Fury and Flame | 3

4 | 5

D E L P H I N I U M

      Every passing second the three boys didn't show, my fear grew. What if they never came back? I couldn't get the image from my dream out of my head—their crumpled, disfigured bodies slumped against each other. Though this wasn't my fault, I should have done something. I should have stayed. I would have hated myself either way, whether I stayed or escaped with the others. But at least I would have put up a fight.

      Jaxon arrived at the boat the same time Kane and Jake did. He appeared out of thin air right before the other two climbed down the ladder—but only the two of them. The engineer we'd come to rescue was nowhere to be found.

      "Go!" Arlo yelled at the captain of the boat, who'd been waiting patiently for us to come back.

      Immediately, there was space out between us and the Imperium ship as we pulled away, water frothing around the sides. My heart pounded so hard I heard it in my ears. What would happen if they caught us? What if Orion had me brought to him again, like a father disappointed for his daughter's futile efforts to run away from home?

       A strange spark of grim determination swelled in my chest. If they came for me, I'd make them regret it. I'd make them sorry.

      It was gone as swiftly as it had come. But I was suddenly relieved that it had happened. Was it perhaps the small spark of light at the end of the tunnel? A hope that maybe, just maybe, I could claw myself up from the deep, dark hole I'd fallen into?

      Whatever it was, it was gradually overshadowed by fear as I looked back at the ship. And more particularly, the two guns mounted on the sides. They'd blow us to pieces.

      "They said they'd shoot us," Kane said, staring back like I was. He faced Jaxon. "What did you do?"

      Now that I was looking at him, Jaxon did seem unworried about the plight we were in as he sat sprawled out, the wind blowing through his hair. An easy grin. "Nothing much. I just disabled the guns so they can't attack us on our way out."

      Kane gave a rare smile. A breath of relief loosened from my lips—thanks to Jaxon's quick thinking, there would be no capture, no grand fight.

      As the ship became little more than a dark spot in the distance, the absence of the engineer became to become more obvious. "Where's Rong?" Riley asked, arms folded. "She's the only reason we came and she's not even here."

       We all turned to watch with disbelief as Kane said, "I let her go with them."

      "You did what?" Benton snarled at his brother. I knew how much he wanted information on our enslavers.

      The strongman ignored him. "She said something before we were separated. A series of numbers." He paused. "It was something the soldiers wouldn't understand. A radio station. She's going to communicate with us from the fortress."

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       No one argued when Jake suggested a place he knew to hide out in—we didn't have the luxury of choosing now. Plus, Jake's form of suggesting was always more of a flat-out command anyway.

       We weaved through alleyways and down backstreets of the outer city. Wherever the place was, it was certainly hard to locate. That would be an advantage for when the ONNT came looking for us here.

      Jake stopped at the back of a tall building—gray like all the others. The only thing that distinguished it from the surrounding buildings were the few windows high above and the slightly-cleaner exterior. All in all, it didn't look like anything special.