Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 4

When Cinder was finished recapping everything that had happened, most of which I had already known, she leaned back against the cockpit chair.

"You danced with Prince Kai?" Iko shrieked.

"Seriously?" Cinder threw up her hands. "I tell you about Levana's plot to kill him, about me being Lunar, and that's what you're hung up on?"

"Sorry," Iko apologized sheepishly. "But it's Prince Kai..." Her voice took on a dreamy tone.

"He's the emperor, actually," I corrected. "And he's currently stuck on Earth with Levana, or have you forgotten? You need to take me back so I can correct what chaos you've caused. My squadrons will run around like headless chickens without me."

"Some squadrons they are, then," Thorne scoffed.

"Can the body function without the brain? The beehive without its queen? I am their leader and have trained them with the ability of protecting those that need it which includes—guess who?—the emperor. So don't think too lowly of me just yet, cadet," I snapped.

"Oh," Iko whispered.

Thorne glared at the ceiling but spoke to me. "Whatever, that doesn't matter. We're not taking you back, and even if we wanted to, which we don't, we couldn't."

"He's right, we can be detected on radar," Iko chimed in. "I'm doing my best to keep us out of the path of any satellites or ships, but it's surprisingly crowded up here."

Thorne unrolled his sleeves. "It's next to impossible to re-enter Earth's atmosphere without detection. That's how they nabbed me last time."

"I thought there was a trick to it," said Cinder. "I'm sure I heard once about a way people could sneak into Earth's atmosphere without notice. Where did I hear that?"

"News to me. I got pretty good at sweet-talking my way into public hangars, but I don't think that's going to work with such a high-profile convict on the loose."

Cinder tugged a rubber band off her wrist and threw her hair up into a high ponytail. Then, her eyes flashed. "Lunars know how to cloak their spacecrafts."

My head snapped towards her. "What?"

"Lunars can cloak their spacecrafts. Keep Earthen radars from picking up on them. That's how so many are able to make it to Earth, if they manage to get away from Luna in the first place."

My lips parted. Lunars cloaking spacecrafts. Stars, why was this issue never explored? There had been rumors, sure, but that's all they had been. Even the previous emperor was unconcerned. Even so, it made me feel like a goddamn idiot sitting there in my restraints.

"That's terrifying," said Iko.

"I know it is," said Cinder, "but it would be awfully convenient if I knew how they did it."

"Do you think it's with their"—Thorne rolled his wrist toward her—"crazy Lunar magic stuff?"

"Bioelectricity," Cinder corrected. "Calling it magic only empowers them."

Hm. Her use of the word "them" intrigued me. She wasn't yet associating herself with the Lunar race. Was this a subconscious decision? Or did she wish her ancestry wasn't what it was?

Cinder sighed. "It doesn't matter, I don't know. It could be some special technology they install on their ships."

Thorne blew out a breath. "Optimistically hoping its magic, maybe you should start practicing?"

Cinder bit the inside of her cheek. "I guess I can try." The lights flickered overhead, and Cinder scowled. Her gaze flicked to the cargo bay, which was brimming with plastic crates full of who-knows-what. "You don't have anything useful in here? Like, I don't know, a fully charged power cell?"