Sail

Glacial air chased icicle-tipped needles over my head. I tried not to move but couldn’t help but shudder. My heart banged against my chest and into the forest floor. The nails’ metallic tang mixed with my rising panic. Why wasn’t the ghost leaving?

I screwed my eyes shut at a twig snapping next to my left arm. I’m not here. I’m not here. I’m not here. Something frigid brushed against my hand. You can’t see me. You can’t see me. You can’t see me. A low, creaking groan sounded from my right.

Cracking open an eye, I turned my head a fraction. From under the chains draped over my face, wisps of dark smoke traced a retreating path through the trees. Relief swelled air into my lungs again, and I breathed deep. A full minute passed before I gathered the nerve to roll over and yank on my foot until it finally slid out from under the root.

I stumbled to my feet and limped away from the dead man, the pain in my ankle pulling a hiss through my teeth. Blood puddled away from him and stained the crevices in the snow where I’d laid like some kind of twisted snow angel, and somehow it reminded me of the time Ellison accidentally bloodied Pop’s nose during a snowball fight when we were young. Badass that I was, I’d passed out because Pops weren’t supposed to bleed. Apparently a glowing green-eyed dead man’s blood didn’t bother me as much, but the world tilted at a strange angle anyway because he was dead. Because I’d tricked him into running into the rapier fir.

What was I supposed to do about the body? Tell someone what happened and forget the part about the thieving? Say I was sorry because I really, really was? Yes, all of that. But first, I needed to escape these woods.

I turned and froze. A man, maybe in his early thirties, stood in front of me with a large red backpack strapped to his shoulders. His mouth hung open as his gaze slid from me to the dead man lying in a pool of his own blood. He took a step back and raised a hand as if he wanted to ward me off.

“Wait…” I started. Behind the fear in his eyes lay an accusation, like I was a cold-blooded murderer. But he had it all upside down and fucked. “It’s not what it looks like.”

Snow crunched under his feet when he took a few more steps back. “Right,” he said, winking, and at the same time, something clicked like a photo had been taken. The same click a Mind-I camera embedded into some people’s brains made when they snapped pictures. Then the man turned and ran.

I blinked after him. Oh no. What did he just do? Oh no. I bit back a surge of bile, and all I could think of was Pop and Ellison. How disappointed they’d be in me for getting kicked out of school, for losing my scholarship, for going to the prison planet for the rest of my life because I’d been caught in a lie of a picture. But I would take that any day just to have my sister back safe. I had to find her.

After stealing back my chains from the dead man’s grip, I kicked snow over my warped and bloody angel, thinking it might help hide the splatters that were mine.

A mess of footprints led further into the forest; I followed the ones I thought belonged to the pseudo crime-stopper. If I could get him to delete the picture from his Mind-I somehow, no one would find out about the dead man and me until they’d heard my side of the story first. But the chances of him listening to the girl covered in metal and blood were slim to none. Murdering him was out of the question, so I’d just have to rely on my winning smile and killer social skills. I was doomed.

The going was slow since I could only hobble and had to take frequent stops to rub my sore ankle. I kept ticking my gaze around for the ghost, but didn’t see any sign of it or the Mind-I guy. He might already be at police headquarters with my picture. The thought tightened my chest, and I limped faster. If he was already there, I was wasting my time wandering around out here. I needed to patch myself up before I decided what to do next.

My saliva began to shrink the ghost repellant nails in my mouth, so while tapping my pocket to make sure I still had more, I swallowed the iron before they vanished. Yes, my saliva could melt metal. It was the weirdest thing. Ellison said all the iron was changing my chemical make-up, which was fine with me. It was better than the alternative.

By the time I staggered into Demetri Hall, the electrical snow storm had slid away to the east. My ankle throbbed, but I hardly noticed since my mind spun over my next course of action.

The bra hanging over the doorknob of my dorm room indicated that I should keep walking, but just as I always did, I swept the strap off and marched right in. I’d seen everyone’s bits and pieces, dangly or otherwise, since unbeknownst to Pop and Ellison, Demetri Hall was a nudist colony in disguise.

“The Saelis have my sister, and the police are probably on their way to question me about the dead guy in the woods, so you might want to put some pants on,” I said into the darkness.

Moon Dragon gasped, and not the sexy kind either. “Get offa me.”

Sheets rustled to the left and something banged against the wall. “Are you serious right now? Saelis?” asked a deep male voice, and I instantly recognized it as Franco’s, the tawny-skinned hottie who lived down the hall.

I grasped blindly at the handle of my only suitcase in the closet and heaved it onto my bed, still not sure what exactly I planned to do. Or where to go. Deep space? Because what would I do when I got there?

“Your sister? Are you sure?” Moon Dragon asked as she flicked on the overhead light.

Both she and Franco froze their hasty dressing when I turned to face them. Moon’s petite frame wilted under her red silk robe as she took in my appearance, and the expression on my face must’ve answered her question because she nodded slowly, her bluntly cut black hair shining its lustrous halo in the overhead glow.

“You’re hurt,” she whispered, dark eyes wide.

Franco moved to close the door with a quiet click and finished buttoning his jeans. “There’s a dead guy in the woods? You didn’t kill him, did you?” He gulped. “Did you?”

“Of course she didn’t kill anyone.” Moon’s voice held a razor’s edge, and the solid belief in her words tightened my throat. I’d known her a year and a half, and already she was the best friend I’d never had.

I turned away and stared at my currency card leaning against the framed drawing of Feozva, goddess of the iron religion I invented when I was a kid to explain away my obsession with metal. All secrets could be hidden under the guise of faith, and so far, it had worked. Even Moon didn’t question my so-called beliefs.

Wild chains teased the air around Feozva’s head and cascaded down her body. Last time Pop visited, he said it was the most beautiful self-portrait he’d ever seen of me.

“No, that’s Feozva, Pop,” Ellison had corrected him, and I’d felt like a fool, like I’d reverted back to childhood and announced my imaginary friend was ready to take us all doll shopping.

Feozva’s gray eyes were the same color as Ellison’s and mine. I’d heard stories that ours matched Mom’s, but every photo of her was destroyed in the house fire back on Wix after I was born. With a great shuddering breath, I steeled my spine then stuffed the card in my pocket.

“Absidy.” A warm hand touched my shoulder. “You’re bleeding.”

I shrugged it off. “It’s nothing.”

“It most definitely is something. You’re dripping all over my Presiante rugs.” Moon Dragon’s hand became an iron claw when she pushed me by the shoulder into a desk chair. She floated her fingers above my head with a grimace like she was afraid to touch it. “Your chains… What happened?”

I heaved a deep sigh and sank into the seat while Moon went to the service panel by the door and flew her fingers over the keypad. A large folded cloth and a tube of Second Skin landed in the panel’s bin with a soft tink. Blood-loss already made the room spiral, and a dripping trail would lead the police right to me. Then I wouldn’t be much good to Ellison at all.

“The dead guy ripped some chains out of my head,” I said.

Her eyes widened. “Holy shit, that’s heavy.” She squatted in front of me with the bandages and medicine.

Franco whistled as he stepped closer to inspect the damage. The ends of his long chestnut hair brushed against his well-formed pecs, and they tickled my nose when he leaned in. “Well, if you did kill him, it would serve him right. That’s a nasty scratch you got there.”

“Absidy could never kill anyone,” Moon said, squeezing a glob of medicine onto the cloth. “On three, okay?” She readied the cloth above my head, and we both stiffened our shoulders because we knew this would hurt. “One…” She must’ve lost count because she smashed the cloth into my head.

“You fucker,” I hissed through my teeth, but the pain wasn’t near as bad as my ripped open scalp. Tears coursed down my face anyway.

“Remind me to never bleed around you, Moon,” Franco said, and dropped a kiss on top of her head.

She quirked an eyebrow and tipped up the corner of her mouth in a smile that vanished with her next question. “Why would the Saelis take your sister?”

I sagged my shoulders with a sigh. “I don’t know. She took a cruiser to deep space and—”

“Wait. Deep space? Is your sister demented or something?” Franco asked.

I cut my gaze to him and answered with a simple, “No” that snapped his mouth shut again.

“I’m sure she had her reasons,” Moon said and pressed her lips together into a thin line while she unfolded the cloth. Blood colored most of it except a patch below her thumb. “But it’s a wasteland out there. There are ship-eating nebulas and rogue planets that zap ships out of the sky.”

“And space pirates,” Franco added. “So I’ve heard.”

“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know,” I said and pointed at my ankle. “Can you put some Icy Skin on this?”

Moon swallowed then glanced at my suitcase on the bed. “But what are you planning to do? Go after her? Are you going to shout her name out a ship’s window until you find her?”

“Well, I can’t stay here. Besides, some guy in the woods snapped a picture of me covered in blood standing over the dead guy. I’m as doomed as one of Jezebel’s crickets.”

At the mention of her name, a long furry arm tipped with three inch blue claws reached down from her tree post attached to the ceiling, and gently curled under my chin so I’d look up at her. Her tilted head, the softness in her clear blue eyes, the feel of her fur against my skin—I couldn’t help but offer her a small smile.

My relationship with Moon had cemented itself because of Jezebel, Moon’s pet slothcat. I’d applied to Smixton with the hope of maintaining my reclusive lifestyle, but much to my chagrin, roommates were required. But Moon and I found an instant common ground laughing at Jezebel’s crazy antics. It was impossible not to fall in love with something that insisted on sleeping nose-to-pink nose with me or that raced a victory lap around the ceiling after every successful poop. I was powerless against both the blue fur ball and Moon.

“So…” Moon strode to the control panel for the Icy Skin then dabbed some on my bruised ankle. “What were you doing in the woods?”

I winced at the pressure of her hand and what I knew I had to tell her. Could I trust her with the one piece of information that didn’t spotlight me in my finest hour? At Smixton, stealing was stealing, no matter how small the object, and though it wasn’t as serious as murder, this particular crime I’d actually committed. I rolled my lips together and glared at the crook of her elbow while she capped the tube. The bruise had already faded, and the pain had eased considerably.

I took a breath. “I stole some iron washers.”

“That was dumb,” Moon said, and that was all she said about the whole metal thing. She never threw questions at me like every other welding jerk on the planet who thought they had a right to know why I lived my life the way I did.

“It was a moment of weakness.”

Moon nodded and shot a grin at Franco, who winked. “Believe me, I’ve had those. A lot.”

Franco’s warm cinnamon eyes lit with his smile, and the atmosphere between the two lovebirds charged a blush into my cheeks just from my proximity. I cleared my throat to remind them I still sat there.

“Right, well,” Franco said with a small chuckle. “How do you even know the Saelis took her? They aren’t known for their prolific ransom notes.”

“I don’t. Not for sure, anyway,” I said. “The Ringers think she wasn’t taken by Saelis because of the last word she uttered into her telecom, but they’re up to their general what-the-fuckery instead of pouncing on this. It’s the Saelis. I can feel it in my gut.”

“What was her last word?” Moon asked.

“Sail,” I said.

“An old rebel term?”

Franco rubbed at the solid bricks that built his stomach, a frown pulling at his eyebrows. “A term derived from the days of the Black War when soldiers broke from their duties, ended all ties with the real world, and went rogue to drift through space. Some say they did it because they turned their back on the human race to side with the Saelis. I didn’t know that was still a thing people did.”

“People might do it, but not my sister. She’s a doctor, not a soldier. She was trying to say Saelis, but must’ve got cut off.”

Moon shook her head. “But what if that wasn’t what she meant? Because homonyms, Absidy. What if she meant sale, as in S-A-L-E. Maybe she went on a shopping spree. Think about it.”

“No. She would never just up and leave Pop and me and go to deep space for the hell of it. She loves us too much to do something so reckless. She must’ve had a reason to go there, and now... I have to bring her back.” I hated the desperation in my voice, the tears at the back of my throat, but I couldn’t rein my feelings in. Not when it came to Ellison.

“Well, it’s a long way there to find someone who, and please don’t hate me for saying this, may not want to be found,” Moon said. “Why else would she switch off her telecom?”

“She wouldn’t just leave.” I stood to pile random things into my suitcase, including my picture of Feozva and all the iron I had.

A holographic three-dimensional map of a cluster of solar systems burst out of Moon’s eyes, courtesy of her Mind-I, and filled the room. Mayvel, one of the smallest planets in this system, spun lazily on its axis. Rich blues and reds dusted with gold circled the center in a perfect ring.

Wix, the next planet over which looked like a big swirl of orange and blue, was where I’d called home for the first fifteen years of my life. The next three I’d spent on the Nebulous, which orbited around Mayvel in a continuous loop for the benefit of rich sightseers whose wallets were too heavy to see space in anything but a luxurious cruise liner. I should be on that ship now, in our tiny but cozy service quarters, with Pop and Ellison within touching distance.

“Absidy?” Moon said softly. She studied me through the spinning, rotating map. Lines of Mayvel’s latitude and longitude gridded her face with squares, but the planes of her face stretched and warped them into imperfect shapes. “Are you deliberately not looking at where you’re talking about going?”

“Of course not.” I scoffed, but maybe I was. I plotted the path, trying to imagine the exact route Ellison had taken.

On the far side of Wix, she would have travelled through the space-bending ring orbiting it to thrust her out of this solar system and into the next, then through another into what used to be Earth’s solar system faster than light. Everything in that system and beyond was considered deep space. Few dared to go there because that was Saelis territory. Besides, there was nothing to go to anyway unless you wanted to meet up with the large ice slugs on Europa. And who would?

Moon pointed at a blinking red dot with celestial coordinates typed next to it. “Either the Ringers or someone else have marked this as the spot your sister’s cruiser is. Her story is all over the Mind-I news feeds.”

I stared hard at the blinking dot, committing the coordinates to memory. It moved slowly through the layers of black dust and debris where Earth once existed. There was nothing around the dot but stars and nothing nearby but more stars. Where had she been going? More importantly, where was she now? Was she still on her ship?

Franco stepped toward the remains of Earth and traced the broken holographic fragments like he could repair it with a God-like finger. “The Saelis won the Black War when they destroyed Earth and killed millions of our ancestors two hundred years ago, and no one’s heard a peep from them since. If you’re right and the Ringers are wrong, what would the Saelis want with your sister?”

“It would be so dangerous, Absidy,” Moon said, “and the same thing could happen to y—”

Someone knocked at the door. All of us jumped.

“Police. Open up,” a voice boomed.

I gasped and stumbled further from the door. Moon’s fingers fanned over her chest and crept up to her throat like she might be holding back a scream. The glow from the holographics tinged Franco’s face a pale blue before he double-tapped her temple and her Mind-I snapped the map off. Both of them turned to me.

Decision time. I looked at my hands, at the dried blood wedged into the cracks in my palms, at the pricks in my fingertips from gripping Pop’s nails, and swallowed. The police thought I’d killed someone, and the fact that they were here, for me, bowed my head with a thick and heavy shame.

I could tell the police what really happened, or as much of it as they needed to know, sure, but would they believe me? Maybe, but I didn’t have time for maybes. In my gut, I knew the truth—Ellison was in trouble and she needed me. She was more important than my scholarship, my undecided major, and my future, hands down, and I knew she’d do the exact same thing for me.

Snatching my suitcase from the bed, I took a step toward the window. My choice brought shining tears to Moon’s eyes, and I wondered if she would have had the same reaction if I’d chosen differently.

Another loud knock plunged a weighted dread into my stomach. “Open this door.”

“Just a second,” Moon called in her best theater voice as she swiped at her cheeks.

Franco swept his furry parka off the back of Moon’s desk chair and held it out to me. “Take it.”

“I’ll cover for you,” Moon said in a low voice, “but you have to promise to call me so I can help you.”

I nodded and took the coat, too touched to argue with either of them while I bundled myself into the warm fabric. Inch by slow squeaking inch, I slid the window open and swung a leg over the ledge onto the fire escape.

Moon stepped toward the door, not even bothering to tighten her robe around her exposed body, her watery gaze never leaving mine.

I stared at her then up at Jezebel balled up in the corner of the carpeted tree taking up most of the ceiling. She gave me a look like Where the heck do you think you’re going? A biting ache speared through my heart. No words would come, not even a goodbye or a thank you. I was glad they wouldn’t, though, because a single syllable might be my undoing.

As I quietly closed the window behind me, Moon’s voice drifted out to say what could very well be the last thing I’d ever hear from her in person: “I am not putting any pants on.”

I turned and ran.