Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 11

"What was that?" Thorne yelled as he peeled the podship off the street. Flying lower and much faster than regulations suggested, we fled over the patchwork of crops that surrounded the town of Rieux.

Cinder shook her head. "They were Lunar. He mentioned his queen."

Thorne slammed his palm down on the podship's control board, cursing. "I know Lunars are supposed to have some screws loose—no offense—but those men were psychotic. He practically gnawed off my arm! And this is my favorite jacket!"

I tried to calm my heaving breaths.

It was him.

Cinder pressed her cool metal fingers to her own forehead. "Iko's panicking."

Thorne swerved around an abandoned tractor. "I forgot about the police! Is my ship all right?"

"Hold on." A moment later, she gulped. "The police are gone. They left a tracker."

"Well, that's predictable." Thorne swooped down, catching the tip of a windmill on the landing gear. I saw the Rampion only a few miles off, a large gray splotch amid the crops, barely discernible in the night.

By the time the pod dipped toward the Rampion, the dock was wide-open. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself against the seat as Thorne dove toward it too fast, but he released the thrusters just in time and soon we were coming to a very rocky, sudden stop. The podship shuddered and died—Cinder had tumbled out of the side door before the lights faded.

"Iko! Where's the tracker?"

"Stars, Cinder! Where have you been? What is going on out there?"

"No time—the tracker!"

"It's under the starboard landing gear."

"I'll get it," said Thorne, marching toward the wide-open doors. "Iko, seal the dock as soon as I'm out, then open the main hatch. Cinder, get that power cell installed!" He jumped down off the dock, and I heard a squelch of mud when he landed. A moment later, the interlocking doors began to slide shut.

"Wait!"

The doors froze, leaving a space not larger than an android's head between them.

"What?" cried Iko. "I thought he was out! Did I crush him?"

"No, no, he's fine. I just have to do something."

Chewing on her lip, she knelt on one knee. I watched as she yanked her pant leg up and opened a compartment in her prosthetic leg, where she found two chips amid the mess of bundled wires. One was a comms chip painted with a shimmering coat and the other was a blood-crusted ID chip.

"I'm so stupid," she muttered, pulling out the ID chip. She brushed a quick kiss against it and threw it out into the field. "All right. You can close the doors now."

As the doors clanged shut, she threw herself toward the podship and pulled the power cell off the floorboard. She disappeared.

A moment later, the whole ship went black.

"Cinder!" came Thorne's distraught scream from somewhere.

The engine hummed, grew louder, and soon purred like a contented cat. Red lights flickered on, and were just as quickly replaced with bright whites.

"What just happened? Why won't anyone tell me what's going on?" Iko asked.

Cinder appeared again. "Ready for takeoff," she instructed.

No sooner had the words left than the combustors flared beneath and the ship lurched up off the ground. I gasped and grasped for hold against the wall, clinging tight to it as the Rampion hovered momentarily before shooting up into the sky, away from the destruction happening in Michelle Benoit's beautiful hometown.