Ashes of a Falling Sky

Chapter 1 - Luna

Everything happens at the same time. Shadows burst from the floor as white light explodes out of me. Glass shatters somewhere close, followed by a crack so loud my ears ring.

For a few seconds, I can't see anything. I blink hard against the bright spots filling my vision, and when the room comes back into focus, a ragged sound tears out of me.

The man who had his rifle pointed at me seconds ago is sprawled on his side, completely still on the floor. One side of his head is caved in with blood spreading beneath him, dark against the carpet, but it's his face that keeps me frozen.

His eyes are gone. They aren't closed. They're gone. The skin around them is blackened, leaving two burned-out holes where his eyes should be.

My stomach heaves as the thought hits me that I might have done that. I don't know if the light that came from me caused it or if something else happened at the same time in the dark, but either possibility scares the shit out of me.

Mars's arm locks around my waist and turns me away from the body. "Don't look. Don't look at him, baby."

Baby.

My body recognizes the word and wants to lean into him before my brain catches up and that pisses me off almost as much as him touching me. I shove his hands away and spin from him.

Torrin is standing on the other side of the body, his chest heaving with every breath.

His hand is still wrapped around the baseball bat, his knuckles white, but when he looks at me, everything in his face changes.

The bat hits the floor, his hand reaches for me, and his voice is rough and full of emotion when he says, "Love. "

That's all it takes. I cross the room and hit him hard enough that he has to brace his feet. He locks one arm around my waist while the other cups the back of my head, holding me so tight it feels like I’m finally anchored and I can breathe freely again.

He's here. He's alive and for one minute, I don't care about anything else.

I don't care about the dead soldier behind us, the last week, the moon, or the fucking insanity waiting outside this room.

I definitely don't care about Mars being here.

I press my face into Torrin's chest and hold on because I don't want to move or deal with any of this yet.

Right now, I just want this one thing. Torrin came home safe.

"Fuck, we need to move! Someone shot through the window."

Mars's voice ruins the moment causing Torrin's arms to loosen enough for me to turn. There's a hole punched through the basement window with cracks spreading through the remaining glass, and another hole sits low in the drywall behind us. Plaster dust still drifts onto the floor.

"Who's shooting?" I scan the backyard through the windows, but I can't see anyone. "Is it more of them?"

"No idea!" Mars crouches and moves toward the broken window without stepping in front of it.

One hand stays lifted toward me, as if he thinks I might suddenly decide to investigate the bullet hole personally.

"It could be one of the soldiers who came back.

It could be someone shooting at them. It doesn't matter.

We shouldn't be here when whoever fired it decides to try again. "

Torrin looks from the window to the body. "They said they were leaving. I heard them on the stairs. They said they were done here."

"Well, someone changed their mind," Mars scoffs.

My hand presses against my chest. My heart is still beating too fast, but focusing on the window at least keeps me from looking at the body. Then my attention catches on Mars.

I really look at him this time. I see the heavier stubble, the harder lines in his face, and all the changes two years have made to someone I used to know so well that I could tell what kind of mood he was in by the way he walked into a room.

Suddenly, the anger flares up hard and fast.

"What are you even doing here?" His eyes meet mine as I turn fully toward him. "You vanished for two years, and now you just show up in my fucking storage room? Why are you here, Mars?"

He flinches, and I'm glad he does. I want him to hurt like I have for so long.

His mouth opens, but Torrin speaks first. "I brought him, Luna."

I stop and slowly turn toward Torrin, hoping for half a second that I misunderstood him. The guilt already written across his face tells me I didn't.

"I know." He drags a hand through his hair. "I know, love. I found him walking down the highway a couple hours from here. I almost drove past him, I swear."

I stare at him as betrayal starts to surge up to add to the anger.

"The phones have been dead for days. I couldn't call anyone. I couldn't warn you he was with me." His eyes flick toward Mars before coming back to mine. "I didn't know what else to do."

"You could've left him on the side of the road."

The second it's out, I know it's shitty, but I don't take it back. Torrin knows what Mars did to me. He knows what those first months were like. He saw my breakdown when I finally dealt with his betrayal.

Mars appearing in my house with no warning feels like one more decision someone else made for me.

"I'm sorry."

Torrin's voice cracks slightly, and some of my anger disappears before I can hold onto it. Now that I'm actually looking at him, I see how exhausted he is. There are dark circles under his eyes, and his shoulders are tight enough that he looks like he hasn't slept in days.

Whatever happened on his way back wasn't easy, but he still came home.

Torrin reaches for me again, and this time I let him. "There's so much we need to talk about. Mars included." He pulls me close. "Just not right now, yeah? Not with this guy dead on the floor and soldiers still nearby. We get you safe first."

Voices carry from the street out front, and all three of us go still.

"We need to move," Mars tells us.

He crosses to the soldier and crouches, getting his hands under the man's arms. "Help me move him somewhere they won't find him right away. It might buy us some time."

"Are you insane?"

Mars looks up.

I point at the window. "You can hide him wherever you want but you can't hide the bullet hole in the glass, the one in the wall, or all the blood in my carpet."

His jaw clenches as he looks around the room and then lets the soldier settle back onto the floor.

"She's right," Torrin says. He scrubs both hands over his face. "Moving him won't help. Anyone who comes down here is going to know something happened."

"Then we leave." Mars stands and turns his attention straight back to me. "Wherever you're planning to go, we go now. All of us."

Apparently "us" is a thing now, great.

I take a breath and try to think past everything crowding my head. We can use the ravine. We can go through the backyard, down through it, and avoid the street entirely.

I'm opening my mouth to say it when boots hit the deck above us. The steps are heavy and fast, and they're getting closer.

Torrin grabs my hand while Mars turns toward the stairs and moves in front of us.

Then something shifts at my feet.

I look down and see shadows sliding across the floor from the corners of the room.

"What? What is that?"

They move straight toward Mars. Darkness gathers around his boots, then winds higher around his legs.

Torrin jerks me backward. "What the fuck is that?"

"I don't know." I gasp in fear.

The shadows keep climbing, and Mars looks down at the darkness surrounding him and glances back at us. He sees the shocked expression on my face and says, "Don’t be scared."

That strange buzzing sensation starts under my skin, something I can't name, and the longer I stare at the darkness around Mars, the stronger it gets.

"Torrin?"

He doesn't answer but his grip disappears from my hand.

"Luna."

The way he says my name makes me turn and I see he's staring at my hands.

I look down and find that silvery light covering my fingers.

My breath catches as the glow grows brighter. I lift my hands, and the light stretches toward Mars and the shadows surrounding him.

I don't understand any of it. The shadows around him move closer, and the light coming from my hands brightens in response.

Then the footsteps reach the top of the basement stairs and stop.

I turn toward the doorway just as the floor rumbles beneath my boots.

A second later, the whole house starts shaking.