Charmed Vengeance (17 page)

Dr. Heinz stiffened. “I think it would be best for you to go. Return when you have the money and we’ll talk.

Is there something we can trade or do for you?” James asked.

“Not unless you can bring back my daughter.” Dr. Heinz stomped back into his main lab. Steven and James followed.

“Daughter?” Steven asked softly. “Wait, was Hilde for her?” An automaton that played games, told stories, and sang would be ideal for a small child.

Dr. Heinz nodded. “She doesn’t know about Hilde, hence my willingness to sell her for the right price then create another when I get her back. The police keep promising to find my daughter. But they haven’t.” His cheeks flushed with anger, hands fisting. “If I could, I’d go after her myself.”

“Wait, she’s been taken?” For a moment Steven had thought that she’d died.

“My Rahel is only five. She’s all I have left.” Pain swept through Dr. Heinz’s face causing it to contort. “She was taken several days ago. I fear the traffickers got her.

Traffickers?” The very word soured in Steven’s mouth. “I hope not, but who else would steal a child from her own yard? They
were
reported in the area.” He sighed. “They’re probably halfway across the states by now.

What if we brought her back?” James piped. “If we bring back Rahel in two weeks or less, could we have a fully functioning Hilde for no charge?”

“James, what are you doing?” Steven hissed, eyes bulging. He didn’t know how to find a stolen child. He barely found Noli in the Otherworld and there he could track her by her sigil.

James shook his head and hissed, “Trust me.”

Dr. Heinz looked at the both of them, so much pain in his face that Steven took a step back. “Young gentleman, bring back my sweet Rahel and you may have whatever you wish.”

They sat in the train as it sped back to New York City. Unlike Noli, Steven didn’t mind them. He put his head in his hands. “I can’t believe you promised him we’d find his little girl.
Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done
,” he quoted.

That’s what this felt like, a wild-goose chase. “Ease up,” James shot back from the seat next to him.

“And stop quoting Chaucer.”

“It’s Shakespeare, you heathen,” he corrected. James waved him off. “Whomever. I can’t believe you 
borrowed a
book
from him.” He nodded at the book on Steven’s lap. “Boring.”

Steven’s eyes narrowed at his brother. “Machiavelli’s
The Prince
is not boring.”

“Sure,” he scoffed. “If we pull this off, then we’ll have the best automaton ever and the doctor gets back his little girl. Everyone wins. Besides, the idea of children being stolen makes me ill.”

“Me, too. But time is slipping away. How are we going to find the traffickers?” He picked up the book, grateful he had something to block his brother out with. James shoved a little doll under his nose. “What?” Steven sat up.

“This was Rahel’s. I can use it for a tracking spell.” James’ chest puffed up with pride.

Steven blinked at his brother’s words. “You know a tracking spell?
I
don’t even know a tracking spell.”

James smirked. “Finding Noli would have gone much differently if you had. Um,” his cheeks flushed. “I had to do something in the Otherworld, so I started working with a magic tutor from the Academe. It was either that or join mother’s royal guard, and you know I’d rather muck stalls than do that.”

“You voluntarily learned spells?” He gaped at his brother in disbelief. Usually James had to be bribed with swordplay to learn spells.

“I told you, I had to do something.” James shrugged it off as if it were nothing. “What do you say, should we try and rescue the little girl?”

What had they gotten themselves into? Part of Steven wanted to rage at his brother for leading them into
another
idiotic mess. Yet at the same time, if they succeeded then they’d not only have what they sought, but have done something good for someone else in the process. Steven sighed, wishing he could exhale all his problems. “We might as well.”

Certainly they didn’t have more to lose.

Kevighn skulked into yet another bar near the Denver Air Terminal. Hopefully this time the Bright Lady would smile upon him and he’d find
someone
who was hiring—or going toward San Francisco. He sat at a table with a good view of the bar and ordered a glass of rum from the buxom serving woman.

“Anything else?” She gave him a saucy wink as she set his drink in front of him.

“You wouldn’t by chance know if Snowball’s Chance or Ardentia Nare is in port?” He added an extra coin to her palm along with the cost of the rum. Roderick had introduced him to some very bad gamblers back in Chicago.

She shot him a sly smile, pocketing the coins. “Perhaps.”

Groaning inwardly, he handed her another.

“You looking for work or got a job for them?” Her breasts waggled in his face.

“Work.”

Nodding, she cast a glance around the bar. “Snowball’s Chance is here—Captain’s over in the corner.” She jerked her head to indicate a larger, balding man with a hat who could have stepped right out of a penny dreadful. “Also, you may ask over at the Vixen’s Revenge. I hear they’re looking for someone.”

“Doing what?” Not that it mattered at this point.

“Not sure. But I think they’re having engineering issues.” She giggled, breasts jiggling as she laughed.

Would he have enough coin to find a harbor to drop his anchor in?

“They’ve been here a couple of days, and the captain’s getting testy. Though that captain’s always testy,” she chuckled. “The first mate and some of the crew are at that table over there.” She jerked her head toward a table near the window with two
very
large men, one of them dark. The third man, one with a mop of chestnut curls, threw back his head and laughed, revealing big, steel-colored eyes. Kevighn studied the man a little more …could it be? These eyes were bluer. Still, there was quite the resemblance, and her brother
was
an air pirate.

Did he dare? It might be nice to have a connection to Magnolia, if this was, in fact, the right person.

“The one with the curly hair, is his name Jeff?” he asked.

She nodded vigorously. “He’s first mate. Mighty fine pilot.”

Yes, the Bright Lady smiled upon him indeed.

Kevighn handed her another coin. “Buy him another glass of whatever he’s drinking, with my compliments.” She hustled off. He drank his weak rum and sighed, praying everything worked out for the better. He peered at his fellow patrons—this bar wasn’t the dingiest or dirtiest he’d been to since he was exiled.

Magnolia. By the Bright Lady he missed her. Who would have thought a slip of a mortal girl would have gotten under his skin the way she had.

Awhile later, Jeff wandered by. “I hear you’re looking for a job.”

Kevighn nodded, gesturing to the free stool at the small table. “The name’s Kevighn, Kevighn Silver. I’m a fair gunner, have experience with fieldwork and safekeeping, and can pilot a bit. I even know a small amount about engines. Hear you’re having engineering issues?”

Jeff’s eyes flashed in a way that reminded Kevighn of his fair blossom.

“We’re fine,” Jeff replied, with a hint of tension. “You know engineers.
I need to do a diagnostic
is code for
I want to do things to the engines that you won’t approve of and may not actually work.”

Kevighn laughed at his summation. “True.”

Jeff visibly relaxed and took a seat. “The name’s Jeff, Jeff Braddox, first mate of the Vixen’s Revenge.”

Braddox? Then again, he could be trying to protect his family’s good name.

“Got any references?” Jeff looked him over in a way that was, again, reminiscent of Noli. As if he was trying to weigh his soul and read his mind in a single glance.

Kevighn rattled off the fake references Roderick had given him in Chicago.

Jeff rubbed his chin, nodding. “We’ll try it out, and if it doesn’t work we’ll leave you in a large port, one where you can find other work. However … you don’t have any issues working with women—and I mean women crew members, not soiled doves or any such thing, do you?”

“No, not at all.” The promise of being left in a port where he could find work if it didn’t work out smacked of an honorable respectability he didn’t usually encounter among air pirates.

Then again, he knew Magnolia was wellborn.

“Good, Captain’s a woman.” Jeff looked around then motioned to someone.

A very
tall
boy strode over. It took Kevighn a moment to realize it was actually a woman in boy’s clothing. A lock of blue hair hung in her dark eyes.

“Captain Vix, I think I found our new crew member, his name’s Kevighn Silver,” Jeff told her. “He’s quite qualified and has excellent references.”

Her eyes narrowed as she took him in. “I don’t welcome trouble makers.” She had an accent better suited to a joy-girl than a captain. “You don’t bother my crew, you don’t cause problems on ship, you don’t cause problems in port, and you don’t cause problems when we’re on a job. You follow orders—
my
orders. Everyone pitches in onboard, including cooking. You get food, a place to sleep, and a percentage of the take. Understood?”

Cooking? Well, Magnolia never had complained about his cooking. “Sounds good, Captain.”

A woman captain. Why not?

She and Jeff exchanged looks, then she extended her hand. “We agree to a trial, then?”

“Agreed.” They shook.

“Welcome to the Vixen’s Revenge. Be onboard by sundown tonight. Oh,” her eyes met his, so intense they burned into him. “Stay out of the engine room. That’s an order.” How strange. Perhaps they hid cargo in there. “Yes, sir.

Good.” She left. Jeff followed, throwing Kevighn a friendly smile over his shoulder as they walked out of the bar. Magnolia’s smile.

Sundown tonight. He had more than half the day. Now … how to spend it?

Hmmm. Noli cocked her head, a wayward strand of hair falling in her eyes. Wiping it back, she added some pink. Yes, that was it. Now for more yellow, such a cheerful color. Oh, and green—the very best color of them all.

“What are you doing?” Jeff’s voice started her.

Noli jumped. She stood in front of the center engine, a paintbrush and palette in her hand. Tiny flowers decorated festooned the gleaming brass, and she was surrounded by the parts she’d taken
out
of the engine and should be putting back in. Pain shot through her head and she rubbed her temples with one paint-covered hand.

Wait. Paint-covered?

Her heart skipped a beat. The paintbrush fell to the floor as panic rippled through her.

“Shhh, it’s all right, Noli, it’s all right. It’s me.” He came up behind her, voice soft.

“I … ” The sprite had taken over and she
hadn’t even noticed.
Her knees buckled.

Jeff’s hand brushed her face, cupping it. “Vix is on her way down. Put on your gloves and goggles and make like you’re getting the engines back together. I’ll put this away. Tell her that you’re almost finished and then we’ll get you out of here.”

She nodded, gulping. Her throat stayed swelled shut and she gulped again, body shaking. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember what had happened. Nothing. By the number of flowers decorating the engine she’d been at this for awhile.

Jeff picked up the paintbrush and took the palette out of her hand. “You can’t let her see you like this. She won’t understand.”

No, she wouldn’t. Gloves. Where were they?

The work gloves lay discarded on the floor. She tugged them over her paint-spattered hands, flipping her leather apron to the side without paint. Footsteps echoed in the background. The heat in the engine room was stifling, so she’d worn one of her sleeveless work gowns that she’d brought from the Otherworld. Pink paint streaked her right arm. Hopefully Vix wouldn’t notice. Her heart raced like a naughty child scrambling to hide her actions before her mother came in the room. Noli grabbed her magnifying goggles and flung herself of the floor of the engine room among the parts, arms shaking. She’d just picked up a gear when Vix strode in.

Noli’s heart continued to pound. Flying figs, the sprite had taken over and she couldn’t remember what she’d done.

Vix eyes narrowed at the state of the room in comparison to how it had been earlier. “I need those engines working by sundown. We’ve been here too long.”

Gulping, she nodded. “Yes, Captain. The fan on the starboard engine was malfunctioning, causing the engine to overheat and making the other fans overcompensate. I’ve fixed that. Also, there were a number of parts that looked like they’d been spot-fixed, to be replaced at another time. Since we had those parts on hand and the time, I made those changes and a few other preventative repairs. The last thing we want is something to break when we’re on the run.”

“Oh, very good.” Her eyes filled with surprised as if she hadn’t expected there to have actually been a problem or that Noli was capable of fixing it.

The fan had been an easy repair. However, Noli wasn’t convinced that was the problem, hence why she’d spent
two days
doing every sort of diagnostic and inspection she could think of—and replaced other parts in the process. But she couldn’t find anything. Since she couldn’t find it, she should put the engine back together. Noli realized the captain gazed at her expectantly. Her cheeks burned. “I’ll get the engine put back together—it shouldn’t take me long.”

In theory.

“Hurry up or you won’t get to go off ship. Everyone needs to be onboard by sundown.” She looked around and Noli prayed she didn’t notice the flowers on the engine. Distraction time.

“Will you teach me how to shoot? I … I was considering what you’d said about defending myself.” Noli didn’t know if pistols worked in the Otherworld, but who knew when she’d return there? Knife fighting would probably help her in both worlds.

Vix’s dark eyebrows rose. “Have you asked Jeff?

I figured you were a better shot.” Noli grinned at her. She shook her head, lips twitching. “I do have to say, I think that dress is quite practical. It can get hot and stuffy down here.” Vix craned her neck. “Where
is
that brother of yours?”