“Yes.” Devil ran from the room. They had obviously worked out something while I still didn’t know what was going on.
“Who is bombing us?”
Trenton led me from the room. It seemed like it was just the two of us in here. That much I’d gathered fast. The door to one of the other rooms swung open, and one of the beds was unmade. The lights weren’t on anywhere except in there, and I guessed that was where Trenton had been sleeping.
That changed fast, lights illuminating brightly while he dragged me and the sheet I was still wrapped in to a table in the corner.
“Come on. Under here.”
He wanted me to get under the table? Wasn’t there anything safer to do?
“Trenton?” I finally found my voice. “What is happening?”
He got under with me but only so he could place himself between me and the doorway. Finally, he answered me. “I don’t know more than you do. The others would know. Well, not Wade. But the Super Soldiers would know. They’re better out there. They’ll get this under control. And you and I will stay under this table until we know it’s safe, because I won’t be losing you in an explosion.”
He hugged me tight to him. We had no weapons on us, or at least I didn’t think we did, and all we had was the table to protect us from the ceiling coming down on us. “Who would be attacking us? I thought… I thought the war was over now that we had Evander?”
“Fuck. I don’t know. There’s always someone to hate us, right? Maybe this is those few soldiers who got away. That would be my guess. They’re trying a last-ditch effort to get you. Or maybe it’s just revenge. Or some new faction that wants to take this planet. I don’t know. And I don’t care. The only thing I know is that I will put my body between you and anything that goes boom.” His body vibrated, but he was solid against me. I believed he would try.
He’d lost his wife to a ship exploding in the war.
“You weren’t with her.” I’d give him the respect of acknowledging what we both knew he was talking about. “But you’re here with me.”
He kissed the top of my forehead. “And I’m not going anywhere. It’s a good thing I came back to bed. Headache. Too much cream, I think, in the dessert. Otherwise I’d be running across The Farm to get to you right now.”
I laughed at the ridiculousness of the fact that we were talking about cream before a thought dawned on me. “Waverly’s place? It’s so exposed.”
“Yes, it is, and they knew that when they built it out there. I’m hoping it wasn’t the target. Normally I don’t want the guys’ super senses, but right now I wouldn’t mind it.”
I swallowed. “Would it be on the tablet?”
He nodded. “Would be great if I had mine on me. But I’m not running back into the bedroom to grab it and leaving you here.”
It had been quiet for a moment. Maybe he could… Another explosion shook the building. My ears rang, and I covered them, making myself as small as I could against him. I didn’t know why I did it. Instinct. I wanted to be as tiny as I could be. And I should be brave, the kind to argue that I’d keep him safe and not the other way around, but the truth was that Trenton at least had a sense of what to do right now, and I really did not.
My ears continued to buzz, and I wondered if they’d ever stop.
He shouted over the noise. “Just stay where you are. We’re okay. We’re right where we need to be to stay okay.”
I almost asked if he was lying, only I really didn’t want to know.
7 They Came From The Sky
Bomb after bomb. If we were winning, I certainly couldn’t tell. No, we’d come to The Farm and brought hell with us. Or maybe not. Maybe we’d stepped right into it. This was my second time living in crisis with Trenton. He had my back, always. If I could hear over the noise, or believed I could make him hear me, I’d tell him that I would never be able to repay him. That I was grateful. That if this was the end, I was glad to be here with him.
The door swung open, and he lunged forward like he would attack with just his body anyone who was there.
“Hold up.” Kellan nodded at Trenton. “Just me. Not safe in here. The structure is coming down. It’s almost over, and we’ve got them where we want them, but damage is damage.” He rushed into the bedroom instead of toward us and came out with some clothes. With a flick of his hand, he threw a shirt to Trenton and an entire outfit to me.
Trenton took his hand off the top of the table as Kellan put his there. “Get changed under here. Okay, sweetheart?”
“Where are we going to go that’s safe?” Trenton threw on a pair of shoes that he grabbed from the bedroom and brought me a pair, too. I guessed Kellan hadn’t thought of our feet. That was okay. I loved that he was here. Things were just better when we were all together, and if I couldn’t have all of them with me, I was glad to see two of them at the same time in this crisis.
“Believe it or not, outside. They’re aiming for the buildings. It would be worse, but the Dark Planets have shown up with reinforcements.”
I blinked. Had I heard him right? “The Dark Planets?”
“That’s right. They caught wind of the plan when these guys stole their frickin’ ships. Came after them. Apparently, there is a lot of hostility toward Evander for taking what they wanted and for coming after you, Sienna.”
Now I knew I had to have hit my head. “Why would they care about me?”
“You’re a legend. Apparently.” He took my hand and pulled me out from under the table.
“I’m a what?”
Trenton looked up at the ceiling and then rushed to the door, pulling it open. I followed him with Kellan behind me. He hadn’t answered me, and that was okay since my ears were ringing again. Was this going to be permanent damage?
In a matter of minutes, we were outside in the open. This was safe? It would only take one bomb to take out all of us now.
“Hey.” Diana rushed up next to me. “We were worried about you.”
She had a toddler in her arms. I don’t know why that struck me silent. But there she was, holding a baby in the middle of this mess. These women—Diana, Waverly, and even their friends who weren’t here, Paloma and Amber—they were mothers. Melissa had raised children in this mess. We hadn’t had to face this where I was from. It was remote, difficult, but it hadn’t until recently been violent.
Why hadn’t I appreciated that gentle existence? I knew the answer. It was because of my role in all of it.
I found my voice. “Hi.”
She put her hand on my arm. “I lose my voice in stress, too, sometimes.”
“How do you do this? With kids?” I nodded toward them. Not that I had that happening in my future. I was probably not going to live that long. But the question remained just the same. How was she out here with a little one that she was responsible for?
“I can’t help but be filled all the time with the optimism that things are going to be okay.” My ears rang, but I could hear her just fine. “I hold on to that idea. If we wait to have our lives until everything is okay, then we’re always going to be waiting. We have to act like there is an end to this, we have to believe there will be. And when needed, we have to be very careful to take care of those who need us.” She visibly swallowed. “Don’t get me wrong. I grew up hiding under floorboards on Mars Station when Sandler Cartel would attack. I didn’t want this for my kids. But I wanted to have a family. I made it through, and they will too. The difference will be this will stop before the time they’re older. I just know it.”