Hearts of the Neon Sky

, then tossed it over her shoulder. Her day had already been long, filled with dead batteries, busted exhausts, and one particularly rude scavenger who tried to pay her with expired ration chips.

s." And just like that, the mechanic and the elite were tangled in something neither of them understood yet-but the sparks had already started to fly. Oil, Secrets, and a Bloody Nose; Lawrence Everen sat on the edge of Celia's workbench, blinking as she dabbed a cold cloth to the side of his face. His once-immaculate coat had been thrown into a pile, revealing a black shirt stained with smoke and what might've been designer embarrassment. "You're lucky your face didn't break the windshield," Celia muttered, shaking her head. "Trust me," Lawrence said through clenched teeth, "the windshield's loss would have been far greater." She rolled her eyes. "Is this what passes for flirting in the upper tiers?" He smirked, then winced when she pressed the cloth harder. "You're not my type," she added quickly. "I prefer people who don't almost kill me with their falling spaceships." "You fixed the wiring on a power converter with a hairpin," he said, studying her. "That's not just impressive-it's borderline illegal. Where'd you learn that?" Celia froze for a second. "Around." It wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth. The truth was, she used to be a student in one of the tech academies up top-before her father was framed and "relocated" for crimes he didn'