by Trisha Wolfe
I strapped my leather belt bag around me and clipped the waist and shoulder straps. Then I glanced over to Lana. “Everything’s set.”
“Devon hooked us up, too,” she said, securing her goggles over her eyes. “I can’t believe you recruited Mr. Liam to be a part of this, though.”
“As far as we all know,” I said, placing my chemical mask over my head and rolling it above my eyes, “he’s not.”
Jace hovered his levibike over to us. “Understood. But it’s still pretty badass that he’s down.” He winked. Then he double checked our supplies.
We were dressed in black and dark brown leather—nondescript outfits that any citizen of Haven Falls would wear. I’d brought extra chemical masks from the lab so our faces would be covered. I felt like we were preparing for a heist. I guess we are.
Our rendezvous spot was an abandoned shack near the bay. That’s where we’d meet up if for some reason we got separated. And that’s where we’d camp out until it was time for the mission.
We pulled up near the back of the shack, and Nick and Jace hid the levibikes in the brush while Lana and I went into the damp building through an open window. It was pitch black inside and smelled like salt air and rotten wood. Lana illuminated the small area, sparking a small dome of Charge in her hand.
In the corner I found a small gas lamp and turned it on its lowest setting, surprised it still worked. The lamp was dim and made the little room seem eerily vacant, haunted. Lana doused her power, and I hunched down near the window. The ocean breeze blew against my face, and I gazed into the sky, watching the fiery sun fall behind the airships. I couldn’t look at them without thinking of Reese.
I’d wanted desperately to find him in hopes that he could give me information so this suicide mission could be avoided. I was suspicious that he was purposely hiding from me. Maybe he knew what the Councils were up to and didn’t want me to find out. But right now, I had to focus on gaining those documents myself and keeping the triplets away from any information that revealed my secret. And in the process, I’d possibly discover the truth about the experiment…and myself.
The floor boards creaked as Jace and Nick entered the shack through the back window. I nodded at them. “I have a surprise for you guys.” I unlatched my belt bag and dug out the weapons Mr. Liam and I had created.
I tossed one of the brass hilts over to Jace. He studied it with knitted eyebrows. “There’s only half a weapon here.”
“Turn the gear on the side,” I advised. “But make sure it’s pointed away from you.”
Jace pointed the top of the device away from him and slowly turned the gear. A beam of blue light shot out. The laser wasn’t very long, about a forearm’s length, but it was powerful. It was my Charge molded into a short sword. And it had one great feature.
I stood up and walked over to Jace. “Point it toward the corner of the room,” I told him. “And crank the dial here.” I pointed to a copper spring on the side of the device.
Jace followed my instructions, and a stream of powerful currents zipped across the room. The weapon fired the equivalent of my Charge.
Jace stared wide-eyed at the sword. “Whoa,” he said. “How the hell did you make this?” He shut the device off and turned it around in his hand, studying it.
“Mr. Liam.” I walked back toward my bag to retrieve the others for Nick and Lana. “We dubbed it a Charge Saber. He’s a very strong Shythe,” I said, flinching. I hoped they never approached him about his power. He was strong, but his Charge wasn’t as strong as mine. He couldn’t have created these weapons on his own. “We infused the crystal at the end of the hilt with his power.” I winced again. I hated lying to them.
Nick tossed his weapon back and forth between his hands. “I can’t wait till my power is strong enough to shoot bolts. But this is pretty cool for right now.” He turned the saber on and slashed it through the air.
Lana tried hers out, then quickly clipped it to her belt. “I’m ready to get this over with,” she muttered. “I hate waiting.”
I was becoming anxious, also. I sat beside the window, allowing the cool breeze to comfort me. All we could do was wait.
Around two in the morning, we left the shack. According to Jace, now that Narcos were attending the Academy, all we had to worry about were the guards on the Council’s ship. Only the guards, I’d mocked. We didn’t know how many were aboard, but from where we hid behind the concrete pier, I could see at least two on the front deck.
We lowered our masks over our faces, and began creeping along the railing. I slid down the side of the boardwalk. The cove’s sand squished under my boots. As we neared the dock leading to a floating platform, my heart raced. The airship hovered just above us, lines cast down its side, anchoring it to the bay.
Thankfully, tonight was moonless. All around us was black, the only lights coming from the harbor’s dim gas lanterns, far behind us now, and the airship’s chemical lights along the deck.
Jace held up his hand, halting us. He looked around and motioned toward the floating platform directly under the airship. We slipped onto the platform and I glanced up, studying the underbelly of the ship. Jace adjusted the lens on his one-eyed telescopic goggles, pointing toward the stern. Then he reached into his jerkin and pulled out a couple of now-familiar devices. Grapplers.
He handed one to Nick, and Lana wrapped her arms around his shoulders. I did the same with Jace as per our plan. My heart thudded painfully, remembering when I’d first experienced this with Reese. But then I smiled as I recalled him explaining that you needed a grappling device when it came to airships. He was right. And lucky for us, Devon had some.
Jace strapped a leather belt around me, securing us together, before we lifted up. I clung to him as the device reeled us into the air.
I didn’t dare look down. We were going much higher than the waterfall, and there was nothing surrounding us to scale. When we reached the back of the ship, Jace grabbed the ledge and peered over the side onto the deck. He signaled Nick, and they both climbed over. I felt useless dangling, not being able to help. But once I was on my feet, I planned to take the lead in finding the documents. I had to.
Jace unhooked the belt once we were secure, and I crouched against the ship’s side. We’d timed it so we had two minutes to get inside the ship before the guards returned to patrol this end. Jace adjusted the goggle lens, sweeping the perimeter of the ship. Then he motioned us forward, signaling it was clear.
I spotted the door and took off behind them. I needed to get ahead of them once inside. More than that, I needed to separate from them and look in the right place. I mentally cursed. How was I going to do this?
Lana, Jace, and I pressed up against the outside wall of the ship’s main quarters, while Nick picked the lock on the door. I had no idea where the son of a Council member had learned to pick locks, but at the moment, I was thankful. I heard a light click. Nick smiled and waved us in ahead of him.
Jace was the only one with night vision goggles, so I was relieved to find the inside quarters dimly lit with gas lamps. That was a good and bad thing. I swallowed hard. I could see, but that meant the guards—or worse, the Council members—could see me, too. I wished I could turn invisible as I crept along the hardwood flooring behind the others.
None of us had ever been inside an airship before. We could only guess its design. Logically, the safest place for sleeping quarters would be the middle of the ship. During our planning, we’d assumed an office or meeting room would be near the back. But we could only pick one side and hope we were right. There wasn’t enough time to chance searching the whole ship.
At the end of the corridor was a set of double mahogany doors. They were locked, a promising sign that something of importance was behind them. We waited, nervously glancing around while Nick picked the lock.
Once inside the room, it was completely dark. Nick closed the doors behind us and we illuminated our hands, sparking small domes of Charge and lighting the room with a blue glow.
Lana and Nick began searching cabinets along the wall as Jace moved toward a desk at the opposite end of the room. I couldn’t be in both places at the same time. Crap. I chose to follow Jace. The desk seemed a more logical place to store secret documents.
My insides roiled. I opened a drawer and rifled through files, most of which were sales receipts and other documentation for their steam devices and machines. I breathed easier. The Narcos probably didn’t have anything on the experiment here. Why would they? That information was way classified. I almost laughed out loud at myself. Soon we could get out of here.
I closed my drawer and sidled up beside Jace. He was looking over documents similar to the ones I’d found. “Jace,” I whispered. “There’s nothing here. We’re running out of time.”
He released a heavy breath. “Dammit. There has to be something.”
Across the room, Nick waved his hand, signaling us. Jace put the documents back in place and closed the drawer. My heart rate kicked up a notch as we came up beside Nick and Lana and I saw them unrolling a scroll.
“What’s that?” I asked. “It looks old.”
Lana nodded. “It’s written in some kind of Egyptian hieroglyphs. It was locked up all by itself.” She analyzed the delicate paper. “I think it’s something about the ancient guardians.” She pointed to a symbol we all recognized—the mark of the Kythan. “But I can’t read it. The language has been dead for centuries.”
Jace pulled out a Carbon Capture. “Hold it still. I’ll snap a few proofs. We can try to decipher it later.” He took the photo, then glanced around the room. “Did you guys find anything else? Anything about the union?”
“No.” Nick tugged out his communicator. “But we’re out of time. The guards will be making their round to the other side of the ship soon. We have to go.”
Jace pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose as he thought. After a moment he nodded. “All right. We tried. We’ll just have to figure it out on our own.” He placed the scroll back into the mahogany cabinet and silently closed the doors. Then he dipped into his leather satchel and pulled out four canvas packs with attached harnesses. “Strap these on now. We have to be ready when we reach the back deck.”
I strapped on the harness. “Got it.”
After locking the doors behind us, we inched down the hallway to the main entrance quarter. We were almost to the door when someone entered from the opposite corridor: a Narco guard, and behind him, two more.
I froze.
Reese. My chest constricted. I forced myself to breathe through the panic. Why is he on the Council’s airship?
“Stop right there!” One of the guards shouted.
The rest of my party didn’t stop, they bolted for the door, but my feet were planted as I stared at Reese. He was dressed in a uniform, just like the other two guards. My mind spun. I felt a tug, and then I was being hauled through the door onto the deck. Jace pulled me by my hand. We were almost to the edge of the ship when Flame shot past my head, burning into the ship’s stern.
I spun around. The three Narco guards stood only a few feet away from us, their arms glowing red.
“Halt,” ordered one of the guards. “Hands up.” He held his blazing hand outstretched in our direction.
Jace drew his Charge Saber, illuminating it, and Lana and Nick followed his lead. I hesitated, not wanting to fight Reese, but drew my Charge Saber at the last moment as Flame flew toward my head. I blocked it, sending the Flame to the ground, and looked up. Reese was preparing to send another my way.
Instead of firing Charge back at him, I rolled, ducking his next Flame. I didn’t want to fight him. From the corner of the ship, I saw the others taking on the two guards and winning. Jace would never let us live down that his training sessions had come in handy. Getting my bearings, I stood.
Reese came straight for me. I squatted into a defensive position as he lunged, taking a blazing swipe at my rib cage. I countered with my saber, sending him reeling to the ground from the shock. Crap. I clipped my saber onto my belt and held my hands up.
Reese recovered and took another swing at me. Flame brushed my stomach as I dodged it. Lighting Charge in my palms, I shot a bolt near his foot. He stared at me wide-eyed, knowing I’d missed on purpose. I contemplated removing my mask for a split second. But I looked over and saw the others had just defeated their two foes.
I was yanked up as Reese jerked the collar of my leather jacket, bringing my face close to his. He pulled back his fist, ready to land a blow…
I flashed him my violet eyes, and he froze, then tilted his head. “Dez?”
His grip loosened, and I wrenched free. I ran and jumped onto the ledge of the ship. Pulling the chain on my pack, I hurdled off the back of the airship behind Lana, Nick, and Jace—my glider wings spreading as I hit the open air.
Chapter Nineteen
THE OCEAN CAME AT ME FAST. I cranked the gear on the Steam Glider, and its canvas wings flapped, lifting me higher. Nick let out a whoop and pumped his fist in the air. I laughed.
The wind whistled in my ears as I glided over the bay. No matter what had just happened on the airship, the feeling of soaring through the sky was amazing. I shivered as the cool night air whipped across my face.
Soon the shack came into view, and Jace pointed down. I turned the gear and my wings stopped flapping. They stretched out wide as I glided, coasting past the pier. I angled back, stretching my legs out in front of me and hit the gravel running. I rolled as I couldn’t come to a complete stop on my feet. Thankfully my glider wings were tucked securely back into the device’s pack. Being gouged with copper wire would be painful, I imagined.
I jumped to my feet and ran. Jace, Lana, and Nick were ahead of me and almost to the back of the shack where the levibikes were stashed. I glanced over my shoulder, but no one was following us. My heart thudded heavily. I didn’t know if they weren’t pursuing us because we’d managed a successful getaway or because Reese had stopped them, allowing me to escape. Either way, I was stoked.
Nick and Jace uncovered the levibikes. I hopped on behind Jace, and we quickly hovered away. None of us spoke as we hit the back roadways. I think we were still in shock that we’d actually gotten away. But we weren’t clear yet. And no one wanted to jinx the mission until we were safely back in the Academy.
We didn’t park inside the Academy grounds. The gates were locked and bolted. We stashed the levibikes in the woods behind the lot and climbed the fence. I was surprised it wasn’t shielded by Charge, but realized that would be hard to explain to anyone who wasn’t Kythan and happened to touch it. I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts centered. My mind was thinking of anything and everything other than what had just happened.
I didn’t want to consider what seeing Reese in a uniform could mean. First, it didn’t make sense. He’d never said one thing about being a part of the Narco guard. Second, what did keeping a secret like that from me mean? What was he hiding? Had our whole relationship been a lie? And third, how could he be a part of the guard with his power? It was too risky. I gritted my teeth. I was still concerned for him even though I was furious.
As we neared the side entrance, I began to relax. The door remained ajar. Mr. Liam had kept his word. We snuck inside, creeping along the basement walls. When we reached the custodian room, I sank down, burying my head between my knees.
A hand caressed my back. “Dez, we’re fine. We made it.” Jace spoke reassuringly into my hair and wrapped his arms around me.
“I know.” I pressed into his embrace. “I just can’t believe how close we came to getting killed.”
Nick spread out a blanket. “We only have a couple hours till morning.” He lay down. “Better get some sleep so we don’t look like we’ve been out all night on a secret mission raiding the Council’s airship.”
“Good idea,” Lana said, settling down beside her brother.
We had agreed that it would be too risky to attempt getting back to our units in the early morning hours. So we’d decide
d to stay in the basement until first light. No one would question random students roaming the halls in the morning. We just had to make sure no one questioned our alibis.
I’d just gotten back to my unit after bathing when I saw the light on my communicator flashing. I raced over and snatched it up. My first thought was Jace—I worried we’d been found out somehow. But my heart nearly leapt from my chest as I saw a message from Reese, instead.
Meet?
I flopped onto my bed and tugged the towel tighter around me. That one word held the weight of all my emotions. He wanted to meet with me. Too many scenarios flooded my mind at once. If he was truly a part of the Narcolym guard, there could be an ambush waiting for me. I shook the thought from my head. This was Reese. He’d allowed us to escape last night. Whatever his part, or whatever he’d kept from me, I’d decide what to believe after I gave him a chance to explain.
That last thought rubbed against the sore wound in my heart. He’d never allowed me a chance to explain about Jace. But, I wasn’t going to pay him back just out of spite. There was too much at risk to hold a grudge. I hit send on my communicator, agreeing to meet with him and asking where.
Not a minute passed before he responded: Mathematics. Ten minutes.
Class rooms were probably the best place for privacy. Everyone was either off campus or someplace else on the Academy grounds. No one would be in class on a Saturday. But I still wanted to be cautious. I preferred to meet him somewhere off grounds. Although, I didn’t want to be gone for that long, either. Jace or Lana might worry.
I thought about leaving Lana a note, but decided I wouldn’t be longer than half an hour. She was still in the bathroom cleaning up. The girl took long showers. She might not even be out by the time I was back.
