Scrambling up tree, like she had a million times, she put the letter to V in the hidey-hole they had for that very purpose. It told V where she was, so he wouldn’t worry. As she climbed down, she heard a soft whir behind her.
“Noli, why are you in the backyard in your nightdress? It’s a little late to be out, isn’t it?” Jeff whispered, landing his hoverboard in the backyard, dressed exactly as he had been earlier.
“Oh, I was leaving a note for V.”
Jeff smirked, raking a hand through his short, dark curls. Her eyes welled with tears as she thought of how much had happened since her brother had dropped her off earlier today.
“What’s wrong?” He climbed off the hoverboard and pulled her to him.
She softy, and quickly, told him everything–V ending their courtship, Grandfather arriving, and them departing for Boston in the morning.
“I don’t want to go to Boston,” Noli hiccupped.
“Then don’t.” He cupped her cold face with his warm hand. “Come with me. Work on the ship as our engineer, save money for university, and become a botanist. Let Mother go. She’ll be taken care of and neither one of us will have to worry about her anymore.”
Noli gazed at her dark house, even in the moonlight she could see how worn it was compared to the others on the block. If their mother were taken care of and happy then leaving wouldn’t be so bad. As much as she didn’t wish to become an air pirate, her desire to go to Boston was a thousand times less.
Resigned, she nodded, belly clenching at the thought that she’d actually go through with this mad notion. “I need to change my note. Good thing my trunk is already packed.”
Jeff’s eyebrows rose, goggles still on. “I can’t carry you
and
a trunk on my hoverboard. The weight would crash us immediately”
Her cheeks warmed. “You’re right. Could I bring a small valise? I think I can compensate for it balance-wise.”
“Pack light.” He took out his pocket watch and checked the time. “Be fast.”
Scrambling back up the tree, she fixed the note with a stub of pencil she’d stashed in a tin can in the corner. V would find her and they’d take everything from there.
She returned to the house, heart thumping so loud she feared it might wake her mother. Was she truly doing this? Stealing off in the middle of the night with Jeff to go work on an airship? The thought made her so giddy her hands shook.
Pack light. That would be difficult considering she was leaving forever.
Fortunately, she had a solution. Noli lit the candle lamp and dumped the contents of her valise on her bed. She’d packed it for the airship to Boston filled with necessities and amusements. The necessities went back in, along with the new copy of
Nichomanchan Ethics
V had given her, her parents’ wedding picture, the botany book from her father, the doll, Charlotte’s hair, and the magazine with the pattern.
She opened her trunk and threw some of the dresses into the bag along with other things—nightdresses, shoes, corsets, undergarments, even a few hats, sans boxes. This valise was magic, something she’d gotten in the Otherworld. The small bag could fit more than her trunk and weighed less than her parasol—which also went into the bag along with the precious dresses she’d brought back from the Otherworld and hid. In she tossed her goggles, apron, cap, a couple of books, and work gloves. Things she’d need as a ship’s engineer.
Anything else?
Noli scanned the room and added a few more things including her tool-belt, a leather bracelet Charlotte made her, and a small knife from James. Opening her jewelry box she withdrew an old brass key on a green ribbon. It was the key to the faery garden at Findlay House. She wasn’t sure why she took it, but there was magic in that key, she could feel it even if V couldn’t. If she didn’t take it, she’d probably regret it at some point.
She changed into a blue dress her mother had made out of a sketch from Charlotte. It was Noli’s attempt to meld the comfort of her Otherworld dresses with the propriety of mortal fashion. The blue dress hung a little shorter, allowing for freedom movement and preventing the need for a hoop skirt. Trim dangled from the bell sleeves, which could be kilted up to tackle tasks. Trimmed fabric swooped each hip and the waist was cinched with a belt reminiscent of the waist cinchers and corsets worn in the Otherworld outside of clothing, but looked more the belt than the undergarment. Often she used her tool-belt instead.
Taking a scrap of paper, she scrawled a quick note to her mother.
Dear Mama,
I love you, I love you so much. But I can’t go to with you. I’m sorry.
Go to Boston and start over. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.
None of this is your fault. I promise. You’re the best mother a girl could want and I hope to see you again someday. Give everyone in Boston my love.
Always,
Noli
A sense of finality coated her, clinging to her skin, as she clutched her valise and gazed around her room one last time. This was it. Her mother would return to Boston and this would never be home again—not in the way it was.
Wiping a tear from her eye, she blew out the candle lamp, put her good cape around her shoulders, and grabbed some black gloves and dark blue bonnet.
Goodbye room.
Noli crept down the hallway, boots in her hand. She paused in front of her mother’s closed door. “I love you,” she whispered.
Padding down the stairs, she grabbed her tool box and her magnifying goggles from the sewing room and shoved those in her valise. She pulled on her boots and bonnet, tucked the small knife inside her boot, then turned in a circle in the kitchen, taking one last look.
Goodbye house.
Sniffing, she walked out into the cold night.
Jeff stood outside the back door, stamping his feet and blowing on his hands. “It’s about time.” He tugged on her cape, the same one she’d worn earlier. “A little fancy for an airship.”
“It keeps me warm.” Not all places were as temperate as Los Angeles.
They climbed on the hoverboard, Noli adjusting her stance for the weight of the bag, arms wrapped around her brother.
“You’re doing the right thing, Noli,” he assured as they rose into the sky.
Goodbye Los Angeles.
As bittersweet as this was, excitement built within her. After all, she was running away with an air pirate.
As she and Jeff descended on his hoverboard, Noli gazed in awe at the many airships docked at the Grand Central Air Terminal. The station housed everything from the tiny, bird-like sparrow-class schooners held together with twine and rivets to luxury eagle-class liners, sweeping pleasure boats like the one that would take her mother and grandfather to Boston.
Mama. A pang of sadness shot through her, but excitement pushed it away. Her mother would be fine.
They landed near the main building, the street in front bustling with carriages, motorcabs, hoverboards, flying cars, passengers, and aeronauts.
“Stay close.” Jeff tucked his hoverboard under his arm, then offered her his free one. They strolled through the main building of the station with its ticket counters and baggage check, bars, restaurants, and shops. People hurried about even this late at night.
They left passenger terminal and entered another, this one dimmer, grimmer, and dingier. The floors were sticky, making her glad she wore a shorter dress. Her nose wrinkled at the ripe smell. Even the people here seemed … fiercer.
This place doesn’t look fun,
the sprite whispered.
No it didn’t. Maybe she should retrieve her parasol for self-defense.
“This is the terminal for cargo vessels. There’s also one for private pleasure craft.” Jeff glared at a man with one arm and a scar on his face who stalked past them with a scowl on this face which caused her to inch closer to her brother.
Ah, the cargo vessel terminal. Many cargo vessels were reputable, but most folks who worked on them weren’t people Grandfather Montgomery would ever invite over for tea.
“Whenever we’re in port stay with me—even passenger terminals aren’t safe for a lady alone.” He pulled her to him.
They passed a drinking establishment, lively with noise and packed with bodies. Two men unceremoniously threw another out the door onto the ground right at their feet. Jeff pulled her out of the way. They went through a doorway marked “docks” and navigated several flights of rickety stairs and went out another door. The cool night air kissed her face and the sight of moored airships greeted them as they walked out onto the wooden docks, the ground far below.
Her eyes widened as she took everything in under the dim gas lamps. It had been some time since she’d seen so many airships up close. Most of them were smaller, raven or falcon-class with a few little sparrows, most looking like a cross between birds and pirate ships. Balloons filled with helium or hydrogen bobbed among the wooden and metal ship bodies. One or two looked like repurposed military ships—more of a gunmetal gray then dark wood and gleaming brass, with a tiny cabin and one large balloon.
She frowned as they walked past a sparrow, a small wooden schooner, more bird-like than boat like. One gasfilled balloon held it aloft and an outboard engine sat on each side of the wooden body. Hull riddled with bullet holes, two men dressed similarly to Jeff stood on ladders and worked to repair it by gas lamp.
Jeff raised an arm in greeting. “Encounter some trouble, Finn?”
One of the men waved back from his perch on a ladder. “Blasted MoBatts nearly shot us out of the sky over Deseret. Don’t know what’s going on but steer clear if you can. Those MoBatts are sons of—” He blushed and tipped his floppy cap at Noli. “My apologies, miss.”
“No offense taken,” she bobbed her head in greeting. What was a MoBatt?
Jeff shook his head and pushed her past the men, giving them a wave goodbye. “Noli, let me show you my ship.”
Finn eyed them curiously, but waved back as they moved down the docks.
Noli stayed close to her brother. The high wooden pier didn’t have nets or fences like the ones she’d been to before and it was a long way to the ground below.
Can we throw something off the dock and see what happens?
the sprite asked.
Maybe later.
She and Jeff had done that as children.
“Who was he?” Noli asked.
“Finn’s a good friend of mine, he flies decoy. I didn’t introduce you because on second thought, he’s not someone you should be acquainted with.” He grimaced. “I’m starting to think this wasn’t the best idea.”
Her jaw gritted as she shifted her valise on her shoulder. “If you force me to go to Boston, I’ll run away.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you.” He squeezed her arm and they passed more beautiful airships of all shapes and sizes.
“What’s a MoBatt?” She made a face as she tried to think of what it could be.
“Deseret Territory’s private security force. They can’t have their own army but the U.S. has no problem with them having private security, especially ones that like to chase air pirates.”
“Deseret?” Noli blinked. “We studied them in school. What an odd little territory.” It was in between Nevada and Colorado. “Do you think they’ll ever have to become a state?”
“I think as long as they pay taxes, use U.S. currency, obey the law, and don’t deny settlers, the government will leave them be. Did you know that drinking and gambling are illegal there?” He made face as if was a terrible, horrible thing.
Noli laughed at his expression. “I suppose opium and joy-houses are illegal as well? What a completely inhospitable place.”
His lips pursed in a way that meant he didn’t find her joke nearly as amusing as she did. “They mean business. Those MoBatts are nasty … a nasty lot, well,” he shot her a lopsided smile. “If you’re on the wrong side of the law, that is. This is why certain types of ships utilize decoys when we need to travel through Deseret. They’re even worse than the air patrol.”
Her stomach sank to the toes of her black boots as she realized she was about to cross over to the wrong side of the law. There was a big difference between crashing an unregistered flying car when you had no operators permit and air piracy.
“Decoy? Well, that’s one use for a sparrow-class ship.” The only good thing about the little ships was that they could be jerry-rigged to out fly anything in the sky.
They stopped in front of a raven-class ship. Two oblong gas-filled balloons held by woven nets floated above it, fans on the sides, the crow’s nest between. Wood and brass fashioned the body. It had a central engine that was part inside and part outside, not entirely outboard like a sparrow, and two smaller engines, one on each side of the main engine. Raven-class ships always reminded her of a flying pirate ship, though in this ship, nearly everything would take place below, unlike falcon-class ships. A brass wheel sat up top for emergencies. A flag waved from the crow’s nest, burgundy with a blue stripe—a cargo ship for hire.
Clearly, someone took pride in this vessel. It had polished wood, fresh paint, and if it ever had been shot up it had been carefully repaired and concealed. The brass railings gleamed in the moonlight. The gangplank was down.
“Here she is–the Vixen’s Revenge.” Jeff beamed as he gestured to the shining ship.
“There’s no name on the hull.” Or picture. Many of the vessels she’d seen in the past had pictures of scantily clad women, mermaids, or other mascots painted on the side along with the ship’s name.
Jeff shook his head. “Makes you easier to find—also it’s more of a pleasure craft convention than a commercial one. Though the boats you usually fly on probably have them.”
“What boats?” Noli laughed. “Mama doesn’t like airships, remember? When we went to San Francisco she forced me to
take a train
. A train! Why plod across the ground when you can race through the air?” She made a noise of distain. “This is your ship? She’s lovely.”
He patted the ship’s wooden hull. “She’s a good ship.”
“Jeff, is that you?” a female voice with a hint of a southern accent called. “Where have you been? As soon as Asa and Thad return we need to be off.”