Tin Swift(130)

Everyone in the room was silent.

Finally, Miss Dupuis spoke up. “We are in contact with the president, Captain Cage. I give you my word. We will store it safely and contact him immediately. As Mr. Hunt says, we will keep this away from all living things.”

“And if the president wants it?” Hink asked.

“He can ask for it, of course,” Alun Madder said.

Rose knew the Madders well enough to know that just because they said you could do something, it didn’t mean they would actually let you do it.

But she was on their side in this argument. She wanted the piece of the Holder locked up, locked away. The very idea of Captain Cage carrying it around with him as he made his way back to Washington put knots in her stomach.

“You know I’ll hunt you down for it if I want it,” Hink said with a friendliness that nonetheless carried a threat.

“Oh, we’d expect no less of you, Mr. Hink,” Alun said cheerily. “Shall we drink on it, then?”

There was the passing of flasks, and then someone brought in wine. Mae sat silently with Rose, staring into the fire, seeming to smile slightly only when Cedar Hunt spoke.

Oh. Maybe that was the sadness that had taken her friend. Mae had come home, but Mr. Hunt might be moving on.

Rose was going to ask her, but the fire was warm, the sound of voices growing more and more friendly as the wine flowed, and eventually, without her consent, sleep took her to softer horizons.

She woke to someone whispering her name.

“Rose?”

She opened her eyes. It was dark in the room, the fire in the hearth banked down low. It took her a second or two to get her bearings. She was at the coven, in the great room, wrapped in blankets. Who was calling her name?

Captain Hink knelt down beside her. “Are you awake?”

“Is something wrong?”

“No. But it will be sunrise soon. I wanted to go out to the Swift and watch it rise. I thought…” He paused as if suddenly realizing he was waking her up out of bed and asking her to tromp off to his ship with him, alone in the dark.

“Hmm.” He sat the rest of the way down on the floor. “Why is it,” he said, “that every time I’m around you, I act like an idiot? Do you have some sort of magic that makes men turn dumb?”

“No. I think you just come by it in a natural sort of way, Captain.”

He grinned at her. “I assure you, Rose, I am quite the suave buck around other women.”

“Have you been around so many to test this theory of yours?” Rose asked sweetly. “Would you say dozens? Hundreds of women?”

Hink chuckled. “Oh, this is a conversation we are not about to undertake. So, never you mind, Rose Small. Go back to sleep. I’m sorry—”

“I’d love to see it,” Rose said. “The sunrise. The ship. Help me up?”

“Be happy to.” Hink stood, grunting a little from his own aches, then helped her up.

She wrapped the blankets tight around her and Hink wrapped his good arm firmly around her waist.

Walking was a little easier. No, everything was easier, including breathing. Being rid of the Holder made Rose feel like she was really well again.

They stepped outside into the still and silent pre-morning light.

There was something about the quiet of the day that she wanted to savor, the held breath of something new about to begin.

Captain Hink must have felt it too. He didn’t say anything as they followed the trail out to the field where the airships had been towed and anchored. The strange blocky shape of the Madders’ top-like ship took up more room than the Swift, and it at least appeared whole.

The Swift was a mess. Her envelope had been deflated, and now lay on the field like a blanket of tin that had been gently wrapped into a roll. The living space of the ship was missing part of the back end, and the glim trawling arms were both broken down to nubs.

She looked like a ship that had been torn apart by the seas and wrecked upon rocky shores.

A golden dragonfly buzzed down to land above the door to the ship, its wings like chips of crystal. The dragonfly looked almost like it was clockwork, but Rose was too far away to see it properly. And just before she got close enough, the dragonfly flew off, its wings ticking through the sky.

“The Swift served us well,” Captain Hink said, drawing Rose from her thoughts.

“She did, poor thing,” Rose said as they came up close enough to touch her. “She’s been through a lot.”

“She’ll fly again,” Captain Hink said. “Can’t keep a girl like her out of the sky.” He opened the door, and helped Rose step up into the ship.

Captain Hink stepped in behind her, blocking her escape, not that she wanted to escape. He took a deep breath and when he exhaled, his broad shoulders relaxed.