Page 54 of Stealing the Star Stone
She grinned and bolted, taking off down the hill.Every chance she could, she took a rock outcropping or a patch of thick ground cover.He stayed on her, a little behind but kept her in his sights.The stench of burnt leather singed his nostrils by the time they paused, this time on a fallen tree.He eyed it, not sure it was safe.
“Don’t think about it,” she panted.“Just…catch your breath.”
“I’m notthatunfit,” he rasped.
“Neither am I, but we don’t know the percentage of oxygen in the air.”
Why hadn’t he thought of that?
A squeal pierced the sky.Glancing up was flipping useless when he couldn’t see through the tree cover.
“Animal or mechanical?”she asked.
“Fuck knows.”He peered into the shadows, half expecting something to charge him.“Let’s go.”
She did, leading the way.Being a little out when they started would send them in the wrong direction or missing the cave.Hopefully, the entrance would be gaping and massive.She rounded a corner and was gone.
Sheer panic gripped him.He hollered her name, tracing her steps but not finding her.A blast of goo splattered his boots.He stared at the smoke sizzling off the leather.A flash of light snapped his head up with the realization that something was firing at him.There, hovering above the treetops was a shuttle looking likeViator IV’s nastier brother—a canon was mounted to its side.Its neon-blue light burned brighter, warning him of an impending shot.He ducked behind a tree, but when nothing happened, he peeked to find the shuttle had for some reason moved on.
A boom and a cloud of fiery smoke made him duck.It had come from the direction of their shuttle, but he wasn’t a hundred percent sure.Not that they could’ve flown it again, but its destruction resonated with finality.He broke into a run, casting glances over his shoulder.
Then darkness engulfed him, swallowing his scream as he plummeted—wind whipping his hair back.Vines grabbed at him, wrapping around his arms with slime coating and stinging his skin.One sank its teeth into him.He cried out.In the meager light, all he caught was white suckers like an octopus.Around each one were tiny fangs, drawing blood.In disbelief, he stared at it.When his thoughts slammed into his head, he began to struggle, making the pain worse.
“Quit wriggling,” Nova yelled.
He froze at hearing her voice.Despite the warmth of relief, he twisted to find her on an illuminated shore, a rifle on her shoulder.“Don’t!You’ll kill me.”
She fired, hitting the rock beside his face and showering him with shards.
“Nova,” he hollered.
“You’re distracting me,” he thought he heard her say.She aimed again, striking the nearest vine.It squealed—the sound piercing.
And he was falling, his scream lodging in his throat.
He hit the soft soil and crumpled.
“I think Orien found us,” he managed, digging a foot out of the mud.
“Pirates, sure.”
He met and held her gaze, her face painted blue-white from what looked like fairy lights climbing up spiraling stalactites.A little to the right and he would’ve skewered himself.
“Nova, honey, something exploded, and the other shuttle was likeViator IV.”Circular bite marks littered his arm, and a tingling sensation burned his fingertips.Not good signs.
She blinked at him.“Shit.I didn’t expect him this soon.”
“Yeah, so not only does this thing have us on a time limit, we now have Orien closing in without a way to get off this moon.”He swept his gaze across a burgundy-colored lake, its orange waves lapping at the shore.“Pretty.”
“Not how we planned it, but we found the cave.”
“How’s this inaccessible?”he asked again.
“The carnivorous vines, maybe?We’ve got to find a way out of here.If this is part of the cave system we targeted, we might not be in the right section.”
“I’d say it was.”He tapped her shoulder and gestured to behind her.Across a rock wall were familiar carved letters.“Can we decipher that?”
Dread settled over him.He stilled.That made no sense… It felt like it was coming from Nova.He shook his head.This experience from the stone shattering to reaching this point had been traumatic, possibly messing with his mind.
