Renegade Runner Nicole Conway (christmas read aloud txt) 📖

every muscle in my body going rigid as I screamed, “DUCK!”

I couldn’t see if he did or not. There wasn’t time. I took the shot.

Blue light flashed in the dark of the cave. The report echoed all around the chamber, piercing the silence over and over.

The spec-cam spun on impact, sparking and shuddering. Direct hit! I screamed in victory and relief as it zoomed around before finally crashing into the ground right next to our ship.

Without hesitating, I holstered my weapon and took off for it at a jog.

Only … I didn’t make it ten feet.

Phox grabbed my arms, yanking me off me feet and holding me up so he could snarl right into my face. His whole head flushed red and his mouth and eyes twitched as he stared me down.

“YOU,” was all he managed to growl through his bared teeth.

I wriggled in his grip, kicking at the empty air. “Phox! Wait, you have to let me explain, I—”

“No,” he rumbled dangerously. “What the hell is wrong with you? What was that? Do you get off on jerking me around or something?”

“Please, Phox, I had to! Don’t you see? We can gut that camera! We can use its locator-thingy to find another runner ship and help us navigate out of here!” I shouted as I pitched and wriggled in his vise-like grip.

“You used me! You made me think you were about to kill yourself! Who the hell does that?” His nostrils flared, veins throbbing against the skin of his forehead, neck, and hands as he stared me down.

“Stop it! Put me down!”

He did.

Opening his hands, Phox dropped me like a bad tomato. Splat. I hit the ground on my rear end.

Before I could get back on my feet, he was already storming away for the downed spec-cam, his body tense and his hands clenching in and out of fists at his sides, like he might be imagining crushing the life out of me.

Oh, no. I … I hadn’t expected him to get this angry. Frustrated, sure. But this?

I yelped, jumping to my feet like a startled deer when he suddenly bent down and pounded a fist into the side of the spec-cam. Its external metallic shell cracked open in one hit. Prying it the rest of the way off, Phox worked in fast, jerking motions as he tore into the innards of the drone.

I took a shaking step toward the ship. Bad—this was so bad. I’d never meant to set him off like this. I hadn’t meant to hurt him. Oh, no. What if … What if he refused to help me anymore? What if he didn’t want anything to do with me now? Had I just ruined the only real friendship I’d ever had?

Had I just lost him forever?

Tears welled in my eyes and I clamped a hand over my mouth, trying to stifle a sob. It didn’t work. His head snapped around to flash me another frenzied glare. I flinched back, wondering if he was about to grab me again. His whole demeanor seemed to shatter the instant our eyes met. Every hint of anger dissolved, his brow smoothing as he slowly got back to his feet and turned to face me.

“Brinna, that was … ” He faltered, looking down and shaking his head. “That was … I mean, I—”

I couldn’t do this. Not right now. I didn’t want him to see me like this.

Turning on my heel, I ran for the open door of the ship and never looked back.

31

GUIDING STAR

It didn’t take Phox even ten minutes to return to the ship with an armful of hardware, wires, and hunks of expensive-looking machinery I couldn’t even begin to identify. Hopefully all that would help. If it didn’t, well, I’d just screwed up my one and only friendship for nothing.

I stayed in my seat in the cockpit while he continued working. Somehow, I doubted he would want me hovering around to ask him my usual five hundred questions about what he was doing and if he could even use those pieces to help get us out of here.

Curled up with my legs pulled in close, I let my chin rest on my kneecaps and watched the lights from our ship sparkling off all the thousands upon thousands of crystals hanging from the cavern ceiling. My mind circled to its usual safe places—wondering about Mom, Enola, and what was going to happen to me at the end of all this. After the stunt I’d pulled, I could probably count on Phox ditching me as soon as he got the chance.

I made a point not to look his way as he dropped into his seat beside me with a grunt. He opened up a few of the panels underneath the control panel and started fiddling with wires, connecting and disconnecting. Maybe my stupid plan would work, after all. I mean, sure, I’d lost my only friend in the universe over it. But that was better than dying, right?

No. It definitely wasn’t.

Then, out of nowhere, Phox muttered quietly, “I never punched my uncle in the face.”

I stared at him, hoping he could read the confusion on my tear-streaked face. I didn’t trust myself to try talking without breaking down again.

“You asked what’s something I wish I’d done before this,” he clarified, staring back at me with an odd sense of calm on his features. “I’m not exactly on good terms with my family. For the most part, they’re a bunch of self-righteous pricks. But my uncle—he’s a real piece of work. I should’ve hit him. I had a chance once, and I didn’t take it. I’ve always sort of wished I had.”

“W-Why didn’t you?” I sniffled, looking away so I could wipe my eyes on my sleeve.

“He scared me.”

I blinked, trying to picture someone—anyone—scaring the literal mountain of an alien man sitting beside me. “He scared you?”

Phox rolled his eyes. “This may come as a shock to you, but I’m fully capable of a wide spectrum of emotions.