A Tale of Two Airships (Take to the Skies Book 2) (14 page)

Chapter Fourteen

The wind began to kick up.

We’d dealt with storms a hundred and one times before, but as with everything, timing was a bitch. The Desire could maneuver through this hell, but the Fireswamp? She was new to us, and nothing tested the limits of a ship like a storm. And of course, I had to lead the charge. As I raced over to the navigation bay, the first drops of rain plunked onto my back, soaking into my peasant blouse. Past midnight at this point, we sailed through pitch skies with the darkness thickened by the changing weather.

Following the first crack of thunder, came the first flash of lightning. Against this sort of inky darkness, the jagged white light lit the entire sky for one blazing second. The pelt of raindrops and the laden clouds stamped out the stars, replacing the cool serenity with a roiling mass of hell. I licked my lips, trying to hide my excitement while I took my place in the navigation bay at Geoff’s side.

“Couldn’t wait to get your hands on the wheel again, could you?” I winked as I stepped beside him.

“The wheel’s not the only thing.”

He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. Our lips met with a crash as fierce as the thunder booming above us, and the rain slid down my cheeks. He tasted like cinnamon and the sky, and standing at the helm, rain threatening to drown us as we ignored it all brought me to the fateful day when I thought I’d lost him. My heart ached, so overflowing with the joy of being back on my ship and by Geoff’s side, even facing one hell of a storm.

A smile tugged at my lips as we broke apart upon realizing Geoff’s one hand clung to the wheel. Once a helmsman, always a helmsman.

His eyes locked on mine. “We’ve got to talk the second we sail our way out of this.”

My stomach twisted, but I couldn’t let the threat of future problems overtake the current. I grabbed the comm from underneath the dashboard and stepped under the awning. “Spade, how’re you hanging in there?”

The crackle was barely audible amidst the rolling thunder and static from the rain, so I held the comm close to my ear. “Still sailing,” the short, humorless reply came back.

“You’re on the faster skiff and already know our trajectory,” I spoke into the communicator. “Lead us back?”

“Roger,” he responded, and I shut off the communicator, almost chucking it under the console.

“So we’re following the bitty ship you brought?” Geoff raised his brows. “And where the hell are you going?”

I gave him a toothy grin. “Back where we came from. It’s only borrowing if you return what you took.” The way his jaw dropped didn’t disappoint. Another flash of lightning illuminated the sky and reminded me I had some captaining to do.

From my perch at the navigation console, I had a clear view of the deck ahead of me and all of our crew on it. Isabella, the darling, had already begun to release the storm sails to steady our girl. One of the benefits of having such a talented crew is they didn’t need near as much directing. Abigail and Edwin had scuttled below, which left ten or so crewmembers milling about.

“Crew,” I tried on my best captain’s bellow. “Tack down anything that might move—we’re in for a bumpy ride. Any sails slack, fix it. Any excess water, bail it over. Any cords need tightening—you catch the drift. We’ve got a storm to sail through.”

The Fireswamp circled around us, heading in the opposite direction. Following Geoff’s lead, we maneuvered our girl the same way, though with the Desire being much larger, she couldn’t whip around with the same precision. Spade accommodated for the differential and puffed along at a slower pace until we followed. Though the pelting rain obscured our vision, and the strong breezes sent sheets of water skating along the deck, I blinked away the slithering drops and kept my focus ahead.

Those winds took on a life of their own and sang through the Desire in a chorus of creaks and groans. I gritted my teeth and jammed on the Desire’s accelerator as we followed the quickened pace Spade set. The faster we sailed, the sooner we’d escape this storm. In the far distance despite the pervading darkness, I saw the breach of navy skies, the gradient shift noticeable. We sailed for those stars.

Rain pooled around my feet, soaked my boots, and slapped my skin. Each droplet descended with a threat, and it took every ounce of composure to stay focused on the path ahead. Despite the way those nightmarish winds made the Desire shift—how everything on board tilted with the sway—I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love it. 

Booms quaked the whole ship, causing the planks to reverberate around us, but the crew found their holds and clutched tight, working around the torrents of rain that threatened to wipe us off the map. Ahead, the Fireswamp struggled to plow through it, and she careened to the right. My heart seized in my chest, but from where I stood on the Desire, I could only pray Jack and Spade fought the storm and won. Right now I had to ensure the rest of us achieved the same.

“How far until this breaks?” I called to Geoff, my voice barely audible through the quake of thunder and the splintering rain. Lightning followed, bathing the entire deck in bright, bright light. It illuminated every detail of the Desire, from stern to stem, and for those half seconds I almost made out the sky ahead of me, a palette of bruised purples and blues. But then it vanished, stealing away the light and casting the horizon much darker than before.

“Depends on how fast the storm’s moving,” he yelled. “Could be a half hour, or it could be five minutes.”

The Fireswamp righted, but the next gust of wind blew her to the left this time. She didn’t take the winds like our girl did with a gradual tilt and shift. Small ship like that got kicked around in the breeze.

Our gyrocompass whirled around every time we got the slightest bit off course, but all it took was a tilt of the wheel from Geoff to set her back again. I kept my boot pressed down on the accelerators, pumping them when we needed the extra spurt to bypass bad pockets of rain. My stomach clenched with my determination to see us through this spell. If we maintained this pace, we’d be out of the storm in no time.

Once we returned the Fireswamp and rescued our friends, we’d bring the gypsies to task. While I hoped we could coerce them to be our allies, with all the problems they’d caused for us so far, I’d be just as satisfied to deliver gunpowder and hellfire. I clutched the console and stared out at the expanse ahead of us. Past the rain threatening to drown us and those turbulent clouds, the navy sky in the distance looked a little bit like hope.

Another boom shook the whole ship, more than any of the other ones. The planks quaked, the cables trembled, and the whole vessel shuddered.

Except it hadn’t been thunder.

The sound had come from inside the Desire.

My blood drained, and my heart froze at the violent quaking going on within my girl. Above, her balloon expanded as full as ever and the shielding remained intact. The sails had been unfurled. The one sort of thing to cause that much of a ship seizure would be from below—in the engine room. In all the time I’d been on board though, we’d rarely run into a problem. Seth kept a close eye on the engine at all times, and details didn’t slip through those eagle eyes.

Geoff’s hand clamped onto my wrist. “Bea, Seth’s not down there.”

“Where is he?” My insides squeezed tight, and I forgot how to breathe. Seth was the last remnant of the old regime, the one who knew how to keep this girl flying, and most importantly, my friend. In all the chaos, I hadn’t checked. I assumed he’d be down there like always, our surly guardian angel of the engine room.

“They took Seth and Adelle,” Geoff responded, his voice grim.

The Desire sputtered. She sputtered. I could feel the engine shaking below through the floorboards, and it sent a stream of ice through my veins, chilling me more than all this rain ever could. Even though a thousand questions sprang to mind, I didn’t have the time. Scanning across deck, I couldn’t spot a single soul who’d be well trained enough to send down there. Seth had taken on one apprentice in the ten years I’d been aboard this ship, and I was that girl. Which meant if something had gone wrong below, the engine needed me more than anyone up top did. For some reason, ships wanted to break down on me this week.

“I’ll be back.” I grabbed Geoff’s shoulder, forcing his attention my way. “First Mate, you’re in charge.”

Not waiting for his reaction, I raced across the deck. Scuppered in the middle of a storm was the worst place to be. We wouldn’t be able to maneuver out of any gusts and would be at nature’s mercy. And as any sailor of the sea or sky knew—nature was rarely merciful. My boots pounded against the floorboards, sending sprays of water flying in my wake. The rain spat in my face, streaming down my cheeks and slithering down my clothes. Within seconds of stepping past the navigation console, I became soaked.

All the chaos of the skies, the roiling clouds, and the fierce, piercing rain, couldn’t compete to the blackness entering my heart. Our ship shifted and groaned with the violent winds, but we’d stopped soaring ahead. The Fireswamp continued forward, the distance between us widening. I had to get it together. Had to force myself on task, because out of all the crew, I understood how to operate this engine. Yet all that kept pounding through my head, more insistent than the rain, was guilt.

Guilt from being duped by the gypsies at the first place. Guilt for every bad decision to lead us to this point. Guilt I hadn’t even realized Seth wasn’t on board. Well, the Desire was telling me now, plain as day. I could count on my girl to fill me in. Overhead, the skies remained relentless, so I kept my head down, forcing myself forward. Shouts followed in my wake, most likely crew wanting to know what was wrong. I didn’t have the time to explain.

I hurtled down the slope leading below. Cover over my head shielded from the rain, and the cool darkness threatened to steal away any remaining warmth. My teeth chattered, but my boots never stopped pounding as I careened down the hall at a breakneck pace. The turns I knew by heart, but even still, the engine room lay an eternity away. Down here, the thrum grew stilted, and the normal murmurs turned to loud complaints.

She always spoke to anyone who would listen, but this was different. This was my girl begging. Whatever those gypsies did, they hadn’t treated her proper, and in turn she’d suffered for it. The gusts of steam from the engine room already invaded the hallways as I clattered down the stairs. On a normal day, it’d be leaking steam, creating droplets of condensation through the corridor—right now it poured.

I fought my way through the warm mists, slashing at the billowing clouds that obscured the path to the door. A stench rose, exacerbated by the steam—a mixture of sweet fennel and sharp oil. My heart thudded in my chest, because I recognized the scent. Aether.

Fumbling my way forward, I plunged through the mists, stubbing my toe on corners and slamming my knees into the workbench. The second I hit it though, I groped around for the kit located nearby. His toolkit sat right beside the bench in the same copper container as always, handle strapped on by duct tape. I tugged along with me and made my way to the aether tubes, which lined the far wall like organ pipes.

A sizzling sound and the way the soles of my boots gummed to the floor drew my attention at once. The green fluid beneath me positively glowed, and my stomach flopped as queasiness spread through me like the flu. No need to hazard any guesses, I already figured what had happened. One of the tubes burst.

Mechanics adjusted the settings when an airship soared through the skies, loosened bolts when needed, and tightened them other times, to keep this from happening. Tubes were expensive to replace, more expensive than the aether inside it. All of them fed into the main engine, keeping it converting the aether to energy and outpouring all the excess steam. Without the engine running, we had the slightest of movement from the propellers but not near enough to sail her. The repair cost more than we’d be able to afford, even if we had regular jobs coming in. During our current drought, we didn’t have a hope or a prayer.

Fluid poured all over the floor, our precious, precious reserves that had cost so much upon last fuel-up. The Desire shuddered again, almost a beat away from the thunder quaking through her. It was the failsafe built into the engine. If anything happened to the aether tubes or the framework, the whole thing hardwired to cease function. One couldn’t risk any sort of explosions up here, and a scuppered airship could drift towards harbor—a torched one careened to the ground.

Come on Bea. Time to work the problem.

I scanned the tops of the tubes where the attachments fed the aether to the main engine. We operated on ten cylinders, now brought to nine. I scanned the system, and an idea struck. Not wasting any time for testing, I climbed the side ladder to make my way to the tops. They had to test each cylinder for function, yes? Couldn’t do so if the whole thing shut down because one stopped working.

I sucked in a deep breath, keeping my focus on the tubes of aether. The rest all fluxed in unison, casting a greenish glow throughout the room. The one’s tube cracked, and fluid leaked out from the small incision at a rapid pace, dripping down the glass and pouring onto the floor. Slipping on gloves from the toolbox, I reached out to the top. If I could sever the connection, it would stop trying to pull from the broken tube. At least, that’s what I hoped. The Desire shuddered again, sending another wave of panic flushing through me. We drifted along at a chug, and the rain pounded all around us.