The Stolen Star

5

“I can’t let them do this,” he says. His voice is thick with emotion.

Ben’s body convulses as he dies. Blood gushes from the wounds in his throat and to his face. Terese is screaming. David whirls around, gun in hand, and shoots her in the head.

She drops without a sound. David steps over Ben’s body and puts the muzzle of the thick gun to my head. It’s hot.

“You’re just a kid,” he says. “Do you have any idea what they were going to turn you into? Nexari scum.”

I can’t move. Can’t shake my head. Can’t speak. Frozen. The blood around my feet goes cold.

Voices come from outside the cold, white room. Loud, angry. I recognize one easily. Monster. He’s here.

Of course he is. He said he was a guard at the science facility.

David lets the gun hand from the strap across his body. He reaches out for me. I’m too frightened to duck away. He grabs my shoulders with both hands. Heat infuses me.

His eyes flash. “You’re blank.” He smirks. “They haven’t even started yet.” He raises the gun. I cringe away. He fires over my head. The blast of the gun deafens me. The wall of windows shatters, sprinkling me with shards of glass.

David touches the dark band around his wrist. Shiny green-black armor wrap around his limps and torso, flowing over his shoulders and around his ribs from something behind his back. In a split second, he’s covered neck-toe in something that gleams like an oilslick on asphalt. A helmet forms around his head, smooth and blank save for two glowing eyes.

He grabs me around the waist and leaps out the window.

Falling. I’m falling. His warm arm around my waist doesn’t matter, because I’m still falling. It’s so far to ground. His arm slides away from me. I flail for his hand and catch it, but it’s not the armored-glove hand I expect. It’s warm and strong and the second our palms meet, I heat rushes through my veins as every enhanced synapse ignites inside my body.

I’m falling, but I manage to look up.

It’s not David. Monster grins down at me, mischief in his eyes. He lets go of my hand and spreads his arms.

Fly, angel, he says over the rush of wind.

The lush, lavender terrain of an alien planet races to meet me.

When I smash into the ground, I wake up with a jolt strong enough to make me kick the back of the seat in front of me.

David blinks at me in surprise. I’ve woken him up as well. “Are you all right?”

I nod. “Just a dream.”

He raises his eyebrows and leans back. He closes his eyes. Snaps right back awake. He grabs my arm and pulls it away from my body. He glances at the driver, who stares straight ahead, oblivious to us in the back seat.

“Who did this?” David whispers, so soft I can barely hear him. I feel the growl in his voice more than I hear it.

“A customer,” I reply. “Going away present. It’ll wash off. It’s marker.”

David lets me go and strips off his long-sleeve shirt. He shoves it at me. “Put this on. Do not let anyone see your arm. As soon as we get there, you will wash that off.”

I’m confused and a little frightened by the vehemence in his stealthy whisper. “What’s wrong?” I pull his shirt on mine and button it just below my breasts.

“I’ll explain when we’re alone.” He shoves his hand through his hair. His fingers catch on tangles and I know it hurts. He grimaces and shakes his fingers out of the knots. He’s got a dark look on his face. He sits back in his seat and props his elbow at the bottom of the window.