Free Nebula's Music by Aubrie Dionne Page A

undone and she could see the bronze skin running smoothly over his muscles.
    Nebula looked away. “I did not realize I had it in me.”
    “There’s a lot in you that you don’t realize.”
    Nebula turned to meet his face and saw intensity in his blue eyes, tempests churning within the depths.
    “We need to find water.” Nebula’s response came out flat and she cursed her pragmatism. Radian turned his head, suddenly engrossed in the wall. She’d pushed him away again. To face her feelings of affection would add to the other, more violent feelings raging inside her, such as anger and revenge against those who took Mora. She had enough complicated emotions to deal with as it was.
    When Radian spoke again, his voice was bland. “We should look deeper in the cave. There’s a bunch of tunnels heading east, away from the mines.”
    “Let us go,” Nebula agreed. “Illena, you can wait here until we find a better shelter.”
    “No.” Illena rose from the cavern floor. “I’d rather go. I don’t think it’s wise to split up.”
    “Very well then.” Nebula dusted off her UPA uniform. “We will make sure to travel slow and easy. And we will all stay together.”
    Eldin and Illena followed Nebula and Radian through a labyrinth of tunnels, heading deeper into the layer of hard rock beneath the surface. An indigo glow gave off enough light to illuminate their path. It glimmered from small particles in the rock. Eldin reached out to touch it but Nebula grabbed his hand. “Do not. That is Vitheranium Nucleate. It is poisonous.”
    “How can something so beautiful be so bad for you?” Eldin’s voice sounded hurt. Feeling guilty for acting so dramatically, she let go of her grip. Nebula was surprised at the maternal instincts that Eldin’s presence summoned inside her.
    Radian put a hand on the youth’s shoulder. “Vither is the substance the Gryphonites mine from these rocks. It powers their ships.”
    His face was stretched in horror and disbelief. “You mean they force the slaves to touch it?”
    Radian sighed. “Yes, Eldin. They do.”
    “Do they die?”
    “After so much exposure, it is possible.”
    Nebula saw Radian’s eyes roam to the shadows. She could tell he was thinking of Mora and swallowing oncoming tears. “Come on, we must continue,” she said in an effort to change the subject.
    She was the first to locate a gushing sound just beyond the bend. Before she could alert them, Eldin burst into a run toward the noise.
    “Eldin, no!” Illena called. He ignored her and disappeared down an adjacent tunnel.
    “I will catch him, Illena.” Nebula sprinted after the boy. When she reached Eldin, he stood frozen in place just beyond a waterfall veiling the entrance to a great cavern. “Look.”
    A tall figure was silhouetted against the rush of water. At first Nebula thought the Gryphonites had outsmarted them and had to remind herself the tunnels were too narrow and short for their wide-winged bodies. It would take hours for them to squirm their way through. The shadow must be a human, a man.
    Nebula looked at Radian and put her hand over the laser she stole from the Gryphonites. He nodded and put a protective arm around Eldin.
    The man stepped down from the waterfall and his face came out of the shadows into the diaphanous Vither light. He was middle-aged with a scar an inch away from his eye running from his temple to his chin in a crescent arc. He had a scraggly beard and broad shoulders and wore ragged clothes with lasers, knives and other weapons attached. Although his appearance was fierce, his words were welcoming. “Well, hello there, fellow escapees. Name’s Max.” He extended a calloused hand.
    “Nebula.” She accepted his handshake. “And this is Radian, Illena and Eldin.”
    “You guys just get here?” Max looked at their clothing, which was sandy and stained but looked brand new compared to his tattered breeches.
    “We did, yes.”
    “And you got away that fast?”
    Nebula cocked