Maxon by Christina Bauer

Maxon.”
    â€œHey, Diana. How’s life at Transfer Central?”
    â€œBoring until you came along. Who’s your guest?”
    â€œRunaway Tärkein.” He winks at me, so I don’t correct him.
    â€œAnother one?” asks Diana. “Wait a minute. I’ll pull the alert.”
    â€œHold off on that, will ya?”
    â€œThe transfer won’t start otherwise.”
    â€œHit the system reboot on your console. You’ll have sixty seconds to transfer me with no record.”
    â€œI could get in deep trouble for that.” The woman lets out a long sigh. “Why can’t I say no to you?”
    â€œCause it’s impossible.” He smiles and shows off his dimples. “Arx Hall delivery station VI, Diana.”
    â€œJust for you.” Her voice gets all husky. “Just this once.”
    I roll my eyes . How about we ‘just’ stop saying ‘just?’
    â€œWait for my signal.” Maxon turns to face me. “Know how a Pulpitum works?”
    â€œIn theory, sure.”
    â€œBut you’ve never ridden one.”
    I shake my head.
    â€œAntrum is miles underground. The lit-up circle under your feet is a disc that we’ll ride into the Earth. We need to stay at the center and hold on tight.”
    My mouth falls open. “Hold on to each other, you mean?”
    The hint of a smile rounds his mouth. “Yeah.”
    You can do this, Lianna. Don’t act like it’s a big deal. Thrax ride these things every day.
    Trying to act casual, I slide my arms around his waist and learn a valuable lesson: It’s one thing to see that someone’s ripped. It’s another to touch them through their very stretchy body armor. My skin tingles with awareness.
    It’s only a body. He’s only a guy. I’m sure half of Antrum looks like him. Don’t over-react.
    â€œIs this okay?” I ask.
    Maxon gives me another one of his rumbling chuckles. This time, I can feel it in my thighs, too.
    â€œThat works, yeah.” Maxon slides his arms around me. Now, we’ve got full body-on-body action going, and mine doesn’t want to stop with a hug. I have this crazy desire to wrap my legs around his waist, grab his hair, and kiss Maxon for all I’m worth.
    Clearly, my hormones and I need to have a little talk. I have bigger things I should be thinking about, like avoiding Zephyr, claiming my crown, and ruling the water elementals.
    â€œOn my mark,” says Maxon. “Launch in three, two, one.”
    The disc under our feet tumbles into the ground. Soil, rock, and lava fly by as we lurch deeper into the ground. I lean into Maxon’s shoulder and enjoy the ride until a jolt hits us and we stop. I scan the space, seeing that we’ve arrived in a large brick room. The place looks totally deserted. Piles of wooden shipping boxes are strewn everywhere. Cobwebs drip down from the ceiling.
    It takes some serious concentration, but I force my arms to unwind from Maxon’s torso.
    Clearly, my hormones require way more than a talk. I’m thinking total smack down.
    â€œThis dock hasn’t taken any shipments for years,” says Maxon. “The Pulpitum still works, though. I use it to sneak in and out of Arx Hall.” He points to a far wall. “The hidden passages to the South Wing start over there.”
    Once again, he takes my hand. My heart does a flip-flop in my chest.
    Maxon opens a creaky wooden door that leads to a long, thin passage. Together, we sneak through a maze of hidden walkways. Every so often, we step through dark rooms that Maxon calls larders. Basically, they’re underground refrigerators without any electricity. Arx Hall has a ton of them, too. Butter, meat, jam, salted fish… The list goes on and on. Finally, the passage empties out onto an ornate wooden hallway. The place is overflowing with pennant crests, suits of armor, and medieval knick-knacks. More torches burn along the