Twisted Love

Chapter 14

Cinder

After Kai had escorted her to her room, Cinder immediately plopped onto the bed. Iko stopped for a moment to stare at her, putting down her needlework. Currently, she was sewing Cinder's new dress for the next news update. A news update without Scarlet. Cinder shrugged off the thought, ignoring the slight pang in her heart.

"Would you like me to get your bath ready, miss?" Iko asked, standing up and inching towards the bathroom. Cinder shook her head into her pillow, voice muffled by the cloth.

"No, I'm fine. I just want to go to sleep. You should rest, too," Cinder replied, shrugging her dress off and changing into her thin, comfortable nightgown. She fell back onto the bed again while Iko giggled at her, returning to her needlework.

After five minutes of staring at the popcorn ceiling of her room, however, Cinder realized that her jittery nerves were not going to let her nap. Head shooting up, she slipped her feet into her shoes and stood up. Iko raised an eyebrow, saying, "I thought you wanted sleep?"

Cinder smiled sheepishly. "I don't know. I just don't feel tired all of a sudden." Pulling the shoes up her heels, she said, "I'll be right back. See ya later, Iko!" Shuffling out the door, she closed it after her, stepping into the dark hallway. Looking both ways, she suddenly realized she didn't know where to go.

Going down the hallway, Cinder let her body lead the way. Before she knew it, she had made it to the door of the room where all of the jets, airplanes, and aircrafts were stored. When she pressed her ear to the door, she thought she could hear some shuffling inside.

Locking her fingers around the metal door handle, Cinder lurched the door towards the side, the door cracking open silently. Stepping inside, she could see the blonde head of Thorne under a jet, squinting at the inner workings of the aircraft.

The jet looked completely dead. One side of the aircraft was bruised, and some parts were even caved in. The nose of the jet was ripped off, slim pieces of metal hanging off of it. Black scratch marks lined the side.

Unfortunately, Thorne looked utterly and completely baffled.

"Thorne," Cinder whispered, inching closer to him. Startled, he yelped and thumped his head against the underside of the jet. Oil spilled onto his blonde hair, the color contrast as distinct as ink on paper. Cinder smiled a little at his clumsiness. Groaning, the captain slid out from under it and stood up.

"What are you doing here? And why are you up so late?" he hissed, still massaging his scalp.

Cinder shrugged. "Couldn't sleep," she answered simply. Nodding her head towards the seemingly broken jet, she asked, "What's wrong with it?"

"Just a few kinks to work out, that's all," Thorne explained. "Seems too complicated for a woman to solve, it seems." Cinder growled at him and hit him.

"For your information," she added, wandering over and plucking the gloves off of his hands, "I was a mechanic before the Selection. I trust that I'm much more experienced than you in engineering, based on how confused you looked earlier." Thorne snorted but didn't deny it.

Brushing her nightgown aside, Cinder slid under the aircraft easily. From here, she saw all the wires and machinery laid carefully inside of the jet. Prying apart the inner workings to find out the problem, she felt right at home. After a few minutes of inspecting it, she had already figured out what was wrong.

Smirking, she poked her head out from under the jet and said, "I've already figured out the problem. Simply, it's that the engine has failed, so we'll probably have to replace it." Shaking her head, Cinder pulled herself out from the jet and stood up, dusting herself off. "I can't believe you flew in with one failed engine."