Jace strapped a leather belt around me, securing us together, before we lifted up. I clung to him as the device reeled us into the air.
I didn’t dare look down. We were going much higher than the waterfall, and there was nothing surrounding us to scale. When we reached the back of the ship, Jace grabbed the ledge and peered over the side onto the deck. He signaled Nick, and they both climbed over. I felt useless dangling, not being able to help. But once I was on my feet, I planned to take the lead in finding the documents. I had to.
Jace unhooked the belt once we were secure, and I crouched against the ship’s side. We’d timed it so we had two minutes to get inside the ship before the guards returned to patrol this end. Jace adjusted the goggle lens, sweeping the perimeter of the ship. Then he motioned us forward, signaling it was clear.
I spotted the door and took off behind them. I needed to get ahead of them once inside. More than that, I needed to separate from them and look in the right place. I mentally cursed. How was I going to do this?
Lana, Jace, and I pressed up against the outside wall of the ship’s main quarters, while Nick picked the lock on the door. I had no idea where the son of a Council member had learned to pick locks, but at the moment, I was thankful. I heard a light click. Nick smiled and waved us in ahead of him.
Jace was the only one with night vision goggles, so I was relieved to find the inside quarters dimly lit with gas lamps. That was a good and bad thing. I swallowed hard. I could see, but that meant the guards—or worse, the Council members—could see me, too. I wished I could turn invisible as I crept along the hardwood flooring behind the others.
None of us had ever been inside an airship before. We could only guess its design. Logically, the safest place for sleeping quarters would be the middle of the ship. During our planning, we’d assumed an office or meeting room would be near the back. But we could only pick one side and hope we were right. There wasn’t enough time to chance searching the whole ship.
At the end of the corridor was a set of double mahogany doors. They were locked, a promising sign that something of importance was behind them. We waited, nervously glancing around while Nick picked the lock.
Once inside the room, it was completely dark. Nick closed the doors behind us and we illuminated our hands, sparking small domes of Charge and lighting the room with a blue glow.
Lana and Nick began searching cabinets along the wall as Jace moved toward a desk at the opposite end of the room. I couldn’t be in both places at the same time. Crap. I chose to follow Jace. The desk seemed a more logical place to store secret documents.
My insides roiled. I opened a drawer and rifled through files, most of which were sales receipts and other documentation for their steam devices and machines. I breathed easier. The Narcos probably didn’t have anything on the experiment here. Why would they? That information was way classified. I almost laughed out loud at myself. Soon we could get out of here.
I closed my drawer and sidled up beside Jace. He was looking over documents similar to the ones I’d found. “Jace,” I whispered. “There’s nothing here. We’re running out of time.”
He released a heavy breath. “Dammit. There has to be something.”
Across the room, Nick waved his hand, signaling us. Jace put the documents back in place and closed the drawer. My heart rate kicked up a notch as we came up beside Nick and Lana and I saw them unrolling a scroll.
“What’s that?” I asked. “It looks old.”
Lana nodded. “It’s written in some kind of Egyptian hieroglyphs. It was locked up all by itself.” She analyzed the delicate paper. “I think it’s something about the ancient guardians.” She pointed to a symbol we all recognized—the mark of the Kythan. “But I can’t read it. The language has been dead for centuries.”
Jace pulled out a Carbon Capture. “Hold it still. I’ll snap a few proofs. We can try to decipher it later.” He took the photo, then glanced around the room. “Did you guys find anything else? Anything about the union?”
“No.” Nick tugged out his communicator. “But we’re out of time. The guards will be making their round to the other side of the ship soon. We have to go.”
Jace pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose as he thought. After a moment he nodded. “All right. We tried. We’ll just have to figure it out on our own.” He placed the scroll back into the mahogany cabinet and silently closed the doors. Then he dipped into his leather satchel and pulled out four canvas packs with attached harnesses. “Strap these on now. We have to be ready when we reach the back deck.”
I strapped on the harness. “Got it.”
After locking the doors behind us, we inched down the hallway to the main entrance quarter. We were almost to the door when someone entered from the opposite corridor: a Narco guard, and behind him, two more.
I froze.
Reese. My chest constricted. I forced myself to breathe through the panic. Why is he on the Council’s airship?
“Stop right there!” One of the guards shouted.
The rest of my party didn’t stop, they bolted for the door, but my feet were planted as I stared at Reese. He was dressed in a uniform, just like the other two guards. My mind spun. I felt a tug, and then I was being hauled through the door onto the deck. Jace pulled me by my hand. We were almost to the edge of the ship when Flame shot past my head, burning into the ship’s stern.
I spun around. The three Narco guards stood only a few feet away from us, their arms glowing red.
“Halt,” ordered one of the guards. “Hands up.” He held his blazing hand outstretched in our direction.
Jace drew his Charge Saber, illuminating it, and Lana and Nick followed his lead. I hesitated, not wanting to fight Reese, but drew my Charge Saber at the last moment as Flame flew toward my head. I blocked it, sending the Flame to the ground, and looked up. Reese was preparing to send another my way.
Instead of firing Charge back at him, I rolled, ducking his next Flame. I didn’t want to fight him. From the corner of the ship, I saw the others taking on the two guards and winning. Jace would never let us live down that his training sessions had come in handy. Getting my bearings, I stood.
Reese came straight for me. I squatted into a defensive position as he lunged, taking a blazing swipe at my rib cage. I countered with my saber, sending him reeling to the ground from the shock. Crap. I clipped my saber onto my belt and held my hands up.