Page 102 of Fallen from the Stars

“If nothing else, I can say this life is markedly different than our old one,” Kane said in her mind. “Certainly more entertaining.”

Theo breathed in the pleasant, salty air, and briefly closed her eyes to relish the refreshing breeze on her face. “Yeah, but it’s a good kind of different. I don’t feel so…alone. So trapped.”

“It makes me happy that you’re so happy,” he replied with none of his usual snark. “This place lets you tackle problems you wouldn’t have faced on that ship. I think it will only help you grow — there’s going to be a lot of improvising in your future.”

“There will be — inourfuture. And getting hot water for everyone, without having to light fires, is the top of my list right now. I’m tempted to have Vasil bring me back to the Facility just for a shower.” She shuddered as she recalled the cold shower she’d taken on her first night in town while Vasil was meeting with Melaina. Calling it unexpected would’ve been the understatement of the millennium. Her scream had been so loud that she wouldn’t have been surprised had the roof collapsed on her. The shock of that first blast of icy water had been more than enough to knock Theo on her ass.

Her short stay in the Facility had spoiled her.

“What about you, Kane?” Theo asked, shifting her toolbox from her left hand to her right as she walked through town toward the lighthouse. “Are you happy?”

“Of course I am,” he replied. “I get tolive, Theo. If we weren’t here, it’d only be a couple years before I was removed and wiped. We have meaningful work, we don’t have to worry about getting blown out of space — at least notagain— and the only person that matters to me is happy and healthy. All in all, it’s more than I could’ve ever hoped for.”

She ran her free hand through her hair, tugging it back as she fought back stinging tears. “Thank you, Kane. I don’t think I would have been the same after you were removed.”

“I know I wouldn’t have been the same.”

“But at least you wouldn’t have any memory of me to be sad about. I’d never forget you.”

Aymee, who stood in front of the town hall with the town’s bartender, Aiden, waved to Theo as she passed.

Theo offered a smile and a wave in return. Aymee was one of the town’s doctors and a good friend of Larkin’s. Theo had met her and her mate, the kraken called Arkon, soon after her arrival, along with the other human-kraken couples — Jax and Macy, Randall and Rhea, and Eva and Kronus. They’d all been friendly and welcoming.

Well, except for Kronus. He seemed to have a metal rod permanently shoved up his—

Theo quickly shoved the thought from her mind before her imagination ran with it and generated unwanted images.

Though the ochre kraken was a little rough around the edges, Theo had seen a light in his eyes when he looked upon his mate. She suspected, against all the instincts that she’d built during her early life, that he was a good guy deep inside.

Theo followed the main road up a steady incline that took her out onto the promontory. The buildings she passed were varied in their appearances; centuries of modifications, expansions, and repairs had turned each into a unique testament to human ingenuity and perseverance, but she could see the old bones hidden beneath many of them. Like so much else humans had made on this planet, the structures in The Watch had been built to last, and it showed.

The road ended at the lighthouse. The door squeaked open when she pressed the button, and she stepped inside and began her ascent, trudging up the winding steps. By the time she reached the top, her legs were burning, and she was covered in sweat.

“Fucking hell,” Theo groaned and pressed her hand to the door that led into the upper chamber, taking in several deep breaths.

“I believe in you,” Kane said cheerily. “You can make it!”

“I already have. Encouragement would have been nice about two hundred damned steps ago.”

“We all have our limitations, Theodora. I’ve done my best.”

“Ass.” She slammed the heel of her hand into the button beside the door. It opened quietly, in sharp contrast to the entry door below.

I’ll have to take a look at the door downstairs… After I rest for about two weeks.

The door closed behind Theo after she entered the chamber. The air was immediately different — muffled, contained,close. The echoes of her footsteps, which had followed her up the entire staircase, were nonexistent here. Even the crashing of waves against the cliffs far below was silenced.

The room was circled completely by tall windows. Theo glanced through them as she walked to the central console beneath the beacon. The bright blue sky was filled with tufts of gentle white, a far cry from the dark rain clouds she’d seen so often since waking on Halora. The horizon seemed impossibly far away — from this high, the sea went on forever.

She set her toolbox down at her feet and turned her attention to the console. “All right, Let’s see what we’re dealing with. Walter said the light’s been flickering when they use the manual turn-on, and the watchers have been having to kick the console to get it to work, right?”

“Essentially, yes. Likely some loose connections in the wiring,” Kane replied.

“Exactly what I was thinking. Can you turn the light away from the sea? Don’t want to bring the fishermen in early for no good reason.”

“The system here is closed. I need you to make physical contact with the controls in order to gain access.”

Theo placed her palm on the console. “Here ya go.”

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