PROLOGUE
MOONSHINE

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     Aspen Carter was good at getting into and out of trouble. It had been that way her entire life, from the first moment she had nabbed something she shouldn't have in the cafeteria when she was only six years old. It had only been a roll—they were only supposed to have one each—but Aspen had simply wanted another one, so she had grabbed one from a tray when no one was looking. The adrenaline that followed, the thrill of knowing that she had gotten away with it, made her do it again. And again and again and again until it wasn't just a fun little thing anymore; it was something she had to do, an impulse she couldn't really control. Whenever she found she had an itch in her palms, found her fingers twitching, she would go out and grab something. The friends who knew called her stash of stolen things prizes, since it was a miracle she had gone so long without getting caught. It was just a bonus that she treated it like it was her own personal game.

They were piled high in various vents, her prizes. Necklaces, bracelets, watches, earrings. A few t-shirts, one pair of boots, a headband, hair ties. Some things she could get away with wearing, like bobby pins and anklets. Other things were too risky. She had planned on returning everything once news of a thief started floating around, but she figured it wasn't worth the hassle. She was stealing from Alpha Station, so no one was wanting for anything anyway, and no one was going to suspect the daughter of an engineer and a nurse. They just weren't. So she kept at it—though becoming much smarter with it—and decided she would only go out when she needed another fix. When her hands were shaking and she couldn't think of anything else.

That night was one of those nights.

She wasn't going out for boots or jewelry, though. She was out for something much more important. As she carefully unscrewed the vent opening with a pocket knife she'd stolen from the engineer room, she took note of the residence she would be ransacking. No one would be home for hours. There was some dance happening in the mess hall—the Unity Day Dance—and both adults would be there as guards. Aspen was completely at ease as the screws clattered to the floor. She let the vent cover fall too, though she was smart enough to reach out and catch it before it hit the ground. Lowering it quietly, she wriggled out of the vent, having to use her hands on the floor as momentum. It was a tight fit. She'd have to go in backwards if she wanted to put the vent cover back in place, and she didn't particularly feel like finding her way back through the vents backwards after that. She scowled. She'd have to go out the front door. With that thought in mind, she quickly screwed the vent cover back into place before she pocketed her knife and looked around.

She usually didn't steal food from Alpha Station. Jewelry and the like, but not food. While the people were far more privileged in the sense of clothes, food, and medical care, they were also strict about rules and regulations. Her own parents counted their food rations, even though they were given more than enough. It was risky to steal food now, and from a guard's residence to boot, but Aspen didn't have a choice. Her best friend, Nathan Miller, had stolen the guard schedule for the Unity Day Dance from his father, and she knew this room would be empty for hours yet. And her other best friend, John Murphy, was hungry. For him, she would risk it. Perhaps her heart was swaying her more than her itchy palms this time around, but she didn't bother thinking on it. She just glanced around once, then made her way to the small kitchen area and rummaged around for the kind of food she knew wouldn't be missed. Dried nuts that were tasteless. Old and nearly expired vegetables. She didn't dare risk taking any of the rare delicacies rich families on the Ark were afforded. Small bits of chocolate. Fruit jam. Anything with sugar.

She got what food she could, dropped them in the small bag she had brought with her, secured it on her back, then turned back toward the vent. She paused when she remembered how small it was, her mouth twisting in displeasure. She had to go out the front door. Fortunately for her, the Unity Day Dance was underway, and most—if not all—of the Ark guards were there, keeping an eye on all the teenagers to make sure they didn't get too rowdy. Miller had gone with his boyfriend, Bryan, but Aspen had opted out. She'd been asked to the dance by a girl named Harper McIntyre, but she had been arrested sometime in the past month, over something small, most likely. Most of the teenagers in the Skybox were in for something small. Something stupid, like drinking moonshine, smoking weed, or stealing small things like her. Very few were actually dangerous criminals—though there were some. There was one kid who had murdered someone; she had been horrified when she heard the news. His name had been Dax.

Sighing, she carefully opened the door to the living quarters she had broken into, peeking her head out to check the hallway. It was risky. Usually, she had Miller to keep a lookout at the door if she needed it, but that wasn't an option tonight. She had to do this on her own. Seeing that the coast was clear, she quickly slipped out and shut the door behind her, though she made sure it wouldn't lock. It hadn't been locked when she left, and in Alpha Station, that was a detail people normally noticed. Aspen herself had locked her own living quarters, and her mother had commented on it, saying it was odd. No one locked their doors on Alpha Station, because it wasn't the type of station that had criminals. Aspen always snorted at the thought.

She relaxed a lot more once she was walking down the hall. She lived on Alpha Station, so she hardly was in a place she wasn't supposed to be, and the dance was nearby. She wasn't wearing a mask, but she could easily say she lost it somewhere. She had her I.D. chip on her, set inside of the bracelet wrapped around her left wrist, and they wouldn't check her small backpack unless she gave them a reason to—and she usually didn't. Whistling slightly, she thought about heading out to find Murphy to give him the food she had promised, but figured he was at his own dance. It meant free food, after all, and he always jumped on parties and events like that. Every poor kid and family on the Ark did. So she decided to find him tomorrow. Tilting her head, she heard the sound of music and followed it.

She was already out, she got everything she needed for Murphy, and the itch in her palms and fingers was gone. She might as well find Miller and Bryan, crash their date, and maybe find a pretty girl or boy to dance with. Maybe even kiss. She hadn't kissed anyone lately. Not since Murphy a few months ago, and they had both quickly realized they were better off as friends. She started even faster down the hall, a sudden skip to her step, but she ended up stopping at a large window, showing a wide expanse of space. Darkness and stars, just the edge of earth peeking behind the moon. She paused to stare, her hip cocking so she could lean against the window pane. The window stretched from floor to ceiling, so she could step into the pane itself and peer down. She saw more of earth, but even more of darkness and stars. It was a sight she had seen her entire life, but she found herself growing tired of seeing nothing but stars.

She would've liked to see an actual tree. Not the single tiny, pathetic one they had on the Ark, but a tall one like they showed in the movies. The kind of tree that stretched up toward a blue sky with white clouds, the kind that had nests for birds and smelled like something other than metal. That was all the Ark smelled like. Metal and cleaning supplies. The hospital wing smelled like antiseptic, and Murphy's living quarters he'd inherited from his dead parents smelled like dust, but those were really the only smells Aspen was familiar with.

She was still daydreaming about earth and smells and whatnot when the intercom switched on with a high, painful whining sound. Aspen winced and glanced up at the speaker in the hallway, which happened to be right behind her. She twisted to press her back against the wall, her arms crossing over her chest. She was aware that she was likely squishing the food in her backpack, but usually when intercoms were switched on, guards came running. Considering the Unity Day Dance was right down the hall, the music switching off as the announcement was made, more guards than usual would likely be charging down this hall any minute. It was best to stay out of their way. They liked going on power trips in times like these, and Aspen didn't need that with stolen contraband hanging from her shoulders.

"Solar flare alert," the woman making the announcements said, and Aspen held in a groan. She tilted her head back, bumping it against the wall as she rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. Solar flares meant protective shelters, and protective shelters meant more guards. She mentally calculated how long it would take to stash her backpack in a vent before guards came running to check I.D. chips for a head count. The dance was happening in a shelter. Aspen would have to be there within a few minutes. "An X-class solar flare has begun on the starboard side of the Ark." The starboard side. That was the right side of the Ark. Aspen was on the left. She rolled her eyes even harder. "All citizens must report to the nearest shelter zone immediately. This is not a test. This is a solar flare alert."

The woman kept droning on, required to repeat the alert about four or five times just for safety reasons, and Aspen decided to test her luck. She turned away from the direction of the shelter zone, fully intending to stow her backpack of stolen goods somewhere safe and away from guards on power trips, but she had waited too long. She bumped right into a chest, and she stumbled back with a few bewildered blinks. Shifting up her gaze, she plastered on a bright, sweet smile as soon as she saw it was a guard. She didn't know his name, but that didn't matter.

"What are you doing out here?" the man asked immediately, frowning down at her as other guards made their way to the dance. The shelter zone. He nodded in that direction over her shoulder. "The shelter zone is that way."

"Oh. Right! Sorry, I was daydreaming at the window and got confused," she said with a small laugh, still smiling. It wasn't technically a lie. Only a half lie. That didn't really count. "I'll head there now." She turned to leave, but a hand stopped her, a heavy and hard hand that grabbed her shoulder a little too hard. She clenched her teeth as he twisted her back around to face him. It was just her luck, really, that she had ran right into a guard who clearly liked going on power trips.

"I.D. chip, please," he said tightly. Aspen frowned at him, and then didn't even bother hiding how she rolled her eyes. She was always going to get her I.D. chip checked, though, so she held out her left wrist and let him scan the chip placed into her bracelet. She eyed the guards moving past them, took note of their bored expressions, as he scanned her presence close to the shelter and realized she was where she was supposed to be. He let out a low grunt. He'd clearly wanted to bite her head off for roaming. "Aspen Carter. You turned seventeen today."

"Yep." She dropped her hand and resisted the urge to make fun of him for stating the obvious. "Can I go to the shelter now?" He narrowed his eyes, then waved her along, checking her off on his scanner to show she wasn't missing. She turned to leave, her backpack feeling abnormally heavy on her shoulders. She was halfway down the hall, about to breathe a sigh of relief, when his voice called her back.

"Wait." She froze, then turned to see him squinting at her. "What's that in your backpack?" She blinked at him, trying to look innocent. She was very good at innocent expressions.

"A few snacks," she said honestly, because lying wasn't going to work. There was no way he could prove the snacks didn't belong to her. As long as she stayed calm, she'd be fine.

"I didn't know snacks were metal," he said, scowling as he marched forward. She frowned at him, confused now.

"Huh?" was all she could get out before he reached for her backpack. She tried to lurch away, startled, but that only helped him pull something out of the front pouch, which she had—rather stupidly—left unzipped. She watched as he held up a silver flask for her to see, her mind going horrifically silent, her eyes growing as wide as saucers. She knew exactly what was in it, too, because Murphy had pressed it into her palm with a wide smile and told her it tasted like candy. Candy and gasoline. They'd both taken sips, choked, and laughed, and then Aspen had dropped it into the front pouch of her backpack and hadn't thought about it since. Not until earlier, when she'd unzipped the pouch to get her tiny pocketknife for the vents and had seen the flask.

It was moonshine.

He had caught her with moonshine.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

"I can explain," Aspen said immediately, watching in growing horror as he unscrewed the lid to the flask and sniffed the opening. There was no hiding the stench of alcohol inside the moonshine. Even Aspen could smell it. It was stronger than she was used to, which was why she hadn't touched it. Apparently, Murphy had found it in his living quarters; it had been in his mother's hiding place.

"Explain to me why you have alcohol when you're underage, then," the guard dared. "Who gave this to you?" Aspen opened her mouth, then immediately snapped it shut. She wasn't going to throw Murphy under the bus. She wasn't. He had enough problems, and he didn't need to be thrown into the Skybox on top of it all. Aspen would be fine. Her case would be looked over in a year when she turned eighteen, and then they'd likely let her go with a slap on the wrist. She had enough privilege for that. But Murphy, who was poor, didn't do well in school, and had a bad track record as is...they would take one look at his case when he turned eighteen and decide to float him. They would deem his unworthy of the limited supplies he would need to live. Aspen wasn't going to let that happen.

"I stole it," Aspen decided to say. Lying was better than the truth, at least in this case.

She didn't know that a little lie and a silly flask of moonshine, out of all things, was what would send her down to earth a year later.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I love this prologue so much more than the original one. Let me know what you think!