Stolen Skies

dream of tou

and I've never felt

avity cores, high above a scorched Earth. To the people below, it's a mi

gilded cage

wind tastes artificial, just like the lavender sky overhead, which never darkens, never ra

whole upper sector of Eirion: a sprawling city of domes and glitterin

d I've n

, my heart rate, the chemical signatures of my thoughts. It doesn't

angerous. D

nger and turn my face

s like in your lungs. But questions like that make my father nervous. Damon Voss

in line, or I'll wipe y

nths missing, dreams that feel like someone else's life. The doctors

ifts. My sk

it ha

gs. A standard alert. I

DOME SECURITY BREACH.

ctors in all of Eirion. It's where my father keeps his "projects"-the tech no one's su

ches the Ea

catches my eye

skyline

rs like paper. A second later, the shockwave hits-glass shattering, alarms screaming, the w

't a mal

is

ke ink through water. And then I see i

sh

ack, an

dcast signal. Sleek and predatory, it cuts toward m

eading

eath catches in my throat as something anci

happene

ot mine. A whisper of smoke and blood and s

ll

rs. The ship

on a tower that scrapes a fal

t's finally a

***********

n in t

d out the gravity fo

d like a doll in a broken snow globe. The wind screamed around me, sharp and met

ficial gravit

I

a

ring beneath me like ice. My vision doubled. Somewhere, the

ediate danger. Evacuation protocol has been activa

rac

ike the muted thrum of a beating heart than anything I would expect from Eirion's fleet. I jumped to my feet, tripping

glass above

t from me, steam hissing from the thrusters on his boots. He was dressed in black-combat gear, matte-finished,

slo

y body froze, my instinct telling m

, impossibly, I

ace. Not

pres

ted around him. Like the city

ce distorted by the helmet

ing away instinctively.

expound. The building is u

ver my shoulder.

t a kill order,"

hing s

d turne

re ly

ike I have t

Alarms wailed in angry protest as the tower's central AI began t

know what's going on, Calla. But I do. I've seen what your father's

he flickers. The nig

ed out h

you won't get

ust a stranger who just dropped into my life like a missile. But anothe

ok his