She hesitated. There was a bitterness to his tone she hadn’t noticed before. He doesn’t think I see him that way, does he?
“If you think it’s best,” she said. “So I just wait here?”
“Maybe you can come with me, as my nurse. We should wait until the airship moves, though.”
Nyssa lay on one of the benches, her peacoat balled under her head as a pillow. She really hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Perhaps a nap would do her good.
***
When she awoke, the area was dark. She felt about for her satchel and managed to fish out her goggles. Slipping them on, she switched the dial on the side to night vision. Green light bathed the carriage and the luggage hold. Crates, boxes, steamer trunks, all stacked around her, but no sign of Ellis.
She exited the carriage. “Ellis?” she hissed.
“Over here.”
She followed the voice around a tower of crates and found him sitting in front of a porthole.
He smiled at her. “Finally up. We’ve been moving for a couple hours now. Look.” He motioned towards the window.
Nyssa pushed her goggles up on her head and leaned forward. Below them stretched a field of dark blue, broken by lines of white that appeared then disappeared, then appeared again.
She whistled. “Is that all water?”
“Yep. We’re over the sea now.” He drew a watch from his breast pocket and flipped it open. “If my understanding of the ship’s schedule is correct, most of the passengers and crew will be busy now either eating or serving brunch. If we want to try and claim our cabin, this would be a good time.”
“Let’s go.”
They navigated back through the crates to a locked door. It only took Nyssa half a minute to pick the latch. She pushed it open, just a crack.
A hall with forest-green carpet and polished wood-paneled walls stretched for at least a dozen yards, before ending in another door. It was empty.
“Clear.”
They continued down the hall. “We need to get to the sleeping quarters. Our cabin is number 15,” he said, glancing from side to side. “These look too narrow and close together to be passenger rooms. Probably crew quarters.”
“And storage.” Nyssa pointed to one hatch labeledSpare Uniforms, Aprons, Tablecloths.
“Good to know.”
They opened the door at the end of the hall. Four steps led to a second level.
Nyssa bit her bottom lip. “I know you don’t usually need help—”
He chuckled. “You think I didn’t account for stairs?” He flipped the switch on the chair’s control panel and a pair of ski-like attachments lowered from behind the wheels. Leaning back, he tilted the chair so that the front of the skis rested on the bottom step. “Give me a quick push, and we should be fine. I brought my own ramp.”
“Wow,” she said as she obeyed. “The moment I think I’ve figured out everything this chair can do, it surprises me.”
“I spent a lot of time tinkering with it after my accident,” he said.
“You really should manufacture them.”
They reached the top of the steps, and the skis retracted.
“I’ve given it some thought. Unfortunately the amount of skilled work that goes into it would make it difficult to mechanize production. The amount of man-hours required would be prohibitively expensive. Someday, though, maybe a simpler version could be mass-produced.”
“Maybe that’s our future business venture.” She smiled. “Glass and Not-Dalhart’s Self-Propelled Chairs?”
“Worth considering.”
The doors in this portion of the airship were wider and further apart. Each had a number in the center, starting with 20 and 19, across from each other.
They stopped in front of 15.
“Here we are.” Nyssa reached for her lockpicks in her back pocket. However, when she brushed the knob, the door swung open.
The porcelain-skinned woman in the red dress blinked back at her.
Chapter Four
“Renard!” the red-dressed woman yelped.
A man leapt up from one of the two narrow beds and fumbled for a revolver on the nightstand. Nyssa flung her lockpick set into his face, knocking him off balance. She barreled into the woman, shoulder first. The woman toppled onto the man as Nyssa’s fingers clutched the revolver’s handle. She aimed it at the man.
Ellis rolled into the room then pushed the door shut behind him. “Well, this is awkward.”
Nyssa alternated her aim from the man to the woman, who clutched Renard’s arm, her green eyes wide.
They can’t be any older than I am. Nyssa swallowed. They’re practically kids.
She backed up to stand beside Ellis and lowered the gun. “This room doesn’t belong to you.”
Without his hat and mask, the man looked more like a boy, fresh-faced and wide-eyed. He had dark hair and olive skin. His vest and trousers fit him loosely, obviously made for someone a size larger.
“Mr. and Mrs. Cormac, I presume?” Ellis crossed his arms. “Where are our passports?”
The woman pointed to a black handbag that sat on the other bed. “We needed them. You could get another set, take another airship. We had to get out of Freeport.”
“And how do you know we didn’t?” Nyssa scowled. “People don’t buy fake passports for the fun of it. What was so urgent that you had to rob us at gunpoint?”
Renard looked at the girl.
She stuck her chin in the air. “We aren’t thieves.”
“Actually, by the definition of the word, and the fact that you’re standing in a stateroom I paid for, in possession of documents I also paid for, I’d say you are,” Ellis said. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t turn you over to the captain as the stowaways you are?”
Nyssa’s stomach twisted. Because the captain might recognize me from the wanted posters.
“We … we just had to get away. We couldn’t …” Tears welled in the girl’s eyes. She flopped down on the bed, buried her face in the pillows, and sobbed.
Nyssa raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?”
Renard bent over the girl, stroking her hair and making soothing noises. “Shush, Amara, my love. Please don’t cry. Please.”
Ellis cleared his throat. “Maybe we should start over? Who are you two, and why were you
