Take Back the Skies

by Lucy Saxon

  ‘Hold on a minute,’ Matt soothed, holding up a hand. ‘No one said you’re going anywhere, lass. Let’s just take a minute to talk this over rationally.’ There was a long silence, and the dark-haired man let out a slow breath. ‘So Cat’s a girl. I don’t see how that could be a problem – we’re not the type of crew who believe all women belong in the home. And so what if she’s government? She’s not done anything but help us since she arrived. Storms, Fox, she doesn’t even know about the war! Don’t blame her for the faults of her elders, she’s just a sprog.’

  ‘So she’s staying, then?’ Fox spat, looking at the rest of the crew. ‘You’re keeping her, even though she could be a government spy?’

  ‘William Michael Foxe!’ Alice exclaimed, to Cat’s surprise. William was Fox’s real name? Somehow it suited him. ‘How dare you! I thought we’d raised you better than to judge someone by their birth. I thought your parents had raised you better.’

  Fox flinched at her words, and Cat could hear Ben and Matt wince in unison.

  ‘Well, it seems I’m outvoted,’ Fox muttered angrily. Not looking at Cat, he turned on his heel and made for the door, slamming it shut behind him. Alice sighed, smoothing a hand over Cat’s blood-matted hair.

  ‘Don’t listen to him, poppet,’ she urged. ‘He’s just sore on certain subjects. Now, I’m just going to get you some ice.’ She got to her feet, slipping into the kitchen, and Cat looked up at Harry.

  ‘I still want answers,’ she insisted. ‘Trying to make sense of it all … it’s making my head hurt.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s the reason your head hurts, lass,’ Matt remarked, making her laugh softly.

  ‘Making my head hurt worse,’ she corrected. ‘Siberene looking like this, everything those Anglyan men were saying … it doesn’t add up.’

  ‘You’ll get your answers, sprog, I promise,’ Harry assured her. ‘But not tonight. You need to rest. I’m not having you get even more worked up with that head of yours. Tomorrow morning, we’ll explain everything.’

  Cat made a face, and Matt chuckled.

  ‘It’s for your own good,’ he insisted, reaching over the table to squeeze her shoulder. ‘Harry and I need to get this old girl up in the air, anyway. It’s getting late. Ben will keep you company until Alice sends you off to bed. Goodnight, girlie.’

  ‘Night,’ Cat murmured, managing a brief sleepy smile. ‘And thank you, Harry. For letting me stay.’

  Harry chuckled.

  ‘Did you really think I could just leave you behind, after seeing how you’ve wrapped my crew round your finger? Storms, girl, if you’ve forgotten, Fox actually went back to stop you getting arrested! He might be sour now, but he doesn’t do that for just anyone.’ He winked at her, squeezing her hand where it lay on the table. ‘Get some sleep, Cat. I’ll see you at breakfast.’

  The two men left, and Cat turned to the only other person in the room. Ben was staring at her with a nonplussed look on his face, and Cat couldn’t help but ask.

  ‘You knew, didn’t you?’ she said.

  ‘I had my suspicions,’ he admitted with a nod. ‘I figured if you were hiding something, you’d tell us in your own time. But …’ He paused, biting his lip. ‘I had a little sister once. Sophie.’

  Cat gasped, eyes widening in horror. She didn’t need to ask what had happened to her; she was the second child in a common family.

  ‘Oh, Ben, I’m sorry,’ she breathed, reaching over to slide her hand over his. ‘How long ago?’

  ‘Six years,’ he replied, swallowing thickly. ‘She was one of the earlier ones.’ He looked up, meeting her gaze, and managed a half-smile. ‘I’ve been wondering why you seemed so familiar … now I know. You remind me of her,’ he confessed.

  Cat looked at him in surprise.

  ‘I do?’ she queried, and he nodded.

  ‘She was always trying to prove she could be just as good as us boys, if not better. Always beating me at games, despite being five years younger,’ he told her with a fond grin. ‘Even beat Matt a few times.’ He didn’t say any more when Alice walked back in, a watertight bag full of ice in one hand and a bowl of warm water in the other, a dish towel over her shoulder.

  ‘Have the boys gone to get us airborne?’ she queried, earning a nod from Ben as she sat down beside Cat once more. ‘Good, we need to get moving. Cat, dear, this is going to sting.’

  The warning came mere moments before the damp dish towel was pressed to Cat’s head wound, and the girl yelped, jolting. Alice tutted, and Ben stifled a grin, hand still in Cat’s.

  ‘Well, you won’t need stitches,’ Alice declared once she was done, allowing Cat to press the ice to her head. ‘But I’ll want to keep an eye on that over the next few days.’

  ‘I just want to go to bed,’ Cat admitted. The lantern hanging from the ceiling was sent swinging as the ship jolted upwards, and Cat fought against the surge of nausea.

  ‘Of course, dear. Keep the ice with you, it’ll help you sleep easier. Ben, walk her back to her room before you go to relieve Harry, would you? This bloody ship is bad enough to walk in on its own, let alone with a head wound.’

  Helping Cat up, Ben slid an arm around her shoulders, keeping her steady.

  ‘Goodnight, Alice. Thanks for cleaning me up.’

  ‘You’re very welcome, lass. Sleep well,’ Alice replied fondly, giving her one last smile before Ben walked with Cat out of the galley into the corridor.

  ‘I’d offer to carry you, but despite being older than Matt, I don’t quite have his build. At least it’s not far,’ the curly-haired man mused, a wry smile on his face.

  ‘You’re older than Matt?’ Cat asked, surprised.

  ‘By two years,’ Ben confirmed. ‘I’m twenty-four, he’s twenty-two. How old are you, by the way? I’ve been assuming thirteen for obvious reasons, but if you’re high-born that’s not really an issue.’

  ‘Fourteen,’ Cat told him. ‘Fifteen in four days, actually. And trust me, if I weren’t my father’s only heir, he would have shipped me off to wherever Collected children go years ago.’

  Ben frowned at her words, and she gave him a pointed look. ‘I’m not stupid, Ben. You might not be telling me anything, but I can work some things out for myself. Those men in Siberene talked about kids in the lower levels, whatever that means – clearly not all of the Collected are going to war.’

  Ben sighed, and they stopped outside her bedroom door.

  ‘Still, fifteen is quite an age to reach in this country. I’ll have to get Alice to bake you a cake, or something. We’ll explain everything in the morning,’ he added as she went to open her mouth. ‘Sleep well, brat. I’ll try and keep her steady through the Secondary so as not to wake you.’

  Cat hugged him goodnight and slipped into her bedroom, shrugging out of her heavy purse-laden coat as soon as the door was shut. She was exhausted, and it felt like every muscle in her body had turned to lead. Barely having the energy to unbuckle her boots, she crawled beneath her blankets in her trousers and undershirt, the ice still pressed to the back of her head. For now all she cared about was getting some sleep.

  Chapter 9

  Cat’s head was still aching the next morning when she woke up, the ice pack little more than a bag of lukewarm water on her pillow. However, the pain was bearable – and nothing a good cup of tea wouldn’t help. Dressing quickly she walked out of her door – and froze. Fox’s door had opened at the same time, and he emerged, stopping in his tracks when he saw her.

  ‘Catherine,’ he greeted neutrally, making her wince at her full name.

  ‘William,’ she retorted in the same tone.

  He blinked, then scowled.

  ‘Don’t call me that,’ he muttered, heading for the galley door.

  ‘Then don’t call me Catherine. I told you when we met, it’s just Cat.’

  ‘That’s because you don’t get many boys called Catherine,’ he mocked in reply. ‘Not that Cat is much better. I should have known.’

  She glared, re
sisting the childish urge to kick him in the shin. That was a bit rich coming from someone who went by the name Fox.

  ‘Please, Fox, can’t you give me another chance and just trust me?’ she pleaded, latching on to his arm. He shook her off.

  ‘I did, and then you turned out to be a girl. I don’t trust easily a first time, let alone a second,’ he told her, pushing past her to get to the galley.

  The rest of the crew apart from Harry were already eating breakfast, and smiled when the two youngest members entered. The smiles faltered when they saw the mood Fox was in, and the look on Cat’s face.

  ‘Morning, brats,’ said Matt through a mouthful of porridge.

  ‘Matthew, don’t speak with your mouth full,’ Alice scolded, spooning out two more bowls of porridge.

  ‘Morning, Cat. How’s your head?’ Ben asked.

  ‘Still throbbing a little, but I’ll be fine,’ she assured him, rolling her eyes when Alice rounded the table to check for herself.

  ‘Yes, that’s healing up nicely,’ she declared in satisfaction. ‘But I still want you taking it easy for a day or two. No working downstairs – all that heat and tyrium dust can’t be good for you in this state.’

  Cat wanted to protest that she wasn’t in any sort of ‘state’, but kept quiet, not wanting to argue with the older woman.

  ‘Is Harry upstairs?’ she asked Ben, who nodded.

  ‘Yes, but we won’t need him for the explanations,’ he assured her, his shoulder bumping Matt’s as he shifted to rest his elbows on the table. He met Cat’s gaze evenly. ‘You deserve answers.’

  Both men shared a look, and Matt sighed softly.

  ‘You were right when you told Ben last night that not all the children were being sent to war,’ he began. ‘The truth is we don’t know where the children are. The war ended over eight years ago, Cat. About three months after the monarchs disappeared. Mericus gained control of Erova, Dalivia have control of Kasem, and Siberene is a fully independent country. It has been since before the war was over.’

  Cat gasped. Sure, she’d had doubts, but to hear the truth spelled out so plainly …

  ‘Then why the lies? Why the false newscasts, the war reports? Storms, why the Collections? If the Anglyan government doesn’t need the kids for war, why are they still taking them from their families?’ Why was the entire country still on rations if there was no war going on? It didn’t make sense.

  ‘We’ve always assumed that they’ve been using them as free labour in the tyrium mines,’ Ben admitted. ‘But after what you overheard, now we’re not so sure. All we know is, the Collection ships go straight out to the Anglyan countryside, and the kids are never seen again.’

  ‘The rest of Tellus have an agreement to leave Anglya alone,’ Matt explained. ‘They have a vague idea what’s going on – they must do, the amount of kids that get smuggled out – but after all the damage the Anglyans did in the war, no one wants anything to do with us. They’re happy to leave us to rot.’

  ‘That’s awful,’ Cat breathed, and Fox snorted, the first sound he’d made since they’d sat down.

  ‘That’s politics,’ he retorted. ‘They get along much better without us, and don’t want to risk the Anglyan government trying to regain control. If we happen to kill ourselves off by putting all the children to work, it’s no skin off their noses.’ His voice was grim, and Cat shivered.

  ‘You think that’s what they’re doing, then?’ she questioned intently. ‘Killing off the commoners by taking the children?’ It would make sense; gods knew her father and his associates would love to be able to toss all the commoners into a storm and be done with it. ‘Hang on,’ she murmured, pausing. ‘You said the war ended about three months after the monarchs disappeared, right? And then the Collections began?’

  Ben nodded, and Cat felt unease grow in her stomach.

  ‘That’s around the same time the aristocracy took over government. I remember there were about two or three months after their disappearance when everything was up in arms, and no one was in charge. Then my father and his colleagues took over.’ Her mother had been absolutely inconsolable when the monarchs had disappeared. Queen Mary had been her closest friend. Cat could barely even remember them, having been only six when they disappeared, but she remembered asking her mother why she wasn’t having lessons with Prince James any more. She’d hardly seen her father over those few months.

  ‘What a coincidence,’ Fox muttered under his breath, earning a scolding look from Alice. ‘What? I’m just saying. The country went to the storms once her father and his ilk took over running it. All the deception is down to them.’

  It wouldn’t surprise Cat to find out that her father was aware – and in favour – of a plan to wipe out the commoners. The overseas effort wasn’t his department, but he no doubt knew the man who had come up with the idea. He liked to involve himself in all aspects of government.

  ‘You’ve known this since the beginning, then?’ she asked Alice. ‘You and Harry. And you haven’t done anything?’

  ‘What could we do, lass?’ Matt cut in. ‘We’d be arrested as soon as we dared say anything. They’re already blackmailing half the people who know into keeping quiet. Anyone not in government who has to leave their ship in another country is told they can keep all their kids in exchange for silence. Like you saw, it’s impossible not to find out the truth as soon as you step on foreign soil – the government knows it can’t hide it. They threatened for years to take Fox from us. He’s too old now, but we know what’s at stake.’

  ‘And what about what’s at stake for all those people who aren’t being blackmailed?’ Cat retorted angrily. ‘Those people whose children are being taken from them for no good reason? Those people starving on rations, living in fear of foreign invasion?’ She turned to Ben, eyes wide and imploring. ‘How can you stand back and let it happen when you know how it feels to lose someone to Collections?’

  ‘What do you propose we do, then?’ Fox cut in, voice flat. ‘Go on, government girl. Tell us in your infinite wisdom how we should be fixing this whole mess all by ourselves.’

  Cat swallowed, steeling herself and meeting his eyes defiantly.

  ‘We infiltrate the government building,’ she declared, her voice shaking. ‘I’ve been sneaking in and out of there since I was barely old enough to walk. It’ll be harder now I don’t have my … family influence.’ She coughed, looking away as Fox’s eyes flashed with something hateful and ugly. ‘But it can be done. We get in, find out why they’re really Collecting the children, and we get enough evidence of their corruption to trap them in their own lies. Even if – even if the rest of Tellus doesn’t care, maybe we have some people left in Anglya who do care enough to fight back.’

  There was silence after her words, in which Cat tried to look as confident as she sounded, before Matt let out a bark of laughter.

  ‘You’ve certainly got guts, I’ll give you that,’ he remarked.

  ‘Something needs to be done, before it’s too late,’ Cat reasoned. She couldn’t help but wonder, however, how often she’d come close to uncovering things. If she’d just made it through those locked doors, just once, things could be so very different. If she’d overheard the right conversation, or read the right letter. Then again, her father probably would have beaten her for sticking her nose in his business. She couldn’t believe it had been eight years and no one had tried to stop them, though. Did people not care?

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Alice scolded. ‘We didn’t spend years risking our necks smuggling just to throw it all away on a suicide mission. It’s an awful situation, Cat, but there’s very little we can do about it.’

  Cat’s lips pursed, her brow furrowing in frustration. Surely they could do something?

  ‘There’s one thing I don’t understand,’ she began, frown deepening. ‘Before I left home, my father told me they wouldn’t be needing Collections much longer. He said the war was coming to an end. If there was no war in the first place, what on Tellus w
as he talking about?’

  There was another long silence, and Ben and Matt shared a glance.

  ‘It’s true, then,’ Matt said, looking grim. ‘There were rumours something big was happening. Something was changing. We dismissed them as just talk, but if Hunter was talking about stopping Collections … they must have all the kids they need for whatever they’re planning.’

  ‘Surely if they stop taking the sprogs, that’s all that matters?’ Fox groused.

  ‘Don’t be thick,’ Matt retorted, ‘if they stop taking them, it means they’ve finished what they needed them for. Gods only know what that may be.’

  Fox scowled, but a slow smirk tugged at Ben’s lips, his eyes calculating. ‘We’d need information first,’ he murmured thoughtfully. ‘Guard shift schedules and locations. Then blueprints, schematics …’ He looked up at Fox, raising an eyebrow. ‘You’ve been wanting to find out what’s actually going on for years.’ The sulky teenager shrugged to acknowledge the point, but he didn’t seem any closer to agreeing to Cat’s suggestion. Ben broadened his appeal to the whole crew.

  ‘Cat’s right; we’ve been letting it lie for far too long now. The government seems to be escalating their plans, and who knows what their next step is. We need to stop them before they can implement it. And I think it’s time I found out what happened to my sister.’ He met Cat’s eyes with a tentatively determined expression, and she grinned back.

  ‘Hardly much point in arguing the matter,’ Fox remarked. He looked at Ben. ‘You’re right about one thing. If we’re going to change something, it’ll have to be soon, before it’s too late. Any Collection from now on could be the last.’

  Fox’s sudden acquiescence came as a surprise to all of them, and Cat smiled hesitantly at him. He met her eyes, his expression blank for a long moment, before he smiled back. It was barely there, but it made her beam.

  ‘I still think it’s a death wish,’ Alice said. ‘But you have a point – something needs to change. If anyone can manage it, we can. Especially with Cat’s inside knowledge. Anyway, we do nothing until Harry’s had a say.’ Her brow was ridged with worry lines, but there was something in her eyes that made Cat sure the woman would do everything to convince her husband to go along with things.