Luna on the Run (The Carmsborough Vigilantes #1)

Chapter 2

"So what's this device do, anyway?" I ask, stalling. There's nothing in the alley to fight with, and no way to leave without plowing through one of them. "Does it lead you to some buried treasure or something?"

"You'll never know." The man cracks his hand-sized knuckles.

"Bet you're wrong. And, I'll bet when you clap, it sounds like a building collapsing."

"That's a good one. Not very original, but a good one nonetheless." He steps closer.

"Yeah, I'm sure you get compared to those big construction cranes all the time, huh?"

Do I take on the big-handed guy and the muscular guy, or give them the beeper thing and pray they let me go?

Freckles, apparently making the choice for us, roars and charges the guy behind us. I follow suit, yelling and charging.

The goon braces for impact and handles the attack of the heavy metallic beast pretty well, but crumbles when I collide right after. The three of us fall, all in one messy pile. The loaves of bread in my arm suffer a bit, but they're still edible.

With a yell, the large-handed man rushes down the alley. Freckles and I pause for a second before I scramble to get up, and we run for the docks.

"Meow."

"Yeah, I noticed we're in trouble, Freckles. What would you have recommended?"

"Meow."

"This thing might lead to a jackpot. I couldn't just hand it to the first disproportionate enemy I crossed. Besides, you're the one who attacked first."

My clunky boots and his heavy paws rattle against the boards of the old wooden dock with every bound, turning heads and clearing a path in front of us. I don't dare check to see how close they've gotten. The last thing I want is to be tackled by a grown man on a densely populated dock.

Beep beep beep beep. Beep beep beep beep.

Cloudships with different-colored balloons blur past us, all in different stages of docking or undocking. For a moment, I get distracted by their designs. Some are really artistic, but the rest have a simple pastel color.

Reality comes crashing back to me immediately, however, when my eyes lock onto a cart of melons being wheeled in my path. Freckles manages to jump out of the way to avoid it, but I swerve way too late, crashing into its side. An army of watermelon dislodges from the display, rolling all over the place.

I drop all the bread instinctively and look at the two men chasing us. They're far enough away, but closing in quickly. With the beeper still in my hand, and going off insanely fast, I retrieve a loaf and a small melon and zip right around the cart.

"Hey!" the cart owner yells. "You've gotta pay for that!"

"Sorry, not sorry!" I yell back, rejoining Freckles. We make it a little further before a loud crash reverberates through the sea-soaked wood. I don't even have to look to know they charged into the cart. They're not gaining on us all that much, but I still have no clue where the beeper is leading us—

Beeeeeeeeeeeep.

We stop right in front of a plain, unassuming cloudship. This must be the spot the device wants us to be at. But why?

Freckles and I exchange a brief glance and simultaneously decide to hop on board.

My first time on board a cloudship, and it's because I'm hiding from a mob boss. A little outside my comfort zone on this adventure.

We hurry inside, descending a flight of stairs where I can only assume the steering wheel is. There's no doubt they saw which ship we went in, but it is their ship. It wouldn't be hard to guess.