Luna on the Run (The Carmsborough Vigilantes #1)

Chapter 21

We walk to the Constellation in silence, ignoring the hostile cloudships landing near us. Chances are, they'll leave us alone and go straight for their boss.

Their dead boss.

My whole body is shaking. I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I shot and killed someone. And I didn't even think twice about doing it.

Maybe because I've been planning it ever since he separated Freckles and I. Ever since he threw me into a work camp and forced me to boss other prisoners around. Ever since he locked me in a cage with Mary and let the structure topple down on top of her. Ever since he escaped justice for the umpteenth time.

Ever since Ike shot those four men on the main deck.

If there was ever a man who deserved to be killed, it was him. But thinking someone deserves to be killed is a totally different ballpark than actually killing them, and yet, I took the dive without hesitation.

"Are you alright?" Ike asks, revving the ship again.

"What do you think?" I reply, a little too snappy.

He comes to sit in the pilot's seat next to me, swiveling the chair to face my way. "I'll tell you what I think. I think you're thinking too hard about what you just did. You're afraid that it'll somehow define you, or that you'll get used to it. And the fact that you're even worried tells me you'll be okay, Luna. Something like that will always stick in your head, and while it's nothing to be afraid of, you should always have this feeling when confronted with the question."

"Yeah," is all I manage. I don't have the heart to tell him I wasn't afraid of any of that. That I sort of enjoyed doing it.

I've finished off one of the bad men with bad plans. He will no longer torment my life. I can be free again, unworried.

Well, as soon as I rescue Freckles, at least.

Ike gets up and punches in the coordinates for Candlewood Docks. My chest still hurts from the broken rib, but overexposure to the nonstop pain has somewhat dulled the throbbing.

"So, you gonna tell me who your boss is yet?" Ike asks, tidying his hair using his reflection in the cockpit windows.

"I don't think I can. The last thing I want to do is get in trouble for it. If he wants to stay anonymous, then I should make sure he stays anonymous. Even to you, Ike. I'm sorry."

"I've often found those that want to stay anonymous usually do it because they're pulling some nefarious strings, not because they're trying to be the good guys, Luna."

"Yeah, but you haven't met him. He rescued me off of Blood Moon Island, offered me a job and the resources I needed to do it, and from the sounds of it, he has plenty of ways to help Carmsborough. He's even been fighting the Nazis."

"Hmm."

Ike sits in silence, and we stare out the window, watching the low-rolling hills of the horizon and the fields on top of them. It's dark, but it's peaceful. Maybe, when I finally settle down, I'll get a cute little house on a hill. It'll be me, and Freckles, and...

Well, someone, probably. I haven't had the chance to hit the dating scene all that much, but I've got time. Not quite a priority when you're looting dumpsters for your next meal and hunting an international crime syndicate's boss.

"You said your cat's name was Freckles?" Ike asks.

"Yeah. I found him one day at work. I was sorting one of my basins, but the truck guy who loads the basins put the wrong materials in mine, so I was knee-deep in some electronics junk, and lo and behold, there he was, in the middle of the pile."