Page 69 of The Garnet Daughter
“What’s wrong? What is it?” I panic.
“Now!” His scream echoes against the metal wall behind me.
I wince, tucking my shoulders up, leaning into his palm cupping my cheek, and fold us roughly into the cockpit.
We sway forward at the hard arrival, but he is already running toward the control panel before I can find my balance.
A door I did not know existed seals us in the front of the ship, whooshing closed and briefly buzzing with a mechanical lock.
“There are likely others onboard,” August says.
I can’t help but sway again, his words sending a sudden flood of panic into my system. “How do you know?”
“The drone, they used it to find us. You did not bump into the cargo ramp. They hacked in. We need to get into the air.” He flips through the controls fast, the engine roaring to life, groaning at his impatience.
I run to my seat and strap in because he is not going to wait.
He lifts the ascension bar, and we rise from the ground with a pulling resistance that feels like pressure placed on my shoulders.
“If there are a few on the ship, I can flush them out, but if we stay, who knows how many more will come,” he calls out.
The ship rises into the sky and travels horizontally across the landscape. August presses a few more controls and gets up out of his seat, leaving it to fly on its own. He opens a weapons locker and straps a few of the guns to his armor.
A loud bang comes from somewhere on board, and this time I’m certain it is not normal ship noises.
August does not react other than quickening his pace and programming something into the side panel of the wall. “If they breached the cargo hull, they will breach the cockpit soon.”
“I can fold us,” I offer, undoing my buckles.
“No.” He takes my hand, dragging me across the cockpit. “If you fold us out of this, we have no ship or supplies. We will be stranded in the birthlands and the mission will be over. The only safe place is out of the birthlands, and you don’t want to give up now, do you?”
I stammer over my words, the pressure of having to give him an answer over the terrible banging noises slow my processing down so much that he shakes my shoulder to speak.
“We have to make it to the temple. We can’t go back to the Estate yet.”
“Then you have to trust me.” He places the spell book against my chest and pulls me by the palm to a seam in the wall where he taps another screen with purpose.
“August?”
“You need to get into the escape pod. I will clear the ship, but I can’t do that unless I know you’re safe.” He sounds so calm, but he’s not making sense. “It will take you to safety. Press the yellow button when you land and stay inside until you hear from me.”
“No, I’m not leaving! I can hide on the ship while you fight!”
“We don’t have time to argue!” He slams the side of his fist onto the panel on the wall. “Please, this is the only way I know you will be safe.”
The wall behind me opens up and he pushes me inside a tiny closet, but the walls are glass and there is a compact communication panel and screens like a tiny ship.
A crashing sound comes from the locked door of the cockpit, and we both glance in the direction of the chaos coming from theother side, the intruders now trying to break the metal seam of the door to get in.
“Eyes on me, I need you to promise you will not fold back to me. I will find you, Calliape, as soon as I kill every one of these First Son bastards.”
Panicked, I look for the button and realize I truly am in a tiny ship, right down to the straps waiting to be tightened across my body. It’s not much bigger than one of the onboard lavatories.
“Promise me!” he shouts, flipping a switch on one of his guns then pausing to look at me.
“I promise.” A whimper escapes me, the reality of being separated striking like a cold slap.
He presses a button on the outside of the little room he has forced me in, blocking the entrance. A glass panel slides shut and closes me off from the rest of the cockpit.
