Kate
This asshole android just told me my sister is trapped in this fucked-up flying saucer with us. Rune was supposed to have saved her. Claire and my father are supposed to be safe, back on Earth. I hold my breath trying to remember if Rune ever actually told me Claire was safe or not.
Jesus, did I just assume Rune would do the right thing and keep her safe?
Pious holds out his hand, waiting for me to take it. The air flickers around his armor. Head to toe, something blurry vibrates around the silvery metal encasing his body. I straighten and back as far away from him as I can, watching him carefully. One wrong move out of him and I’ll be trying out which weapons I like best in the metal arm I’m wearing.
I feel a bit smug thinking about being able to blast his head off, until I glance down at my forearms and realize I’m no longer wearing the protective gear. They’re dangling from my uncovered fingers along with the faceplate I should be wearing in case someone like Pious finds me. So I don’t get in the situation I find myself in right this second.
Well, that worked out brilliantly for me.
“Come,Kate.” He says my name with a strange twist of his alien mouth, like it tastes different than the other words he pronounces, sour maybe. “Take my hand. I’ll show you.”
My eyebrows raise. “I amnotgoing to touch your hand,Pious.” I pull my lips down in the same fashion he had, immediately realizing he was sneering my name.
The lenses on his faceplate flare and he lifts his hand higher. “Female. You have nothing to fear from me.”
He’s got to be kidding me. “Are you crazy? Do those suits eat away at your brain cells or something?”
He’s still holding out his hand and all I want to do is smack it away.
“Just tell me where my sister is,” I demand.
He stares down at me and pulls his hand slowly back. “Your sibling is in the preservation lab, with the rest of the females.”
Great. That helps me a shit ton. I wonder if these helmets come with digital maps in them? “Take me there,” I say, tilting my chin up defiantly. “But don’t dare lay a hand on me.” I thrust my hands into the metal gloves quickly and hiss back a string of curses when the alloy burns through my skin. “I’m getting Claire,” I grunt, clenching my teeth. “Then I’m getting us out of here. Do you understand that?” I should just blow his head off right now and be done with him, find this preservation lab myself.
A low laughter rumbles from deep inside his chest. “You will never be able to find your way back to Earth from here, female.”
I glare at him and raise my now-armored fingers, pointing them at his head, holding them the way Jex showed me if I wanted to fire the weapons hidden inside. “I’m getting my sister and then you are going to get someone to fly us back down to Earth,unharmed.” I’m done playing games. It takes everything I’m made of not to blast his stupid metal head off.
There’s another flash of color across his faceplate and his metallic mouth curls up into a smile. My heart stutters and skips a beat in my chest. I know he can tell I’m able to use the weapons in this tin contraption, so why the hell is he smiling at me like he knows something I don’t?Oh hell, does he know something I don’t?
For a moment, I can’t decide what to say or do. I don’t trust any one of these Caelum assholes, especially Pious, who’s the biggest asshole of them all.
But he said Claire washere.
What if I don’t follow him, get all the way back down to Earth, and she’s still stuck on this thing? I’ll never be able to get back up into space by myself. She’ll be terrified up here all alone—no, screw that, she’s got to be frightened out of her mind right now.
“I understand your unwillingness to trust in my words, but surely you are aware that every Caelum aboard this vessel is searching for the female who is responsible for General Rune’s demise.” Quicker than I can think it possible, hard steel slams into me and grips my wrist. There’s no time to react, I don’t even see it coming—too busy thinking about my sister. Pious yanks hard and drags me forward. “It is unsafe for you to be without protection.”
I go limp and drop to the floor.
He keeps dragging me.
“Let go of me!” I scream, trying to kick out my legs. The tip of my steel-toe boot luckily makes contact with the back of his knee, forcing him to bend forward, off balance.
As soon as I see him stumble, I push into his momentum and jump to my feet. He crashes faceplate first to the floor, letting go of his hold on me.
I manage to somehow stand upright, but my arms flail out and my legs don’t move, they just kind of lock into place. A small cry escapes from my lips as I try not to fall spread-eagle over him.
I steady myself, but Pious’s arm is already raised, his fingers aiming right for my head. My breath catches loudly. He’s got an arsenal at his fingertips, literally. Which weapon will he use? I hope it’s the one that turns me to glittery dust, because I don’t want to suffer.Boom, instant puff of stardust, and I’m no more.
My feet trip over themselves as I try and back away.
“Certainly, you cannot want your life extinguished now?” he growls.
My breaths are heavy and I’m seriously struggling not to vomit on him. “You know as well as I do; I did nothing to hurt Rune. And no,” I say, taking a deep breath, “I certainly do not want to die.”
