Watch of Nightingales

by Honor Gable

  "There won't be now either. Quit worrying and try to have a little fun."

  Laughing, I shake my head. This would be much harder if it wasn't for Audrey. She brings a lightness to the team, fun and laughter, we would be lost without.

  I move my right hand to my left wrist, playing with the rocks wrapped around and embedded in my skin. Every morning I check my entire body over for lumps or growths like the men who went under the same experiment experienced. Nothing yet, but the fear refuses to leave me, stalking my every waking moment and even some of my dreams.

  A part of me still wonders if we did the right thing, keeping our continued powers a secret.

  I haven't mentioned it to the others, not wanting to appear weak. They have to trust me and not worry that I'll muck everything up.

  I drain the drink, letting it warm and steady me through and through. No way out now.

  It's time.

  The moon casts an eerie glow over the terrain below me as I soar down through the sky, aiming my chute for the dim lights signaling the letter A in an inverted L shape. It's like a fairy land down there. Or a fairy grove. The only lights for kilometers, the country under blackout.

  My face stretches into a grin, the wind stealing the breath from my open mouth. Every nerve in my body tingles and zings with exhilaration, my pulse pounding in time with the blinking lights and I wish I could let out a whoop, anything to release a little of the adrenaline coursing through me. I can't make out any of the others even with the full moon lending its light. I've never felt more like my namesake than this moment, about to be shipwrecked in a strange land, pretending to be someone I'm not.

  But I can't be Viola anymore, from my life or Shakespeare.

  Viola dies and her ghost flaps behind me along with the parachute. Madeline is who I am now. Viola will get me killed.

  Only seconds are left before I hit the ground, the lights moving closer with each heartbeat. I'm a bit off course, but not too badly.

  I hope.

  I brace for the landing, fighting against the muscles wanting to tense and stiffen up, needing to stay fluid, to let myself fall. The ground rushes up to meet me, the wind roaring loud in my ears, but not loud enough to drown out the night sounds of birds and bugs lending their voices to the night. With frantic fingers and movements, I steer myself away from the tree looming ahead, waiting for me to crash into it. My left leg tangles in a couple of the branches, the thick parachute jumpsuit protecting me from scrapes, unable to stop the sharp pain of bruises forming on my shins. My heart takes up residence in my throat as my feet thud against the ground with more force than I expected, the parachute floating and billowing behind me like some sort of overgrown cape. My breaths are loud and my eyes dart about, searching for the other Nightingales, lighting only on one, though I can't make out who in the dark.

  I'm not in Kansas anymore.

  Before I can disengage myself from the parachute dragging at me, lights bob and surround me, hands creeping from the shadows to unbuckle and unsnap me, helping me from the jumpsuit, voices chattering in French too fast for my overwhelmed mind to keep up. Unable to control the trembling wracking my body, I'm no help as they fold up everything and bury it.

  Lois's voice speaks French by my ear and I swallow a scream. "This is Justine and Celine's group. Ours is on the other side." Right. I can't even think of them by their true names anymore.

  My hand raises in a wave to my nameless helpers. "Thanks."

  I keep hold on Lois's arm, my hand grasping out and squeezing Audrey and Rivka's fingers in goodbye and good luck, nodding at the man who came with us as the new wireless operator. I don't even know his name. We don't speak as they hurry us across the glowing field. I fight the anxiety plaguing me over splitting up with the others even though we won't be separated long.

  Two people materialize from the night, their torches off now. I peer through the darkness, but can't distinguish any features.

  One of them speaks, the voice declaring him male. "Follow us as quietly as you can. No talking until we get to the safe house and we’re inside. Understand?"

  We whisper together. "Yes."

  Our new companions turn and head to the woods, Lois's arm still entwined with mine so we don't lose each other. Her trembling travels into me and I shake along with her. She grunts a couple times throughout the journey. She must be struggling to stay visible, not wanting to tip them off. It's harder for her in complete darkness, the powers inside her begging to be released. No one can know about them. Which will be the most difficult part of this mission. This whole project or experiment wasn't very well thought out. It reeks of desperation and closed door deals in war rooms and scientists playing God.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  AUDREY

  My body vibrates with the jitters as Rivka and I help round up the cylinders and supplies that were dropped down with us. I want to go back up and jump again. It was better than any motorcycle racing I've done before. It was better than practicing on the static ball at Ringway. I want to live in the air, always falling.

  My arms are sore and shaking by the time we get the back of the trolley loaded, bales of hay over top. If we run across a checkpoint or patrol there's no way to hide this.

  Rivka and I exchange a shrug and climb in after the one of the French chaps. The other one and the agent called Hugo disappear on foot. The sun is already starting to peek over the horizon. They better hurry. I don't fancy getting nipped because the best idea they had is covering the supplies with hay. Stupid gits. I ignore the thought that I can't think of anything better. We bob into each other as the truck lurches over the bumpy terrain, no headlights guiding the way.

  I grin as the adrenaline surges back hard and strong. This is almost as good as racing motorcycles, if not jumping from a plane. The driver is confident and fast, seeming to drive by instinct instead of sight. It's impressive. Rivka has her eyes squeezed shut and grips the handle on the door, her lips moving silently. I smirk. Rivka and her need to be in control. This has to be killing her.

  We only travel around ten kilometers before we drive up to a small house surrounded by woods.

  The driver speaks for the first time, his voice husky and quiet. "We need to unload all of this into the barn behind the house quickly. No speaking." He pulls around behind the house and backs up to the barn.

  We climb out, reveling in the fresh air after being stifled and packed into the trolley. Once everything is unloaded, back into the trolley we go, and drive on into the fading night. Why didn't anyone come out of the house? Who lives there? Why aren't we staying there?

  I hate not knowing what the bleeding hell is going on. Maybe I have some control issues of my own.

  My head jolts up from a doze. I don’t remember falling asleep. The trolley has stopped, and the driver speaks again. "We have to get out here and continue on foot. There are checkpoints a couple kilometers ahead."

  Lovely.

  We clamber back out and I rustle in my pack and take out a vitamin biscuit. If we're walking, I'll need this. The Frenchman stares at it with disgust. I shrug and shove the whole thing in my mouth. Can't afford to be choosy. My mouth twists as it dissolves and turns into paste, but I swallow it down, the slime taking forever to slide down my throat. He watches my reaction with interest, so I don't give him one, keeping my face blank and pleasant. The driver laughs silently, jerks his head, and starts walking.

  His laugh transforms his face, making him almost handsome.

  I quirk an eyebrow at Rivka, and I fall in behind him.

  This could be fun.

  My smirk is missing completely by the time he takes us to a farmhouse and leaves us there. Finally, we can get some sleep. We troop inside wearily and after being shoved bowls of some sort of soup, we're herded back out the door by half the men inside. Told nothing yet again, our questions ignored, but there's a static in the air that's catching. It puts more strength in my steps.

  When they finally stop and explain, a little of the same thrill
from jumping and bobbling through the night without light returns.

  Hell yes.

  CHAPTER NINE

  AUDREY

  Biting back the grin trying to erupt onto my face, I grasp tighter to my gun. I stay close behind Rivka, ready to cover her if this goes wrong. It's still dark, and I should be exhausted, but my body vibrates. This is what I've been waiting for. A chance to do something. A chance to fight.

  I'm especially tickled we aren't following London's orders, and our prison guard will have to wait for us to get there.

  I almost step on Rivka's heels and bite back a curse. Night vision powers would be helpful right about now. Clouds have rolled in, cutting back the light from the moon. She reaches her arm back and taps me. I do the same to the fellow behind me.

  It's the signal.

  Glass smashes and clangs to the cobblestone outside the shop. One, two, three, I'm in. Seven, eight, nine, bag is open and blankets, rope, anything useful is stuffed into my pack. I keep count in my head as the wooden floor creaks below our feet.

  "Down." The voice comes from the lookout at the edge of the store.

  Lights follow his voice and I'm on the floor, using my pack as a cushion. My heart pounds madly and blood roars in my ears. The car passes and I breathe deep. The dark is back and we're up and grabbing everything with greater urgency. If the light had hit the broken glass, we'd be done.

  My pack and pockets are as full as I can get them. The others aren't done so I grab a jar of shoe polish. The smell burns my nose, and I bite back a sneeze. The man who owns this store is a collaborator and is the reason our new friends' comrades have been arrested. I kneel down onto the floor, using the barely peeking sun as my light. Dipping my fingers into the polish, I draw words in French. Nazi pig. Fascist. Traitor. Coward.

  One of the others comes to see what I'm doing and snorts when he reads it. "Time to go."

  Now for the real fun.

  Using the butts of our guns, we start smashing. We knock down shelves. Break glass bottles.

  We allow ourselves thirty seconds of destruction, and then we run.

  Back into the woods.

  Not stopping for several miles.

  The fellow Axel sent as our leader for the night calls a halt and we collapse, shaking with quiet laughter. Even Rivka covers her face to hide her giggles. I haven't had this much fun in a long time.

  Our leader only gives us a moment to catch our breath before he has us up and moving again. My back aches, and the racket from the night animals is terrifying. I hate the woods and the country. Bugs, snakes, and other awful creatures just waiting to jump out and bite me. My stomach protests the lack of food. The stew was so long ago, now a fond distant memory. The woods are lightening, daylight coming fast.

  The adrenaline and excitement of the mission is gone, leaving me drooping. I'd lay down on the disgusting ground if I could. Food. Sleep. I need them. I stumble, my right leg giving out underneath me when step wrong on a rock, and tumble to the ground. The crack of bone rips through the dark. Hell.

  The rest of them stop and Rivka kneels beside me in the guise of checking my injury, letting me squeeze her hand as my bone knits back together and my scraped knees close up. Air hisses through my teeth and I clench my eyes shut. I try to breathe, but the air refuses to leave my lungs. I want a cigarette. But we aren't supposed to smoke here. Maybe I can sneak one.

  The pain fades, leaving me dizzy and starving, but I can stand. Rivka lends her arm to help me get to my feet.

  The leader helps from the other side. "Is it broken?"

  "No, I'm fine. Just stunned me for a moment." I prove it by taking a few steps on my own.

  "I could've sworn I heard a bone snap."

  "Probably just a stick."

  "Hmph." He's not convinced, but he lets it go. "Well, let's move on. The sun is already too high and we've still got another nine kilometers to go."

  Nine? What I wouldn't give to be Viola or Lois right now, their abilities to travel fast would be so convenient. I smother the groan and let Rivka wind her arm through mine, lending her strength to me.

  CHAPTER TEN

  VIOLA

  Yvette, the gap-toothed girl who fed us last night wakes us early, barely risen dull sunlight streaming through the windows she throws open. "Wake up, girls. Meeting's about to start downstairs."

  Hearing the words in French, I pop from the bed, wide eyed and heart racing. Where are we? France. Mission. I'm Madeline and I'm here with Elodie. I rub my face, sanity returning bit by bit. Lois groans and rolls over onto my side of the bed, nuzzling into her covers. "Start without me."

  Yvette's eyes go wide and I snort, yanking the pillow out from under her head. "We can't. Now, come on."

  "Arrrgh. Fine." Lois sits up, her light hair tousled around her scowling face.

  We're still dressed in our clothes from yesterday, so it doesn't take long to re-tuck, adjust, and splash some freezing water on our faces.

  "Where's the rest of our team?" I ask as I shove my feet into shoes.

  "They've been here and already left. Poor things. Axel sent them with a few of his fellows on a mission. You'll meet up with them at the next safe house."

  Lois and I exchange worried glances. We aren't supposed to be going on missions until we've met up with our British contact in Paris.

  Yvette ushers us downstairs before we have a chance to question her. Axel and two other men, dark-haired and dark-eyed who look to be in their late twenties introduce themselves with names I will never remember. They could be brothers or cousins, they look so alike.

  Axel lights a cigarette and unfolds the map, his stubby finger stabbing it. "This is where we are." His finger stabs another spot. "This is where we need to take you two." He stabs a place somewhere between the two. "This is where you're going to help us with a little sabotage. We have a railroad to blow up."

  What? We're on a schedule, there isn't time and it wasn't in our orders.

  Lois frowns and shakes her head. "Uh...I don't know if that's going to work. We have to meet our team outside of Paris. And you sent them on a mission too?"

  He waves a hand and grins around his cigarette. "Don't worry. It's on the way and we'll get you there in time. We leave in an hour, so be ready. We'll set the charges this morning and have you there by dark."

  Trickles of unease slide down my spine while Lois and I share another wary glance. With a helpless shrug, she sighs. "Fine. We'll help, but if we get arrested, I'll shoot you myself."

  The laughter the three men break into dies in their throats when they catch the look in her eye. One promising death and revenge, devoid of any humor.

  I cover my smile with a cough into my hands.

  Axel clears his throat. "Grab your gear and let's move."

  We barely get a chance to choke down some bread and lavender blueberry jam before we're off.

  On a mission.

  Without the rest of our team.

  I hitch the satchel filled with explosives higher on my shoulder, stifling my sighs at the slow pace. My power hasn't been used in a while, and the bracelet and my body both protest. I walk along right behind Axel. Lois, and two other men form a line behind us, all of them with bags matching mine. If we get caught by a patrol there will be no talking our way out of it. The pencil detonators won't hold up under close inspection, especially when we all carry them, but being careful comes second to getting the job done.

  Lois tried to tell them we should travel in two groups from the beginning, but the men shot the idea down with no real reason why. I suspect it's because we aren't trusted. Not because we're women surprisingly, but because we're British spies come to tell the French how to fight. I can't really blame them.

  I never thought I'd be grateful for the brutal training we’d had to endure through the Scottish woods and mountains, but now each careful step is second nature and my body has no protests over the long trek through overgrown forest trails. The woods are beautiful. Similar but different to the ones back
home. Not quite as green or tall perhaps, but still enchanting.

  My dread grows with each step into the thickening forest, nothing but slits of faint light filtering through the dense leaves. My feet itch to run, but I can't, instead they flit over the rocks and roots with ease, years of playing in the woods growing up coming back to me like I never left the haunted wood or ghost graveyards I played in with Dot and her sisters. The smells are the same. Damp and rotting moss covered fallen trees, sunlight mixed with rain, fresh bloomed flowers carried by the winds. The scents comfort me in this new world and life is a little less foreign.

  Axel stops and turns around. "This is where we split up." He points to Lois and I. "You two, keep heading Northwest. You'll come right to the railroad that way. At exactly nine, blow it."

  We nod and disappear through the trees. We wait a bit before we use our powers, not wanting to take any chances. The trees cast perfect shadows for Lois to manipulate, and we take off, only catching sight of each other in flashes. I keep her ahead of me, so I don't get lost.

  The power bursts and washes over me and for the first time in months, I'm able to really let go.

  There is no better feeling.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  VIOLA

  Lois checks her watch. "We have three minutes until we need to set the charges."

  I peek over the bushes we're hunkered behind. "I'll set them. You stay here since these aren't always very reliable. I can move faster."

  "You sure?"

  "Yes, I'm sure. No shadows outside the tree-line."

  We dig into the packs, pulling out the detonators and explosives, the two pound bricks heavy in my arms. I zip over to the rail line, and set the plastic against the rails, crushing the ends of the two pencil detonators under my boot, checking the inspection holes to make sure I can see straight through. One of them is obstructed. I curse, grab the pack, and crush the end of another one. This one dents perfectly, so I remove the brass safety strip and stick them into the explosives. I use all the bracelet's power to make my way back to Lois.