• Maruru laughed the whole statement away. She kept saying it was impossible, unbelievable, but the others ignored her. They knew it was true because they’ve all been there themselves. Even Rey didn’t say anything and he was a new member just like her.
    Now everyone was minding their own business. Their awful hangovers seemed like it never happened. Maruru was in the crow’s nest, it was her favorite spot because it was the highest. Ayn was at the steering wheel and the others where just scattered randomly. The air pirate ship, like all others, uses the alchemy gem, Becko’s. So it’s powered by will. Fen said that they could make the ship go as fast and as high as they want but when Non left, they were slow. Guess he was the one that made it go fast.
    They were zooming past clouds. It’s been about three hours since noon and they were getting close to Post Ten. The ship flew higher, through a blanket of clouds, and up. A peak of a mountain was revealed.
    Maruru jolted up. “Awesome!” she gasped. “That’s…that’s amazing!”
    They made it to Post Ten. The mountain top had a big crater that led to the inside. On the outside were wooden docks, for sky ships. An arched door was carved next to it.
    “Hurry, hurry, I want to go in!” Maruru squeals. She climbed down from the crow’s nest and ran to the front of the ship.
    “Geez, calm down” Keller grunts. “It’s not that special”
    The ship slowed then landed onto the dock. Four people came rushing out from the door holding ropes and started tying the ship down.
    “Well, here we are” Fen stretches his arms and hops off the ship. The others followed after him.
    Maruru was more than eager to go inside. She kept pestering and urging everyone to quicken their step. “What’s it like in Post Ten? Are there always fighting and stealing?”
    “Oh, yeah” Roe answers. “Always, all the time. It’s not a safe place to be and if I were you, I’d stick close to the others. Who knows what’ll happen to you if you get…separated. There’s a story about that happening. Rumors say a girl got hacked by a butcher”
    “H-hacked?” Maruru slows her step. They were already through the door and now they’re walking in a tunnel-like hallway.
    “Then the butcher sold her flesh to a restaurant. I hear she tasted delicious” he licks his lips, eyes menacing. Then Non elbowed Roe in the ribs and they laughed.
    “Not funny” Maruru grumbles as she steps through the archway into Post Ten. “Wow!” she beams.
    “Not bad” Rey nods, grinning.
    Post Ten had a structure of a pyramid. The top is thin and it widens to the bottom. The center is empty so if you happened to fall, you’d be plummeting thousands of feet down. Markets and bars stood along the wall. The only light that came through was from the crater at the peak of the mountain and round bulbs that hung above.
    “This place is so crowded” Maruru takes a step into the crowd. “It’s like a festiv—oof!” someone bumped her with great force and she fell to the ground.
    “You gotta be careful around this place, girly” a boy said as he held out a helping hand to her.
    Maruru takes his hand without looking up. The boy pulls her up and she stumbles backward to Rey.
    “Watch it” Rey says as Maruru almost knocked him over.
    “Fallen star!” the boy exclaims. “You guys are famous ‘round these parts”
    “Oh” Ayn smiles. “I remember you. You’re Marie’s younger brother, Bo”
    “Bo’s such a dumb name” Maruru mutters to herself. She stared down at the blond, twelve year old boy. “What’s a kid doing here anyway?”
    Bo laughed. “I’m more experienced than you’ll ever be”
    Maruru opens her mouth to argue but then closes it, realizing he was probably right.
    “Kay, Bo, is your sister free?” Ayn asks.
    “Nah, but if you appear menacing enough, then I think she could make room for you guys” he turns and leave. The others follow him, including Maruru.
    I don’t like that kid, Maruru thought. He didn’t even apologize for bumping her.
    They maneuvered through the crowd. Everyone that walks by gives them a stare before they pass. Maruru was the only one that seemed nervous about it all, the looks, the stench of alcohol, everything. Sometimes she forgets they’re in the home of thieves and murderers. A man wearing a white uniform gave Maruru a long stare and didn’t break eye contact until he was hidden behind bundles of people. Maruru was thinking of telling the others about it but then again it wasn’t important, so she kept her mouth shut.
    “Hey, pay attention” Non says to Maruru as they walked inside the tattoo parlor.
    It was full of people, all waiting in line, a really long line.
    “Um…you sure about this? It’s going to take a really long time” Maruru says nervously.
    “Don’t worry” Ayn assures me. “They’ll let us go in first, right guys?” he grins and nods to everyone in the room. Keller, Fen, Non, and Roe do the same. They tense their muscles and narrow their eyes.
    They look killer, Maruru thought, lots of muscles and dangerous weapons.
    Bo chuckles and leads the way to the back of the room. They follow in, the other criminals daring not to mess with the Fallen Star. Maruru was the last to enter the door, or rather the black curtain that separated the parlor in twos.
    There was a pretty woman sitting in a chair. She beamed with delight as she saw them enter. “Ayn, Keller, Fen, Roe, and Non!” she greets each of them. “Nice to see you all again” her gaze fixed on Rey and Maruru. “The usual?” she asks Ayn.
    “Yeah, Marie” he replies. “The usual”
    She laughs. “You guys are the only one who does this kind of tattoo” she grabs a needle, holds up Maruru’s arm, and jabs it into her veins, sucking up the blood till it filled up a third of the bottle.
    “Ouch, hey!” Maruru says as Marie released the needle and rejected it onto a small plastic bowl. “What was that for?”
    “For the tattoo” Keller replies. “That’s why we’re here”
    “But then…why the blood?”
    “It’s a blood tattoo” Ayn says. He points the left arm of his star, “This is my blood” —he points to the head of the star— “this is Keller’s” then he names them from the rest of the corners, going clockwise. “Non’s, Fen’s, and Roe’s”
    Maruru gapes, its kind of creepy having someone else’s blood etched to your skin. And no wonder the star was red. Marie took blood from Rey, put it into a different bowl, cleaned the needle, and did it again to the others.
    “Will a…blood tattoo hurt?” Maruru asks.
    “You’re going to be apart of Fallen Star, the famous sky thieves, and you’re scared of getting a tattoo?!” Bo bellows at her then turns to Ayn, “How and why did you let her in the team? You wouldn’t even let me join!”
    “Um…I can tell you why, but I choose not to” Ayn chuckles.
    Marie finished collecting blood from each of them. “Where do you want it?” she asks Maruru.
    “I-here” Maruru points to the center where her collar bones meet.
    Marie nods and starts coating that part with a small brush. Orange liquid came out of it as she painted a star with seven points. It didn’t even look like a star. Then when the coating was done, Marie dabbed a thinner brush with Maruru’s blood onto one corner. When she was done with that part, she put the brush back into Maruru’s blood bowl, grabbed a different brush from one of the other blood bowls, and continued forming the red star.
    So this is how it is, Maruru thought. It’s not painful at all.
    “So where to after this?” Keller asks, bothered by the silence.
    “Dunno” Ayn answers halfheartedly. “Somewhere we haven’t been to yet”
    “That could be anywhere” Roe sighs. “We only covered less than a fourth of the world. We’ve stayed at Celerster for about a year, looking for Non”
    Non grins sheepishly. “Haha…sorry ‘bout that”
    Marie finished with Maruru and moved on to Rey.
    “What happened that time, anyway?” Fen asks. “You haven’t told us yet”
    “Mmmm…later” Non grins.
    “I can’t believe I’m going to have its blood stuck permanently on my skin” Keller groans as Marie applies blood in the extra made point on the back of Keller’s neck.
    Maruru sneers at Keller. “Ha, thanks”
    Once the blood tattoo was finished on everybody, Marie shoos them out for the next customer.
    “So am I officially a Fallen Star?” Maruru asks as they walk back to their ship.
    Ayn hums to himself a bit, pretends to look around, then smiles. “Yeah”
    Maruru whoops and the others congratulated her and Rey with hugs and pats on the back. Ayn lets them walk farther ahead of him. His smile turns into a frown as his eyes lowered.
    “Welcome to the team…Maruru”

    to be continued