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He was in.
In a matter of seconds, Levi was in the driver’s seat, speeding down the road toward what he hoped were the city limits. If he could get away from the settlement without detection, they might just be able to hide until they could figure out a plan.
To be safe, Levi pulled his hood over his head. He couldn’t do much about his violet skin, but he figured as long as he stayed low in the hover cart and stuck to the quieter streets, they’d have a chance.
As Levi brought the hover cart through the settlement’s industrial district, he allowed himself to slow a little, and he looked back at Cora. She was still unconscious, but her cheeks were flushed and her eyes flickered a little. He was no doctor, but he’d had basic medical training, and as far as he could tell, these were good signs. At least, they were good signs for Lorrs. He prayed the same rules applied to humans.
He couldn’t believe how close he had been to losing her, and he vowed never to let anything like this happen again.
For now, though, he needed her to be okay. He still hadn’t told her he loved her, and the thought of never being able to say those words made his chest feel like ice.
“I love you,” he told her softly. “I need you to know I love you. So, you have to be okay. You have to wake up.”
She didn’t stir, though, and Levi had no choice but to turn back to the road and kick the hover cart up a notch. They had to get out of there safely. They could worry about the rest later.
Chapter 23
A high-pitched hum entered Cora’s consciousness, slowly edging its way through the dark silence. Though a familiar sound, it took a few moments for Cora to recognize it. Even when she did, the concept of a hovercraft came groggily to her, as if in a dream.
The wind brought her slowly into reality, brushing against her face and tugging at her hair. Even after her mind had climbed up from the depths of unconsciousness and into the realm of waking, it took enormous effort to open her eyes, as if weights had been attached to her eyelids, or perhaps the mechanism behind them that allowed them to open had been broken, like a faulty latch.
When she finally did manage to open her eyes, she found herself staring at the scuffed white interior of a hover cart. Involuntary, images of children’s feet kicking the back of their parents’ chairs floated into her mind.
Then, with a start, everything came back to her—setting the explosives and the timers, tossing the Terran throwback incendiary, and then the blast, fire, and smoke. Then she remembered a pain in her chest, and, finally, nothing. The memory faded, but a sense of dread remained.
What had happened to Levi?
She sat bolt upright, trying to figure out where she was, and the sudden movement made her head hurt. A bulky hooded figure sat up front, and she suddenly realized she must have been kidnapped, taken by a Jorvlen.
They were speeding through a desert scape, gray dust flying up around them. She looked behind her and made out the outskirts of the city a little distance away. It dawned on Cora that the Jorvlen must have been taking her to another facility.
But I’m not handcuffed or tied up.
Slowly, so as not to alert the driver, Cora crept to the edge of the seat. She figured if she could jump from the vehicle without being seen, she might be able to make it back to the settlement and find Levi.
As she glanced back to make sure the driver was preoccupied, she caught a glimpse of something that made her heart leap. The curve of a horn protruded from the edge of the hood.
“Levi?” she asked, suddenly seeing her situation in a whole new light.
The driver turned, and the look on his face must have matched hers—incredulity, hope, and, most overwhelmingly, love. She saw it in his eyes as sure as she felt it in her heart.
“Thank the gods, you’re okay!” he cried, reaching back and grabbing her hand.
He had to keep one eye ahead, but he kept glancing back and smiling, his hand never letting go of hers.
“Thanks to you, I’m positive,” came her reply as she attempted climbing up to the front of the hover cart.
“Careful! Careful! Don’t risk your life now that we’ve nearly made it.” He grinned and squeezed her hand, stopping the car long enough to allow her to climb up front. “And I’m only okay, thanks to you. So, we’re even.” He kept one hand on the controls and wrapped the other arm around her, pulling her close with infinite care.
“Where are we going?” she asked, holding Levi tightly.
Her head still ached, but the rest of her was flooded with relief. She never wanted to let him go.
“We need to find a place to hide out for a while. You obviously need some rest, and we need to figure out our next move,” he told her.
Cora nodded, scanning the landscape for a place to hide. It was mostly sparse with bushy tufts of vegetation springing up occasionally in the otherwise barren desert. Every so often she’d see a cabin off in the distance, but she was almost certain they were too far away to be recognized by the Jorvlens living there.
Then to their right, she spied a small shack, its windows broken and door shuttered. It was clearly abandoned, and nothing seemed to be in the immediate surroundings. It would be the perfect place to hide out for a while.
