Read A Hero Rising for Free Online

climbed over the railing. She lowered them, her legs dangling as she grasped the metal poles in her fingers.
    In one blink, the woman stood on the armrest like a vulture perched on a branch. Her hair had been pulled from her bun, the gray wisps blowing in the wind. Her face turned in their direction as she searched the horizon with impossibly long eyes that reminded Skye of giant black beetles.
    Skye knew if the moonshiner spotted them, she have no choice but to take their chances and let go.

Chapter Five
    Chosen One
    “You’re going to teach me how to fly a star-liner, a deep space colony ship as big as a city with a video game ?” James leaned over Dal’s shoulder as the old man brought up on his miniscreen what looked like a flight simulator program.
    “We’ve tweaked the parameters to correspond to the Destiny ’s maneuvering capabilities. You fly hovercrafts all the time, right?”
    “When I can get my hands on one, yes.”
    “Flying is flying.” Dal handed him the screen. “Make sure you take a look at it.”
    James clicked off the monitor to save the energy cell and stuck it in his backpack. They walked to the concrete door, passing by guards on either side. “Right. I’ll play it while I fight off the moonshiners.”
    Dal’s voice hardened. “Flying’s not the hard part.”
    James stopped and turned toward him. “What is the hard part?”
    The old man pursed his lips. “Getting to it.”
    Son of a Razorneck! James realized he’d accepted the mission without even asking about the Destiny ’s coordinates. That was typical James—he ignored the odds. That’s why the Radioactive Hand of Justice promoted him in the first place.
    “Where is the Destiny ?”
    Dal scratched his head. “Outside the city, in the Barren Lands on a secret government base called Project Exodus. I’ve input the coordinates onto the miniscreen.”
    The mission sounded more and more unattainable, but James stifled his doubt. They had no other choice. “Wow. Getting to the top of the high-rises is one thing, but getting out of the city?”
    “You’ll have to steal a hovercraft.” Dal said it as if he suggested James lift a damaged holoscreen from a Dumpster.
    “With the moonshiners breaking in, I don’t think there’ll be one left to take.”
    “Try Thadious Legacy’s tower.” Dal tapped his shoulder. “The man has enough money to own ten of them in all the colors of the rainbow. And I don’t think he needs any where he’s going.”
    Dal was right. Thadious’s tower was probably empty and unguarded, and no one except the people on that ship, Dal, and James would know. At least they had a plan.
    James nodded to one of the guards, a young man with purple-black crescents under his eyes. For a moment, James wondered why he hadn’t made it onboard the Expedition . Did he choose to stay? Or was he rejected because of some singular strand of his DNA that held a recessive disease?
    No matter; James was his only hope now. That thought placed a burden on his shoulders, but it was a burden he was used to. Besides Dal, he was responsible for his gang.
    The concrete rolled back, and men pointed lasers into the darkness.
    James peered out, and his hair glowed into the shadows, revealing an empty tunnel. He turned back to Dal. “Prepare yourself in case I don’t make it back. This mission is almost impossible.”
    Dal smiled, surprising him. “That’s why I asked you to do it.”
    …
    James hurried through the old subway tunnel to the stairs leading to the upper levels. Reluctance vibrated through every bone in his body, yet he propelled himself forward like a seeker missile. To visit Thadious Legacy’s building would reopen memories he wanted to keep stashed away. He had taken Mestasis there for her interview with the credit hound, and she’d secured the deal allowing James’s people on board the Expedition . Of course, she thought he’d be invited as well. Fate didn’t always work the way you expected.
    He tried