Flight

  Contents

  Flight

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  RANGE Preview

  Acknowledgments

  FLiGhT

  I Am Just Junco, Book Three

  By J. A. Huss

  www.iamjustjunco.com

  Edited by RJ Locksley

  Cover art by James Ledger

  Copyright © 2012 by J. A. Huss

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 1936413167

  ISBN-13: 978-1-936413-16-4

  Other books by J.A. Huss

  Clutch (I Am Just Junco, Book 1)

  Fledge (I Am Just Junco, Book 2)

  Range (I Am Just Junco Book 4)

  The Magpie Bridge (A Tier Novella, Book 4.5)

  TRAGIC (NA Contemporary Romance)

  Losing Francesca (MYA/NA Contemporary Romance)

  Lies and Luck, they'll both get you in the end.

  There's a new twist on an old prophecy and this one brings the End of Days. Junco must make a choice – human or avian? Only one race will survive.

  Lucan has secrets and the lies are flowing like a mountain river during spring thaw. But he needs Junco to cooperate just a little bit longer or it all falls apart.

  The Siblings on Earth are waiting for the Seventh to return and pull their clutch together. But Earth has secrets too – secrets that change everything.

  Junco has survived against impossible odds, but the cost of survival is higher than she ever imagined. Luck is about to catch up with Junco Coot and her debt must be paid.

  Prologue

  The water comes across my night vision-goggles as a smooth green sheen. I hesitate, look behind me, then in front. My ears strain to hear something. Anything. A clue that will help me decide which way to go. If that water is safe to cross, or if I should turn and run.

  I have no idea what to do. I've never been in this cave system before.

  The sloshing of water pulls me from my fog and I back up slowly, my hands reaching out behind me, searching for the cave wall I know is there.

  I hear a hiss from behind me but the owner of the vocalization is not on screen when I pivot. I turn my head to try and see each side. I hate these goggles, they limit my field of vision.

  But I can't take them off or I'll be blind.

  I want my dad.

  I want to cry.

  I want to run.

  I want to lie down and die.

  But I can't do any of those things. I have to complete the test, win the fights they've set up for me, or I'll never go home again.

  I swallow and concentrate on the sheen again, then take a giant breath of air and let it out so slowly even my ears cannot hear it escape. I walk forward. Towards the small running stream. And I prepare myself for the possibility of a fight.

  My boots enter the water and I quickly cross without incident. It's a small reprieve from danger that I welcome with an inner smile, but I only get a few paces beyond the stream when I see the shine in my night vision.

  I swallow and watch it pace back and forth in the cave entrance. My hand automatically reaches for my SEAR but Matthew took it away. I never get a SEAR on test day.

  The nightdog waits for me to make the first move but I'm patient. I can wait too. It paces, snarling. I can see the saliva dripping off its jaws as it snaps its teeth in my direction.

  Why isn't it attacking me?

  And then I hear it. The small whimper of pups. Nightdog bitches are very protective but if they have pups they are also very hesitant to leave them. They wait for the danger to become immediate.

  I back away and swallow, then look behind me.

  Think, Junco. Dad never sends you into a test without a power. But I haven't seen him in weeks and I won't see him ever again unless I make it out of the tunnels today. If he gave me a power I never understood what it was.

  I continue backing up and have to backtrack across the stream again. I simply cannot go forward. The bitch has claimed that cave entrance and I have nothing on me but a set of throwing knives and one medium-length dagger.

  What was the power, Junco?

  I don't know. Dad gave me a few gifts when I left. A stupid workbook with pages of puzzles in it to keep me busy during the ride into the Stag. Some hair barrettes. A t-shirt with a horse on it. A pack of gum. A new bathing suit. A real paper book with pictures of the cave dwellings in Old Peaks. A kiss goodbye.

  None of this stuff seems helpful at the moment. But it has to be one of them. It has to be.

  I go through each one again. The bathing suit was a one-piece with pineapples on it. We're going to Hawaii for birthday week before I move out to cadet school in Council 1. Assuming I live through this test and make it to thirteen, that is.

  I hear another sound and press myself up against the wall. I see a mutant dragging itself farther down the tunnel and my heart begins to beat wildly. I shut that down quick. If my alarm goes off I'm screwed.

  I watch the blind creature lift its head up and sniff. It smells me, that I know. But they have learned to be afraid of me, just like I've learned to be afraid of them. It begins to move faster, not in my direction thankfully. I swallow again and relax a little.

  The kiss goodbye was nothing. Just the same old kiss I always get. No secret words were passed, no meaningful squeezes of my arm or anything. Just a stupid kiss.

  The barrettes have nothing to do with any of this. He was complaining about the hair being in my eyes and we stopped at the gas station to get some. I have one in right now. I take it out and look at it, then drop it on the ground. No. This is just a barrette. No secrets hidden in there.

  The gum was chewed loudly as I played the piano the first week I was at camp. So if that was my power, it's gone now.

  I have the t-shirt on. But I've looked at every inch of thread on this thing and there is no secret power woven into the cloth.

  The book is back at camp. I read it. They're interesting, those cave dwellings. And this is a cave, so that might have been it. But I scoured it from cover to cover and there was no hidden power that I could see.

  The workbook was spiral-bound paper. Filled with word puzzles and pictures. Mazes and crosswords. Word searches. I did every single one and there were no secret messages in there either.

  I hear the hissing again. This time it's loud. Not a slither mutant. The kind that has legs. I close my eyes and will myself not to cry or whimper.

  The scream jerks me back to action. I open my eyes and it's covering the distance between us at full speed. I withdraw my first knife and fling it. It sticks in the shoulder and even though the mutant is
big, much bigger than me, it stops short and paws at the blade to remove it. But my blades are barbed. It can try and remove it, but it will remove a section of skin and muscle as well.

  It paces about ten feet in front of me. My hand is already holding the second knife, but then I hear the second mutant come around the far corner and I panic.

  I run back towards the nightdog and the hunting instinct in the mutants takes over and they give chase. My feet pound through the water, splashing and making enough noise to wake the dead so the nightdog is waiting for me.

  Think, Junco. What is your power?

  I throw the second knife and it sticks in the bitch's eye, she goes down wailing in pain and I slip past her and the third knife is in my hand in case this is a birthing den.

  My luck holds and there are no more bitches.

  I run, my breath heavy enough to partially drown out the thundering footfalls that follow me.

  I turn, then turn again. This tunnel system is like a maze and I begin to panic. I'm never going to get out of here!

  Stop it, Junco. Think clearly.

  I burst into a larger tunnel and slip in the mud, recover, and then fall forward. The mutants are on me before I can even think. I roll, stick the first attacker in the belly and drag the blade upward until the blood gushes out all over my face.

  I throw my legs up and kick it off me as the second one flies in for another try. It hits me in the chest and I go reeling backward in the mud, my fourth knife careening out of my hand and hitting the stone wall off in the distance. I reach for the dagger but the jagged teeth find my leg and I scream.

  My hands reach out to grab the thing by the hair and I smash the tender underside of the protruding jaw down onto my kneecap. The jaw splits in half inside the skin and I hear a sickening crack as the mutant screams in pain. I push it off and scoot backwards, waiting to see if there's another one coming.

  Silence.

  What's your power, Junco?

  I don't know! I don't know!

  I scramble to my feet and look around. The tears want to come out, but I push them down and pivot, trying to get my bearings. I'm totally lost.

  Junco, you know your power, think!

  I see another tunnel on the far side of this little cave and I walk towards it, my heart still beating quickly, but not at a dangerous level.

  I'm lost, it's like a maze in here.

  I hear the nasal growl of a prairie lion up ahead and this time I cannot keep the whimpers down. Oh, God. Please help me. Please, I'm going to die here. Please.

  What is your power?

  I can kill the lion.

  Yes, you'll have to, that's not an option.

  I get my last knife out.

  The lion is not in the tunnel I want to go through, it's off to the side. It sees me but it's eating a half-decayed mutant. Does it want a fresh meal? Does it want to hunt? Or eat?

  I inch past it, pressed up against the ragged wall of the tunnel, and I watch the predator's eyes as it changes its mind about the rotting flesh on the floor below.

  I bolt and run into the cave and I'm immediately presented with decisions, the tunnel twists and turns, new entrances appear and I run past or duck into a new pathway, oblivious to where I'm going or where I came from.

  What's your power, Junco?

  I'm lost, it's like a maze in here.

  What's your power, Junco?

  It's like a maze in here.

  Exactly.

  A maze.

  I'm still booking it, the lion behind me a few twists and turns, but definitely still behind me. And I smile. It's like a maze in here. I bring the mazes from the workbook up in my head and go through the titles of each one.

  The lion catches up and grabs my foot.

  I kick it off and stab it with my last throwing knife, pulling the knife up and twisting it inside the body in a last desperate attempt to save my own life. I hear the rip of skin and muscle and the lion drops off, screaming.

  I get back on my feet and find the title of the maze I'm looking for in my head. It's called Fun in the Dark. My mind pulls up all the paths I took to get from the inside of the maze to the outside. From bondage to freedom. The only maze in the entire book that makes you get out instead of in.

  My feet know where to go and I run, turning left and right. Slipping out of the reach of the wounded lion more times than I can count. And then I see it.

  The light.

  I cry out with victory as the lion slaps me down to the ground, its claws raised and ready to swipe my face off.

  I scream.

  And then the head explodes above me and the lion falls aside, dead from the rifle my dad is holding as he covers the remaining distance between us at a run. I lie there crying, my dirty fists pressed into my eyes, my body shaking and my alarm chirping a warning that forces me to calm down.

  "Junco?" My dad pulls me up and hugs me. "You're OK, Junco. It's over."

  "No, I lost! I lost!" I cannot even think straight, I just cry. Matthew sneers at me as I am dragged past him and my dad pushes me into the passenger seat of his Jeep and we drive off, bouncing across the scrub.

  We don't even stop at camp to treat my wounds, he simply slaps a membrane over the coagulated blood once we make Stag Camp Road and lets me sit there in silence for the next six hours as I wonder if this means they will kill me now.

  I lost this fight. My last fight before I get sent off to cadets and gain some freedom. I've never lost before. And this was no ordinary fight. This was a test.

  We drive back to Council 3 and when we get home it's way past midnight. He wakes the maids and they scrub the blood off and then dress me in bed clothes and make me sleep in the princess room.

  I wake up in a cold sweat and look over at Tier. His face is pressed into the pillow and he's snoring lightly. I smile even though the dream still haunts me.

  Was it real? I can't tell.

  I love this man so much but I can feel what's coming. I can feel it. I push it down and snuggle up against him, memorizing every second we've spent out here in the little vacation house. Later today we'll go back to Amelia.

  But not now.

  Now I still have him.

  He stirs then turns and grabs me, pulls me in close before falling back to sleep.

  Enjoy it, Junco.

  It never lasts.

  Chapter One

  "Abso-fucking-lutely not, Lucan." I turn my back on him and shake my head as I take in his office. I've never been in here before and it's got my interest up. Focus, Junco. "I'm not gonna be stuck with those girls!"

  He shuffles around some tech devices on his excessive desk and then answers a call on his com, spitting out short, curt responses that don't give me much of a hint at what he's actually talking about. My eyes scan the books on his shelf.

  Mythology? Jasus fuck, you've got to be kidding me.

  I pace a little and throw him a few dirty looks at being made to wait for his conversation to be over. Finally, I slump down in a chair. He doesn't even look up from whatever he's entering into his tech. I lean my head back and groan as he abruptly ends the call.

  "Junco, I was on the com with the Archer of Clutch, please try and act like a grown-up."

  I scowl at him and whine as my arms go up in the air in exasperation. "I want to be with a team, Lucan. Why are you doing this to me?"

  "You don't need a team, you're going to Earth in a week and you'll have a team then. But for now, you'll babysit the girls and teach them what it means to be a warrior." He pinches the bridge of his nose and I know I'm giving him a headache. He looks up at me as if reading my mind. "Just to clarify, Junco – it's not you who is giving me a headache, it's them."

  "Them? Them who?" I say, squinting my eyes.

  He groans. "Those girls. Get rid of them."

  I laugh. "What? But you promoted them so I wouldn't have to be the only one. Or the first."

  He looks up and his eyes are dead serious. "Junco, you are the first, like it or not, that's the
fact. Everyone knows it, there is no way around it. And these girls are complainers. They don't want to work, they don't want to fight, they don't want to get hurt. What good is a warrior who can't do those simple things? Test them, get rid of the ones who disobey or fail. There are only about a handful of good ones in that group, weed them out."

  I just stare at him as he fiddles through the various tech items. "Here is your com back." He hands me the flexible little card. "I've coded it for access to the private quarters until your biometrics can be updated. Go find your room and get settled."

  I don't move or speak.

  "Get out, Junco. We're done."

  "Yes, sir." I salute and leave.

  Tier is down the hallway talking to a few guys I don't know. He smiles as he spots me and leaves the group. "What did he say?"

  "I'm stuck training the girls for a week, Tier. And I have to live at his house!"

  Tier scowls down at me with his green eyes, a little glow of annoyance in there. "So he told ya no?"

  I shake my head. "No, not really. He said he wanted me to get rid of the girls. He's not happy with them. I'm supposed to cut them down to a handful and then I'll have my team when we go to Earth."

  "But ya can't come live with us?"

  I look up at him as he directs me to start walking with a firm hand on the middle of my back. "Right. He said I'm to go to his place and find my room and settle in." I pout a little, I admit it. I was looking forward to moving in with Tier's team, my old Fledge team. To seeing Annun and Tessen again and settling in there for a week before we leave for Earth.

  Tier just shrugs at me. "Well, OK then. Let's go."

  "That's it?" I look up as we turn the corner of the hallway and start walking towards the elevator.

  "Junco, you don't get to debate orders." He stops us to consider this for a moment. "It was an order?"

  I shrug.

  He laughs at me and pulls me in. "It's only a week, ya know I'll be on the Earth team, so–" The elevators open and he pushes me away. "Do you have credentials to get to Lucan's quarters?"