Her palms felt like they were on fire. She glanced down and found a wisp of smoke curling between her fingers. “No, no . . .”
She backed away from the railing and held her hands out, each breath fast and raspy. “Can’t lose control, can’t lose control!” Just breathe and get to the cabin. Now!
Kat turned and headed for the door.
“Kat! Wait!” Stephen called. “Can we—”
She shook her head as she dashed by. Stephen didn’t understand. She had to get herself under control before the monster emerged.
She reached the door below the top deck and went for the handle.
Wait, did Stephen want to talk? Now? After all the distant glimpses they’d exchanged on the ship?
I can’t! I don’t want him to see me like this!
Kat held the doorknob, torn between turning back and fleeing inside. She opened the door, then glanced back.
Stephen stood beside the mast that held one of the main rotors, his back to her, his hands in the pockets of his duster.
Her heart stirred. Those feelings from the coach came back to her—feelings from that night before she’d realized where Stephen was taking her.
He straightened and looked at her.
Kat froze, all blood draining from her face. She wasn’t ready. Not yet.
His face fell before he turned and walked away.
Kat wrenched the door open and flew down the hall to the captain’s cabin. At least her fingers had stopped tingling.
She hurried into the cabin and slammed the door shut behind her. Her body began to shake. She pressed her back against the door and slid to the floor. How could she bridge the gap between her and Stephen? Did she want to bridge that gap?
“It would easier if he . . . if he had never . . .” Kat pressed her palms against her cheeks and cried. Stephen was the first man she had felt anything toward, and she had trusted him.
If only I knew why. Why did he do it? Why . . .
She drew her hands away and stared at her palms. Her face was wet, salty, and hot.
Why did he come back for me?
She blinked. Something had to have happened. Yes, Stephen took her to the Tower. Her throat tightened. She remembered the moment she realized where they were heading. But he hadn’t left her there.
He had come back.
What made him change his mind?
She let out a long breath and looked across the room toward the wall of glass. Gray clouds filled the horizon beyond the windows.
Stephen had come back for her. He took her away from the Tower and brought her here. Why?
Kat wiped her eyes and stood. She made her way to the bed. The scarlet bedspread was rumpled from last night’s sleep. She lay down and curled up on her side. She still could not feel her chest. Even now the ache brought on by Stephen’s appearance was rapidly dissipating.
She sniffed and closed her eyes. Yes, they needed to talk. She wasn’t sure they could ever go back to where they had been before. That bridge had burned. But maybe, just maybe, they could rebuild it.
Chapter
6
Robert stood beside the ship’s wheel, his black hair fluttering across his eye patch. “So you’re ready to talk?”
Stephen leaned against the nearby railing of the top deck and looked out over the sky. Cool air brushed his face and he readjusted his duster across his shoulders. Dark clouds gathered along the horizon. “It’s a long story.”
“I have plenty of time.”
Stephen let out his breath and dipped his head. “I’m the one who turned Kat in to the Tower.”
“The same Tower you rescued her from?”
“Yes.”
Robert was silent as he gently turned the wheel. Stephen could almost imagine the thoughts flashing through his friend’s mind. Why? How? But Robert simply said, “Go on.”
“Kat had a bounty on her. I discovered this down in Covenshire shortly after I met with you. A hefty bounty, for murder.” Robert didn’t react, so Stephen went on. “I also witnessed something—something I still can’t explain.” He ran a hand through his hair. Would Robert even believe him? “I think Kat was experimented on by her father. And it changed her. She can do things I’ve never seen a person do.”
Robert tugged the wheel to the right. “Such as?”
“Those three bounty hunters who shot at the Lancelot a couple days ago? They found us in Covenshire, at Marty’s inn. They were after Kat’s bounty. A gunfight started and I was pinned down behind a table. Then Kat came downstairs and . . .”
Stephen looked up, the scene replaying in his mind.
He let out his breath. “She has the ability to move things. With . . . her mind. She froze everything inside the dining hall. She picked up every man in that place and flung him against a wall, knocking each man out. She also stopped a bullet meant for me. All without touching a thing.”
Robert frowned and looked in Stephen’s direction. “Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
Stephen nodded. “Yes. I was paralyzed in place and watched the whole thing.” He didn’t bother to tell Robert about Kat’s transformation, about the eerie laughter or the crazed look in her eyes. “Then she cried out to God and collapsed on the floor. Apparently, this power saps her energy because she passed out shortly after. I picked her up and brought her back to World City. Half way, I received Jerod’s telegram about the bounty out on Kat, placed there by her own father and the city council. A bounty for murder. Considering what I had just seen, I could believe it. So I decided to turn her in.”
Robert shook his head and whistled. “That is quite a story, and if it were any other man telling it, I would call him a liar. But you were never one for telling tales, even when we were kids.” He turned the wheel slightly to the right and the ship followed his course. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. “So what made you decide to rescue her? It sounds like the Tower was a better place for her, as much as I despise the place.”
Stephen sighed. “Because I was wrong.” He rubbed his face. “Kat warned me about her father’s dark side, about the experiments he had performed on humans, but I didn’t listen. When I discovered the bounty on Kat, all I could see was Vanessa, and how she had lied to me. I equated Kat to Vanessa, and in my bitterness, I turned her in. I tried to convince myself it was better for Kat and society, but when I arrived at the Tower and saw exactly what Dr. Bloodmayne was doing to his own daughter—”
His throat tightened and he looked away. Far below, the Narrow Strait’s blue water sparkled in the sunlight. More dark clouds gathered in the distance.
“I see,” Robert said slowly. “So you think the Tower did this to her?”
“I do.”
“Are they creating more humans like her? With power like that?”
“I think they are trying, but Kat is the only successful one.” He clenched his hand. “Remember those missing people I was looking for a couple years ago? I think the Tower used them.”
Robert scowled. “I don’t want to think about what the city council would do with an army of humans like that.”
I don’t either. At least Kat tried to control the power inside her. What would happen if someone just chose to let it loose?
The rotors hummed around them, whooshing with each blade rotation.
“Is Miss Bloodmayne still a danger?”
Seconds passed. “Right now she can control it.” Barely.
“But?”
Stephen swallowed and turned. “I made a mistake when I turned Kat over to the Tower. Who knows what they did to her before I came back. Kat needs help, but the Tower—and her father—were the wrong solution.”
“So this is why you are searching for this Dr. Latimer?” Robert steadied the wheel between his hands. “You think he can help her?”
“Kat believes he can. And I’m willing to help her find the doctor.”
Robert reached for a brass lever to the right of the helm and pulled it back. The airship began to ascend seconds
later. Stephen braced himself against the railing, his feet feeling like they were pulling into the deck as the ship tilted upward. He glanced toward the bow. Storm clouds gathered ahead. Looked like Robert was planning on gliding over the storm.
“If you’re still looking for Dr. Latimer, I have some good news for you.”
Stephen turned back. “You know where he is?”
“Not exactly, but I know what happened to him.” The Lancelot continued its slow, steady climb.
“All right, what do you know?”
“He disappeared from society for a couple years, then turned up a year and a half ago serving as a civilian doctor in the World City military over in Austrium.”
“He’s in Austrium?”
“Yes, but I don’t know where.”
“Austrium is a big country.”
“It is. But how many civilian doctors are there serving our soldiers?”
“True. That narrows down the places Dr. Latimer could be.” Even then, the task seemed daunting.
“Fortunately for you, I am transporting the medical supplies needed at the Ironguard Base. It’s as good a place to start as any.”
“You’re running medical supplies?”
“That I am. I can send you and Miss Bloodmayne down with the shipment once we reach the rendezvous point.”
Stephen’s eyes widened. For the first time, he felt like they had a chance. That Kat had a chance. “How long before we get there?”
“We’re still a couple days out. And Ironguard is two days inland.”
A smile broke across Stephen’s face.
Robert looked over and winked his one good eye. “Why don’t you go tell the little lady?”
His smile ebbed away. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down. “Things are . . . awkward . . . between us at the moment.”
Robert lifted his eyebrow and huffed. “Of course they are. So go fix it.”
Stephen looked up. “How?”
“How many times have we scuffled over the years?”
Stephen thought back. He’d known Robert almost all his life. They were good friends, but when they fought, they fought hard, then made up afterward, usually with him buying Robert a drink. “But how do I patch up things between me and Kat? It’s not the same as you and me.”
“Yes, it is. It’s the way with all humans. Own up to what you did wrong and tell her you’re sorry.”
Stephen snorted. “And what if she doesn’t forgive me?”
Robert’s face grew serious as he worked the lever again beside the helm. There was a shift in the angle of the ship’s ascension, a little steeper. “She might not. But you need to give her the chance.”
Robert was right, and Stephen knew it. It was fear and shame that kept him away. Every time he thought about talking to Kat, his insides clenched up and a sour taste filled his mouth.
“Do you love Miss Bloodmanye?”
He wanted to deny the fact. It would make everything easier. But he couldn’t. Stephen sighed. “Yes, I do.”
“Then she’s worth fighting for. Even if that fight is with yourself.”
He straightened up, his hand still on the railing. “You’re right.” But fear still gripped his insides with an iron hold. He turned and headed down to the main deck. Sailors’ shouts and laughter mingled with the constant whir of the rotors above. Wind blew across the deck, cool and pressing.
More shouts. More laughter. Constant motion.
Stephen stopped at the bottom of the stairs and clenched his hands. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose. Silence. He needed silence. Just a place to think first and figure out what he would say, instead of barreling after her like his first woeful attempt. But where? The bunkroom was out of the question. Twenty-plus men squeezed into a tiny room filled with hammocks did not equal silence. And certainly not Robert’s private room. Kat was there and he wasn’t ready to see her, not yet.
Maybe the galley?
Yes.
Stephen walked across the main deck, opened the door, and entered the galley. For being inside the ship, the galley was actually warm and lighted, most of the light coming from the small square windows along one side of the narrow room. Gas lamps swung from a low ceiling over three long tables nailed to the floor. Benches lined either side of the tables.
Toward the back a counter divided the dining room from the cooking area. Above the counter, pots and pans swayed on their ceiling hooks. A man stood beyond the counter, his white shirt tucked into a pair of faded trousers with apron ties just above the belt line, his back to Stephen.
Stephen would recognize that round, bald head anywhere. Fitz.
Fitz turned and placed a wooden bowl on the counter. He didn’t seem to notice Stephen as he began to mix something in the bowl.
Stephen retreated. Even Fitz was one person too many. Leaving the galley, Stephen headed lower, toward the bottom of the ship where Grim stored his cargo for his runs across the Austrium blockade.
The place was dark, save for a little bit of light filtering in from the door above. A musty, woodsy smell filled the hold. Crates and boxes lined either side of the large area, all tied to the walls and floors to keep them from shifting during flight.
Stephen sat on the bottom step and placed his head in his hands. Before he could even ask for Kat’s forgiveness, there was an issue unresolved in his own life.
Vanessa.
Two years. He pressed his fingers into his eye sockets. It had been two years since Vanessa had shattered his heart. Two years since he had last spoken to God in anything other than anger or desperation. Two years since he had darkened the doorway of a church.
Only now, when he felt like he had hit rock bottom and betrayed the one person he loved—yes, he loved Kat; after all, he’d been honest with Robert, he might as well be honest with himself—only now was he finally looking up to God.
He moaned softly in his hands. “I don’t know what to say.” He had fallen far, far away. He knew God always welcomed back the prodigal—he recalled a story somewhere in the Bible about that—but the shame . . . How did one erase the shame of the past?
“Mreow.”
Stephen looked up. It took a moment to catch a glimpse of yellow eyes peering at him from across the path between the crates.
He glanced around the hold again, then back at the cat. He could barely make out the outline of the dark feline’s body. Of course there would be a cat down here, to keep the rats out of the food stores.
The cat raised a paw and began to clean each toe with delicate precision.
Stephen bent his head again, his heart churning into a ball of lead inside his chest. Each word he tried to conjure lodged in his throat. What could he say? Even after all this time, he still hurt over Vanessa’s infidelity.
Something rubbed against his legs and let out a soft purr.
Stephen opened one eye and stared down at the cat now doing figure eights between his legs. As if sensing his stare, the cat glanced up and meowed again. It arched its back, waiting to be petted.
Stephen sighed and reached down. The cat rumbled beneath his hand and turned around for another rub along his legs.
Just let go.
The words filled his mind.
Let go and turn back.
Stephen let out a dejected snort and scratched the cat behind the ears. Could it really be that easy? Could he turn around after two years of bitterness and find God behind him, waiting?
He paused and looked up. The cat continued to run its back beneath Stephen’s stilled hand. He blinked and held his breath.
Maybe, just maybe it was.
His mind tore through his memories, trying to remember more clearly the story about that prodigal son. The old family Bible he had inherited on the death of his father was tucked inside a wooden chest back in his flat, buried deep beneath a quilt his mother had sewn just before her death. Not once had he taken it out since Vanessa’s betrayal.
If only he had it now.
H
e recalled bits and pieces. Something about the young man leaving, then falling into hardship and remembering his father. The young man returning . . .
“Gah! I can’t remember.”
The cat stopped and looked up at him.
“You don’t have to think about this kind of stuff, do you?” Stephen scratched the cat beneath the chin. Eyes closed, the creature tilted its head in ecstasy.
No, a cat didn’t think about such things. Cats, dogs, all critters probably never turned from their creator. Only humans did that.
He let out a dark laugh. And he was definitely human. A human who had blundered badly.
Just let go.
Stephen shook his head.
Turn back.
Wasn’t that what the son eventually did in the story? And he found his father waiting for him with open arms and more.
Stephen swallowed. He was on the edge of doing just that, he could feel it. But was it because he wanted acquittal for what he had done to Kat? Or did he really want to return to God?
Could a man really know his own heart?
I want to make up for what I did.
He sighed. No, he could never make up for what he’d done. He could never erase the wrongs Kat had suffered because of him. He could only ask for her forgiveness.
The cat butted against his stilled hand, and he felt an answering nudge on his spirit. How could he ask Kat to forgive him when he himself was unwilling to let go of his own bitterness?
He had to forgive Vanessa. And to do that, he had to return to the source of all grace.
He had to turn back.
Chapter
7
Stephen wasn’t sure how long he had knelt on the floor of the cargo hold when a loud bell began to chime somewhere above him. At the sound, the cat lying next to his knee bounded for the crates nearby.
One, two, all the way to seven. He blinked against the darkness and staggered to his feet. The eighth bell was long and low. Muffled boots stampeded across the decks above.
Instinct twisted Stephen’s gut. He turned and headed up the stairs two at a time. He started across the second hold and past the hammocks when the bell started again, repeating the same pattern. At the same time, the ship tilted back at a steady incline. He placed his hands along the wall and made his way to next set of stairs.
Awakened Page 4
