Chapter 29
Will and Amaya didn’t speak the rest of the way back to Sorrento.
Panic and denial spiraled in his mind, and try as he might, he couldn’t stop thinking about his family, his home.
If only Hellsgate let him be in two places at once.
He needed to get back to the Maelstrom, facilitate a prison break at the Coil, find the Skystone .
. . and none of that even involved pinning Graven down.
Getting back to the ship was the new priority, but it was all too much. Too much for one person. Will’s sanity was crumbling; the only thing keeping him tethered to reality was Amaya.
She was surely wrestling with her own inner turmoil right now, but the way she wrapped her arms around him so tight, her chest pressed to his back and her head resting between his shoulder blades, offered something akin to comfort.
It wasn’t enough to completely calm him—nothing would ever be enough for that—but it kept him grounded enough to drive at a somewhat legal speed and follow the few traffic laws he actually knew rather than tearing through the city like a maniac.
They arrived at the city center station, where Will hopped off the bike and wordlessly looked over Amaya.
She was a wreck, still wearing his coat with nothing but that silky slip underneath.
While tantalizing in the right circumstances, it was terribly inconvenient now—she must have hidden Corsair’s gun in the jacket pockets, but she was still barefoot and shivering again.
People would notice, and then they would notice who she was.
“We sit in the back of the last car,” he whispered, gripping her wrist to bring her to the ticket counter. “We get on first. Act normal.”
“Will, wait,” Amaya said, swiveling her wrist so she was grabbing his instead. Will looked behind him to find her stopped in her tracks, eyes wide.
Wait?
They had no time to wait.
“Tell me on the train—”
“I’m not coming on the train.”
Will blinked. “What?”
“I think I need to go home.”
Will opened his mouth to protest, to remind her that home was the last place she’d wanted to go a couple days ago, but she placed her other hand on his chest, silencing him.
“I can speak to my father and Victor. I’ll convince them to release the others while you go deal with the ship.”
Will stared at her, speechless. He needed her with him. Didn’t she understand that? Had he not been clear enough at the inn about how much he wanted her to be his?
Sending her back to the Maelstrom while he dealt with the Coil situation was one thing. Letting her run off alone while he went to see if his home still existed was entirely different.
Besides his own selfish desires, Graven was still looking for her. He wouldn’t stop until he reached the Skyvault, and they had to beat him there. Without Amaya, they were stuck.
Will clenched his jaw.
“No. You’re coming—”
“Trust me,” she said, lower lip quivering. “Let me take this one thing off your mind.”
“If you go home, they won’t let you leave,” Will said. “You’re not worried about Graven anymore? We need you.”
I need you.
“No, I am, and I know, but . . . I’ll figure it out. You’re just one person, and I . . . I need to fix this.”
Will didn’t like it, but he understood the sentiment. He pulled her in close enough to see the shadows of doubt dancing in her eyes and was certain they were reflected in his own.
He couldn’t protect her if she went beyond his reach. And in just a couple short weeks, protecting her had become one of his greatest callings. He didn’t want to watch her go willingly back into her cage, where no one wanted the unfiltered version of her that had become so precious to him.
She belonged in the sky.
She belonged with him.
But she wasn’t his to command, and this—her searching for ways to leverage any resources she had to help—was one of the things he admired most about her. And while Pearce and the Skyvault were important, Sebastian and Edmund were the new priority.
Will reached out and tucked a silky curl of dark hair behind her ear, his knuckle brushing against Eagle Eye and then sweeping across her cheek.
He could kiss her. He wanted to kiss her, but what would that do but make this harder?
Instead, he tried to memorize the softness of her skin, the swirls of Aether in her eyes, the soft shape of her mouth when she exhaled, the grounding weight of her presence, and the determination evident in every jump of her pulse.
“Okay. Fine. Be careful, Bluebird.” He stepped back, letting his eyes linger on hers for a moment longer than he should have. “I have to go.”
Will turned away, quashing the urge to turn back.
“Will, wait.”
Amaya reached for his arm and brought him back around to face her.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said. “This isn’t goodbye. I’ll come back, I promise.”
Maker above, Will hoped she was right. But rather than let her see his uncertainty, his fear, he simply nodded.
“We’ll wait in Whistleton if we can. Keep Wayfinder on you.”
Will had never seen the Maelstrom on the ground, but there was a first time for everything.
Although no one replied to his call from the skiff, it didn’t take him too long to find the ship. Not once he caught sight of the gigantic plume of charcoal smoke darkening the horizon, anyway.
The Maelstrom lay in the middle of a cornfield, the hull a crush of crumpled metal and shattered wood.
It could have been a lot worse—Quintus must have been smart enough to begin descent as soon as he realized the imminent danger—but it would take at least a few days to fix it up enough to haul to a sky city repair bay.
Will swallowed hard, his throat constricting. He wanted to explode in a whirlwind of rage and raze this damn cornfield to the ground. This wasn’t real. This didn’t happen—not to them.
The good thing was, they were in the middle of nowhere, and they could pay for the silence of whatever poor bloke owned this field.
That was the only positive Will could find.
Had anyone survived?
The dark thought was brightened somewhat by the sight of Ford kneeling beside a pile of debris, picking out salvageable parts.
“Captain,” Ford said, acknowledging Will as he walked by. “Graven attacked with the Baroness. There was nothing we could do.”
“It’s okay, Ford.” Will’s voice sounded empty, even to himself. “How many did we lose?”
Ford’s silence was enough of an answer.
Too many.
“Is Lockwood here?” Will asked.
Ford shook his head. “Haven’t seen him.”
“Mouse?”
“Missing since yesterday.”
Shit. That wasn’t necessarily bad news since the kid had followed them into the city, but it wasn’t good, either.
Will almost didn’t want to say the next name.
“. . . Serena?”
“Engine room.”
Will’s shoulders dropped in relief, nodding before pushing through the cornstalks to board the fallen airship.
He could barely keep his head up to take in the damage, the dead. It was brutal, seeing nearly a dozen bodies lined up down the center deck. Will quickly identified Gareth, the medic, and Quintus in the lineup alongside several others.
Tears pricked at Will’s eyes, which he quickly brushed away with his sleeve under the guise of scratching his nose.
He couldn’t let his men see him weakened to the point of crying, but he suddenly felt like his ten-year-old self, running out of his family’s ruined home to see the bodies of his friends and neighbors lining the streets.
It felt the same. Like a black hole opening up in his chest and sucking away all the light.
Will didn’t know each crew member intimately.
He had his inner circle, and Sebastian was the point of contact for everyone else.
But every person who made the Maelstrom their home became family.
Some, like Sebastian and Serena, were siblings, while others were distant cousins, but still family. And Graven had stolen them.
Graven. It was always Graven.
The surviving crew moved about like the undead, tending wounds or simply sitting there, shocked. Ozzie passed out tea and chocolate, but even his joviality was worn away.
No one dared address Will other than the occasional nod or “Captain.” Will internalized everything they must be thinking: he’d failed them. He’d prioritized Amaya, Graven, and the Skystone above his crew.
And while his crew’s loyalty ran deep, even loyalty had its limits. Had he just found them?
His hands shook from a combination of rage and guilt and grief. Fisting them wasn’t enough, and the shadows of Hellsgate wouldn’t stop pulsing around his fingertips.
He would eviscerate Graven for this. He’d track him down and make an example of him, show the entire world what happened when—
“Captain!” Mouse’s small, clear voice rang out from behind, and not a moment later, Will found himself crushed in a hug. The gesture was so foreign and unexpected that his mind interpreted it as an attack, causing his muscles to flex as he spun around and lifted his arms to break the embrace.
“What the—”
“Sorry! Sorry.” Mouse backed up and took off his cap, wringing it in his hands. “I’m just . . . really glad you’re here. W-what happened?”
“Graven.”
“Oh.” Mouse swallowed, his eyes misty as he surveyed the damage.
Will was already on the edge of tears himself, but the relief he felt knowing the boy hadn’t been on the ship during the attack was nearly too much. Losing Mouse would have been too heavy a blow.
“Did you just get back?” Will asked, swallowing the sob that tried to escape.
“Yeah. Um, so, listen, something happened at Starcrest Peak, too . . .”
“I know. Amaya told me.”
“She’s okay?” Mouse looked both hopeful and relieved he didn’t have to be the one to relay the grim news. “I saw her jump off the cliff, and then—”
“She’s fine.” But damn, he wished she was here. He could envision her, running around the ship trying to make sure everyone was okay, doing everything possible to help. Meanwhile, Will was a petrified shell of himself.
“Bas and Ed?” Mouse asked.
“Working on it.”
“And is Serena . . . ?”
“I’m going to see her now.”
“Oh, good.”
Uninvited, Mouse trailed Will on his way to the engine room.
Every time they turned a corner, a fresh valve of pain opened up until Will’s entire body ached.
Everywhere he looked, the deck was soaked with blood.
The bodies had already been cleared out, but he could tell where they’d fallen.
There was less carnage as they descended to the engine room, but no shortage of impacted walls, split pipes, or splintered floorboards.
And Serena. The closer they got to Serena, the more Will dreaded what he’d have to tell her. That her brother, the person she loved most in this world, had been arrested in Sorrento.
They would get Sebastian and Edmund back. But that didn’t make this part easier.
“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch!” Serena’s shout emanated from the engine room, followed by a smash of something—likely her boot—against metal. “Malcolm, come help me with this.”
“Of course, Serena,” came Malcolm’s metallic reply.
It took all of Will’s determination to keep putting one foot in front of the other. But while he could hardly find the strength to keep going, Mouse seemed desperate for any scrap of hope. He bolted ahead of Will, skidding into the engine room.
“Serena!”
Will stepped inside just in time to see Serena, with her overalls torn and skin scraped with blood and grease and soot, catch Mouse in a crushing hug. She ruffled his curls, tear tracks streaking down her cheeks.
“Thank goodness you’re okay,” she said, ruffling the boy’s unruly hair. “We couldn’t find you.”
Serena looked up at the sound of Will’s footsteps. Relief passed over her features as she gently nudged Mouse aside.
Will hadn’t seen Serena cry since they were children. Hugging wasn’t their thing, so they didn’t, but her face said enough.
“We found Graven,” she said dryly. Then, her voice broke. “I’m sorry. The Baroness got the jump on us, and he must have upgraded it because it was fucking huge, and we couldn’t—”
“Don’t,” Will cut her off, shaking his head. “This isn’t your fault. I’m sorry. I should have been here.” He looked her over. “Are you okay?”
Serena nodded, but her eyes shifted to beyond his shoulder. Will knew she was looking for her brother, and a lump formed in his throat.
“The others were intercepted by the Royal Fleet,” he said. “Edmund was shot. Sebastian is okay, but they were taken to the Coil.”
A broken sob escaped Serena then, and she covered her face with her hands. Malcolm hobbled over, his metal joints creaking, to comfort her.
“We’re going to get him back,” Will promised. He believed they would with every fiber of his being, because the alternative wasn’t an option.
“How? W-what are we going to do?” she asked, wiping away tears.
“Amaya thinks she can leverage some connections. If she can’t, I’ll break them out.”
If he was honest, Will didn’t want to wait and see if Amaya’s crazy plan worked. All he wanted to do was go back to Sorrento this very second and tear the entire city apart, starting with that prison and ending with Alastor Graven himself. Maybe throw in Arbuckle Emporium for good measure.
But first, the ship.
“How long until we can get back in the air?” he asked. “You’ll have the entire crew at your disposal.”
What’s left of it.
Serena uncovered her face, revealing puffy red eyes. “Um . . .” She glanced at Malcolm, then at the engine room. “The engine itself isn’t bad. If everyone pulls their weight, I’d say . . . two days?”
“I concur. I’m already making a list of needed parts,” Malcolm said.
Serena nodded. “If we can pick a few of them up in Talbot, we’ll be able to get to Whistleton. I can do a full repair there.”
“Get whatever you need,” Will said. “You’re in charge. Make a list of parts. I’ll check in with our fleet—the Moon Raider usually headquarters in Whistleton.”
Will closed his eyes, about to say he was going to go straight back into the city, but he felt ill. Dizzy. Exhausted. If Sebastian were here, he would implore him to rest first.
Funny how Will took Sebastian’s advice more readily when he wasn’t actually here.
“First thing tomorrow, I’m going back to Sorrento.”