The Apollo Academy (4 page)

“We need to know our new recruits have what it takes to overcome fear, and more importantly, that you’re physically able to handle the burdens of space flight. Though the world needs you all, some of you will not pass. Everyone, please get onboard and prove you have what it takes. Good luck!”

As the group around Aurora headed for the bus, reporters yelled questions toward the podium. Aurora didn’t know how Ms. Lovell understood a single word they said, but she graciously addressed them, just as comfortable in the spotlight as Aurora’s father.

As usual, her father was busy answering questions with Ms. Lovell, probably using the opportunity to promote Titon Technologies in some way. Aurora rolled her eyes. Like the company wasn’t already the largest tech candy provider.

For a second, she allowed herself to picture her mother alive, cheering her on from the sidelines. The blurry image of her quickly faded; she didn’t even remember what her own mom looked like. Aurora pushed the sting of loss away, turning her attention back to the task before her: she was going skydiving. A real skydive, not some sort of simulation.

This is going to be so nova!
Aurora’s heart raced. This was way better than swimming with sharks. Aurora bumped Kaylana’s shoulder.

“You okay?” Aurora asked.

Kaylana only nodded as they walked toward the bus quietly hovering above the black pavement.

“Kay, you’ll be fine. I promise.” Aurora wasn’t afraid of heights. There would be moments of pure terror, but there was no need to mention that because those moments would be separated by ones of total exhilaration. “It will be fun. We can do this!” She pumped a hand in the air, but when Aurora looked around she saw many with pale, scared faces.

A very lean, tall guy with jet black hair drew her attention. He was eerily familiar. As soon as his dark clothing and combat boots registered, she gasped.

His gray eyes snapped to hers, but his handsome, chiseled face remained impassive. When she realized she had stopped walking and was staring at him, she looked away, blood rushing to her cheeks.

He was the guy from last night, but Aurora had no idea what he was doing here, or if he even recognized her. She touched her face; she looked nothing like she had last night. Her face was natural, no longer hidden behind makeup and glitter. And her red hair was pulled tightly back in a French braid, not left wild and free.

Embarrassed, Aurora ran to catch up with Kaylana. Would he be going to school with her? The thought brought more rocket ships to her stomach.

Aurora found Kaylana already seated at the back of the bus, her hands twisted together. Aurora wasn’t one to usually gush about a boy, but it would certainly keep Kaylana’s mind off the upcoming jump. “You won’t
believe
who I just saw.”

“Who?” Kaylana’s brow puckered.

“Remember the guy from Beat?”

“You mean the one you were
all over
?” Kaylana wiggled her eyebrows.

Aurora nodded, remembering their dance.

“Yeah,” Kaylana said. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. I would’ve been yelling for you if I couldn’t find you. Besides, he’s the one that left without saying goodbye.” Or giving his name. She shrugged nonchalantly. She so didn’t need to be thinking about this right now.

The door to the hoverbus closed. Instead of sitting down like a normal person, she took a moment to scan for the boy, trying to come to terms with the thought that he could be training with her for the next two years.

He was sitting at the front of the bus and must have felt her eyes on him because he turned around and caught her staring. Again.

The hoverbus began to accelerate, and Aurora toppled into the occupied seat next to her.

“Watch it!” A pretty girl with blonde hair and brown eyes snapped.

Aurora quickly stood up. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to bump you.” She bit her lip, unsure of what to say because the girl was looking at her with open disdain. She held her hand out, hoping to start over. “What’s your name? I’m Aurora.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “I’m Hailen. And we all know who you are.” She looked away.

Aurora’s eyes narrowed on the back of Hailen’s head.
What. The. Hell.
While she had expected this response, she’d hoped she might have a fresh start, one free of any pre-conceived impressions people would hold against her. She should have known better.

Of course she didn’t have the courage to say anything. Aurora kept her mouth shut and quickly sat down next to Kaylana.

“Ignore her,” Kaylana said.

Aurora nodded, looking out the window. They were almost to the SpacePort and Aurora wasn’t going to let anyone ruin her focus. She’d spent her whole life dreaming of the world above her. She wouldn’t fail now. There was something mysterious about the stars that she needed to figure out, as if once she reached them, she would find the little piece of her soul that had always been missing. Now all she had to do was jump out of a perfectly good airplane to do it.

When the bus pulled to a stop a few minutes later, Aurora carefully made her way down the aisle, making sure she didn’t bump into anyone.

The SpacePort was unlike anything Aurora had ever seen. Its main building was a large circular dome that was an artful blend of aluminum alloy, carbon fiber, and self-cleaning glass that was lit with bright neon lights. Its shape was similar to a spherical geodesic dome with what she could only describe as a “bite” taken out of the front where the flight line was located. The whole facility was surrounded by launch pads and runways.

“It’s beautiful.” She turned and looked at Kaylana who was beginning to look pale again. Aurora grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Just one jump and we’ll both be in.”

Kaylana attempted a smile. “Yeah, don’t worry. I wouldn’t let you go anywhere without me.”

A very well built man of maybe thirty years stepped forward, demanding their attention. “I’m Coach Harris. I’ll be handling everyone’s jump today, and if you pass, I’ll be in charge of your physical training for the next two years.” He rubbed his hands together. “Now, everyone, get into a flight suit and parachute, and we’ll be on our way.”

Aurora grabbed her gear, and while Coach Harris checked over the chute on her back, Aurora felt eyes on her once again. It wasn’t an uncommon feeling, but it didn’t mean she liked it. She looked up and found him watching.

Maybe he was remembering their dance? With her luck, Aurora guessed he was probably just figuring out who her father was.

When he began walking toward her, she backed up, right into Coach Harris.

She felt her cheeks turn crimson. “Sorry, I, uh . . . ”

“That’s all right. I’m done. You’re good to go.” Coach Harris waved the boy forward, but he didn’t move. He was still looking at her.

“Hi, I’m Zane.” He extended his hand.

She hesitantly held her hand out. “I’m Aurora.” As his hand grasped hers, Aurora noticed dark stains beneath his fingernails. It looked like oil of some sort. When he noticed her curious stare, he yanked his hand away.

Aurora swallowed as his face shut down. “Do you remember—”she started.

“It’s nice to meet you.” He turned back to Coach Harris, who was checking his chute.

What did that mean? Does he remember me?

With a slow nod, Aurora turned away. Was she that forgettable? What was wrong with her? Usually, she wanted to go unnoticed. But why did he have to be the one to forget her?

She pushed those thoughts away and searched for Kaylana, which wasn’t too hard because her bright, blonde hair and height gave her away. Together they walked toward the big, bulky Taurus II, nicknamed “The Bull,” which waited on the tarmac. On top of the aircraft sat four ducted tilt fans, combining the aerodynamic capabilities of a helicopter with a cargo-carrying airplane. Quite the revolutionary design. The airplane’s nose art was spectacular too. A large coffee-colored bull boldly stood in defiance, its head lowered, chin tucked in, and nose crinkled in anger. Beautiful white wings arched away from its back, poised for flight, while his front right leg pawed the ground in agitation.

Aurora followed the cadets to the rear-loading cargo door, which was down, allowing them easy boarding access. She walked up the ramp and kept moving through the cargo hold and past cadets until she had a clear view of the sleek glass cockpit. The pilots were going through their pre-ignition checklist. The co-pilot glanced down at the electronic tablet strapped to his knee, looking at the checklist for the next item.

Duh, turn the master switch on
, she thought. After the co-pilot verified the checklist, she watched his hand flick the master switch to the on position.

“All right, everyone take a seat.” Coach Harris’s baritone voice grabbed her attention. His face was completely serious as he gave his intimidating version of a pep talk. “We’ll leave the rear door open, so it’ll get a little windy in here. Once we’re up, everyone jumps.” He looked them in the eye. “If you can’t get over your fear of falling at almost two hundred miles an hour, then you certainly won’t make a good astronaut. We need people who can think through fear. We want survivors!” He pumped his fist into the air and Aurora realized he believed every word he said. “We want those who will survive in extreme situations! You think twice at that door and you’re out of our program!” The Taurus’s engines roared to life as if to emphasize his point.

When the downwash from the large blades circulated through the back cabin, it was a sweet relief from the Florida heat. Aurora inhaled deeply, relishing the scent of briny ocean air, synthetic fuel, oil, and leather. It was the smell of aviation, of freedom.

She longed for freedom. In the past eighteen years, Aurora rarely left the Titon Technologies tower. The spontaneous outing the night before had been an exception. She didn’t care about being an heiress; she just wanted to live her own life, without people watching her out of some weird fascination.

Aurora shook her head, realizing deep in her heart that the only time she would truly feel free would be when her feet actually left the ground.

The pilot pushed the throttles of the airplane forward, and a moment later they were airborne. Aurora instantly felt alive. A huge grin stayed plastered across her face as the aircraft smoothly gained altitude. Kaylana gaped at her like she had lost her mind as the airplane climbed and then climbed some more. As they flew higher, no one spoke, and the wind moving through the back of the airplane grew progressively colder.

At fifteen thousand feet, the Taurus hovered at altitude, allowing the skydivers to drop from a single spot so they wouldn’t be scattered over a changing flight path. The red light above the cockpit door changed to bright neon-green, and Coach Harris stood.

“All right, it’s time. Your techiwatch has an altimeter function on it. Turn it on now.”

Aurora touched the glass screen on her bulky white watch and programmed an altitude reminder. When she finished, she looked at Coach Harris who studied the cadet candidates huddled in front of him.

“How ‘bout ladies first? Anyone want to volunteer?”

No one moved.

His piercing gaze stopped on Kaylana. Aurora’s stomach dropped. Kaylana’s shoulders were tensed and her hands were in fists.

Aurora stepped forward without even realizing she moved, pulling his attention to her. “I’ll go.” She swallowed. It was probably the first time in her life that she had willingly drawn attention to herself. She’d prove to Kaylana that everything would be okay.

Coach Harris seemed surprised but motioned her forward. He bent down to her ear, allowing her to hear him over the wind. “Pull your chute at three-thousand feet, stay over the SpacePort, and don’t drift or the buildings over Orlando
will
get in your way.”

Aurora pushed away her nervousness and didn’t make the mistake of looking down. She reminded herself that if she didn’t jump, she wouldn’t get to fly and she’d be forced to go home and learn the family business. No way in hell was that happening.

This was it. Aurora didn’t look back. Her future was below.

She jumped.

ZANE

Z
ane’s heart raced, and he didn’t think it had anything to do with the fact that he was about to jump from fifteen-thousand feet. Aurora, the girl he’d met the night before at Beat, the one he couldn’t stop thinking about, actually volunteered to jump first. He felt a sudden urge to stop her, but it was too late.

He could only watch as she jumped with a huge smile on her face, her red and gold hair leaving a trail of fire behind her. He rationalized with himself that she would be safe. Even if she forgot to pull her chute, it would automatically deploy at three thousand feet. They certainly didn’t tell any of the potential cadets that, probably as an additional scare tactic, but he knew the safety feature was there.

Coach Harris yelled, “Who’s next?”

They might have taken him out of a uniform and called him Coach, but this guy was right out of the military.

When no one volunteered, he yelled, “All right then, we’ll just file out one by one.” Coach Harris waved to the blond-haired boy closest to the door. He quickly jumped, and a few minutes later they were single file jumping, one after another.

Zane watched the girl’s shoulders in front of him tremble and by the time she was next in line, she was openly shaking and sobbing.

“Don’t be a baby, Piper! Just jump!” A shrill falsetto voice yelled from behind Zane.

Zane didn’t feel the need to comfort the girl in front of him. He turned to look at the girl behind him. She was the short, blonde girl who Aurora accidentally bumped into on the bus, the one who said everyone already knew who she was. Although Zane wasn’t sure what she’d meant, he could tell she meant it to be rude. She probably would have been hot, if it weren’t for the ugly sneer she wore.

“That’s easy for you to say,” Zane told her. “
You’re
not looking down fifteen-thousand feet yet.”

“Oh,
I’ll
be just fine.” She moved her body closer to his. “I’m Hailen, by the way.”

Zane turned around, ignoring her.

Piper clutched onto the Coach, begging him not to make her jump.

Coach Harris only shook his head, a disappointed look on his face, and motioned for her to go to the front of the airplane. There were already several people sitting dejectedly, huddled together, unwilling to jump. Piper held her head down as she brushed by, knowing she wouldn’t be allowed into the Apollo Academy. They had made their stance clear. Not jumping just bought her a one-way ticket home.

Now that it was Zane’s turn, he stepped forward until he stood at the edge of the open door. He couldn’t see much without sticking his head out completely; just open sky and the back part of the airplane. He wasn’t afraid, though. He would do anything to be accepted. It was his only choice.

“You ready?” Coach Harris yelled.

Zane nodded. He had been waiting his whole life for an opportunity like this.

He bent his knees and jumped.

At first he could only feel. As he plummeted, he felt his stomach rise into his throat as if he were on a roller coaster. He felt freezing cold air forcefully press against his cheeks, arms, and legs.

He eventually reached terminal velocity, and he fell toward the earth at 180 miles an hour. Weirdly, he felt his heart and respiratory rate stay consistent.

Zane held his arms out in front of him and bent his knees for a more stable fall. When he grew accustomed to the air pressing against him, he finally began to see. The land below him was a dirty brown color with no vegetation in sight. The Atlantic Ocean along the coastline was the same unattractive brown. Massive gray skyscrapers and black highways stretched out to the northwest. The only semi-clear land belonged to the Apollo Academy’s grounds and the Apollo Alliance SpacePort, which were directly below him.

He couldn’t see the millions of people that he knew were down there, living stacked on top of one another. He was probably too far up, but most of them were likely inside anyways, jacked into some piece of technology. Living their rose-colored lives.

It only seemed like a few moments had passed, when he began to make out the landing area at the SpacePort. He let the land rush up at him for a few seconds longer before his techiwatch beeped.

Three thousand feet.

He pulled the parachute, and his momentum came to a jerking stop as the parachute deployed.

Zane saw the other cadets landing safely below him. He watched the same tall blonde girl from last night land and then run to tackle a waiting Aurora. Zane let a tiny smile slip, but it felt weird and quickly disappeared.

Using the hand-held strings above his head, Zane glided toward the landing site. Thankfully, all shuttle launches were on hold during the initiation jump, so he didn’t have to worry about any other air traffic.

At the last second, he pulled hard with his right hand, adjusting his course. His feet briefly touched the red dot painted in the center of the landing pad before he had to take a few steps as his momentum came to a stop. The large parachute spread out behind him, pulling on him like a leash, until it eventually deflated.

As soon as he was free, he walked toward Aurora. He tried rubbing the oil out from beneath his nails before he got there, but as usual the stains wouldn’t budge. Zane didn’t know what he was going to say when he got there, but his feet controlled him now.

He stopped in front of her. “Hi.”

“Hi.” She smiled an open, easy smile. “Wasn’t that fun? I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to do this for real. That was one of the most real moments of my life.”

Zane moved closer. Aurora’s words made him realize that she’d led a very sheltered life. Most people chose to live in an alternate reality. It’d be easy to forget it wasn’t real, but he didn’t say any of that. Instead he said, “That’s probably a part of the test too.”

“To see if people can live off tech?”

“Maybe.”

Aurora nodded as if she hadn’t thought of that.

The tall blonde from the night before bounded forward. “You’re the guy from Beat.”

It wasn’t a question, but Zane nodded, keeping his eyes on Aurora. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m Kaylana.” She pointed to the last two cadets landing. “Wasn’t that nova?”

Aurora laughed, patting her friend on the back. “I told you it would be. When can we do it again?”

Kaylana paled and began talking at supernova speed. “Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that nova. I mean it was better than I expected, but not so much that I want to do it again. You don’t think they’ll make us do it again, right? We already proved ourselves. Besides, free falling isn’t exactly the same thing as going into outer space—”

“
Whoa
. Kay, it’s all right,” Aurora said, laughing. Her green eyes lit, making her even more beautiful.

Zane soaked in her image. Her hair was coming loose from its braid and every time the sun hit her thick scarlet waves, it would flash colors of gold. He stared at her lips, wishing he’d kissed her last night.

He knew he would never deserve someone like her. She probably wouldn’t even talk to him if she knew he was an unknown. Not to mention his other big secret, the one the Academy could never find out about.

Survival at all cost was officially his new motto. And getting involved with anyone, no matter how beautiful the girl, probably wasn’t the best idea right now.

Kaylana cleared her throat, pulling Zane from his dark thoughts.

“I guess we better get going.” Zane motioned toward the waiting hoverbus where cadets were climbing in. He didn’t wait for the girls to follow.

When he got on board, he quickly sat down next to a boy with dark hair and skin.

“Hi, I’m Akemi.” The boy held out his hand.

Zane thought Akemi had at least one parent of Asian descent. He shook his hand. “Zane.”

“So that was intense, huh?”

Before Zane could respond, Aurora walked onto the bus, stopping at the open seat across from him. Her face scrunched up, and he guessed she was internally arguing with herself. It was kind of cute. She must have come to a decision because Aurora motioned for Kaylana to sit. Aurora then sat down on the seat closest to him, turning her green eyes on him.

“After all of that . . . ” Aurora waved her hand in the air. “I, um, I’m kind of happy to see you here,” she whispered.

Zane leaned closer to her, blocking the aisle. “Look, I didn’t mean to just walk away the other night.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what got into me.” Actually, he knew exactly what had gotten into him. Fear. The girl made him feel things he never had any intention of feeling.

“Here, let’s start over.
Again
. I’m Zane Paxton.” He held his hand out. And when their hands grasped onto one another, Zane decided this time he didn’t want to let go.

Unfortunately, Hailen cleared her throat. “You’re blocking the aisle.”

They dropped hands as if caught doing something they weren’t supposed to do. Zane leaned back, and Aurora tucked her hand into her lap.

“I don’t know why you feel the need to introduce yourself to everyone.” Hailen looked pleased with herself as she looked down at Aurora. “But there’s no need to stop introductions on my account. Zane, this is Aurora
Titon
, of course.” She rolled her eyes.

Zane wouldn’t have been more shocked if Hailen had kicked him in the nuts. He felt his eyes widen before he could control them.

Hailen noticed his reaction. “You mean you didn’t know she’s the daughter of Collin Titon?” She asked the question as if she couldn’t believe someone could be so stupid.

Everyone on the bus stopped talking. Zane shuttered his face back into his usual blank mask. He calmly looked at Aurora, and her face confirmed it all. He watched her smile fade and her hands twist together.

Hailen laughed and sashayed down the aisle until she found a seat.

Zane looked away from Aurora. She was the daughter of Collin Titon? As in the daughter of Titon Technologies? Heiress to billions?

As the hoverbus pulled away, Zane tried to wrap his head around everything. The skydive. The consequences of him getting kicked out of the Academy. And somehow more devastating, that Aurora was completely off limits.