Crimson Sky: A Dark Sky Novel Read Online Free Page A

Crimson Sky: A Dark Sky Novel
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entirety of my feet dangled off the edges of the cot, but at least I could sleep like this.
     
    While I was shifting and getting as close to comfortable as I could, Abby was scurrying around the lean-to, bundling foods and blankets and water into her little arms. She hurried back to me, kicking over a crate since there was too much in her hands. She set the food on the crate and unfolded the blanket that was bigger than her. She tossed it over my body, most of it landing on me. Then Abby took out a strip of meat and reached into a small burlap sack. She opened the sack and sprinkled it with miniscule crystals. She grabbed a flask of filtered water and handed it to me with a strip of dried rat meat. I took both from her gratefully, draining the flask and chewing the meat that tasted like tree bark. The crystal seasoning she placed on it wasn’t salt. It was sugar. It didn’t enhance the flavor of the meat at all, but I was so hungry I didn’t even care.
     
    Besides, my sister put sugar on everything .
     
    Abby watched me, wringing her hands nervously. “How much do you hurt?” she asked shakily.
     
    I closed my eyes. “I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “I just need to rest.”
     
    “You can’t keep doing this, Claire. You’ll get killed.”
     
    There was no point in denying that. If the Hellions didn’t slaughter me for food, Garnet would let his thugs beat me to death. Neither option was appealing, but I couldn’t take care of Abby on the surface. After our father died and our mother left us, we had nowhere to run. Any friends who might have taken in a ten year old girl and a baby were dead or missing. Going underground was the only way I knew she would live, and where I could use my skills to keep her that way.
     
    I didn’t think my parent’s mistakes would follow me into the earth.
     
    “I’ll get us out of here, Abigail,” I said. “I promise. Nothing will happen to you.”
     
    I meant the last part with every cell in my aching body. But the first half of the promise wasn’t one I could see an end to. I would run if I knew we could get past the Westraven barricades. I’d offer my engineering skills to someone else if I knew they wouldn’t treat us worse than Garnet. I would kill every Hellion I could if I thought for one second I would have a chance.
     
    Instead, I trapped myself in a deal that was sure to end in my death and leave Abby in a worse position than she was now.
     
    “Get some sleep, Abby,” I told her.
     
    She was already shaking her head. “I’m going to find something to make you better.”
     
    I sighed. There were pain remedies available from the nurses, but there was no telling what was actually in them. On the other hand, the colonists tended to like Abby more than they liked me. Probably because she was an adorable little girl without an ounce of darkness in her soul, and she had no interest in engineering.
     
    “Get something from Moira,” I murmured. “No one else. Don’t let Garnet’s guards see you.”
     
    Abby nodded, planted a gentle kiss on my bruised cheek, then raced out of the lean-to. When she was gone, I reached under the collar of my shirt and tugged out the hidden necklace hanging against my chest.
    The chain was thin, tightly woven silver. Dangling off the end of the chain was a black steel skeleton key with four blocky teeth. I turned the key over in my hands, but there were no markings to hint at what it was for.
     
    But like Abby, I knew I had to keep it hidden and safe. That had been my mother’s final wish…
     
    She closed the door with a harsh bang, making me jump and Abby wail in my arms. I looked at my baby sister, barely a month old, far too young to understand the loud noises surrounding her. Mom pulled down more furniture, blocking the door as best as she could. The Hellions pounded against it. The wood began to fracture.
     
    She turned to us, pulling a silver chain from around her neck. She looped it over my head and tucked it
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