Twist sighed and shook his head. “Of course. I should have expected that you would choose to travel with damned bloody pirates. I don’t know why I’m surprised.” It was only then he noticed that the gypsies were looking at him in mild confusion. It was highly likely that Twist was the only one of the party who had any trouble with pirates.
“It’s fine, Twist,” Jonas said with a smile. “I didn’t find a pirate; I found a privateer. And, yes, there’s a difference,” he added when Twist gave him a look. “Anyway, there’s a privateer heading out to air in a hour. Their navigator fell ill, and it turns out that I passed the test for replacement with flying colors,” he announced brightly.
“I swear your eyes are getting better all the time,” Luca said with a grin.
“They say they’re already heading to Africa, and they’ve got a fast-looking airship,” Jonas continued. “They’ll take all of us if I help out on the journey and none of us take a cut of any plunder.”
“That’s funny, because I called in and found a patrol ship that’s leaving in half an hour,” Skye said, gesturing to her tiny pocket watch. “Apparently, there’s a bunch of pirates running around in this area, masquerading as privateers, gunning down merchants and selling whatever they find on the African black market.”
“A patrol ship?” Harman asked, his face awash with alarm. “Who the hell did you talk to?”
“What kind of ship do they have?” Jonas asked Skye before she could answer Harman. “Because I’m telling you, the ship I saw was top of the line. And a pirate will get to Africa as quickly as possible. A patrol’s just going to loop around until they catch something.”
“A patrol isn’t likely to get arrested or detained for questioning,” Skye pointed out.
“Why the hell are we even talking about a patrol?” Luca asked sharply. “And do you mean police, military, or magpies?”
Twist felt the buzz in his neck tighten uneasily. Skye glared at Luca for using the derogatory name for the Rooks.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jonas spat at Luca. “Twist, what do you think?”
“It does matter,” Harman said before Twist could speak. “Jon, what’s going on here?”
“Nothing,” Jonas said, giving a sigh. “It’s nothing.”
“Like hell it is,” Luca hissed.
“Luca, you’re not helping,” Jonas snapped, holding up a hand to silence him. “Twist, what do you—”
“Who did you call?” Luca asked Skye sharply.
“Rook Central Command,” Skye answered with a shrug.
Jonas let out a curse.
“What?” Luca and Harman gasped in unison.
“It’s fine—” Jonas began.
“She’s a bleeding magpie!” Luca bellowed in rage, pointing at Skye.
“I know!” Jonas yelled back. “It’s fine.”
“That’s ‘Rook,’ thank you very much!” Skye snapped angrily.
Myra drew closer to Twist, clearly disturbed by the sudden argument.
“What the hell are you doing, courting a magpie?” Harman demanded of Jonas.
“It’s Rook!” Skye snapped again.
“Shut up,” Jonas snapped at her, earning himself a glare. “She’s a good one,” he answered the gypsies quickly. “It’s not what you think.”
“There aren’t any ‘good ones,’ and you know it!” Harman growled.
“You told me she was a circus clown,” Luca said, his tone savage now. “You knew! You knew all along what she was!”
“Jonas, what are you thinking?” Harman growled.
Luca said something in another language and spat at Skye’s feet. Skye stepped back, shocked.
“Oh God…” Jonas muttered, his expression braced for imminent discomfort.
“What the hell is wrong with being a Rook?” Skye asked acidly, her blue eyes sharp as daggers and her form ready to pounce. Twist gasped as he instantly recognized Skye’s words from the vision of the future that Jonas had mentioned days ago. His description had been perfectly accurate: Skye looking as fierce and defiant as a tiger, in danger yet again.
“Let me tell you—” Luca began, advancing on Skye with a brandished fist.
“Luca!” Jonas barked, placing himself squarely between them. His stance was rigid, and his covered eyes were trained on Luca like the deadliest of glares. “If you have a problem with Skye, then you have a problem with me. She’s not like the others. She’s my friend. I trust her. And when I tell you it’s all right that she’s a mag, it bloody well is all right. Now back down. Both of you. Or just leave right now.”
Struck dumb by shock, Twist could only stare as Luca slowly took one step back from Jonas. Harman stood silent, his dark eyes blazing with hateful fire, just like his son’s. Jonas took a slow breath before he turned his back on the gypsies to look toward Skye. Her expression was cold and confused, but she still held herself as if ready to jump into the fight.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to explain anything to you,” Jonas said to Skye, his voice softer now. “These people and I have a history with…Rooks.” Harman’s face took on a disgusted snarl as Jonas used the proper name. “Every time one of their family was captured or executed for breaking laws, it was either by a Rook or a cop. Your people have stolen things from them, hunted them. You can’t blame Luca and Harman for feeling the way they do. But I know Aden is trying to change things. And I know that you’re different.”
Skye listened intently to him, and her expression softened slowly. Behind Jonas, the gypsies had fallen quiet, looking thoughtful and grim. Just as startled by this information as Twist was, Myra took Twist’s hand as they continued to watch. Twist couldn’t imagine Aden hunting or killing anyone’s family members. Tasha and Niko had been nothing but kind to Twist and his friends. The thought of Skye being as ruthless as the Rooks Jonas described simply wouldn’t fit in his mind. Aden’s rule must have had a drastic effect on all of them.
“I get it,” Skye said finally, nodding. Twist felt some of the tension in Jonas’s electric presence ease in the buzz at his own neck.
Jonas turned around, releasing her hand. He seemed to look directly at Luca through his black goggles. “Are we good? Or am I going to have to threaten you again?”
Luca didn’t respond.
“I’m not traveling another yard with a bloody magpie,” Harman declared icily.
“Fine,” Jonas answered flatly. “Then I’ll see you in Sierra Leone.”
“You’re siding with her?” Luca gasped. “Bloody hell, man, there’s more than one woman in the world!”
“So, Twist,” Jonas asked, turning to him. “Which is it? Privateer or patrol?”
“I can leave,” Skye said, a hand on Jonas’s arm.
“You’re not moving an inch for the sake of intolerance,” Jonas said instantly. “I knew this might happen, and I already decided who’s staying. Besides, you’re not the only magpie I count as a friend now.”
“She’s not?” Harman gasped.
“Twist,” Jonas said, turning his unseeing eyes squarely on him. “Help me out here. Which ship are we taking?”
“The privateer,” Twist answered.
Everyone looked to him in shock.
“Are you serious?” Jonas asked slowly. “You’re actually choosing the pirates?”
“You said it yourself,” Twist answered. “They’ll get to Africa as quickly as possible. A patrol will circle until they find someone to arrest.”
“What about the damned bloody pirates?” Jonas asked.
“Privateers, don’t you mean?” Twist replied with a sigh. “I seem to be getting used to them. Besides, I know you and Skye will help me defend Myra if any of them get any unsavory ideas. And if we do get arrested, Skye can explain that we’re perfectly innocent.”
“Oh, that’s a very good point, dear,” Myra said with a nod and smile. “Jonas, didn’t you say that they were leaving soon? Shouldn’t we be off?”
“Thank you, darling,” Twist said, placing her hand o
n the crook of his arm. “Yes, time is of the essence. Lead the way,” he said to Jonas.
A subtle smile seeped onto Jonas’s face, and the buzz in Twist’s neck calmed back down to normal. Carmine and Pablo had been spying glances at the argument from afar, and Jonas suggested that they all say their good-byes quickly and smoothly. Myra hugged their hosts and promised to visit them if she ever found herself in Brazil again. True to their nature, neither of them asked about the arguments and cordially wished everyone well in their travels.
Twist and his companions decided to hail a cab, rather than be escorted by their hosts, to the hidden airship docks behind the giant rock at the edge of the cove. As he walked through the villa gates and turned down the hill with Twist, Myra, and Skye by his side, Jonas didn’t spare another word for the gypsies, who didn’t make any motion to follow them. They stood still just beyond the gates and stared after Jonas and the others with thoughtful eyes.
The hired cab dropped Twist and his companions at the wooden sea docks that sprawled out at the feet of the smooth, bare, mountain of rock that stood on the thin archipelago at the very edge of the cove. Jonas then led them around the far edge of the rock, where the wooden walkway gave way to a winding dirt path. Thick clouds hung above them, gliding low over the ocean. Walking deeper into the shadow of the tall peninsula’s peak and the billowing clouds, around yet another unkempt outcrop of trees, Twist saw a number of airships floating barely over the edge of the breaking waves that pounded against the jagged land.
Each airship was significantly smaller than any commercial ship he had seen, and many of them looked to have been quickly patched up after recent battle. Twist swallowed his anxieties as best he could, but it wasn’t long before Jonas reached over to give his shoulder a supportive pat.
“We’ll be fine, Twist,” Jonas said softly as they continued to approach the airships.
“Right,” Twist said with a nod. He did his best to keep the thought of Aazzi’s need of them foremost in his mind.
“Skye,” Jonas said, his voice low as they drew closer to the airships and the menacing-looking crewmen who moved around them, “I don’t want to be indelicate here, but the pirate crew we’re going to travel with is mostly made up of men. And if I’m honest, they’re not the most scrupulous.”
“That’s not a problem,” Skye said easily.
She buttoned her silver tailcoat tightly across her chest, further obscuring her figure, and then reached into a pocket and pulled out a small box. She took something from inside and pressed it to her upper lip. Skye, now with a thin ginger mustache under her nose, then looked to Twist. “Manly enough for ya?” she asked, her voice deeper and more boyish than usual. Twist also noticed that her always-confident stride seemed to lose every last hint of femininity.
“It’s kind of amazing how well you do that,” Twist muttered.
Jonas glanced at her for an instant and nodded.
“And Myra, don’t speak,” Jonas said to her over his shoulder. “Just stay quiet and let me do the talking.”
“You’re not bolstering my confidence,” Twist muttered to him.
“If we play this well, there won’t be a problem,” Jonas said with measured calm. He pulled his goggles on over his eyes as they continued to walk.
Jonas led them to an airship that appeared to be military in origin. The hull was painted with bright blue and yellow, and the cannon mouths that hung out of the small wooden trapdoors gleamed in the light. There was a flag Twist couldn’t recognize flapping merrily in the rigging above the single giant balloon that held the ship aloft. A quick glance at the stern showed him powerful-looking propellers and the smoking exhaust stacks of a steam engine.
The men aboard the ship—tying off lines, loading supplies, and shouting orders in bellowing tones—looked anything but military to Twist’s eye. Their wardrobe was totally diverse, as were the colors of their skin. Each one looked fully distinct from the next, and each and every man appeared strong, rugged, and highly dangerous.
Distracted as he was, Twist didn’t notice a figure slip into their group behind Myra. Skye turned to glance at him, but her eyes widened in alarm.
“What do you want?” she asked the new arrival coldly in her deeper voice.
Twist turned to find Luca walking behind them now with a grim expression, while his father trailed not too far behind. Jonas stopped and turned as well, pulling his goggles off only for a moment to see Luca.
“This is the fastest ship to Africa,” Luca said darkly. “Aazzi needs help. What do you expect us to do? And what’s that on your lip?” he asked, looking at Skye.
“I’m not telling these guys who or what she is,” Jonas said. “If either of you do, there will be nothing to stop Skye from having her revenge.”
Skye spared Jonas a smile.
“Fine,” Luca grumbled. “Let’s just get on board.”
Continuing on, Jonas led the way across the gangplank and onto the deck of the airship. The moment Twist set foot aboard, he was startled by the state of the ship. Compared to the gleaming, well-kept outer hull, rigging, and balloon, the deck was in squalor, cluttered with disordered piles of supplies and heavily stained with large patches of grime, as if it had never been cleaned.
The crewmen paused in their work to stare as Twist and the others came aboard. Twist quietly put an arm around Myra’s waist, holding her close to him. Her emotions mirrored his anxieties as she looked back at the curious eyes all around her.
“Well,” said a tall man with olive skin and an old, featherless, three-cornered hat. He stepped up to Jonas as he looked over the others with gleaming but reddened brown eyes. His long black hair hung in a tail down his back, over a tattered-looking blue cotton jacket. “I’ve got to tell you, hawk eyes,” he said to Jonas in a clearly American accent, “when you said you and your gypsy pals had a few other friends, I never imagined you meant an automaton and a pair of dandies.”
“Let’s take that as a compliment, shall we?” Skye asked Twist, loud enough for the others to hear.
Some of the other pirates muttered derisive things to each other.
“I don’t remember any conditions regarding the fashion of my guests,” Jonas said to the pirate with the tattered hat.
“I assume they understand that none of you have a claim on any profits we might come across on the trip,” the pirate said leadingly.
“Of course,” Jonas said with a nod.
“And I assume,” Twist said, forcing his voice to come out louder than its normal level, “that you understand that we will not engage in any violence that might ensue.”
“I don’t want any useless men in a fight,” the pirate said back. “If anything violent occurs, I’d expect you two to dive for cover.”
Some of the other pirates snickered. To Twist’s umbrage, Luca laughed as well.
“Who are you calling—” Skye snapped, stepping forward boldly. Despite his impaired vision, Jonas put out a hand to hold her back.
“It doesn’t matter in the least what this brigand thinks of us,” Twist said to her smoothly, drawing an unhappy look from her. “Just so long as we all understand each other,” he added to the pirate.
Skye crossed her arms over her chest.
“And what about that?” The pirate nodded at Myra. “What is it, anyway?”
“Cargo,” Jonas answered, to Myra’s instant dismay. Twist shot her a glance. She gave a huff but said nothing.
“Pretty interesting cargo,” the pirate said, looking her over. “Is it dangerous?”
“Not in the least,” Jonas said.
“Is it valuable?”
“Not to you,” Jonas answered while Twist’s heartbeat sped up. “It’d be far too much trouble for you to pry it out of our cold, dead hands.”
The pirate laughed lightly. “Threat well laid, hawk eyes. All right then, it sounds like we’ve got ourselves an agreement. Welcome aboard, gentlemen and wind-up toy,” he said with a showy bow. “Stay out of our way and keep your co
mments and opinions to yourselves.”
As the crew got back to work and began to set off, Twist and his companions were led down into the shadowy, musty, fully open second deck. Rough, wooden, plank-like bunk beds were built into the dark wooden walls, along the whole length of the ship. A few tables were bolted to the dirty floors, down the center of the deck, and occasional rough wooden pillars stood as the only division in the space.
Tin candle lamps hung from the ceiling, a handful of tiny portholes studded the walls, and a few trapdoors led farther below. The unfortunate scent of many hardworking men lingered in the air even though there was no one else in the space. Jonas pulled his goggles off to look around but didn’t seem terribly surprised.
“Charming,” Twist muttered.
“You’ll take these,” said the member of the crew who had led them, pointing to some of the beds in the darkest far corner of the deck. “You can leave your things over there too,” he added with a smile that lacked a few teeth and a great deal of warmth.
Twist glared at Jonas. “On top of everything, we’re going to be robbed?”
“Don’t worry,” Jonas said with a smile. “Skye, do you think Kali would mind keeping an eye out for us?”
“Oh, no,” Skye said pleasantly. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind at all.”
“Who?” the crewman asked.
In answer, Skye held out an arm. Kali’s brilliant orange light broke over Skye’s back and ran down her arm. The crewman gave a startled yelp and backed away a few steps to see the tiger’s solid form emerge out of the glowing orange smoke. Kali pulled back her furry lips to reveal her massive fangs and let out a low rumble.
“What the hell is that?” the crewman gasped.
“This is Kali,” Skye said in her deeper voice, petting Kali’s head absently. “She’s with us.”
“Captain!” the man bellowed, running for the stairs. Kali’s menacing expression calmed into a curious one as soon as the man was gone.
“Who’s a good girl…” Skye cooed sweetly, her feminine voice returning suddenly as she scratched at Kali’s ear. Kali moved into the touch and waved her tail.
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