Page 56 of Bound by Stars
Jupiter
Seventeen sols on Mars
In the middle of the central hub, the evening rush moves too quickly to notice me.
It’s the one place I can feel anonymous.
Not the same peace as the arboretum on the ship.
The trees here are spaced out among the levels, surrounded by other air-purifying plants.
I’m hidden in plain sight. There’s nowhere to get lost or pretend I’m somewhere different.
But for a moment, if I sit still in the center of the flow of people, I’m invisible.
“Your mom is looking for you again.” Skye slides onto the bench next to me, nudging my shoulder and shattering my illusion.
“What’s new?” She hasn’t let up even after the ship blew up. After I barely made it out alive, and Weslie…didn’t.
“Did you ask her for more time?”
“She prefers to pretend like nothing happened. Says staying busy will be good for me.” I turn away, facing the outer wall. Outside, the pinkish sky turns blue as the sun sets.
“Did you see this?” She holds up her comm screen. The title of the article is in bold across the top. White Star Line’s Rushed Work on Boundless Leads to Greatest Space Travel Disaster in History.
“Yeah, faulty wiring.” I shake my head.
“Any word on…” She bites her lips.
“The directory of survivors will only release information to ‘immediate family.’” I rub the back of my neck.
Every day since we got to Mars, I’ve tried, but they keep turning me away.
I know what I saw. I know what happened.
I just can’t accept it until they confirm it. “Curran volunteered to give it a try.”
“Did he ever figure out why Reve tried to keep him on the ship?”
“He swears he has no idea.” I tilt my head back and rest back on my palms. Ten stories above, a misshapen moon passes the clear, round ceiling. Another day and its second pass brings Phobos an incalculably tiny fraction nearer to the planet, closer to destruction.
“Look.” Skye pats my knee.
Asha’s fresh pink hair stands out in the passing crowd, Tar keeping pace beside her and their parents leading the way.
“It doesn’t make sense. There has to be a reason Asha and Tar are sticking by him,” Skye says like she’s desperately searching for the final piece of the puzzle that’s gone missing.
I let out a breath. “Heard he was officially cleared this morning.” Communication with the Boundless and the Mars station didn’t link up until right before it was completely destroyed. The captain already safely evacuated with the passengers who were lucky enough to make it off.
No one wanted to hear our version. When our escape pod made it to the Mars station, the rescue team recorded our account of the events, cleared us medically, and put us all on a transport to Mars.
When no one else who made it off the ship, including Tarak and Asha, backed up our story, we were all warned about the dangers of fabricating conspiracy theories.
After all, Captain Nazari is a hero. Captain Nazari is a respected citizen of Elysium. Captain Nazari got away with it.
“I can’t believe he’s not in prison,” Skye says through her teeth. “He’s responsible for all those deaths.”
I drop my head.
Skye lays her hand over mine. “I’m sorry. I know you’re hoping she made it off, Jupe.”
“Every night, I dream that she is here. She convinces me she’s alive, that it was all a misunderstanding. And then—”
“You wake up and have to lose her all over again.” She takes a deep breath and squeezes my hand. “Still happens to me, too. With Andi.”
Lifting my eyes as Gianna spots me from the third level, I stand. “Time for me to get moving.”
“Oh my…” Skye tugs on my sleeve. Her smile spreads too wide to finish. She stares past me, fixed on the steps of the Central Services building.
I whip around, following her gaze.
Weslie brushes the dark curls from her face, pausing at the top of the stairs and scrutinizing the levels of the central hub from paths and trees at the bottom to services and apartments above.
I’m frozen in place, waiting for her to evaporate. Prove she’s only a ghost of a memory, appearing to torture me. My heart pounds in my ear canals. I don’t move, don’t breathe, too terrified to break the illusion.
Behind her, Mr. Nole comes out the door and places a hand on her shoulder. He points toward his shuttle waiting at the bottom of the steps.
A surge of adrenaline floods my body. I race across the path and leap onto a planter, cutting through ferns and peace lilies.
Weslie nods along as Mr. Nole speaks and they descend the steps.
I jump down into the flow of evening foot traffic, pushing upstream.
Her hand is on the shuttle door.
“Weslie!” I break free from the crowd.
Our eyes lock, and a smile stretches across her face.