The Rexombra appeared behind me suddenly. I barely had time to gasp before his muscular arms gripped my shoulders and carried me forward, into Stone’s line of vision. My body seized up in an instant, my muscles no longer under my control. Behind me, the lycan and the Darian held Angie between them, hauling her to the foot of the gangway, to face Stone at my side.
“Never thought I’d see you again. Underestimated the stubbornness of ye, I reckon,” Stone said, not unkindly. “I suppose you’ve come to ‘rescue’ yer friend, eh?”
I struggled to speak, but it just came out as a muffled squeak, as my mouth was sandwiched shut by his third eye.
“Well, let me be the first to tell ye that she don’t need no rescuin’,” he continued, flashing a strange look at Lauren, who still stood a short distance behind him. Her face was oddly blank, showing little in the way of emotion at seeing us again. I wondered if she was angry at us for not doing more to stop Stone from taking her in the first place. But what could we have done? He’d frozen us. Bashrik and Navan did what they could to go after Stone’s ship, but it had all been pointless. Surely, the fact that we’d been searching for her all this time had to count for something?
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Xiphio sneaking under the shadows of the gangway, crouching close to where Stone stood. He wasn’t anywhere near Stone’s line of sight, and his crew were otherwise engaged, moving through the pirate horde, assessing the situation for their boss.
In one swift move, Xiphio launched himself from under the gangway and twisted through the air, throwing a handful of the blinding dust into Stone’s third eye. Immediately, the spell was broken, and everyone was released from his immobilizing power. The pirates seemed confused for no more than a split second, before they started brawling again, lunging for Stone’s crew members, who’d made the mistake of venturing into the throng.
I whirled around and struck the Darian in the neck, watching out for the needle-like teeth that filled her mouth, while Angie lashed out at the lycan, taking him by surprise. All the while, I kept turning my gaze back to Stone and Xiphio, listening and keeping an eye on the merevin in case he needed a helping hand. However, I was having enough trouble with the Darian, who was way stronger than she seemed, and was wriggling from my grasp like a slippery eel.
Xiphio combat-rolled on the ground as he landed, before jumping straight back up and charging at Stone a second time, tackling him to the floor. However, the ambaka was strong, easily overcoming the tangled limbs of the merevin.
“What’re ye playing at, man? Get off me before you embarrass yerself!” Stone shouted, wrestling free of the merevin’s scaly body.
“I will not! You must surrender!” Xiphio cried, trying to grapple for a better grip on his target. I had to hand it to Xiphio: he wasn’t one to give up.
Stone rolled his eyes. “Hey, Scales, we both know how this is gonna end, so why not get up while you’ve still gotta scrap of your dignity left, eh?” he urged. “We’ve been in these scrapes afore, and they’ve never ended well for ye.”
“This time is different, Stone. This time, you won’t get away from me!”
Stone chuckled. “Still bearin’ that grudge, are ye? Can’t we just let bygones be bygones? I did what I had to, and I bought you a risk-free career. Ye should be thankin’ me, not fightin’ me! Come on, man, let’s be pals, not enemies.”
The Darian had wriggled free of my grasp, while the lycan had managed to knock Angie to the ground and run away, the pair of pirates disappearing into the crowd. Breathless, I scrutinized Stone and Xiphio as the latter continued to grasp at Stone’s legs, clawing him back to a place where he could pin him down. However, Stone was unflappable, breaking free of Xiphio’s grip every single time. He didn’t even look fazed, as though he knew he’d get out of this in the end, regardless of what Xiphio tried. I imagined they’d encountered one another like this before, especially after listening to them banter. The only difference this time was, he hadn’t counted on Angie and me.
“You will be punished for your crimes, Stone! You will not evade Lady Justice today!” Xiphio shouted, his cheeks a worrying shade of purple. “You’ve run for too long, and now your bad behavior has caught up with you!”
“It’s been followin’ me my whole life. I don’t think Lady Justice is knockin’ today—sorry to disappoint you,” Stone replied coolly.
“Let’s get him,” I whispered to Angie, who still stood beside me. If we could get through him, with him distracted by everything else, we could get our hands on his ship and, hopefully, the notebook.
Lauren had backed away toward the hatch of the patchwork ship, but the door was closed, blocking her escape. She looked frightened, her eyes scanning the crowd with a worrying blankness. I’d hoped she’d run to us when she saw us, but she was doing everything she could to get away.
“Something’s wrong with her,” Angie hissed. I nodded. “That bastard must have done something to her. He won’t get away with it.”
I plucked out several knives and tucked them against my palms, keeping them hidden but ready for action. As Angie nodded, we hurtled forward, ramming into Stone, knives at the ready. We were mere inches away from him when a shield of blue light knocked us backward, sending us sprawling onto the ground. I hit my head on the bottom of the gangway, feeling the metal connect with my skull, disorienting me. To my left, Xiphio lay in a heap. To my right, Angie was sitting up, a grimace of pain on her face.
“Nothing surprises me no more,” Stone said with a smile. “Can’t be creepin’ up on me.”
I glowered at him, looking at the glowing blue band on his wrist, wondering what the hell it was and how I could get my hands on one. Even without the use of his third eye, Stone was a master at staying one step ahead, proving himself to be quite the escape artist. No wonder he was so confident; he’d foiled us at every turn, and probably did believe he’d get out of this unscathed. I imagine he’d done so a million times before.
Overhead, I heard the pulsing thrum of beating wings. Ezra, Bashrik, and Navan had taken to the skies, and an aerial battle was taking place above us. Their swooping figures dove in and out of the dense cloud cover. It was a terrifying game of hide-and-seek, with Bashrik and Navan trying to coax Ezra out of the rolling fog, chasing him down before he disappeared again. Only, I had no idea who was winning.
Ronad was fighting the two rebel coldbloods single-handedly. He was a skilled fighter, ducking and feinting away from their unyielding blows. But he was clearly starting to tire, his altered physiology no match against the full-coldblood strength of the two rebels. Soon enough, he wouldn’t be able to fight back anymore. He already looked beaten and bloodied, with no medicine to glug, to give him a slice of extra strength.
Mort, meanwhile, was running away from the other shifter, completely unhelpful, as usual.
“What do we do?” Angie asked frantically, looking up the gangway. Lauren was nowhere to be seen, though I didn’t know whether she’d gone inside or had taken refuge somewhere else. Right now, we needed to get inside that ship and get the notebook back. If Lauren was in there, we’d be able to get her back, too.
As if answering the question for us, the pirates stormed past us, hurrying after Stone, who had retreated into the now-open hatch of his ship. It was the perfect time to strike. Stone would be distracted by the horde of pirates who were trying to get into his vessel, leaving us to slip through unseen, able to steal the ship with Lauren, the notebook, and the weapons on it. We could deal with any pirate stowaways later.
“Follow me!” I whispered, heading up the gangway with Angie in tow.
Stone had reappeared at the entrance, holding out the glowing blue bracelet, struggling to get a shield to surround his ship. Every time he managed to get some of it covered, a pirate knocked into him or pushed him to the side, overwhelming him, forcing him to start from scratch. As far as I could tell, the problem was the pirates were already within the domain of where he wanted to put his shield, meaning they were
protected within it, too. Which, presumably, wasn’t what he wanted.
However, that wasn’t the only thing perplexing me. It appeared the pirates were running past Stone, not toward him. They were delving into the depths of the patchwork vessel, pretty much ignoring Stone altogether. I wondered what they were doing, since they were supposed to be capturing Stone for the revenge bounty. It seemed like they had something a bit more immediate on their minds—they were stealing weapons from Stone’s ship. In small clusters, they emerged from the shadowy interior carrying armfuls of guns, knives, bows, blasters, everything.
Only, these weapons were made from a very unusual-looking metal. It was a dull, dark gray color that seemed to suck in the light around it. I realized Ezra’s shipment was being carried off in the arms of pirates. Evidently, they’d overheard Ezra mention they were made from serrantium, which was far more valuable in that kind of quantity than the bounty I’d offered for Stone.
His crew ran to his aid, wrestling the serrantium weapons away from the thieves and throwing them out of the ship. A few groups of pirates had managed to get away with their goods, sprinting beyond the reach of Stone’s crew. I couldn’t help staring at the Rexombra, who moved like liquid through his assailants, casting them aside as though they weighed nothing. I noticed he didn’t kill any, however, which seemed strange considering his species were notorious assassins.
Glancing at the gangway, it seemed Stone’s crew had managed to rid the ship of pirates, but the incessant flood was threatening to overcome them. For every one they got rid of, another three were approaching the gangway, ready to try their luck with Stone and his crew. Lauren had appeared again, running down the gangway, wielding a twisted golden staff in her hands, holding off the aggressors with a skilled twirl and swipe of her weapon.
“Lauren!” I shouted to her, willing her to look at me. For a split second, her gaze flitted toward me, before flitting away again. I was desperate to know what was going on with her. Why was she helping Stone like this? There was no other explanation for it… Stone had done something to her.
“Alfa, get the ship in the air!” Stone yelled, his voice carrying up to the crew inside the vessel. “I’ll hold off this ‘ere rabble!”
“We can wait, Stone!” Alfa insisted. “We can help you take them.”
Stone shook his head. “Take the weapons and be off with ye! If I get outta this mess alive, ye know where to meet me!”
Alfa nodded reluctantly and disappeared inside the ship, retracting the gangway and shutting the hatch with a hefty wheeze of machinery. Stone and Lauren jumped off the metal ramp, landing deftly on the ground, fending off the still-approaching pirates, who now seemed disgruntled that Stone was taking away their chances of pilfering a few serrantium weapons.
Another figure emerged at the very last moment, sneaking out of the shadows of Stone’s ship, clutching stolen goods to her chest. Kirin scrambled over the top of the ship and dropped down over the front of it, avoiding Stone, before hurrying through the crowd, a delighted look spreading across her unusual face as she sprinted for the alleyway beside the Salty Siren. Peering closer, I realized she’d managed to steal something from the ship. In one hand, she held a vicious-looking serrantium weapon, though I wasn’t quite sure what it was. In the other, she held Yorrek’s notebook.
“The notebook!” I hissed at Angie, pointing it out. “We need to get after it!”
Angie glowered. “That little weasel!”
“Come on, this is our shot.”
Ahead of us, Lauren was still battling her way through the pirates. I’d never seen her that way before, her hands a blur as she twisted the staff, smacking her opponents on the head and abdomen, sending them scattering out of her way. Stone had his fists and his blue shield, which he used to cover Lauren as well as himself. They moved through the throng of pirates as Stone’s junk ship lifted off the ground in a flurry of gritty dust. I covered my eyes as the vessel soared up and disappeared into the cloud cover, shooting past the swooping figures of Navan, Bashrik, and Ezra, narrowly missing Ezra’s head by less than a few feet.
“We need to get our girl, too—they’re heading in the same direction!” Angie shouted above the noise of clamoring pirates.
I nodded, yelling after her. “Lauren! Lauren, come back here!”
“Snap out of it, Lauren! It’s us, Angie and Riley!”
Lauren hesitated for a brief moment, flashing an uncertain look over her shoulder at us. Shaking her head ever so slightly, she turned on her heel and set off again, hurtling across the battleground. I didn’t know whether that was the real Lauren poking through the brainwashing or whether it was just my wishful thinking.
We raced after Stone and Lauren, who were already halfway across the open clearing outside the Salty Siren, heading for the alleyway that ran down the side. Evidently, Stone was looking for an escape route, and he was determined to bring Lauren with him. No matter where he ventured, he seemed eager to have Lauren constantly at his side, even if it meant heading into certain danger. Yeah, he’d definitely done something to her, and I was going to make him pay for it.
The only problem now was, I’d lost Kirin. I’d had her in my sights all the way across the clearing, but she’d disappeared. Even so, I was determined to find her again, even if I had to raid every seedy spot on this planet. I had to get that notebook back.
“Forget about the nobodies, you idiots!” Ezra’s voice bellowed from above, taking me by surprise. I couldn’t quite see him, his voice startling me for a moment as he directed his wrath at the rebel coldbloods and the errant shifter. “Get after the pirates with the weapons! Retrieve them, at any cost!”
The words had distracted Navan, too, who was peering at the crowd of fleeing pirates below. I gasped as Ezra darted out of the thick fog and brought his stiffened palm down on the back of Navan’s neck—an Aksavdo move I’d seen before. Navan’s body instantly went limp, and he plummeted toward the ground, his already-damaged wing curving uselessly around him.
“NAVAN!” I screamed, turning away from Lauren and Stone and running toward his falling body. He tumbled from the sky, unconscious and helpless to do anything to save himself.
Chapter Twenty
I didn’t know what good it would do to run toward Navan, but I couldn’t just stand there and watch him fall out of the sky. Bashrik had moved to go after his brother, but Ezra had clawed him back, forcing him to fight. A bestial roar rose from my throat. I wasn’t even saying words anymore—I just wanted him to stop falling.
Suddenly, a disc of blue light appeared, the middle sinking down to form a giant bowl as it caught Navan in midair. The disc moved slowly downward, bringing him safely to the ground. I turned sharply to see Stone with his wrist raised, the glowing bracelet aimed at Navan.
Stone had saved him from certain death.
I didn’t have much time to think about it, as something shot through the clouds. Ezra had stunned Bashrik, using the moment’s distraction to dive for the hatch of his ship, the door rising rapidly as he approached. Before anyone could stop him, he was safely inside the metal armor of his vessel, the hatch crashing back down behind him. A moment later, the engines rumbled, and the turrets of his ship’s guns whirred. The pirates, realizing they were in trouble, started to flee, but Ezra fired on them as he lifted his ship into the air.
I was expecting the rebels to make a run for it, but instead Ezra’s ship hovered a short way above the ground, the front of the vessel poised toward the thieves. He continued to fire at them, but they’d already disappeared down the alleyway at the side of the Salty Siren, taking a good chunk of his shipment with them. He edged closer to the inn, before disappearing over the roof and into the endless stretch of junk, evidently trying to pick the thieves out of the Junkyard’s labyrinthine streets.
Casting a strange look back at me, Stone took off after the thieves with Lauren running after him, fending off any attackers with a whirl of her golden staff. Xiphio and Angie were in hot pursuit, sprintin
g after the unlikely pair, following them down the shady alleyway.
I stood in the middle of the clearing, not knowing which way to turn. On the ground by one of the archways, Bashrik was crouched beside Ronad, handing him a vial of medicine we’d picked up from the market. Mort was nowhere to be seen. I’d lost track of him in the chaos. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if we’d ever see him again. We just had to hope he didn’t run back to the cruiser and try to steal it out from under our noses. If he did that, I swore I’d track him to the ends of the universe.
“Riley, I’m going to take Ronad back to the ship,” Bashrik called, hoisting Ronad’s arm over his shoulder. “I’ll come back and give you a hand with Navan.”
Too distracted to think straight, I nodded. “I’ll hold down the fort until you get back.”
Shaking off a million thoughts, I ran to the spot where Navan had been gently placed on the ground, and tried to wake him, shaking his shoulders. I couldn’t believe Stone had saved his life, though I still hated him for what he’d done to Lauren. Not only that, but he’d almost agreed to give the notebook to Ezra as part of the weapons bargain, adding another strike to the list of reasons I loathed him. Truthfully, my brain was in turmoil over what to make of Stone.
“Navan? Can you hear me?” I asked desperately, but he didn’t stir.
As I searched his face for any sign of life, comforted only by the slow rise and fall of his chest, I noticed a figure creeping out of the junk on the other side of the Salty Siren Inn. Her purple-and-blue skin gave her away, making camouflage almost impossible. Somehow, she’d managed to hide herself from me while I’d been chasing her. Kirin ducked out of her hiding place, still clutching the two items she’d stolen from Stone’s ship. The sight of the notebook made my heart clench. It was within my grasp again.