held out his hand to me just as Nash had done for Gemma. I stared at his hand. After leaving Abby, I had slept for another hour and ate as large a breakfast as I could afford with the rations. I was still feeling a little weak, but I would be strong enough to keep up with the crew today. Not that it stopped Riley from dogging my every step, standing just inches away from my shoulder as if he expected me to shatter at any moment.
 

Deciding to prove that I wouldn’t collapse at the slightest action, I hooked my legs over the ledge of the skiff and hopped down by myself. I stumbled a little upon landing, but only because it was a clumsy one. Riley was reaching for my elbow to steady me, so I stepped away. I smiled, which made him smirk. I shoved my hands back in the pockets of my long winter coat and followed the marauders to the wall of daggers.
 

Nash took the lead, marching with purpose while Gemma struggled to keep up with him. Sawyer walked briskly behind them, his flintlock already out of its holster and resting at his side. Riley was beside me, one hand on the hilt of the sword he’d taken from the air hangar. He glanced up at the watchtowers, looking at the cannons. He didn’t change his pace, so I was guessing he couldn’t see anything.

Nash came to a stop when he was directly in front of the vicious wall. He paused to look it over before turning his head to me.
 

“Claire, come see if there are any Pitfalls.”

Leaving Riley’s side, I made my way to Nash and looked at the crude, deadly barrier.
 

At first, I didn’t see anything wrong with it. Of course, the rebar and sawn off flagpoles punched into a layer of rubble at the ground were intimidating. Each direction I looked, a sharp, rusted piece of metal stared back at me, daring me to get closer, slip, and plunge through my eye.
 

Then I took a closer look, and understood why Nash called me up.

Tucked away in the crevices of the rock, coiled near the bottom of the metal spears, was a simple black cord.
 

“They have some kind of wire near the ground,” I said, squinting to get a better look. “I can’t see what it’s attached to, but I’m guessing it’s some kind of defense system.”

“Electrified?” Sawyer asked.

“Maybe. I have to get closer to see.”

“I’ll do that,” Riley offered.

I cast him a sharp look. “Let me guess, you’ll ask me to stay here and shout instructions at you?”

Riley’s blue eyes sharpened. “If it is a trap, you have no idea what it will do to you.”

“Not yet, but I will when I get close. I can figure it out, Riley. This is my job.”

The soldier looked at Sawyer for help. To my surprise, the pirate captain shrugged casually. “Like she would ever listen to me.”

Sawyer gave me a mischievous wink. Something in his eyes still seemed guarded, but the torment I’d seen in them last night had changed somehow. It was like something unseen had happened, and he released the tension he’d been holding onto. A lopsided smirk curved on his face, and my heart danced.

“If it’s not safe, don’t move forward,” Riley said, voicing his concern.

I nodded so we wouldn’t argue. I was almost missing the days where Sawyer was the anxious one.
 

Concentrating on the gaps between the spikes rather than the spikes themselves, I took a deep breath and started forward. I glanced at the ground, making sure there were no trip wires or snares that would catch my foot and trigger. The snow was thick but falling lazily. I could still see the rugged cement ground under my feet. I glanced up and twisted, slimming myself so I could slide between the rebar. My gaze went back to the ground, every step a careful one. It was slow moving, but without knowing what this trap would do, I wanted to play it safe.

After another five minutes of careful shuffling, I reached the slanting hill of loose rubble where the metal spikes were embedded. The rubble was at least six feet tall and would need to be climbed, which would likely set off the Pitfall.
 

Finding the thin black wire was tricky, but once I did, I knelt down to examine it.
 

The wires were threaded through the cracks in the rubble to disguise it, each one sliding into the same hole as a piece of the rebar. I took a small torch from my belt and pulled it open. Without bracing myself on the rocks, I shone the torch at the device and peered inside the crevice.

The torch’s light was faint in the grey sunlight, but I was still able to see the wires and rebar threading into a plastic box. The edges of the rebar seemed to be plugged in while the wire connected to a small flip switch.
 

I moved to the rebar on my left and looked inside, finding the same thing. I peered deeper inside, seeing a thick crimson cord snaking between each plastic box, linking them all. I looked over my shoulder and called to the crew.

“Can anyone see some kind of circuit breaker or switch against the walls?”

Nash and Sawyer parted from the group, jogging to the left and right walls respectively. I watched them search the sides of the wall, then stomp back with grim expressions.

“Nothing,” Sawyer announced.
 

Figured as
much, I thought bleakly. I frowned and slumped back, twisting the torch shut.
 

“It’s a trigger-bomb,” I called to my crew. “The wires are connected to a device that’s loaded back like a spring. The device is plugged into an electrically charged appliance that will be set off if the switch is moved and flipped. I’m guessing all of these spikes have the same set up and will fire in a chain-reaction.”

“So we try to climb the wall, we shift some rock, the switch flips, and we get skewered by about two dozen metal poles,” Gemma stated. “I don’t know if that’s brilliant, or overkill.”

“Seems like the kind of thing the Dogs would set up,” commented Nash. “They’re pretty well rabid, but they’re big into protecting their pack.” He continued to glare at the spikes and the open space over my head.

“How do you shut it off?” Sawyer called.

I glanced at the setup again. It was going to be difficult. There were no wires I could safely cut, no way I could dismantle the machine without setting it off.
 

“The device is buried too deep in the wall,” I said. “There won’t be a way for me to shut it down without setting it off. I have to trigger it.”

“No!” Sawyer and Riley exclaimed at the same time.
 

“That’s insane!” Gemma protested. “You’re standing in the middle of it!”

“Except I’m not,” I said, pointing to the rubble at my back. “There aren’t any spikes near me. Once I set the trap off, the rebar will just fly out. It won’t touch me.”

“What if there’s a secondary trap?” argued Riley. “What if there’s another device that will blow up the rubble behind you?”

I shook my head. “Doesn’t make sense to set one up. All the spears are attached to an explosive and connected with one large cord. There’s probably a fully charged electron-cell or something keeping the bombs active, but it’s too deep for me to reach without shifting the rubble. If something went wrong and triggered that bomb, this spear trap would go off with it and fail. This is the only Pitfall, I’m sure of it.”

From the horrified looks on their faces, none of my friends believed me.

“Think of it this way,” I offered. “What happens if we need to make a sudden escape and can’t find another exit? We’ll have to climb over this wall and one of us will trigger the spears regardless. They’ll go straight through us before we can get to the skiff. It’s better if I do this now and make sure it can’t backfire and hurt any of you.”

That concept seemed to hold their attention, but they were still reluctant to move. I looked at Nash.

“Do you think your old Clan will welcome us with open arms if they find us?”

He frowned, the distance returning to his eyes. He sighed and shook his head. “No, but what you’re planning might warn them.”

“Then we can pull back and hide until they leave. This is the safest way to do it, I’m certain. You just have to trust me.”

I looked at the members of my crew, reading their concern. I stopped at Sawyer, our leader and the one who always lost his temper when I was in danger. If I convinced him, I was positive the others would listen.

Even from the gap between us, I could see his torn expression. His eyes were bright with worry, and I could see the muscles in his jaw tightening as he fought to stand in place. He didn’t want me up here so close to danger but, if there were another option, I would be choosing it instead of this.
 

I waited until I saw the slump of his shoulders. He didn’t want me to do this, but he couldn’t get in my way without getting hurt. Still, his chin was raised, and a weak smile crossed his face. He was willing to trust me.

“Go ahead, Firecracker. I know how happy you are when you blow up the bad guy’s toys.”

I tried to scowl, but a grin replaced it.
 

Sawyer tossed his head in the direction of the skiff. The others followed him, glancing at me as they hurried out of sight. I waited until they were hidden behind the collapsed wall and out of range of the spears before I turned back to the rubble.
 

Taking a deep breath, I knelt down and made myself as small as I could. I looked at the heavy spears on either side of me. I would likely get struck with some of the rubble as the spears punched out, but that would be a small pain. If Riley was right and there was a secondary trap, however…