Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 37

The engine of the stolen second era Jeep hummed as I maneuvered it over yet another dune. Darla sat in the back, silent.

The sand seemed to stretch for miles, only adding to my anxiety. Cress could be hurt. She could be alone, afraid, subject to whatever crazy experiments the doctor had in store for her.

I swerved around a desert snake, only trying to focus on going faster.

"We'll find her," Thorne reassured. "We'll find her."

After hours under the sun, there was finally a change on the horizon.

Relief surged through me upon spotting palm trees that seemed to sprout out of nowhere. The city wasn't much to look at—it was more of a town, really, and much smaller than Kufra. But that didn't matter.

We'd made it.

And Cress would make it, too.

I parked the Jeep behind an old, crumbly clay building and launched myself out of it the second I turned the ignition off.

I commanded Darla to stay by the jeep, then turned to Thorne.

"Stay close," I ordered, clapping one of Thorne's hands on my shoulder.

In a nearby alleyway, a group of kids were playing a game that resembled hopscotch. Their giggles carried from the end of the narrow corridor.

"Hey!" They stopped their game and stared at us. "Where's this town's doctor?"

One of the children cocked his head and said something in their foreign language.

I sighed. "Do any of you speak Universal?"

They blinked.

I gestured between Thorne and I. "Universal?"

"Daren!" a hard voice called. A moment later, an older woman rounded the corner. Even though I couldn't tell what she was saying, I knew she was upset.

She halted when she saw us. Then spoke again.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't know your language—"

"Universal, then," she said, cutting me off. Her eyes flicked up and down, no doubt taking in our dirty clothes, dirt-streaked faces, and the bulge in my waistband where my gun was hiding.

"We've heard about a doctor here," I told her, slightly tripping over the syllables in my effort to get the words out. "Please. We're in a hurry."

She furrowed her brows in confusion, possibly even suspicion. "Uh...yes." She pointed behind her at a taller building surrounded by the occasional palm tree. "Last time I saw him he was going into that hotel—"

I sped past her, Thorne in tow. "Thank you!"

We burst through the doorway. I looked around, frantic. "Cress!"

Thorne's cane hit the edge of a staircase. "Here, she might be on another level."

The upper floor was a maze of hallways and uniform wooden doors.

"Cress!" Thorne called out.

"Captain!" a voice shouted.

"CRESS!"

"I'm in here!" she yelled.

I slammed open the door to the room her voice seemed to be coming from and nearly dropped my gun.

Cress was being held by...Wolf? To the side of them was a short old man with wide blue eyes and wispy tufts of hair slinging to the edges of his head. Near the door was a Lunar guard.