Sky on Fire by Emmy Laybourne Page A

grimly.
    This, too, seemed really funny and we all started laughing again.
    Josie rolled her eyes and gulped down some water.
    Niko handed out the protein bars.
    â€œThank you, God, for this food, amen,” Batiste said quickly before digging in to his bar.
    â€œNiko, is it true what that cadet guy said?” Max asked.
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œAbout them killing people at the airport,” he murmured.
    â€œNo chance,” Niko said. “He was either lying or paranoid.”
    â€œWhat’s this?” Josie asked, concerned.
    Niko explained what Payton had told us.
    â€œIf I could get my hands on that guy!” she growled.
    She cracked her neck. Ulysses, watching her, started to whimper. His eyes looked dilated—not at all right.
    â€œNo. Nope,” she said. “I’m starting to feel it. The smoke isn’t working!”
    Then she put her mask back on.
    Max coughed and let out a cry.
    The mitten he’d coughed into was bloody.
    â€œPut your mask back on!” Niko shouted. Ulysses screamed, backing away from Max.
    â€œYou, too, Ulysses! Help him!” Niko commanded Sahalia and me.
    Sahalia and I tried to reach back and help Ulysses get his mask on but Ulysses batted at Sahalia’s hands, crying out in Spanish.
    Finally I grabbed him by the back of the collar and Sahalia got the mask on.
    Max hugged his friend, pinning his arms down. “It’s okay, Ulysses. It’s just us. It’s just us.”
    Ulysses calmed down after a few minutes.
    So much for the smoky car idea.
    But at least we’d gotten some water and a snack.
    â€œLet’s move out,” Niko said.

 
    CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    DEAN
    Â 
    DAY 14
    I dreamed of Astrid all night.
    We hadn’t spoken much after Jake went to bed.
    Every time I looked at her, my face got painfully hot, so I tried not to look her way too often. She seemed to be giving me some space, too.
    But after the kids went to bed, I had a thought.
    â€œHey, I’m worried about the gun,” I said.
    â€œWhat gun?” she asked.
    â€œJake has the other gun. The one we got from Robbie and Mr. Appleton. I’m scared he might get really depressed and … use it.”
    â€œOh God,” Astrid said, realizing my meaning. “You’re worried he has the gun and might kill himself?”
    â€œI don’t know him as well as you do, obviously. But those drugs are powerful.”
    â€œWell, he doesn’t have the gun,” she told me. She was studying her feet.
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œHe told me.”
    â€œWell…” I exhaled, suddenly frustrated with him. “Where is it? What did he do with it?”
    Astrid let out a short, hard laugh.
    â€œHe gave it to some girl.”
    And she edged away from me. She still wouldn’t look me in the eye.
    *   *   *
    I started to feel bad, really bad, about what had happened between us.
    I mean, dear God, had I forced her? She seemed as eager as I was, but in an O state, who knows. I had killed in that state—I was sure I could do a terrible thing to a girl.
    Had I?
    I felt sick.
    And as tired as I was, sleep didn’t come easy.
    I always thought losing my virginity would be a life-changing thing. At the very least, I thought I’d feel relieved.
    But instead of relief, I felt guilt and worry.
    And, on top of it all, was there a chance we’d hurt Astrid’s baby? I mean, ugh … I was in way over my head.
    In my dreams I saw Astrid, saw her on top of me, naked and too golden and gorgeous for reality. Her belly glowing like starshine—growing moment by moment until it was huge and her cries of pleasure became cries of pain. Labor pains?
    And in another dream I saw the guy with the pallet loader. I saw all the details I hadn’t taken in while enraged. The look of fear in his gray eyes. The way he’d called for mercy.
    And the two scenes got muddied up and it was Astrid I was