Page 22 of Rebels Rising

I darted after him, calling his name and demanding he come down this instant, but he was too far gone into the fun of the game to notice I wasn’t playing.

‘Bal!’

He zipped down the hallways over everyone’s heads, and my panic rose to even greater heights when I realised what mayhem he could potentially cause with this new ability of his. To himself as well as the ship. As it was, everyone I passed gave me a strange look as I barrelled after the troublesome boy until they followed my line of sight. Some stepped out of the way to give me space to chase him down, but a few kind individuals joined me in the hunt.

Unfortunately, all that succeeded in accomplishing was adding to Bal’s excitement when he noticed there were more people joining in the chase.

‘What is going on out here?’ the captain’s exasperated voice travelled from down a subsequent hallway. A moment later he was joining us, curiosity and concern winning out. He let out a bark of laughter, his disbelief evident when he figured out what the fuss was about.

I ignored him in favour of leaping towards where Bal practically crawled on the ceiling straight for one of the air vents, desperation driving my actions. I caught him, dragging him to me in a vicelike grip. It was another tick before I realised I wasn’t dropping to the floor again. At first I thought the gravity magnets were malfunctioning until I noticed everyone else’s feet firmly planted on the floor.

I was levitating.

Baldr was giggling and clapping his little hands, his excitement over getting caught overruling any common sense a toddler could have.

Oh, who was I kidding. Toddlers hadzerosense. And this ship was brimming with hundreds of them with who knew how many varieties of unknown abilities, ready to wreak as much havoc as possible.

‘Um, Artemis?’ Adara’s voice called from below, and I realised that she must have been on the captain’s heels the entire time, her small frame hidden behind his.

‘Yeah?’ I asked, strangely breathless.

‘Can you get down?’

I contemplated the question, closing my eyes as I attempted to control the new ability, but nothing happened. ‘Uh, nope. No, I don’t think so.’

The captain snickered. ‘So… you’re stuck up there?’

I shot him my best death glare, but he remained unfazed. ‘Whatever,’ I mumbled, drifting further down the corridor. When my head bumped repeatedly against the ceiling I pretending as if it was just a normal Tuesday. To be fair, I expected the unexpected at this point and rolling with the punches had become my new norm.

The bubbly giggle that trickled from Addy brought a reluctant grin to my lips, but it was quickly wiped off when Dave Junior came barrelling down the hallway, knocking over anyone in his path. He made a whimpering noise as he rose up onto his hind legs and extending his forelegs in a futile attempt to reach me. He may have been huge but even he wasn’t big enough to reach me properly just yet.

Instead, the captain’s fingers circled around my ankle and he started dragging me and Bal back up the hallway while I stared in shock at the long, thick fingers currently wrapped around me. This might have been the most casual touch he’d ever given me, and it short-circuited my brain. But then he paused, gazing up at me with a question in his eyes. ‘Where to?’

I snorted a laugh, the entire situation beyond me now, and gestured with my free hand in the direction he had already been walking. ‘I need to get these two fed, and then I was going to drop in on the infirmary for a bit before heading to the cockpit.’

‘That’s a lot of places. What, do you expect me to drag you along all day?’ he grumbled, but there was a definite note of teasing in there under all that gruff exterior.

‘Hopefully not all day, Captain. I fully expect to figure this out before then.’

His strides faltered, and I didn’t understand why until he spoke again. ‘Just call me Xander. You’re the captain now.’

I winced, the awkwardness of the situation seeping deep.

‘Ah, right.’ I hesitated for a moment, debating whether to have this conversation here or later, but decided it was better to just bite the bullet and get it over with.

‘Actually, that was something I wanted to talk to you about.’

His eyes darted up to mine briefly before settling back down onto the path ahead, but Addy shot me a curious look that lingered.

‘I’m not exactly…’ I paused, searching for the right words, ‘equippedto… well, lead. You have experience with this particular role. I wondered if you would perhaps wish to fill the position of my second?’

I couldn’t put a finger on why exactly I was so nervous, but I found my cheeks flushing and my heartrate skyrocketing at the request. I was putting myself out there for a man I didn’t fully trust, but I was making an effort. If he shot it down, I didn’t know how we’d move forward.

The captain… no,Xander, was as taken aback as I was uncomfortable. He halted, his entire body shifting in my direction as he gave me his undivided attention. Even Addy was ignored as she gaped between the two of us with a twinkle in her eye I definitely did not want to decipher.

Xander scrutinised me, studying every muscle twitch and shift in my eyes. At one point, I even thought I caught him staring at the pulse in my neck where my blood was roaring through my veins.

He ended his perusal with a small smile tugging at his mouth and revealing a single dimple indenting his right cheek. ‘I would be more than happy to help in any way you see fit, Captain.’

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