Journey to The Lost Planet (Mortuus Book 1) by K Webster & Nicole Blanchard

Author:K Webster & Nicole Blanchard [Webster, K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-05T16:00:00+00:00

7

Emery

I have to leave Calix to go with Aria to the sub-faction where empty rooms wait for the other women still in cryosleep. She leads me to a big observation area and keys in a command that opens the huge window in what she calls the common room.

The view on the other side causes me to stumble backward, even though I’ve seen it before. The vast, empty plains angry with red-orange dunes as far as the eye can see. In the distance, thick storm clouds blot out the horizon. Just before the clouds, looming like a malevolent shadow, are the mountains that could mean my salvation—or my death.

Was I an idiot for even attempting this? The facility here is safe, I know this for sure. Whatever awaits on the other side of those mountains? A total question mark. The sector Calix has read about in his father’s notes could have been destroyed. I could be risking both our lives in this crazy endeavor.

“I know you hate me,” Aria begins.

I look up from the minnasuit—one that’s smaller and more form-fitting than the other—I’m trying to figure out how to fasten. “I don’t hate you,” I say before she can speak again. “I wish you’d let me make decisions for myself.”

My response stuns her to silence and then she gives a little wry laugh. “You sound just like my little sister, Limerick. I used to boss her around, too. I guess when I realized Calix woke you up, I tried to be your big sister, too, rather than the friend I should have been.” She pauses, rubbing a hand over the gentle swell of her belly. “I guess I was a little desperate for her and I took it out on you. Can you forgive me?”

Family.

The concept is a foreign one to me, that’s for sure. It hadn’t occurred to me she looked at me in that way. The only family I’d ever known—my mother—died when I was younger. I admit as much to her. “I lost my only family when I was a teenager. It’s probably as much my fault as it is yours. I don’t have much experience in the family department lately either.”

Aria lifts her hand from her stomach and starts forward like she might pull me in for a hug, but I sidestep her attempt. Hurt flashes in her eyes, briefly, but she blinks it away. Maybe one day I’ll feel comfortable with her, but I’m still harboring some hard feelings toward her and how she’s handled things on my behalf.

“I hate that you’re leaving just when we’ve started to work things out,” Aria says with a small smile. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid while you’re out there?”

I think of the mountains, the long, almost impossible trip, and the burning in my chest I’m trying to ignore. “I’ll do my best,” I tell her. “Do you know exactly how we’re supposed to be traveling?”

She pulls me to the window. “That’s what I was going to talk to you about before you left.

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