Under the Never Sky (27 page)

Aria felt light-headed. She’d never seen her mother’s office before. Her gaze lingered on the empty chair behind the desk. How many hours had Lumina spent in that chair?

“Perry, step through the fourth door,” she told him. “The one on the right. Subjects.”

He walked through it, arriving at the end of a long corridor lined on both sides with more doors. He ran to the nearest one.

“Amber.” Aria read the name on the small screen. He moved on to the next. “Brin.” And then to the next. “Clara.”

Perry didn’t move. He stayed in front of the door marked CLARA. Aria couldn’t tell what was happening. She was looking through his eyes. She couldn’t see his face in the Realms. Beside her, he looked calm but she knew he wasn’t. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Roar cursed at her side. “She’s one of us. A girl who disappeared from the Tides last year.”

Marron sent her an urgent look. “Aria, he has to keep going. We have little time.”

Perry sprinted now, past Jasper. Past Rain. To Talon. He burst through the door, into a room with walls covered with animated drawings of soaring hawks, swirling blue skies, and fishing boats casting in the sea. Two comfortable stuffed chairs sat at the center. They were empty.

“Where is he?” Perry asked desperately. “Aria, what have I done wrong?”

“I’m not sure.” She had thought that opening the door would summon the children into that Realm, but she didn’t know. All of this was new.

She was right. Talon fractioned at that moment, appearing on one of the chairs. His eyes flew open and he shot across the room, away from Perry.

“Who are you?” he said. He had a commanding voice for such a young boy. A voice full of fire and daring. He was a rangy little thing. He had green eyes, the color deeper than Perry’s, and dark brown hair that fell in the same twisting locks. He was a striking child.

“Talon, it’s me.”

Talon peered at him suspiciously. “How do I know?”

“Talon . . . Aria, why doesn’t he know me?”

She scrambled for an answer. These were the Realms. You could never trust anything. It was too easy to become something else. Someone else. Talon knew that already. “Tell him something,” she said, but it was too late.

Perry was wild, cursing. He turned to the door. “How do I get him out of here?”

“You can’t. You’re with him only in the Realms. He’s somewhere else. Ask him where he is. Ask him anything else you want to know. Quickly, Perry.”

Perry dropped onto one knee, his eyes falling to his burnt hand. “He should know me,” he said under his breath.

Talon came closer, tentative. “What happened to your hand?”

Perry wiggled his swollen fingers. “You could call it a mix-up.”

“Looks like it was bad. . . . Did you win?”

“If you were really Talon, you wouldn’t ask me that.”

Aria knew Perry had smiled at his nephew. She could picture his crooked smile, a blend of shy and fierce.

Recognition sparked in the boy’s eyes, but he didn’t move.

“Talon, it looks like you, but I can’t get your temper.”

“There’re no tempers in here,” he said, full of righteousness. “All the scents are off.”

“That’s eight. They’re faded but strong. . . . Squeak, it’s me.”

The suspicion left the boy’s face and he threw himself against Perry.

Aria watched Perry’s hand on the wallscreen, stroking the back of Talon’s head. “I was so worried about you, Tal.” Beside her, on the couch, he shifted, dropping his head into his hands. He was growing used to being in the two places at once. Aria put her hand on his shoulder.

Talon squirmed out of the embrace. “I wanted you to come.”

“I got here as soon as I could.”

“I know,” Talon said. With a gap-toothed grin, he reached out for a tendril of Perry’s hair and rubbed the streaked gold between his thin little fingers. Aria had never seen anything so tender in all her life.

Perry took him by the shoulders. “Where are you?”

“In the Dweller Pod.”

“Which one, Talon?”

“Rev. That’s what the kids here call it.”

Perry patted Talon’s arms, took hold of his chin, touching his small neck. “They’re not hur”—Perry’s voice caught—“hurting you?”

“Hurting me? I get fruit three times a day. I can run in here.
Fast.
I can even fly, Uncle Perry. All we do is go around in these Realms. They even got hunting Realms, but a lot of them are too easy. You just—”

“Talon, I’m going to get you out of here. I’ll find a way.”

“I don’t want to leave.”

Perry’s shoulder tensed beneath Aria’s hand.

“This isn’t where you belong,” Perry said.

“But I feel good here. The doc says I need medicine every day. It makes my eyes water, but my legs don’t even ache anymore.”

Aria exchanged a worried look with Roar and Marron.

“You want to
stay
?” Perry said.

“Yeah, now that you’re here.”

“I’m still on the outside. I’m only here this once.”

“Oh . . .” Talon’s lower lip pushed out in disappointment. “It’s good for the tribe, I guess.”

“I’m not with the Tides.”

Talon frowned. “Then who’s Blood Lord?”

“Your father, Talon.”

“No, he isn’t. He’s here with me.”

Beside Aria, on the couch, Perry’s body jerked. Roar hissed nearby.

“Vale’s there?” Perry asked. “He was captured?”

“You didn’t know? He was trying to come rescue me and they got him. I’ve seen him a couple of times. We’ve gone hunting together. Clara’s here too.”

“They caught your father?” Perry asked again.

Marron sat up sharply. “They’ve found him! We need to shut off.”

Perry yanked Talon against him. “I love you, Talon. I love you.”

The drawing of a hawk flying against the Aether sky flickered out.

The screen went dark.

For a second, no one moved. Then the couch shook as Perry jolted back, cursing. “Get this thing
off
!”

“You have to do it, Perry. You need to be still—”

He was gone, across the room in a few strides. He stopped in front of the wallscreen and dropped to his knees. Aria didn’t think. She went to him, wrapping her arms around him. Perry cinched her into his own arms, uttering a strangled sound as he buried his head into her neck. His body was a tight coil of pain around her, his tears cool feathers on her skin.

Chapter 30
PEREGRINE

A
ria guided him upstairs and pulled him into her room. Perry had a vague thought that maybe he shouldn’t be there, but his feet never slowed. He walked in and sat heavily on the bed. Aria turned on the lamp, keeping the light dim. Then she sat beside him and wove her fingers through his.

Perry flexed the fingers of his wounded hand. The surge of pain felt reassuring.

He was still there.

He could still feel.

“Talon didn’t look harmed,” he said after a while. “He looked all right.”

“He did.” She bit her lip, frowning in thought. “I knew they wouldn’t be hurting him. I knew my mother would never do that. We’re not cruel.”

“Taking innocent kids isn’t cruel? They have Talon, Aria! And my
brother.
They don’t belong there. They’re not Moles.”

Right away he knew it was a stupid thing to say. She’d been kicked out of her home. Cut off from everyone, even her mother. Where did
she
belong? A cold wave rolled through him. Perry winced, not sure if he’d inhaled her temper or if it was his own regret, his own sorrow. “Aria, I shouldn’t have said that.”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything. Just stared at their joined hands. Perry drew in a breath. Her sweet violet scent was everywhere. His gaze drifted to the smooth skin along her neck. He wanted to breathe there, just below her ear.

“He’s a lot like you, Perry. The way he moves. The way he acts. He adores you.”

“Thank you.” His throat began to tighten as he thought of Talon. He let go of her hand and lay back on the bed. Dropped his arm across his face. He’d just been wrapped up with her in front of the wallscreen. The bandage on his hand was still damp with their tears. But it felt different now. He didn’t want her seeing him like this.

She surprised him by lying down next to him, resting her head on the same pillow. Perry’s heart started pounding. He peered over at her. “I haven’t even asked how you feel.”

She smiled sadly. “That’s a funny question.”

“I mean what you’re thinking.”

Aria stared up at the ceiling, her eyes narrowing in thought. “A lot of things make sense now. I thought I was going to die when I was dropped out here. Everything felt wrong. Being in pain. Being lost and alone.”

Perry shut his eyes, pulled into the feeling of what it must have been like. He’d been there. He’d scented her fear and grief. He’d known it then. He felt it now.

“Now what I feel most is this . . . this
relief.
I know why I’m alive. And why my body started changing. Now . . . it’s like I have the day ahead of me again. Like I can take a breath and know for sure it’s about
living.
But there’s so much more I need to work out. I never thought my mother would be capable of lying to me. I can’t figure out how she did it.” She turned her head, looking at him. “How do you hurt someone you love like that?”

“People can be cruelest to those they love.” He saw a flicker in her eyes. A question he didn’t want her to ask. Not now, when he was raw like this. Not ever. But then her curiosity faded and he let out his breath.

“You don’t hate it, then?” he asked after a while. “Knowing you’re half . . . Savage?”

“How could I hate what’s kept me alive?”

He had no doubt the words were meant for him. Without thinking, he reached for her hand. Tucked it against his chest, feeling that was where it should be. Her eyes went from their hands to his Markings. Perry’s heart slammed against his ribs. She had to feel it.

“Will you be the Tides’ Blood Lord?” she asked.

“I will.” His own words amazed him. He’d wanted to be Blood Lord for so long. He’d never have imagined it happening this way. But he knew in every part of him that he needed to go home and win the right to lead the Tides. They couldn’t spend the winter hungry, with infighting and people vying for Blood Lord. They’d need him. Then he remembered the Croven, camped in the plateau. Waiting for him. How would he get out of Marron’s before winter came?

Perry looked down at the small hand pressed against his skin. He knew where he had to go, but what about her? “Aria, what are you going to do?” Somehow, in asking the question, he felt like he was failing her.

“I’m going to Bliss. I need to find out if my mother is alive. Marron and I talked last night. When the Croven leave, he’s going to let me take some of his men. I can’t just wait for news that might not ever come.”

“Aria, I’ll take you. I have to go home. I can take you to Bliss first.”

Perry tensed. What had he just said? What had he just offered?

“No, Perry. Thank you, but no.”

“We had a deal. Allies, remember?” he heard himself say.

“Our deal was to come here and fix the Smarteye.”

“It was to find Talon and your mother. We haven’t done that yet.”

“Bliss is south, Perry.”

“It’s not far. Another week. Doesn’t matter. I’ll get you better shoes this time. And I’ll carry your rocks for you. I’ll even answer all your questions.”

Perry didn’t know what he had just done. Where was the wisdom in heading a week out of the way when his tribe needed him? There was no sense in it, and recognizing that, his blood went cold.

“Will you answer a question now?” Aria asked.

“Yes.” He suddenly couldn’t keep still. He had to leave. He needed to think.

“Why did you really offer to take me to Bliss?”

“I want to,” he said. Even as he spoke, he wasn’t sure if he’d told the truth. It hadn’t felt like a
want.
It felt more like a
need.

Aria smiled, turning toward him, her eyes dropping to his mouth. The room sweetened with her violet scent, drawing him in, becoming everything, and he felt it. A shift deep within him. The seal of a bond he’d only known once before. And suddenly he understood why he’d promised something he shouldn’t have.

Perry pressed a hasty kiss to her hand. “I need some time,” he said, and then bolted out of the room. Perry shut the door and fell back against the wall, stifling a curse.

It happened.

He had rendered to her.

Chapter 31
PEREGRINE

“W
e might be able to handle a dozen,” Roar said, “but fifty?”

Perry paced in front of the glass cases in the common room, eyeing the image of the Croven’s camp on the wallscreen. In morning light, the image was much clearer than when he’d seen it last. Black-cloaked figures moved around the cluster of tents in the plateau. Red tents. A fitting color. He wanted to draw his bow and fire at them right through the screen.

“There are more than fifty Croven out there, Roar,” he said. The camera only showed some of them. Early that morning, he and Roar had been up on the wall, moving from tower to tower, using all the power of their Senses. It had taken them hours, but they’d detected another dozen Croven scattered around the perimeter. Sentinels, there to sound an alarm should he try to escape.

Roar crossed his arms. “
Sixty
Croven then.”

Marron turned a ring around his finger. “One of the old mining tunnels looks promising, but it’ll take weeks to excavate safely.”

“That’s well into winter,” Perry said. By then the storms would be moving in constant sets across the sky. Travel would be too dangerous.

“I can’t wait that long,” Aria said.

She’d been quiet, her legs tucked beneath her on the couch. What a fool he must seem to her, peeling for the door with barely a word in parting. She had no idea what had happened last night. Perry pinched the bridge of his nose, remembering the weakness rendering had brought him with Talon. Not being able to choose with freedom. Thinking of his needs as an afterthought. He couldn’t have that spell cast over him now. He’d do what he promised. He’d take her to Bliss, then do what he
should
and get to the Tides. They’d part ways soon enough. Until then, he’d just keep his distance. And try not to breathe when he was around her.