The Quest to the Uncharted Lands

by Jaleigh Johnson

  The hurt in his eyes deepened, like the clouds darkening before the storm. “Do you really think that? That I’m less of a person than you are?”

  “No! But I—I don’t know! I just—” Stella couldn’t finish. She didn’t want to hurt him, except how could she hurt a machine? He’d been lying to her all this time about what he really was. Tears stung her eyes, freezing to her cheeks. Stella wiped them away furiously. Crying definitely wouldn’t help her, and talking wasn’t getting her anywhere either. She needed to get out of here, back to the cargo bay to tend to her wound. Go someplace where the hurt in Cyrus’s eyes couldn’t follow her.

  She backed toward the hatch, but Cyrus stubbornly followed. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Stella, you have to say something!”

  “Just leave me alone,” she said. Seeing his stricken expression, she added, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to turn you in to the crew. I just need to think. Don’t try to stop me, all right?” Her throat tightened, and she knew if she stayed out here another minute, she’d start to sob.

  Cyrus raised his hands in surrender. “Fine,” he said. “I won’t try to stop you. I learned my lesson the last time.” His eyes narrowed. “But is that what explorers do where you’re from—run away?”

  “I’m not running!” Stella snapped, even though that was exactly what she wanted to do, turn and run back to the cargo bay as fast as she could.

  “Your people wanted to go to the uncharted lands. To be a part of a bigger world.” Cyrus’s words cut like a knife. “But you didn’t mean it, did you? You’re afraid to see us the way we really are. You just want to see people who look like you.”

  “That’s not fair!” Stella snapped. “I don’t—”

  But her words were lost when the hatch burst open and slammed against the deck. Stella slipped and fell to her knees on the ice just as a pair of crewmen came out the hatch and saw them.

  For a split second, nobody spoke or moved. The crewmen stared at Stella and Cyrus, their mouths falling open in shock.

  Then the tall one standing in the back said, “Stella?”

  Stella blinked. She recognized the man. He was one of the deck crew her parents had introduced her to in the weeks leading up to the expedition. His name was Isaac, and he’d given her a tour of the main deck.

  The other man’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You know her?” he asked, his gravelly voice cutting through the dying storm.

  “She’s Martin and Eliza’s girl,” Isaac said, rubbing his face in disbelief. “Stella, what are you doing here?”

  “I—” Stella had no idea what to say. The realization that they’d been caught—during a shouting match on the main deck, no less—broke over her like a bucket of ice water. How could she have been so stupid?

  “Who’s the boy?” the other crewman demanded, his gaze landing on Cyrus with the weight and chill of the storm. “And what were you two doing out here?”

  Before either of them could reply, a man stepped out of the shadows from the direction of the stern. He hobbled over to them, clutching his ribs as if he was injured.

  “Darin,” Isaac said, rushing over to help support the man, whose face was twisted up in pain. “What happened to you? You’re supposed to be at the security office.”

  “I was patrolling the deck, and I saw him,” the man replied, jabbing a finger at Cyrus. “He was up in the crow’s nest. I think he was going to slice through the support cables. He stopped when he saw me, came down, and attacked—he hit me in the gut with that.” He nodded to the metal bar lying discarded on the deck—the same one Cyrus had used to brace the door shut earlier.

  “What?” Stella burst out. “That’s not true! Cyrus was trying to help, he—”

  But she stopped as the man limped closer. She noticed that he was breathing unsteadily, his eyes were bloodshot, and he held his ribs as if he’d cracked or broken them in a fall.

  Like a fall from the crow’s nest ladder.

  What was it Cyrus had said about the Faceless? They could change their appearance to blend in wherever they wanted. That was how the man had managed to remain undetected on board the ship. He could imitate any member of the crew, just as he was doing now.

  To frame Cyrus as the saboteur.

  Dread coiled in Stella’s stomach as Isaac and the other crewmen closed in, forming a ring around her and Cyrus, their faces tightening with suspicion and anger.

  Darin reached inside his coat and pulled out a metal chop saw, tossing it onto the deck with a loud clatter. “He dropped this on his way down the crow’s nest ladder,” he said.

  Isaac picked up the saw. He examined it for a second, pricked his finger on the blade, and uttered a curse. He spat on the deck. “This could cut cable, all right,” he said.

  “Please,” Stella said, panic growing inside her. She pointed to the Faceless man. “He’s not what you think. He’s lying! Cyrus, tell them!”

  But Cyrus’s shoulders were already slumping in defeat, as if he knew no one would believe him.

  “We need some help up here!” Isaac shouted down the hatch. “Somebody get the security people on deck!”

  “No!” Stella cried, but the other crewman surged forward, reaching for Cyrus. He didn’t fight, only flinched as the bigger man grabbed his wrists and twisted his arms behind his back.

  “Stella, come inside,” Isaac said. “Step away from the boy.”

  He took her arm, pulling her toward the hatch. Stella resisted, but he was too strong, and the deck was too slick. The crewmen dragged her and Cyrus below.

  The ship’s security team met them in the hall.

  The guards led them to the security office while Isaac went to get Stella’s parents. One of the guards eyed her invisibility suit and wanted to know what it was. Stella smoothed the wrinkles in the black fabric and murmured that it was just cold-weather gear. It was the best lie she could think of in the moment. Fortunately, her hood was down from when she’d removed the veil up in the crow’s nest; otherwise she would have had to explain the invisibility effect.

  The Faceless man limped off with the other crewman, and Stella lost track of him when they turned a corner, disappearing into the bowels of the ship.

  “I don’t believe this,” one of the guards said, shaking his head as he stared at Cyrus in disbelief. “He’s just a boy. Kid, are you…Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’re in?”

  Cyrus didn’t answer, but Stella felt her whole world crashing down around her. All it had taken was the accusation of the Faceless man, and everyone was convinced that Cyrus was the saboteur. How could they be so blind?

  But maybe she shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe it was easier for them to believe a stranger was guilty, rather than one of their own turning out to be a traitor. If that wasn’t bad enough, the real culprit was running around freely, and he could change his face to look like any member of the crew!

  Lost in her worry and misery, Stella didn’t resist when the guards sat her down in a chair in the corner by herself. She watched as they tied Cyrus’s hands behind his back. Then they walked him over to the opposite corner and sat him down before surrounding him with guards. A flush of anger crept up his neck, but he didn’t speak. He just stared at the floor, his jaw tight and eyes steely. But after a few minutes, even the anger drained away, until he just looked empty.

  Defeated.

  Stella would much rather have seen him enraged, fighting back, but at that moment, she felt as lost as he was.

  The door opened. It was Drea, the first officer. She stepped into the security office, closed the door, and locked it behind her. Then she went straight to Cyrus, her feelers pressed against her back.

  Drea projected her questions directly into Cyrus’s mind, so Stella couldn’t hear them, but he spoke his answers aloud, and the questions the guards occasionally interjected were just what she’d expected. Who are you? Where are you from? How did you get on board the Iron Glory?

  Cyrus answered with as few words as possible. He to
ld Drea he’d been a factory worker in Noveen and had snuck aboard the ship while the cargo was being loaded because he’d never been on an airship before and thought it sounded like an adventure. He claimed his parents were dead and that he lived with an uncle who worked and traveled on the 401 train out of Noveen. Cyrus said he was rarely around and probably hadn’t even missed him yet.

  As he spun his story, Stella realized that Cyrus had probably thought up all of those details beforehand in case he was ever captured. He might have told Stella the same story when they first met, if Stella hadn’t seen him use his power outside the cargo bay. Maybe she would have believed him. He certainly sounded convincing and boldly looked Drea in the eyes when he spoke, never wavering in his speech.

  Stella couldn’t imagine what the first officer must have been thinking or if she believed any part of Cyrus’s story. Though if she didn’t, what was the alternative? If Cyrus told her he was from the uncharted lands and that he had magical powers to protect the ship from a saboteur who could put on a new face as easily as Stella cracked a smile, she’d probably think he was crazy.

  The door to the security office opened again, and Stella’s parents entered the room.

  All the air left Stella’s lungs. It hadn’t been long since she’d visited her parents in the medical bay, but her heart still flip-flopped in her chest when she saw them. They were both more composed now than they had been the last time Stella had seen them, and as they entered the room, their gazes immediately found hers.

  “Are you all right?” her mother asked. Without waiting for an answer, she knelt by Stella’s chair and went straight into healer mode, checking her over for injuries. It took her all of ten seconds to find the angry blister on Stella’s hand. “How did this happen?” she demanded.

  “We found them outside during the ice storm,” one of the guards said before Stella could answer. “It might have been the saboteur’s doing.”

  “That’s a lie!” Stella burst out angrily. She looked up when her father put his hand on her shoulder. “Cyrus isn’t the one sabotaging the ship! We were trying to protect it!”

  “Stella,” Cyrus said sharply, looking up from the floor. “Don’t. Don’t say anything.”

  Stella read the plea in his eyes. He didn’t want her to tell them about his powers, about what he was. Stella swallowed. But what if the truth convinced them that he wasn’t the guilty one? That he wasn’t even from either Merrow or Dragonfly?

  But the truth might also make the crew even more afraid and suspicious of him. Hadn’t she reacted with fear when she’d learned he was really a machine? He’d taken his cues from her and was trying to protect his secret.

  Stella’s mother looked at Cyrus, frowning. “Does he really need to be bound, Drea?” she asked. “The boy’s surrounded by guards. He’s obviously not going anywhere.”

  Drea glanced at Stella’s mother, her feelers stirring around her shoulders, but one of the guards spoke up first.

  “Considering that he managed to elude every crew member on this ship for the past week and tried to sabotage the Iron Glory at least twice, I’m not convinced we’re being careful enough,” the guard said.

  Drea nodded in agreement, and suddenly, the sarnun woman’s mental voice echoed inside Stella’s head. She must have been projecting it through the room so everyone could hear her. “Doctors Glass, for the moment, I’m releasing your daughter into your care. I’ll come to the medical bay soon to question her about her involvement in this, but right now I need to speak to the prisoner.”

  It was clearly a dismissal, but Stella didn’t move. Instead, she glanced at Cyrus, willing him to look up at her, but he was staring at the floor again with that same look of defeat in his eyes.

  Her father squeezed her shoulder. “Come on, Stella,” he said quietly. “Time to go.”

  Reluctantly, Stella rose to follow her parents out the door. She looked back one more time to try to catch Cyrus’s eye, but he didn’t move. He seemed to have forgotten she was there at all.

  Stella walked with her parents to the medical bay in heavy silence. When she stepped inside, the room was a mess. Everything on the counters and exam tables had been knocked to the floor when the ship tilted in the storm. Broken glass, medicines, powders, and herbs were smeared all over.

  “Watch your step,” Stella’s father said, getting the broom and dustpan, just as he’d done when Stella had come to see them before.

  Stella’s mother treated the wound on her hand, and afterward they spent a few minutes getting the room into a semblance of order so they had somewhere to sit. Stella picked up jars that were still intact and replaced them on the counters while her parents cleaned and swept the floor.

  As they worked, a few of the crew came in with minor injuries from the ship being tossed about during the storm. Stella took note, but the Faceless man wasn’t among them, or at least he wasn’t wearing the same crewman’s form that she’d seen on deck. Stella’s mother bandaged the men and women up and did her best to put off their questions and shocked glances in Stella’s direction.

  Stella ignored them, but seeing their injuries reminded her that fierce winds were no longer shaking and battering the ship. Whatever Cyrus had done to protect the Iron Glory, it had obviously worked. The ship had made it through the storm.

  Cyrus had saved them all.

  Now the crew had taken him prisoner, accusing him of sabotaging the ship.

  Restless, Stella perched on the edge of the cot in the back of the room while her parents finished tending to the crew. When the last man had left the room with his arm in a sling, her mother and father pulled up chairs and sat down.

  The way they’d gathered around her, quiet and expectant, Stella knew they were going to want an explanation. For everything. All those questions she saw swimming in their eyes were about to come.

  How much should she tell them? She knew Cyrus didn’t want his identity known, but Stella trusted her parents completely. If anyone was going to believe her story and support Cyrus, it was her mother and father.

  Stella took a deep breath and launched into the story without waiting for them to ask. She started with the day she’d said goodbye to her parents on the palace grounds and then snuck onto the airship. She told them Cyrus’s story about the olaran expeditions and how he’d stowed away on the Iron Glory after being stranded. For proof, she showed them the invisibility suit she was still wearing, demonstrating its power and how it worked, which prompted gasps and wide-eyed stares from them both.

  She described the Faceless man and his abilities, how he planned to use them to blend in with the crew, sabotage the ship, and frame Cyrus for it.

  Her parents interrupted with questions now and then, but mostly the room was silent while they let her talk. When she was finished, Stella’s voice was hoarse. Her mother handed her a glass of water.

  Now that the story was finally out there, Stella felt exhausted, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. No matter how much trouble she was in with her parents, no matter how angry they might be at her, she was glad to have told the story to someone else, to share the burden she’d been carrying ever since she learned about the Faceless man and discovered what Cyrus really was.

  “Well,” her father said, clearing his throat. He shot a quick glance at the door, making sure there was no one passing by who might overhear them. “I think you were right not to tell the crew about Cyrus, at least not yet. Tensions are very high right now, and as long as they believe Cyrus is the saboteur, the revelation that he’s also a…machine…or part machine is just going to make things worse.”

  “They already are worse,” Stella’s mother countered, inspiring hope inside Stella. “The crew thinks they’ve captured the person who set the fire and sawed through the support cables, but he’s still out there. Don’t we owe it to the crew to warn them?”

  “Even if they accept what Cyrus is, they’ve seen no sign of this Faceless man,” Stella’s father said, “and if he can look like an
y member of the crew, they’re not likely to be able to find him.”

  “It also means we don’t know who to trust,” Stella said quietly.

  Silence fell over the room at that grim truth. If the Faceless man could imitate any of them, he could use that power to influence the other crew members, turn them against one another, or stoke their fear and suspicion of Cyrus. He could cause all kinds of strife.

  Her mother was right. Things were bad enough when they knew there was a saboteur on board, but now they were so much worse.

  “We’ll just have to find a way to convince the captain and first officer that the real saboteur is still out there,” Stella’s mother said. “Maybe wait a couple of days for everyone to calm down and clear their heads.”

  “With any luck, by that time we may have cleared the mountains and be able to land,” her father agreed. “But we’ll need to be watchful until then, look for any crew member acting strangely or doing anything out of the ordinary. It’s also possible that the Faceless man is hiding somewhere on the ship, nursing his injuries and not in any position to attack again soon.”

  “He did take a hard fall to the deck,” Stella said, shuddering at the memory of their encounter at the top of the crow’s nest.

  “So we also need to watch for crew members coming in with injuries from a fall,” Stella’s mother noted. “Good to know.”

  With that much sorted out, Stella felt a little bit better. But as the minutes ticked past, her parents grew very quiet, and new worries gnawed at her. She desperately wanted to know what they were thinking, yet she was afraid to ask. She’d told them almost everything that had happened since she snuck aboard the ship, but she’d left out one important part.

  She left out why she’d done it.

  As she sat there, Stella realized her parents were waiting for her to tell that part of her story. She felt it in the weight of their silence. They were giving her a chance to gather her thoughts, but if she didn’t say something soon, she knew they would demand an explanation.