The Lunar Chronicles: Cresswell's Adventures

Chapter Eleven

They were falling. Cress could feel her stomach drop as the satellite hurtled towards Earth at an impossible speed. There was no way she'd survive this. Her eye caught on an unconscious figure sprawled on the floor across from her. Thorne. She tried screaming his name, but her throat would not make any sound. Too terrified to move and trying to hold on to her desk to keep from hitting the wall, she closed her eyes. Waiting for death.

Cress felt the exact moment the satellite hit the ground, the impact knocking her head into the desk. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Thorne's blue eyes opening and staring pleadingly at her.

"Cress?"

She jolted awake, shaking her head wildly to clear it. Her palms and lower back felt sticky, and she realized she was sweating. She sat up, confused at the scenery around her. The sun wasn't visible just yet, but the brilliant purple-red sky acknowledged its approach. Why was she at a beach? How did she get here?

"Cress, are you okay?"

A vaguely familiar man was looking at her, worried etched into his face. She had a sense of deja vu. It was the man on the satellite with her, Thorne.

She swallowed hard, before she replied, "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Just a bad dream."

"Want to tell me about it?"

She shook her head a little faster than she meant to, and hurt flickered across Thorne's face.

"I said I'm fine. It was nothing, anyways."

He helped her stand up, and she stretched her arms and legs out. Why did it feel like her memory had somehow deteriorated a bit? She knew who she was, who Thorne was. She still couldn't figure out how she had ended up here.

"Where are we, again?"

"We're in Sydney, Australia, remember? We flew in from Luna."

Cress breathed out relief. That sounded about right. She could now recall them going to watch the opera, the singers' voices ringing around in her head. And their dinner from last night as they settled down on the sand.

"I'm sorry, Thorne. My dream..." she paused for a second, wondering if she should tell him what happened.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and made her face him. "Cress, please. You know you can tell me anything," he pleaded.

Cress bit her lip, considering it. "I dreamed that we were in the satellite together, while we were falling to Earth. You were unconscious, and right as we hit the ground, I blacked out. Then I woke up." She began wrapping her hair around her hand, yearning for half a second that she could have her long and tangled hair back. "I remember feeling terrified, knowing that we were going to die." Her heart began pounding faster and faster, until she was sure Thorne could hear it. "It was just a stupid dream. I know it's not real now."

"So you still have bad nightmares about that sometimes?" He wrapped his arms around, which always seemed to soothe her. "It's okay, Cress. We'll both get through our bad dreams together."

She buried her face in his shoulder, wishing she could never let go. "Maybe we should go back and see it again."

"Go back where?"

"The African Union. The Sahara Desert. Farafrah. Everything."

He held her at arms length and studied her face, appalled. "Are you sure?"

She nodded determinedly. "Very." Even though they had stopped at Farafrah to drop off the antidotes, and had the chance to see it, she didn't want to stay there long.