Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky, #3)(15)

Perry had already left, heading back into the cargo hold, leaving a fading warmth where his hand had rested.

Soren’s mouth pulled into a sneer. “Aria, please explain to me how you can—”

“I’m not explaining anything to you, Soren,” she said, and left.

She knew what he was going to say. Perry had shattered Soren’s jaw that night in Ag 6. She knew he found the idea of her and Perry together repulsive.

At the far end of the cargo hold, she saw Perry duck through the door that opened into a stowage room. Earlier, when she’d first arrived on the bluff with Caleb, she had left her things in the supply lockers back there. She’d found food, medicine, and camping supplies, along with a small kitchen. Most importantly, the room stored their weapons.

An entire wall of lockers contained pistols, stun guns, bulkier weapons she suspected were for long-range, and other arms used by Guardians. Perry’s and Brooke’s bows would be added as well, along with a few full quivers.

A packed arsenal, but it didn’t feel like enough. Together, Sable and Hess had at least eight hundred people. She’d seen Hess’s forces as he’d fled Reverie. He’d taken all the Guardians, choosing soldiers over regular civilians. But Sable worried her even more. Maybe he didn’t have the technological prowess Hess had, but he was cunning and completely ruthless.

They were facing the most capable fighters from both worlds. To succeed, they’d need much more than the weapons stored in the back.

The engine thrummed to life, startling her. She pulled one of the jump seats down from the wall and sat, drawing the thick harness straps over her shoulders.

Brooke came in from outside, followed by Roar. Aria heard them walk up the ramp and into the hold, but she didn’t look up. With only one hand, snapping the heavy closure of the harness was impossible. She fumbled with it, trying not to scream.

Roar knelt in front of her. “Do you really need help or are you just trying to get my attention?”

“Very funny.”

He buckled the harness, hands quick and sure; then he looked up, staring at her thoughtfully.

His eyes were bloodshot, and fine dark stubble covered his cheeks. It wasn’t him. Unlike Perry, Roar didn’t like scruff. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. Like he’d never sleep again. The sorrow in his eyes seemed to go on forever.

“It’ll heal, Ladybug,” he said.

Roar was always giving her nicknames. Ladybug had come just over a week ago. They had been on a boat together, moving down the Snake River, when the ship’s captain had called her that. With this memory came others that made her stomach clench. Roar with tears running down his face. Roar unspeaking, buried under thick layers of grief.

He was speaking now. He was a dark, shifting force.

Would he ever heal?

Aria rested her hand on his, wanting to say something that would help. Wanting him to know that she loved him and was sorry about the tension between him and Perry.

Roar’s mouth lifted, a flicker of a smile that didn’t reach his dark eyes. “Got it,” he said.

He had listened to her thoughts and heard everything.

Her gaze moved over his shoulder. Perry stood by the entrance to the cockpit watching them, his expression unreadable. Roar turned and they froze, locked in a hard stare that had no place between friends.

A prickling feeling crawled up Aria’s spine. Somehow she felt like a barrier between them, and that was the last thing she ever wanted to be.

Buckled in the seat on the opposite wall, Brooke watched Perry watch Roar. The cargo doors closed with silent finality, and the sound of Soren and Jupiter’s bickering over the Hover’s controls grew louder, breaking the quiet spell that had trapped them.

Roar moved to the cockpit to guide them back to where he’d seen the Komodo. Perry followed, watchful and focused.

Soren lifted the Belswan off the ground with a stomach-dropping lurch.

Across the cargo hold, Brooke scowled. “I thought he could fly this thing.”

“He can fly it,” Aria said. “Landing is the problem.”

Brooke gave her an appraising look. Aria met it evenly, trying not to wonder what Perry had seen in her. What he’d acted like with her. She had no reason to be envious. She didn’t want to be.

“Roar said you met Liv,” Brooke said.

Aria nodded. “I knew her only for a few days, but . . . I liked her. Very much.”

“She was my best friend.” Brooke glanced toward the cockpit. “We were like them.”

Perry and Roar stood inside, leaning against either side of the access opening. From her angle, she could only see half of each of them, and the open space between.

They were so different, inside and out, but they stood exactly the same way. Arms crossed. Ankles crossed. Their posture somehow both relaxed and alert. It was as close as they’d come to each other since Roar’s return.

“Like how they used to be,” Brooke amended.

“Has this ever happened before?”

“Never. And I hate it.”

Incredible. They actually agreed on something.

Aria rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes. The Hover hummed along, and the journey had turned smooth, but she knew it wouldn’t last.

A team, Reef had called them earlier. But they weren’t. Not even close.

They were six people with at least a dozen different agendas between them.