Echoed Lullabies (Lunar Chronicles x Reader)

Chapter 98

I was seated in the empty maglev car, gun in hand, mind still reeling.

The guard, Aleksander Park (as told by the identification chip he provided that I used to operate the maglev system), was Aimery's brother.

And he was on our side.

The entirety of it felt surreal. That I was on my way to the lumber sector where Cinder was. That I had been helped by a member of the palace staff who was related to a monster. That Cress was somewhere in the castle uploading Cinder's video, hopefully.

That Thorne was captured.

I thought back to the moments before we had been discovered. The ones full of kisses and embraces and...confessions. Kind of.

My heart sped and a giddy smile crept onto my lips. The same lips Thorne had kissed so lovingly.

But the smile dropped as soon as I remembered he was gone.

This was why I didn't like getting attached. Because the second I did, the second there was any possibility for me to have something like this...it was taken away.

But I'd get to the lumber sector. I'd find Cinder, we'd rally troops, and storm the palace. We'd rescue Thorne. And then afterwards, maybe...maybe he and I would be able to—

"Sector LW-12," the robotic voice said through the speakers.

I bolted to my feet and pointed my gun ahead of me, but there was no one in the tunnel when the car doors slid open. The smell of dirt and animals pummeled me, and I wrinkled my nose as I exited the maglev train.

The platform station was deserted. Even as I walked the stairs upward into the sector, I came across no guards.

I emerged in the middle of what was supposed to be a forest, though it was so perfect it was unnatural. Each tree stood tall in their skinny rows, like soldiers waiting for orders.

Through the trunks in the distance I could see a vast area that had been recently cleared for timber, and to the other side, acres of young saplings.

Straight ahead, in the direct center of the dome, I could make out the shape of a water fountain situated in a clearing among the trees. The grass looked untended around it.

But there were no guards.

Had the uprisings worked? Had some of the sectors been successful in their efforts?

I could only hope that Cinder was around here somewhere.

And that she had a plan.

***

Miles away, a Lunar operative froze. Sniffed the air.

"Alpha?" One of the sector residents cocked her head. "Is...is everything alright?"

He faltered. "Yes. I just thought I smelled..." He paused. Sniffed again.

His entire body tensed. Visions of a girl with (e/c) eyes and (h/c) hair flashed to the forefront of his memory. This girl...she was—

His bottle green eyes dilated.

She was here.

Then he took off in the direction of her scent without another word.

***

Voices filtered in through the trees. Shouts. Yells. My pulse thundered as I drew my gun. My walk turned into a run.

But when I came out into the main residential street of the sector I paused.

The civilians were fighting...each other?