Charmed Vengeance

“I want my bed,” she sobbed. “And my popi.” Fat tears streamed down her little face.

“Would you like to sleep in my bed?” Noli took her by the hand and led her to her room, trying to think of a way to make her happy and quiet before she woke the other girls. Again. “Look, you may sleep in my hammock.”

Rahel peered into the dim room and made a face. “You sleep there?”

“It’s actually quite comfortable.” Noli helped the little girl into the hammock. “Here’s a pillow and blanket.” She tucked the little pillow under Rahel’s head and covered her with the green blanket. “You may even hold my doll.”

Rahel took the offered doll and fingered her red curls. “What’s her name?”

“Charlotte,” she replied without a thought. The ship shook and the engines made a noise of protest. “You go to sleep. I’ll return to check on you.”

Rahel closed her eyes and nodded. Noli caressed the little girl’s cheek then ran back into the engine room just as something boomed in the distance.

Steven gripped the bolted-down table in tiny common area as Hayden’s Follies rolled, the entire ship tilting to one side as everything not secured slid around, creating a merry mess. A slew of gunfire punctuated the evasive maneuver, every rat-tat-tat of the patrol’s gatling gun sounding as if it would pierce the hull and shoot him.

Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea. Apparently flying decoy meant that they drew the patrols away from the other ship.

The ship rolled in the opposite direction, things continuing to fall, his knuckles whitening as he held on, not wanting to join the loose objects. A large boom radiated from the back of the ship and they took a nosedive, throwing him forward. He stopped when his body hit the wall, the breath knocking right out of him.

“Pull up, pull up,” James shouted from the bridge, gunfire continuing to be exchanged.

“I’m trying, but we’re going to crash,” Hattie yelled back. “The best I can do is land us in a place they can’t get to.”

Rubbing his head, Steven gulped. Being caught by patrols was bad. The kind that meant jails and aethergraphs to Quinn.

“Hold on,” Hattie yelled. “We’re about to kiss the ground.”

Something between a boom, a screech, and a wail filled the air as the entire craft shook. Steven was thrust forward again. This time he put his arms out in front of him. Pain shot through his left wrist.

“Everyone keep still,” Hattie ordered when the craft stopped shaking.

An eerie silence blanketed the ship as the engine went quiet. They could hear the engines of the other ships. It was so quiet they could probably hear the thunder of his own frantic heart. Steven crept toward the bridge where Hattie looked as if she literally held her breath. Finally, the sound of the engines disappeared. He breathed a sigh of relief that made his entire body shudder.

“What now?” Steven whispered from the doorway.

“Being downed air pirates in Deseret isn’t a good thing,” Hattie whispered back. “We get out, survey the damage, and pray we get ourselves back in the sky before the MoBatts spot us.”

“What about the Vixen’s Revenge?” James asked from the gunning station, a trickle of blood leaking from his lower lip.

Hattie shook her head slowly. “We pray they got away and get into safe airspace with no further problems.”

They stood in front of the small craft, the sun rising above them. Certainly, the wilds of Deseret Territory were beautiful, with the snow-crested rocks and mountains. Never had he seen such colors, at least not in this realm.

“What’s the damage?” Hattie asked Hittie.

The corners of Hittie’s lips turned down, the deep and disturbing frown seeming to permeate throughout her entire wiry form. “Fortuna smiled on us … sort of. It’s purely structural. They missed the engines. But how in Hades are we going to fix a broken tail and the breeches in the hull? If we can even find the tail.”

The schooner was made of wood and metal. Hmmm … Ignoring everyone, Steven placed his hands on the bullet-riddled hull. Yes … that could work. What about the tail? Moving over to the tail section, he examined it. If they could find the rest he just might be able to reattach it.

“Captain, if we repair the tail and the holes in the ship we could get to San Francisco?” A plan formed in Steven’s mind. Getting to Rahel before the rescue ladies alerted Dr. Heinz was still priority—and they couldn’t do that grounded in enemy territory.

“We could … in theory,” Hattie replied slowly, nodding as if doing so made the words more true. Certainly they wouldn’t last long if they couldn’t get airborne.

“Good,” Steven replied. “Why don’t you two find the rest of the tail? James and I will start on the repairs.” The sisters stood there, blinking as if he’d spoken in tongues.

Hittie’s arms crossed over her ample chest. Skepticism etched every inch of her face. “You mean you can repair the ship?”

“I think so.” He looked at James. “Right, James?”

James’ forehead furrowed, clearly not understanding what he meant. “Um, sure.”

“That gives me so much confidence,” Hittie huffed.

“Noli’s an ace engineer and I’ve been her chief assistant since we were children, I’ve learned a few things over the years.” Hopefully that would be explanation enough. “I can’t make any promises, but we have just as much reason to get back up in the air as you.”

Hattie toyed with the ends of her braid which had come unpinned at some point. “True … ” She looked to her sister. “We don’t have anything to lose.”

“You wreck my ship I wreck your face,” Hittie spat. “Let’s see if we can find the tail.” The two sisters retreated in the direction they’d fled from.

James came up beside him, eyes dancing with amusement. “What exactly is your plan?”

Despite the bone-chilling cold, Steven rolled up his sleeves so he could work. “We’re earth court. The ship is made of wood.”

“Are you mad?” James hissed, eyes going wide. “We’re not supposed to use magic unsupervised in this realm.”

Steven laughed. Now James wanted to be sensible? “Right, like you’ve ever paid attention to that. We’ve been using a tracking spell, remember?”

“That’s different. You want to use magic to repair someone else’s ship? While they’re here?” His voice rose in pitch, cracking a little, eyes widening, and cheeks flushing.

“James, if we don’t get there when the Vixen’s Revenge does, we won’t get Rahel, which means we won’t get the automaton, which means we’re back at square one and we’re running out of time.” He met his brother’s eyes. “If you have a better idea I’d love to hear it.”

“You look and sound so much like father right now.” A smile tugged at James’ lips.

Terror seized Steven’s chest as his hand went to his forehead. “I do? I’m so sorry.”

James chuckled and shook his head. “Better you than me. All right, let’s see what we can do … I’m not really good at this sort of magic.”

Steven put his hands over the breech in the hull nearest him. “Let’s give it a go.”

“Sure. I’ll take the other side, you take this one?” James jerked his head toward the other side of the little ship.

“Sounds good.” Steven’s attentions returned to the hull in front of him. The bullet holes were mostly superficial. It was the hull breaches he needed to repair so they could get airborne. Time to survey the damage. Magic tingled through his fingertips as he probed the breech and gently manipulated the wood to close the fissures. It was a slow, tedious process. He kept needing to stop and stamp to warm himself and blow on his hands. Finally, the breach closed and he breathed an icy sigh of relief. One down, one more to go … on this side. Then the tail.