Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3)

Perry knew they wouldn’t. With their survival at stake, they would stand and fight with or without Sable. In order for the Tides to be in, the Horns needed to be out—all of them. “Two hours, Hess.”

“Impossible. I need time to coordinate the effort, or he’ll know. He watches everything. He is shrewd, manipulative, and organized. He is a nightmare. A demon that wears a smile as he sinks his fangs into you.”

“He’s human,” Perry said. “I’ll prove it to you when I cut out his heart.”

The comment seemed to get through to Hess. His brow furrowed in concentration; his small eyes honed in on Perry. “Four hours. Not a minute less.”

Perry nodded, accepting the compromise. He glanced at Roar and Aria, wanting to get them out of there now, but Sable couldn’t suspect anything. That meant they needed to stay put.

“What about this meeting?” Aria asked. “What if he finds out about us?”

“Right now,” Hess said, “we are experiencing an unfortunate mechanical malfunction caused by an Aether storm. Coincidentally, that has happened while Sable and most of his men happen to be in other units of the Komodo. The few Horns who are in this one are in areas suffering from complete power outages. They’re being watched by my men with night-vision eyewear as they fumble about in the dark.”

“You staged this entire thing?” Aria asked.

“Sable is deep on the inside. It was the only way.” Hess turned the flashlight on Perry. “The only thing I didn’t account for was natural night vision among my captives. You could have ruined everything if I hadn’t intercepted you.”

Perry said nothing. Planning the Komodo’s breakdown so they could meet in secret was a smart move. He only hoped Hess could continue to outmaneuver Sable. “You have to stay away from him. Sable will know if you plan to betray him, just as I’d know.”

Hess waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll take care of it.”

“You don’t understand. He will scent your distrust. Your intention to betray him.”

“I said I will take care of it,” Hess repeated. “Four hours. No one even thinks about leaving until then. And I need an assurance from you, Peregrine. If I do this, you promise me you’ll get Cinder to break through that wall. You make sure he does it, or we have no deal.”

Perry felt sick, but he held Hess’s gaze. “You have my word.”

The tension eased from Hess’s face. “Good.”

Aria inched closer. Perry felt her arm rest against his, but he couldn’t look at her. He didn’t want to see her disappointment—or her approval. Barely a second had passed and he already wanted to unmake his own promise.

“Is that all?” Hess said.

“No,” Perry said. “I’m going to need some clothes.” He wanted his own clothes. The reassuring weight and toughness of leather and wool. But he’d settle for anything that would keep the bruises Sable had given him out of sight.

Hess nodded. “Of course.”

Emergency lights flickered on, a deep crimson color washing over the small room.

“Hurry!” Hess said. “We’re out of time. Back to your chamber!”

Perry pulled Aria to his chest, wrapping his aching arms around her. He caught Roar’s eye. “Keep her safe.”

Roar nodded. “Of course. With my life.”

Perry pressed a kiss to the top of Aria’s head; then he plunged back through the corridors until he was imprisoned again.

29

ARIA

How much time is left, Soren?” Roar asked.

“When you asked me that five minutes ago, I guessed three hours.”

“What’s your guess now, Soren?”

“Two hours and fifty-five minutes, Roar.”

Roar dropped his head, peering at Aria through a fringe of brown hair. “I knew he was going to say that.”

She forced a smile, feeling restless too. Three more hours until she was free of this room and back with Perry.

The Komodo was moving again, but at a slower pace. She imagined what the caravan would look like from outside: uncoiled, stretched out like a centipede under a sky full of Aether funnels. Every few minutes, the room shifted without warning and she braced, expecting it to stop, but the Komodo kept grinding along.

“You know what I want to know?” Soren said from the other bunk. “Why neither one of you is talking about Perry. Is torture normal out here? Is it like, ‘Yeah, I was brutalized today. Kind of boring. What about you—what did you do?’”

“I told Roar about it earlier,” Aria admitted.

“Did you keep it from me because of my father? Was he part of it?”

“No, Sable did it. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you’d care. You always act like you hate Perry.”

Soren nodded. “True. I do hate him.” He leaned over his legs and shoved his hands into his hair. “What am I thinking? What are any of us thinking?”

“I’m thinking about getting out of this room,” Aria said.

Roar pointed between them. “Our thoughts are in harmony.”

“I’m thinking this,” Soren said, ignoring them. “Sable killed Perry’s sister. Perry killed his own brother. My father and Sable both left thousands of their people to die. I’m dependent on drugs to keep me sane. And we’re the ones who are trying to start over? How are we the best hope for a new world?”

“Because we’re the only ones left,” Aria said. Then she realized she could to do better. “We all have the potential to do terrible things, Soren. But we also have the potential to overcome our mistakes. I don’t know . . . I need to believe that. What point is there otherwise?”

She had to believe Hess was capable of redeeming himself. They were depending on him.

Soren lay back on his cot. He crossed his arms over his head, sighing dramatically. “What point is there indeed.”

Roar also lay down, resting his head on Aria’s lap. He closed his eyes, a small line of tension forming between his dark eyebrows. That line was new, since Liv’s death.

Aria wanted to smooth it with her finger, but she didn’t. It wouldn’t make him feel any better, and what she gave to Roar could only come up to a point. No matter how much she loved him, that line of tension wasn’t hers to fix.

Her thoughts turned to Loran. In hours, she’d be leaving him behind. That didn’t feel right, but as Sable’s closest adviser, he couldn’t know what they planned to do, either. She shook her head at herself. Why did she care? She didn’t owe him anything.

“If we get to the Still Blue,” Soren said, “we should look at how to make more people like you, Aria.”

She laughed. “Make more people like me? You mean half-breeds?”

“No. I mean people who are forgiving and optimistic and things like that.”

Aria smiled at the irony. Her thoughts about her father hadn’t exactly been forgiving or optimistic. “Thank you, Soren. That is the nicest indirect compliment I’ve ever received.”

Roar smiled, his eyes still closed. “I’m going to miss these talks.” The line between his eyebrows was almost, almost gone.

He sat up at the sound of voices out in the corridor.

The door opened, revealing a pair of Horn soldiers. “Come,” said the shorter man. “We have orders to bring you to Loran.”

Aria didn’t remember making a decision to follow them. One second she was sitting on the cot next to Roar; the next she was moving through the halls.

The sound of people running drifted to her ears, echoing from somewhere distant. Were Hess and his men organizing the overthrow? Something didn’t feel right.

“What does Loran want from me?” she asked.

“He gives us orders. We follow them,” said the shorter Horn soldier. A casual answer, but tension laced his voice.

Up ahead, two Guardians came into view. They paused, doing a double take when they saw her.

Aria recognized them as the two men who had come to escort her to Hess—the same men whose suspicion Loran had deftly evaded.

“What are you doing? Where are you taking her?” they asked, voices raised in alarm.

The Horn soldiers drew their guns before Aria knew what was happening. They fired at the Guardians, the sound sending a stab of pain through Aria’s ears. The Guardians reacted, diving for cover around the bend in the corridor.

The shorter Horn soldier yelled, “Go! Go! Go!” The two soldiers rushed ahead, pursuing the Guardians.

Aria bolted in the other direction.

“Stop!”

She froze, peering behind her.

The shorter man stood at the end of the corridor, aiming his gun at her. “Stay right here, and don’t move!”

As soon as he disappeared, she sprinted away.

When she’d left them far enough behind, she forced herself to slow down and walk calmly. Footsteps thundered closer. Her heart seized as a pair of Guardians came running with drawn guns. Panic blazed through her, but they shot right past, their frantic exchange pricking to her ears.

“What was that? Did Hess order an early move?”

“I don’t know. I’ve got no comm.”

“Whose orders are we supposed to be following?”

“I said I don’t know!”

She backtracked to her chamber, her pulse hammering. Instinct told her that Sable had moved first—just as Perry had predicted. Why else would the Horns have fired at the Dwellers back there? Sable must have learned about Hess’s plan and preempted him.

The corridors bustled with activity the closer she came to her chamber. Horn soldiers jogged past, shaking the Komodo, so focused they barely gave her a passing glance. By contrast, the Guardians who streamed through the halls looked stunned and confused.

Her composure returning, she broke her objectives down. Get Roar and Soren. Find Perry and Cinder. Leave the Komodo as far behind as she could.

She’d almost reached the chamber when Loran appeared at the end of the corridor, rushing her way. His eyes locked sharply with hers, like she’d shouted his name. He slowed. “I’ll meet you outside,” he told the men accompanying him.

Aria tried to catch her breath as he walked up. She wanted to run away. Or ask him the millions of questions that swirled in her mind. She didn’t do either. Her legs wouldn’t move. Her lips wouldn’t form a single word.

In the pause that spread between them, she realized the Komodo had stopped. Any doubt that Sable had staged a coup of his own vanished.

“I sent my men for you,” Loran said.

“I didn’t like them. They were shooting Guardians.”

“I was trying to help you,” he returned, frustration adding a rough edge to his voice. “The Hovers are leaving. Peregrine and Cinder are already outside. You need to come with me right now.”

“What about Roar? What about Soren?”

“My allegiance is to Sable, Aria.”

“Yes, I know, Father. Mine is not.”

Loran shifted his weight, shadows falling over his gray eyes. Aria wished she could read the emotion in them. She wished she hadn’t just spat father at him, like it was an insult. “Are you going to force me to come with you?” she asked.