Midnight Sky (Dark Sky Book 2) (30 page)

Planning to find the
Meridian.
Returning to my old house. Recovering my mother’s journal. Crossing the Barren. Fighting to save my friends from the Crater. Entering the ship and finding the Palisade. Using the key. Breaking down when Davin appeared with Abby. Sawyer rescuing me from despair. Hearing him say he loved me. Working on the Palisade. Understanding and using its power.
 

The invisible fingers relaxed their hold, and were pulled from my brain. Stars blotted my vision and I slumped to the floor with a groan. Sawyer’s voice was loud and close to my ear, his hand on my back, but I could barely feel him.

“Your journey has been impressive, Claire,” the Vesper rasped. I shuddered. He was even using Riley’s voice, if it had been dragged over broken glass first.

“It was my intention to kill you first, as penance for your mother and father’s abhorrent crime. But after learning about you, I realize that is a fruitless endeavor. You have so much more to offer me than they did, and unlike them, you have so much to lose.”

“What…” It was torture to get the word out. Sawyer’s hand rubbed the back of my neck. “What… do you… want?”

“A simple project. One that will benefit you, and vindicate me.”
 

His cloak rustled as he moved closer. There were brittle crunches as he stepped on the limbs of dead Hellions.

“You will rebuild this machine for me, in my domain. Once I regain my strength, I shall rebuild the world your kind has destroyed. And then I shall continue to requisition your world as you humans planned to do with mine. Your sister and your friends may return with you, as sources of sustenance for me.”

“No!” I cried. I coughed and gasped for breath. “No. They’re not going anywhere with you.”

The Vesper tilted his head, oil black hair sliding over his shoulder. The bones in his crown rattled against each other. I shivered when I realized they were
human
bones.

“I am not requesting. I am demanding. You will do this for me, Claire. Or your loved ones will suffer the consequences. Allow me to demonstrate.”

Everyone around me screamed in agony. Sawyer jerked away from me and dropped to his knees, clutching his head and rocking back and forth. Nash and Gemma writhed on the ground, howling and twitching. Abby was curled into a ball on the ground, wailing in pain.
 

“Wait! That’s not what I meant! Stop,
please stop!
”

The Vesper didn’t move, but my sister and my friends stopped screaming. They lay on the ground, curling into themselves to fight the agony.

“And what exactly did you mean, Claire?”

My heart went to my throat. I looked at them all. Nash. Gemma. Sawyer. Abby. All of them close to my heart, all of them inches away from a terrible death.
 

I had nothing left. No Volt. No Palisade. Not even a flashbang.

Riley–the Vesper–had been right. I couldn’t win.
 

I staggered to my feet, swaying twice until I trusted my balance. I took a deep breath, and destroyed my hope.

“I’ll go with you, and let you use my blood.”

“Claire, no,” croaked Sawyer.
 

I didn’t look at him. If I did, I would break. And I couldn’t do that. This was the only choice I had to save them.
 

“But before I do, I want my friends to live. I want you to keep Abby human.”

“And why would I agree to do this?” the Vesper asked.

“Motivation,” I answered simply. “If you want a Palisade created quickly, I’ll make you a new one. This one can’t be salvaged, so I’ll make a better one. But I’ll only do it if I know they’re alive and unharmed. If they’re hurt or killed, I’ll lose focus. I won’t be able to concentrate. I’ll end up killing myself before I do anything for you. And I can guarantee you won’t find another engineer talented enough to help you.”

The Vesper considered me, plunging his violating fingers into my brain and searching for a lie. I balled my fists and whimpered at the pain, but I held my ground. There were no other plans. No ulterior motives. No hope to kindle me.
 

The digits were removed from my head, and I almost collapsed with relief. I suppose I needed to get used to the feeling.

“We are in agreement. Know that it will change drastically if you attempt to trifle with me.”

I nodded limply, going still when the thing that used to be Riley marched forward with my sister. It was eerie, watching the human-puppet glide forward, his crystal blue eyes staring into mine without seeing. I shivered, and watched the Vesper turn to Abby.

My sister whimpered and sobbed, afraid to move because of the knife, but wanting to be as far as she could get from the monster’s touch. He extended a hand to her, placing his skeletal claws over her face. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but Abby cries became louder. I started running toward her, and was jerked to a stop by Davin.
 

His crimson eyes riveted to me and his hand squeezed my arm brutally tight, a single warning rooting me to place. I swallowed the lump in my throat, and looked at my sister.

The Vesper pulled his hand away, and revealed my sister’s face.
 

Life flushed into it. Her curls seemed lighter. There was no trace of red in her eyes. She was Abigail again.
 

When she pulled away from the Riley-puppet again, he let her go. She rushed to me, and wrapped her arms around my waist. I put one arm around her back, but Davin kept his grip on the second one.

“Don’t do it, Claire,” Abby sobbed. She pulled her face away from my stomach. Tears streaked her flushed cheeks. My heart tore in half to see her so human again, knowing this would be the last time I saw her at all.
 

“You said you wouldn’t go! You promised!”

My eyes blurred. “I know. I’m sorry, but if I don’t do this, you’ll get hurt.” My voice trembled. “I can’t live with that if you do.”

“It’s not your fault! Don’t go with him! Don’t go! I won’t ever see you again!”

I closed my eyes and stroked her hair. The pain in my body was nothing compared to the shredding feeling in my chest.

“Stay with Sawyer and the others. They’ll take care of you.” I opened my eyes, tears stinging them. “You’ll grow into my coat one day. I know you’ve always wanted it.”

Abby looked at me with confused, tear-filled eyes.

“All right,” growled Davin, yanking me from her. “Enough with the goodbyes. Some of us are hungry.”

“Claire!
Claire!
”

Sawyer’s voice boomed over my sister’s. “
No!
”
 

I turned, seeing him on his feet and running for me. Then he winced and crumpled from pain, clutching his head again. I looked pleadingly at the Vesper, whose terrible, bloody gaze was fixed on the young captain.

“Stop, please!”

He didn’t blink, but Sawyer’s agonized cries stopped. The Vesper turned and walked back into the darkness. The Riley-puppet followed diligently. Davin continued dragging me down the hall and I looked over my shoulder.

My friends were holding each other. Gemma was holding my sister, tears streaming down her face as the little girl wailed into her chest. Nash had his hands on Sawyer’s shoulders, his expression filled with grief.

And Sawyer… Sawyer, who I finally realized I loved, had the look of a man whose world had disintegrated. He stared at me, lost and broken, blinking like he couldn’t believe this was happening. I mouthed that I was sorry to him. I hoped he would forgive me.

Sawyer struggled under Nash’s hold, desperation pouring over his words.

“Don’t give in, Claire!” he shouted. “I’ll save you! I swear I’ll save you!”

Davin laughed. “Keep telling yourself that, brother. We both know what will happen. You’ll try once, realize you can’t do it, then run and hide like the coward you are. But don’t worry. Once I make sure your sweet little blonde is cozy, I’ll come back and kill you.” He sneered with sickening anticipation. “We’ve been putting our final battle off for far too long.”

If Sawyer heard his brother’s threat, he didn’t acknowledge it. He kept his eyes on me, and mouthed one last time:

I’ll save you.

The last piece of my heart shattered, and I had to look away before they saw my own tears. Before they saw the true depth of my fear.

I gave up everything for them, worked so hard to save the people who lost so much, and I was going with the enemy to create a weapon that would destroy them all.
 

I knew then that my parents’ failure was nothing compared to my own.

Epilogue

The Breach was darker than I could have imagined. A huge, gaping slash in the sky stared back at me from the main window of the airship the Vesper used to cross the Breach, a twin to the
Behemoth
. All around it, the sky was as grey as a corpse.
 

“Horrible, isn’t it?”
 

The Vesper’s voice was close to my ear. He smelled like blood, and this close to him, I could feel the chill of his dead body.

“Your people did this. They ruined the sky. We were living in peace. But they wanted what they could not have, and threatened forces stronger than them.”

His icy hands curled on my shoulders. His long claws pinched through my shirt and into my skin.

“But you will change that, Claire. You will darken the sky for me. You will be the savior of my kind.”

I tried to concentrate on the pain instead of the fear slipping into my soul.
 

You need to survive, Claire. You can save us. Not just your sister, but everyone.

My mother’s words didn’t give me the hope they once had. They sounded hollow now that I was going into the mouth of the beast. I had survived, I had saved my friends. But I couldn’t save everyone.

Don’t give up now, Firecracker.

Sawyer’s words did what my mother’s no longer could. They brought out the new hope in me. The one I was hiding from the Vesper. It was small, fleeting, but it was there.
 

And it was growing.

I didn’t think the marauders would give up on me. Abby would take my coat. She would find my mother’s journal in it. There would be clues in there, something the others could use to fight the Hellions, or at least save the rest of Westraven.

As for me, I intended to keep my word to the Vesper. Since Davin had likely given the Vesper the plans he’d stolen from me at my family home, I would be able to build the Vesper the machine he wanted.

But it would be his biggest, and final mistake.
 

He was right. I understood that machine. I knew how to work it.
 

I knew that I could use it against him.
 

It would take time, and a Volt stronger than anything I’d ever made. A Volt like the one I was planning would probably kill me once I activated it. There would be no way I could escape the blast radius in time.

But I was all right with that. I could die knowing that while the sky would remain a sickly grey, the Hellions shadow would never blacken it again.

I looked at the Breach, felt it close around me, and took a deep breath as we passed into the darkness.

THE END

Acknowledgments

I know, I know, cliffhanger. I just couldn’t help myself. It was amazing to write
Midnight Sky
, which is easily one of my favorite books in the
Dark Sky
series. Of course, it wouldn’t have happened without the love and support of some very important people.
 

First of all, my family, who’ve been absolutely amazing with daily encouragement and support. For you to consistently ask how my writing’s been going, what new projects I have coming up, and telling others about my books means more than I can ever say. I love you all!

Major thank you to the hard workers and designers at Deranged Doctor Design. I can’t speak highly enough of their creative talents, professional attitude, and reliability. You guys are rockstars, and I couldn’t be happier with the cover and art designs.
 

Huge thank you to author Ed Hoornaert for the extremely helpful Beta reading and Eden Royce who helped polish the final product. It was so encouraging to hear other authors praise this story and offer insight to make it the best it could be.

Big thanks to blog tour queens Janet of En Pointe Author Services and Giselle of XPresso tours. You ladies were fantastic and so helpful in organizing book tours and promotions that I know will benefit the
Dark Sky
series. I’m incredibly impressed and extraordinarily pleased with your efforts, which far surpassed anything I could have done on my own.

Much love to my writing friends– authors Amanda and Kathy of WritingGIAM Pro, every writer in the Weekend Writing Warrior community, and my personal best friends Kaitlyn, Kristi, and Beth. You’re all awesome and I’m so lucky to have met you.
 

Tons of praise goes to all the reviewers who took time to read not only
Midnight Sky
but
Crimson Sky
as well, especially Cassandra from The Bookish Crypt, Ivana and Nell from One Book Two, and Alex from The Blonde Bookworm. All of you have helped with your honesty and opinions, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this sequel.
 

Finally, thank you to you, Reader, for picking up this novel, reading it, and hopefully enjoying it. That’s the biggest compliment to a writer, after all. I love hearing feedback, and truly hope you’re as excited for the next installment as I am.

Claire will be back in February 2017 for the final novel in the
Dark Sky
series, but if you’re eager for some more stories with Sawyer, Nash, and Gemma, be sure to check out the upcoming prequel novellas,
Amber Sky
(a Nash story),
Engineered Deceit
(a Sawyer short story to be featured in
Ghosts, Gears, and Grimoires
from Mocha Memoirs Press), and
Smoke Sky
(a Gemma story).

About The Author

Amy is a Canadian urban fantasy and horror author. Her work revolves around monsters, magic, mythology, and mayhem. She started writing in her early teens, and never stopped. She loves building unique worlds filled with fun characters and intense action. She is the recipient of April Moon Books Editor Award for “author voice, world-building and general bad-assery,” and the One Book Two Standout Award in 2015 for her
Cursed
trilogy. She has been featured on various author blogs and publishing websites, and is an active member of the Writing GIAM and Weekend Writing Warrior communities. When she isn’t writing, she's reading, watching movies, taking photos, gaming, and struggling with chocoholism and ice cream addiction.