Into the Fire (Into the Churn Book 2)

by Hayley Reese Chow

I don’t care what it took to get here, or what it takes to get out, all I care is that we’re together. In storms or fire, I just want to be with you.”

And then his lips were on hers, and he was whole. They were heat and electricity and some primal need lit within. Perhaps it was because they’d just escaped death, or the foreign planet under their feet, or the days apart, but they kissed as if there was nothing but this moment. He pulled her into his lap, his hands skating along her skin, and her hands in his hair, sure he’d never get enough. Trailing his lips down her neck, he savored the taste of her, the hitches in her breath, her fingers curling into his bare back. Because now that he’d found her again, he sure as chaff wasn’t letting go.

“Don’t worry about it,” Foster said. “Grady and I managed to get Davis to trace the call.” “Davis?” Ezren practically broke her neck to look at them. “You brought Davis Banda too?” Foster rubbed the back of his neck. “Grady asked him to fly us.” “We needed a ride,” Simon fired back.

“I’m driving,” Simon called as he stepped up into one of the vehicles. “Bex, you’re with me, and we’ll take the special ops guy too.” Bex yanked the door open to the passenger seat. “Odd numbers are always bad luck.”

“I understand that you’re crack-shot drivers and everything, but keep in mind, you don’t know this planet.” Shiro gestured to the volcano spewing ember-sparking ash in the distance.

With Simon’s vehicle swerving some ways ahead, Ezren dissected the data filtering through the auto-drive algorithm, assessing the variables and visual cues it used to calculate the temperature and solidity of the ground. Beside her, Foster’s gaze raked across the mountains and valleys of ash, the smoky clouds swirling above them. “You’re itching to run through this mess, aren’t you?” he said, his voice teasing. Ezren smiled. “Just like you’re dying to take the wheel, I’m sure.” His eyes curved into half-moons as they met hers. “I like to think my self-preservation instincts are stronger than that.” But even as he said it, she could see his free hand tapping at the wheel.

“I really hate to say this, but you’re going to have to take it off auto,” Shiro said, their truck weaving ahead over a dune of ash. “The tac-V’s AI should lay out the track for you, but you’re going to have to bust the safety constraints if we want to evade. The AI is too predictable.” “Oh yeah,” Simon whooped. “Now we’re talking. Sterling, see if you can keep up.”

“You’ll have to give verbal commands,” Shiro said, as if he was telling her how to operate a dishwasher and not an anti-air gun. “Why?” Ezren practically shouted, scanning through the list of defenses. He couldn’t expect her to shoot down a plane—she wasn’t trained for this. “Because AI can’t use deadly force without your supervision,” Shiro replied. “It’s a good thing, Ezren.”

Ezren stepped forward and took Foster’s hand in hers, her expression steady as she kneaded the cramping muscles with practiced movements. “We have the ability, Foster, and we’re in the right place at the right time.” He snorted, but a smile curved his lips. “Then why do I feel like we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time?” She offered a bittersweet grin. “Either way, with the opportunity upon us, we can’t just turn our backs on Belethea.” Her expression grew earnest, and she squeezed his hands. “On Casolla.”

“As long as we’re together, we can work everything else out. All I ask is we stay together.”

Ezren stepped forward, one hand connecting her to Bex, and the other on Grady’s arm. “May the storm winds blow you to the finish. And don’t stop till they do.” “Same to you.” Grady pulled on his helmet, his goggs glowing teal in the dim light. “We’ll see you at the afterparty.”

“Don’t fight unless you have to, but if you have to, move fast.” Foster let out a dry chuckle. “Trust me, Shiro, you don’t have to remind royalers of that.” He crossed his arms. “Much less Ezren Hart.”

Just the two of them again in a whole new kind of race.

As much as she wouldn’t wish this situation on anyone—especially not Foster—she had to admit that Shiro was right. They were their best chance. She just wasn’t sure they’d be enough.

Foster shifted them to the wall, covering her body with his own. When he lifted his eyes to hers though, they were the soft green-gray of a sky before a squall. “The first thing I need you to know is that I’ve run into danger for you before, I’ll face death for you today, and I’d do it again tomorrow. I’d do it without a second thought. Chaff, I’d send a hundred people into danger if it meant getting you out.”

“Maybe not. But I don’t think there’s a soul in the history books who said love had to make sense.” His gaze met hers with a burning sideways glance, emphasizing each word. “And while there’s so much I don’t know, one thing I’m absolutely certain of is that I love you, Ezren Hart.” A desperate warmth filled Ezren, her doubt evaporating as their strides lengthened. “Have I told you I love you?” His eyes gleamed as he nudged her with his shoulder. “Never enough.”

Foster: I am nervous about one thing though. Ezren: What? Foster: Do you think your dad will like me? And for the first time since they set foot on Otho, Ezren laughed.

As much as she loved the running leg of the BRR, she had to admit that driving away from gunfire was preferable to running from it.

Foster didn’t make a full turn before the butt of a rifle crashed into his helmet with a sickening crack. Ezren screamed as he fell to the floor, the gun falling limply to the ground. “Don’t hurt him!” The muzzles shifted to her, and she dropped her pistol, raising her hands in the air. “We don’t want to hurt anyone! We’re here to see Dr. Milo Hart.”

“Where are you taking us?” The guard closest to her tapped her in the stomach with the butt of his rifle. “No questions.” Foster tensed, taking a step forward. “Don’t fodding touch her.”

She turned to Foster, placing a hand on his chest. Ezren: I love you. No matter what happens. Foster’s eyes widened with panic, and his hand covered hers. Foster: Don’t say it like tha⁠— The door hissed open, and the guards shoved them through.

At the last moment, the figure stopped inches away from her. And for a breath, Ezren only stared. The man was middling in stature with dirty-blond curls and a bushy beard covering his jaw. His face had a haggard, worn expression to it, and his body moved with a wiry hardness that was completely foreign to her. But his eyes were impossible to forget. So dark they looked almost black, they stared at her with such profound awe, it stole her breath away. Because they were just like hers. “Ezren.” Her name escaped from his mouth like a whispered prayer, his hands hovering inches away, as if afraid to discover she might be a mirage. “Sweetheart.”

She didn’t even know what she was forgiving him for. The answer would always be yes. Because he was alive, and he still loved her.

“Wait, no.” Ezren pulled back against his grip, moving to Foster’s side. Her fingers intertwined with his and a wave of relief crashed over him. Her gaze darted to the armed men and back to her father. “I’m not going without Foster.” “Oh, right.” Ezren’s dad’s stare fell on him, and his black eyes seemed to harden as he held out a hand. “I’m Ezren’s dad, Dr. Milo Hart, but these guys all call me Prof, short for professor.” Dipping his head, Foster gripped Dr. Hart’s forearm, his shoulders tightening with nerves. “And I’m Foster Sterling, Ezren’s—” He stumbled over his words. Doubles partner? Not anymore. But then again, boyfriend seemed wholly inadequate for what Ezren meant to him. In the end, Dr. Hart filled in the blank. “Teammate. I know.”

“You saw us?” “Of course I did, sweetheart. I promised I’d never stop looking.” A huge smile creased Dr. Hart’s weathered face. “I was pulling for you every second of every race—no one could’ve been prouder of you than me. We even threw our own party to celebrate when you won.”

It took a moment for Foster’s eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, but when they did, tiny spots floated around his vision. Chaff, maybe he’d hit his head harder than he thought.

The glove of his topsuit pulsed with a syncopated glow, and a trio of similar floating lights came to life within. Wait. Not lights. Foster stepped forward, foreboding and curiosity spiraling together and curling up his spine. Tiny, glowing creatures, no bigger than his fingertip, floated in the air. He could see no eyes or mouths, but they had a myriad of legs floating about their gelatinous body as they emanated a rainbow of colors—purple, pink, green, pink again. Like a soap bubble come to life.

“Officially, they’re luxopodos, but we call them luxies, and…” He paused, his lips curving ever so slightly. “They’re native to Otho.” Ezren whipped her head to Foster, her eyes like two huge headlights. “But—” Foster’s thoughts sputtered as he took in the cavern with fresh eyes. “That’d make this the first complex life-form found in the Casolla system.” Dr. Hart nodded, the kaleidoscope of the luxies’ lights playing across his grim expression. “Exactly.”

“Since Calderon’s taken over the operation, he hasn’t allowed any of the luxopodos to be harvested, per interplanetary law protecting alien species. So Baxter has been retaliating.” “Wait.” Ezren held up her hands, her brow wrinkled in disbelief. “You’re saying Calderon was doing the right thing?”

But Ezren could see the doubt in the twitch of his lips, the dart of his eyes. He was trying to steady her, to be her rock, but not so far beneath the surface, he was just as unsettled as she was. Foster’s gaze flicked between her dad and her. Foster: Do you want some time alone with your dad? And Ezren wanted to kiss him right there, because of course that’s what she wanted, but with everything going on she’d almost completely missed it. She squeezed his hand. Ezren: Yes, but can you stay down here? This place is too dangerous. Foster: I’ll be right over here. I need to touch base with Davis and Sylvia anyway. They’re probably fritzing out.

Stepping away from her father’s embrace, she smiled between him and her dad—two people she loved who had always been separated by years in her mind now standing next to each other. Her father’s short, heavy-set form contrasting starkly with Foster’s tall, broad one.

Beside her, Foster scrubbed a hand across his jaw, his expression dark and unreadable. Ezren’s shoulders fell, exhaustion cresting over her in a wave. Suns, would they never escape the burden of responsibility? The tyrannical exhaustion of it? The worst part was, she knew he was right. But why did the right thing always have to be the hardest?

“While there are a few luxie pockets across the planet, they’re not a pervasive species, and Baxter is already attempting to pass them off as a manmade creature.” “Okay.” Foster’s hand jerked with another painful spasm, and he clamped his other hand on to it. “So what happens when we drop the bomb that it’s actually an alien?” Ezren took his hand in her firm grasp, massaging the pain from each finger in turn. “They would go under intense protection from the CIF, but there’s no guarantee that the CIF would honor the extraterrestrial code. They could easily override it in favor of humanitarian gain.”

“The summit.” Ezren’s face brightened under the dim lights. “Foster, it’s perfect. Not only will we be able to submit the proof, but we can also lay our case for the luxies to be left alone in accordance with interplanetary law.”

Foster stepped forward and took the rifle with more confidence than he felt. “We’re royalers. We’ll be just fine.” Beside him, Ezren grabbed her pistol and slid it into the holster on her thigh. “Just tell us where to go.”

“What about the terranium looters?” Ezren asked. “They came after us on the way here.” A woman with high cheekbones and a scar down one side of her face looked at Ezren. “Good rule of thumb, if they’re shooting at you, shoot back.”

Foster: You’re a real pain in the ass, you know that? Grady: Yeah, well be glad I learned something from you. Foster: Thanks, Grady. Grady: Just remember to save me a seat in the afterlife.

“Are you ready?” The short Calderon man laughed from his spot by the door. “Kid, no one is ever ready for this type of thing. Chaff’s going to go sideways the minute we step out the door, and old Ferraz’s plan will instantly be shafted.” The bigger redhead smirked. “What’ll you do then, sporty boy? There are no rules to save you here.”

“I don’t know what we’ll find out there. But when I step on the surface, I never do.” He looked at Ezren and her dad. “I’ve survived people trying to kill me with their fists, wheels, and now bullets, and I’ve stared a dead friend straight in the face.” The men shot furtive glances at each other, and Foster’s resolve only rose with his words. “Royalers know how to run when we can and fight when we have to. Ezren and I can outdrive any one of you fritzers, and we’ll outlast you in these topsuits for days.” He gazed at the helmet in his hand and thought once again of its unlucky owner. “I don’t want to be a soldier, but I will if that’s what it takes to get my family off this fodding planet.”

“Well said.” Ferraz charged his rifle with a low hum. “The first royalers were soldiers after all. Explorers. Survivors. I can see now why Calderon speaks so highly of you. The spirit is strong still.”

“But Otho has her own,” Dr. Hart said. “We’ve buried enough here to need one.” Clearing his throat, he closed his eyes as he bowed his head. “While the smoke may blind our eyes, the air choke our lungs, and Otho, herself, rage beneath our feet, we shall never waver. Never blink. Here in these flames, may we forge ourselves anew, as we go into the fire.” Instinctively, the crew answered as one. “Into the fire.”

“You know.” Santino’s engine revved beside hers, and she could see him peering at her through the window, his beady eyes glinting. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a royaler.” Foster glanced at Ezren, a smile in his gaze behind his goggs. “Is that right?” “And wouldn’t you know it,” Santino continued, “now I get to drive with the champs.”

“You’re on.” She slammed on the gas, and they rocketed away from the research outpost. A wild, raucous laughter drifted over the comm. “Fodding blime!” Ezren couldn’t help joining in with her own hysterical giggles even as she wove around Otho’s hot patches, lava and embers transforming the night into a copper dusk. Beside her, Foster boomed out his own belly laugh. A sound, Ezren realized, she hadn’t heard in a very long time. It vibrated in her bones, the buoyancy of it threatening to lift her out of her seat. When they got home, she resolved to make sure she heard it so much more.

“Well, set it to return fire already,” Santino yelled, their own guns chattering almost nonstop behind them. “We have to get to the base first.” “I think you’re just trying to slow us down,” Ezren said, the tac-V careening into a ravine to narrowly avoid a low-flying craft. What the chaff was that? Santino’s laughter echoed over the channel. “Look, girlie, I’m just happy to be here.” “Well, that makes one of us,” Ezren’s dad grumbled from the back as they jostled violently across the uneven terrain.

Her goggs dinged with a private message. Foster: Have I told you that I love you yet? He squeezed her knee, and Ezren blushed hot under her helmet. Ezren: Tell me again.

“Suns, please tell me you’re proposing,” Santino rang in. “I want to be able to tell my future grandchildren I was there when it happened.” Ezren couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently, Santino was a proper belroy fanboy. She’d have to remember to introduce him to Micah, the de facto head of the Belethean Royale fan club, after they got out of this. “Foster, I love you with every cell of my being.” She swerved hard. “But now is not the time.” He seemed to relax, something in his expression shifting. “But what if we die here?”

Fumbling for safer thoughts, she glanced back at her dad. “By the way, did you seriously just call us mushy? Honestly, Dad, I thought you’d be more protective.” “I am protective.” He ducked as another blast shook the car, and Santino whooped over the radio. “I just think we have more to worry about than your boyfriend right now.” Foster turned in his seat to lock eyes with her dad, his shoulders tense. “Ezren’s more than a girlfriend.” Her dad held his gaze, something serious passing between them, and then it was Ezren’s turn to shift awkwardly in her seat. So much for safer ground. “Then we’ll have to make time to talk about that later too,” her dad said.

“Until then, I don’t want any of that doubt talk.” From the back, her father gripped their seats. “You have to create your own certainty and hold on to it with everything you have. The slimmer the hope, the harder you have to hold on to it. It’s the only way to survive this planet. Every day was hell, but I knew I would come out on the other side.” He caught her gaze. “I had too much to live for.” The words nearly punched the breath from Ezren’s lungs. Because at some point, she had lost hope. She’d stopped looking for her father in the night sky, abandoning him on every level, while he, alone on this boiling moon, had never once given up on her.

“Yeah, well, you know it’s my birthday in a few months, and Foster did promise me a three-tier coffee cake, so it’s not like I’m going to miss out on that for a fiery death.” “That’s a girl after my own heart there,” Santino said. “Back off, Santino, she’s my girl,” Foster replied. “And after this, I’m making it four tiers.”

“Okay, listen, if I lose, I should at least get a consolation royaler lesson, right? I mean, there’s obviously some magic you’re putting in that truck, and I’ve gotta know what it is.” “Sure, Santino,” Ezren said. “When we get back.” Ezren and Foster laughed along with Calderon’s crew as they bantered on the channel, the ground flying under their wheels, and the sky on fire above them. And even though they were surrounded by death, her dad was in the backseat, the love of her life was beside her, and she’d never felt more alive.