The Moon Dwellers (49 page)

Cole looks at me, hoping I’ll
back him up.
“We can’t just leave her here,
”
I say
.
My mind i
s racing.
Rivet might already be running down the trai
n line, headed for us, and we a
re still in the
car, like sitting ducks.
We have
to move.

“Move!” I say
,
pacing
to th
e door and pulling Elsey, who i
s still holding my hand, with me.

I step out, turn
to face the other end of the train.
The smoke—th
ick and puffy when we arrived—i
s dissipa
ting already.
Likely a bomb
exploded near the train station just be
fore we arrived.
Although it is getting easier to see, I don’t see our hunters.
I can
only see ma
ybe tw
o cars down, and Rivet’s gang i
s
at least three away
.
Maybe even four or five—it i
s hard to tell.

Cole and
Tawni
step
out next to us.
“Whe
re the hell are they?” Cole says
, thinking out loud.

I feel
someone approaching from the left,
out of
the mist.
I quarter-turn
to see two dark shap
es moving
toward
us.
Rivet—has
to be.

“Run!” I yell
.

We ta
k
e
off away
from the platform.
We stay
as a group, al
though Cole and Tawni could outdistance
Elsey and me anytime they want to.
I hear
thumping footsteps on the stone behin
d us, someone chasing us.
I don’t look back, do
n’t want to see Rivet’s bloodthirsty eyes.

As we move
away from the
platform, the smoke disappears completely.
It is weird, how it i
s clustered around the train.
The bomb must’ve hit really close to it.

Ahead of us I can
see the twinkling lig
hts of subchapter 26.
It seems
ev
eryone has
their lights on, probably because of the bombing,
although being able to see wo
n’t protect them from death by explosion.

I
hear the
footsteps getting closer, hear a shout, but can’t make out what the voice says.
It does
n’t sound like Rivet’s sna
rl, but it might be one of his men.
It is weird.
I felt scared when I first started running, but it changed at some point.
It’
s like a magic trick, where a mag
ician turns a rock into a bat or something; except it’
s my fear turning into
anger, to the point where I feel
capable of
great violence.
Even when I
fought in the Pen, I never felt capable of anything.
I just did what I had to do and hop
ed for the best.
But now I feel
strong, like I
can
fight Rivet, even
though he’
s a highly trained soldier.

Enough i
s enough.

I whirl
around, ready to face the Devil.

They a
re right on top of us, having closed most
of the distance.
I just react
, swinging a high kick in self-defense.
I catch
my pursuer under t
he chin, knock him off his feet.
He rolls
onto his
stomach.
His companion stops
de
ad in his tracks and just stares
at me.

He does
n’t lo
ok like a trained killer.
He is holding a sword, but it doesn’t look natural; it looks more like he’
s holding a bread knife.
Brown-sk
inned with brown eyes, he
appear
s
more shocked than anything.

“Who are you?” I say, wondering if I am
making a big mistake.

The guy opens his mouth but no words co
me ou
t.
The other guy, the one I leveled, groans
and roll
s
over, showing his face.

I gasp
.

It i
s Tristan.

At
this point it would probably mak
e sense to run to him, throw myself upon him, and shower him with kisses while apologizing profusely for having practically knocked his head off.
Like I said earlier: I don’t always do the right thing in social situations.

“Why are
you chasing us?” I demand.
Up close, he i
s so beautiful
, even more beautiful than he
looked when I saw
him from the Pen, or from the outskirts of the
Lonely Caverns
.

“Trying…to…h
elp,” Tristan murmurs
, massaging his jaw with one hand.

“Oh,” I say.
I guess I should’ve guessed
that.

“What happened?” Cole says
,
appearing with Elsey and Tawni next to me
.
They
must’ve stopped when
they
realized I wasn’t with them.

“It’s him,” Elsey whi
spers
.
“Tristan.”

“I know,” I say
.

“
Why’d you hit him?
I t
hought you liked him,” Cole says
.

“I didn’t hit him, I kicked him
,
”—I elbow
Cole hard in the stomach—“and shut u
p about the other thing.”
I am
mortified.
How could Cole say somethi
ng so stupid?
Tristan is going to think I’m
just another school girl with a crush on the President’s son.
Although that i
sn’t entirely inaccurate.

“You should probab
ly help him up,” Tawni suggests
.

“You help him up,” I retort.
My social skills a
re falling apart at the seams.
I’m just shocked, is all.
I didn’t expect
to see him.
Truth be
told, I thought he was
dead.
Thankfully, his friend helps
him up.

Tristan approaches me.
His midnight blue eyes a
re mesmerizing.
They never
leave mine.
And yet it i
sn’t a
wkward, or embarrassing.
I feel
a flash of h
eat in my chest as my heart begi
n
s
drumming out a rhythmic palpitation, perhaps the beat to some long-forgotten song.
What is he doing?
Why is he here?
It mak
e
s no sense.
I am nobody, and he i
s the prince of the Tr
i
-Realms.

He extends his hand and takes mine, which still hangs loosely at my side.
“I’m Tristan,” he says.

He is so close to me I can
feel his breath on my l
ips.
Another dream—has
to be.

Before I have a chance to respond, Cole yells, “Get down!”
and tackles
us both to the hard ground.

* * *

Tristan

I ca
n’t believe she kicked me!
And with a wicked roundhouse no less, power
ful and precise.
Although I am
tr
embling inside, nervous, I try
to hide it as I reach out to shake her hand
.
When she doesn’t raise her arm, I reach down and take her hand, lifting it for her.
As
my fingertips contact her skin, I feel
a flutter of excitement in my
chest.
It’
s like nothing I’
ve
ever felt before.

When the big dark guy yells
Get down!
and smashes
us both to the ground, I think
it might just be some kind of a joke.
Like maybe that’s how moon dweller teenagers have fun; a kick in the jaw to show affection, a hard tackle for a l
augh.
Of course
,
my thoughts make no sense considering we a
re in a warzone
and
being tracked by one of my father’s psycho thugs.

It i
s no joke.

Our bodies a
re so close together.
She
grabs my arm
as we fall.
On the ground, she cli
ng
s
to me, her hands warm on my skin.
I’m
in a trance, unable to tear my gaze from her sparkling,
emerald eyes.
I feel
the same
feelings
I
had
when I first saw her—only
they are
a whole hell of a lot stronger now.

I hear a yell and Adele looks away from me.
I wince
, feeling phys
ical pain when our eyes unlock
.
She pus
hes away from me and I know I did
something wro
ng, was
too forward
with her when I
grabbed her hand
.
What can I say?
I’m not
thinking clearly.

Something flashes
past my field of vision.

I follow
her to a stan
ding position and see why she
left my embrac
e so suddenly.
At least I hope it’s the reason.
It’
s too painful to think that she pulled away because she was put of
f by me—due to the odor that’s
been imbued in my skin from hard days on the road, or because of the crazy eyes I was
surely
making at her.

Her big friend, the one who tackled us, i
s charging tow
ard Rivet, who i
s further down the platform
,
fitting an arrow into his bow.
An
arrow—that’s what flew
past my head.
Adele let
s out a yell and chases
after her friend.
“Take
El
somewhere safe!” she calls
over her shoulder to her white-haired friend.

This can’t be happening.
I ca
n’t let it happen.
Regardless
of
whether she was turned off by me and will never speak to me again, I have to save her.
Rivet will rip them both to shreds.
I do
n’t
doubt
their fighting ability, but am
ju
st being realistic.
Rivet i
s a pro
and a sadist
.
A deadly combination.

I start
after her.

* * *

Adele

Why
did he touch my hand
?
His hands are
s
o tender, so electric.
As I lie
on the hard ground gazing int
o his deep blue eyes, I wonder what is happening.
I can
only think of two possibilities.
Either he’s
m
istaken me for someone, or he’
s
co
mpletely lost his mind.
I hope it isn’t the latter, because I already have
enough cra
ziness in my own life that I don’t think I can
bring
any
more crazy into it.
If it’s the former, and he thinks I’m
s
omeone else, maybe he’
ll
never
even
notice
that I’m not
that person.
I’
d be perfectly happy with him calling me by some other na
me.
And yet…that can’t be it.
He
called me Adele already.
He kno
w
s
my name, pr
obably who I am.
And yet he
touched me.