Plucky nodded vigorously. “From Seattle.”
With their mechanical dragons hunched as low as possible to avoid being seen, Trenton and his friends stood in the dark cornfield, trying to figure out what Plucky had actually seen and what they should do about it.
Trenton stripped a leaf from the cornstalk beside him and twisted it between his fingers. “I’m telling you it’s not possible,” he said in a hushed voice.
“I seen what I seen.” Plucky’s hands were fists against the sides of her leg braces. “Her name is Talysa Sainz. Lived no more’n three houses down from us. Played the fiddle and sang me ditties when I was just a chit, before . . .” She shrugged. “Before the fire.”
Angus kicked a clod of dirt. “You saw her for a second—two at the most—in the dark, while we were flying. How can you be sure it was the same person?”
“Wasn’t just when I was a chit,” Plucky said. “Seen her lots of times, I have. Her was sitting not five rows away in the city meeting after Trenton and Kallista was captured.”
Trenton held up his hand. “Okay. She looked like someone you knew in Seattle. But you saw what happened to the city. No one survived.”
Clyde spoke up. “What if she left before the attack?”
Trenton balled the leaf in his hand. “It wouldn’t matter. Seattle is at least a month or two away by land. Even if she left a week before the dragons attacked, there’s no way she could have arrived here before us.”
Kallista pushed her goggles up on her forehead. “Unless . . .”
Everyone looked at her. Since the day they’d discovered the remains of the airship missing from the charred ruins of Seattle, Trenton knew Kallista had hoped her father had somehow managed to repair the ship and leave the city before the dragons attacked. Kallista hadn’t talked about it, but it wouldn’t be the first time her father had escaped death.
More than once as they flew south, Trenton had seen her scanning the skies with a hopeful look on her face. She claimed she was watching for dragons, but he’d known what she was really searching for.
Kallista ran a hand across her mouth. “My father must have escaped from Seattle before the dragons attacked. He would have needed a crew to operate the ship, wouldn’t he?”
It was possible. “Did this woman, Talysa, have a mechanical background?” Trenton asked Plucky. “Is she someone Leo would have recruited for help with the ship?”
“Maybe.” Plucky fiddled with the key on her leg brace. She glanced at Kallista. “Mostly she worked in the city center. Keeping track of books and papers.”
“That doesn’t mean she couldn’t have joined his crew,” Kallista said. “My father could train anyone.”
Simoni moved closer, cornstalks rattling as she shoved past them. A pair of birds cawed at each other. “If Talysa did come from Seattle with your father, and if she’s in the city now—”
“I know what it means,” Kallista snapped. “They’ve been captured. I have to go talk to her. She’ll know what happened to him.”
For a moment, everyone looked anywhere but at Kallista. It was one thing to check things out from a distance, but going into the city itself, on foot, was risky.
“Too dangerous,” Trenton said. “We can’t just rush into the city without more information. Let’s find one of those cattle ranches—somewhere out of the way—and talk to the people there first. We’ll fly back to the island, make a plan, and—”
“I’m going in tonight,” Kallista said. “Now. The rest of you can wait here or return to the island if you want, I don’t care.”
Angus chuckled. “So much for Trenton being in charge.”
Simoni pushed past him until she and Kallista were face-to-face. “We agreed to have one person lead the group. You agreed. I know you want to find your father. But this is exactly what we can’t do, each go running off in our own direction.”
Even in the moonlight, Trenton could see Kallista’s face darken. “If it wasn’t for my father, we’d all have been killed by the dragon that attacked Cove.”
Trenton had been the leader of the group for only one day and already things were falling apart. “I’m not saying we won’t look for your father. But why rush into it?” He was sure Kallista would tell him that she was going and he could do whatever he wanted, the way she had so many times in Cove.
Instead she took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and bobbed her head. “All right. I’ll do it your way. We’ll come back.”
Looking like he was stepping on hot coals, Clyde approached them. “Not to make things worse, but maybe Kallista is right. Maybe now is the best time to go into the city.”
Trenton looked at him in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
Clyde rubbed the back of his neck. “Dragons sleep at night, right? And hunt during the day?”
“Most of them,” Kallista said slowly, clearly uncertain of Clyde’s point.
Still looking uncomfortable at interrupting, Clyde said, “I just think that maybe tonight might be our best chance to look around. We made it here without being spotted. Since we are here, and since we know where this woman is right now, why not talk to her now? Who knows if she’ll be in the same factory tomorrow?” He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. “This is the map I drew. It’s not perfect, but it should get you to the factory.”
Trenton was silent for a moment. He looked at each of his friends in turn. Kallista and Clyde had made good points. But so had Simoni. Making a decision that was best for everyone was hard.
“Okay,” Trenton finally said. “Kallista and I will go in together. The rest of you stay here and watch the dragons.” He checked his pocket watch. If we’re not back in two hours, or if you get discovered, fly back to the island.”
Plucky gave her leg braces one final twist. “How you going to know who to talk to, yeah, yeah? What this plan calls for is a regular sneak thief. I’m coming with you.”
• • •
Standing in the doorway of a small shop, Trenton turned the map first one direction, then another. He was impressed by how much detail Clyde had managed to put into it from one rushed visit. But his viewpoint had been from up above. The city looked very different once they were on the ground.
Kallista pulled the map out of his hands. “You have it upside down.”
“I know I have it upside down. I’m trying to line it up with the city.”
Kallista studied the map, then poked her head out of the doorway, looking both ways. “I think maybe we need to go . . .” She scratched her head, turned the map around, and gave Trenton a warning look. “Don’t say it.”
Together, the three of them studied the map.
“The bridge is that way,” Trenton said. “Which means the white tower is over there, and—”
Kallista tapped a series of squares. “We came from the fields here, which means we need to go that way. I think.”
Plucky rubbed the side of her nose. “Reckon I could shimmy up one’s these walls and case the place.”
With her twisted legs, it was hard to believe Plucky could climb a brick wall or shimmy up a pipe. But Trenton had seen her do it more than once. She managed to use the metal braces as a tool, prying them into notches and levering her small body into spaces that appeared impossible to reach.
“We might have to,” Trenton said. “But let’s head to the next cross street. We should be able to see the lights of the factory.”
Sticking close to the walls, they crept through the shadows to where the street they were on intersected with a much bigger boulevard. Trenton noticed a gleaming metal walkway on the other side, and after checking to make sure there were no guards in the area, he and the others hurried across to get a better look.
“It’s a mechanical sidewalk,” Kallista said, running her hands over steel plates that connected to each other with metal nubs like tiny, interlocking f
ingers. Powerful engines at each end of the walkway turned gears connected to chains that disappeared under the plates. “I saw people riding these the day we flew in.”
Trenton examined the tracks on the left and right sides of the walkway. “Along with a huge pile of meat. The factories have to be somewhere near where this starts.”
He wanted to find the controls that started and stopped the walkway, but just then a small figure moved in the shadows and a voice hissed, “Get out of the street.”
The three of them spun around.
“Dodge it!” Plucky said. “Couple of beefeaters up ahead.”
Trenton turned to see a pair of uniformed men round the corner. The one on the right carried a lantern, while the one on the left held a long rod that narrowed to a point.
Trenton looked for whoever had warned him, but the stranger was gone.
Plucky tugged Trenton and Kallista into a narrow opening between two buildings. “Don’t think they laid peeps on us yet. But best we give ’em the dodge before they has a chance to.”
Moving with only a faint clicking, Plucky hurried down the alley. At the far end, it opened into a square where several sets of train tracks met and crossed.
“Did you hear that back there?” Trenton said. “Somebody warned us about the guards.”
Kallista turned to Plucky. “Was that you?”
Plucky shook her head.
Had one of the others followed them into the city? If so, how did they get ahead of them? And why hide?
“There’s the factory,” Kallista said, looking to the left. “I recognize the barred windows and rusty ladders from when we flew over it before. Let’s go.”
She started down the tracks, but Plucky grabbed her sleeve, pulling her back to the alley.
“What’s wrong?” Trenton asked, looking for more guards.
Plucky held her head angled to the left and sniffed. “Me whiskers is tingling.” She glanced around, then peered carefully into the square, sniffing again. “You two get a whiff’a that?”
Kallista inhaled slowly, nostrils flaring. “I don’t smell anything.”
Trenton didn’t either. But he heard something: a faint clicking sound, like fingernails tapping on a desk, coming from the direction of the factory.
Plucky yanked her head back from the wall. “Cripes! It’s a dragon.”
Trenton and Kallista looked up, but Plucky shook her head. “Not up there. Down there in the street.”
Carefully, Trenton peeked around the corner. Waddling purposefully up the middle of the tracks was what looked like an underdeveloped dragon. It was at least thirty feet long and nearly half that wide, and it lumbered up the street on four clawed feet. A ridged spine ran down the center of its back.
As Trenton watched, the strange-looking dragon paused, spread a pair of stubby, dark-green wings, and managed to fly a few feet through the air before thumping back to the ground. It twisted its flat head from side to side, opened a mouth filled with needle-sharp fangs, and flicked its tongue as if tasting the air.
The creature’s head turned toward Trenton, its black eyes gleaming in the moonlight. Although it had been walking slowly before, now it broke into a quick trot. It flapped its wings, moving in a kind of half-flying, half-running waddle that would have been funny if it wasn’t so terrifying.
“It smells us,” Trenton said.
Quickly the three of them turned back the way they’d come, racing down the alley. At that moment, the two guards they’d seen earlier appeared at the other end. Trenton spun around in time to see the strange dragon squeeze its thick body in after them.
He searched the alley for doors or windows but saw nothing. The walls would be impossible to climb.
A large, dark shape soared over the opening, blocking out the stars and enveloping the alleyway in total darkness.
They were trapped.
Kallista stared at the unfamiliar dragon plodding toward her. Even with its stubby wings tucked against its body, the creature filled the alley from wall to wall. The dark-green scales covering it rasped like sandpaper as it scraped against the brick. Ten feet into the alley, it opened its mouth, uttered a wet hiss, and flicked its tongue.
Turning the other direction, she saw the two guards standing at the end of the alley. Had the men seen the three of them yet? If not, they would soon enough. If she charged the men, Trenton and Plucky might be able to get away. She was channeling her inner courage when a dark shape soared over the rectangle of sky above her.
That was it, then. They were surrounded. Even if one or two of them managed to get past the guards, there was no way they’d escape the city.
Something fell from the sky and slapped the back of her head. She whirled around to find a length of rope dangling behind her. No, not one length of rope but two.
Looking up, she couldn’t see anything. It was as if the rope rose into a complete void.
“Hurry,” a familiar voice whispered down.
She stared up into the darkness. “Dad?”
She grabbed the rope and realized it was a ladder. It wasn’t a dragon overhead. It was an airship! But why couldn’t she see it?
“Trenton, Plucky, it’s my father.”
Trenton stared at the rope in Kallista’s hands as if she’d conjured it from thin air. Plucky didn’t pause a beat before grabbing the first rung and pulling herself up the ladder like a squirrel up a tree.
Kallista elbowed Trenton. “Climb.”
It took him longer to get his hands and feet set on the swaying ladder. By the time he’d climbed far enough for Kallista to follow him, the lumbering dragon was almost to her. Its black eyes gleamed like glass beads. Mewling hungrily, it forced itself through the alley toward her.
The guard at the other end held his lantern above his head. “Who’s there?”
Kallista tightened her grip on the ropes and yelled “Go!”
Immediately, the ladder yanked upward. The ship moved forward with a whir of fans, and Kallista flew with it. Her ascent was so rapid that the guards were still staring into the alley by the time she zipped over their heads. If they did look up, what would they see? A girl appearing to fly? Throwing a glance over her shoulder, she saw the guards heading deeper into the alley. Wouldn’t they be surprised when they found themselves face-to-face with a hungry dragon?
In nearly complete silence, she floated above the buildings and past towers toward the edge of the city.
A soft rumbling sound came from above her, and the ladder began to rise. She stared upward, trying to see the airship. Even knowing what was above her, all she could discern was an oval shadow. Holding tight to the ropes, she watched the shadow grow bigger and bigger.
It wasn’t until she was nearly inside that she could make out a pitch-black hull that was only a little lighter than the open hatch above her. Hands grabbed her, pulled her up, and helped her stand on a wooden deck that swayed gently beneath her feet.
“Step this way,” Trenton said. “Careful of the winch.”
She blinked her eyes. “I can’t see anything.”
“Give it a tick,” Plucky said. “Your eyes will adjust.”
Kallista allowed Trenton to guide her forward and found she could see a slightly less-dark square above and ahead of her.
“Step up,” Trenton said.
As she climbed the stairs, her eyes began to adjust. Or maybe it was because of the stars she could see shining above her. By the time she reached the last step, she knew where she was: the captain’s quarters of the airship from Seattle. And there, standing at the wheel, was her father.
“Dad!” she shouted, running across the cabin and throwing her arms around him.
He stumbled, but a smile spread across his face. “You look surprised to see me.”
“I’m surprised to see you floating above us at the exact moment we were about
to be captured by guards or eaten by a dragon.”
“How did you find us?” Trenton asked. “It was a miracle you arrived when you did.”
Kallista caught the quickest hint of guilt cross her father’s face. She folded her arms across her chest. “It was no miracle. How long have you been spying on us?”
Leo rubbed a hand across his stubbly cheek. “I’d hardly call it spying. I’ve been here for less than a week. After witnessing your hasty departure two days ago, I knew you’d be back. If there’s one thing I can count on, it’s my daughter’s curiosity.”
“You saw us fly into the city?” Trenton asked. “How? Where were you?”
“All in good time,” Leo said.
Kallista ground her teeth. “If you saw us getting attacked by the dragons, why didn’t you help us?”
“What do you think the dragons would have done if I’d sailed over the city in a slow-moving airship? Who would I have helped?” Leo released the wheel to wave his hands in a gesture that included all of them. “Besides, I knew you’d escape. I did design your dragons, after all.”
He took the wheel again and narrowed his eyes. “I was, however, more than a little surprised to see your sudden burst of speed, and those flames. If I didn’t know better, I’d think someone modified my design. I want to hear all about it.”
Kallista wasn’t about to let her father off that easily. Maybe he couldn’t have helped them or warned them, but she wouldn’t put it past him if he’d intentionally held off to see his machines in action.
At that moment, though, Plucky burst forward with a grin. “Added a turbo booster to the engine, now didn’t we? Fire the plummy thing up, and she flies like a rum prancer with its tail a’fire.”
Leo lowered his eyes to study Plucky. “And who is this? You look familiar.”
“Plucky, at your service,” she said. “Triggest Whipjack in all of Seattle, and a bit of a plummy mechanic, if I do say myself. O’course nothing the likes of you or your daughter.” She shot out her hand, grabbed his, and pumped up and down briskly. “How dost do, my buff?”
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