As she and Jeff descended on his hoverboard, Noli gazed in awe at the many airships docked at the Grand Central Air Terminal. The station housed everything from the tiny, bird-like sparrow-cla.s.s schooners held together with twine and rivets to luxury eagle-cla.s.s liners, sweeping pleasure boats like the one that would take her mother and grandfather to Boston.

Mama. A pang of sadness shot through her, but excitement pushed it away. Her mother would be fine.

They landed near the main building, the street in front bustling with carriages, motorcabs, hoverboards, flying cars, pa.s.sengers, and aeronauts.

"Stay close." Jeff tucked his hoverboard under his arm, then offered her his free one. They strolled through the main building of the station with its ticket counters and baggage check, bars, restaurants, and shops. People hurried about even this late at night.

They left pa.s.senger terminal and entered another, this one dimmer, grimmer, and dingier. The floors were sticky, making her glad she wore a shorter dress. Her nose wrinkled at the ripe smell. Even the people here seemed ... fiercer.

This place doesn't look fun, the sprite whispered.

No it didn't. Maybe she should retrieve her parasol for self-defense.

"This is the terminal for cargo vessels. There's also one for private pleasure craft." Jeff glared at a man with one arm and a scar on his face who stalked past them with a scowl on this face which caused her to inch closer to her brother.

Ah, the cargo vessel terminal. Many cargo vessels were reputable, but most folks who worked on them weren't people Grandfather Montgomery would ever invite over for tea.

"Whenever we're in port stay with me-even pa.s.senger terminals aren't safe for a lady alone." He pulled her to him.

They pa.s.sed a drinking establishment, lively with noise and packed with bodies. Two men unceremoniously threw another out the door onto the ground right at their feet. Jeff pulled her out of the way. They went through a doorway marked "docks" and navigated several flights of rickety stairs and went out another door. The cool night air kissed her face and the sight of moored airships greeted them as they walked out onto the wooden docks, the ground far below.

Her eyes widened as she took everything in under the dim gas lamps. It had been some time since she'd seen so many airships up close. Most of them were smaller, raven or falcon-cla.s.s with a few little sparrows, most looking like a cross between birds and pirate ships. Balloons filled with helium or hydrogen bobbed among the wooden and metal ship bodies. One or two looked like repurposed military ships-more of a gunmetal gray then dark wood and gleaming bra.s.s, with a tiny cabin and one large balloon.

She frowned as they walked past a sparrow, a small wooden schooner, more bird-like than boat like. One gasfilled balloon held it aloft and an outboard engine sat on each side of the wooden body. Hull riddled with bullet holes, two men dressed similarly to Jeff stood on ladders and worked to repair it by gas lamp.

Jeff raised an arm in greeting. "Encounter some trouble, Finn?"

One of the men waved back from his perch on a ladder. "Blasted MoBatts nearly shot us out of the sky over Deseret. Don't know what's going on but steer clear if you can. Those MoBatts are sons of-" He blushed and tipped his floppy cap at Noli. "My apologies, miss."

"No offense taken," she bobbed her head in greeting. What was a MoBatt?

Jeff shook his head and pushed her past the men, giving them a wave goodbye. "Noli, let me show you my ship."

Finn eyed them curiously, but waved back as they moved down the docks.

Noli stayed close to her brother. The high wooden pier didn't have nets or fences like the ones she'd been to before and it was a long way to the ground below.

Can we throw something off the dock and see what happens? the sprite asked.

Maybe later. She and Jeff had done that as children.

"Who was he?" Noli asked.

"Finn's a good friend of mine, he flies decoy. I didn't introduce you because on second thought, he's not someone you should be acquainted with." He grimaced. "I'm starting to think this wasn't the best idea."

Her jaw gritted as she shifted her valise on her shoulder. "If you force me to go to Boston, I'll run away."

"I wouldn't do that to you." He squeezed her arm and they pa.s.sed more beautiful airships of all shapes and sizes.

"What's a MoBatt?" She made a face as she tried to think of what it could be.

"Deseret Territory's private security force. They can't have their own army but the U.S. has no problem with them having private security, especially ones that like to chase air pirates."

"Deseret?" Noli blinked. "We studied them in school. What an odd little territory." It was in between Nevada and Colorado. "Do you think they'll ever have to become a state?"

"I think as long as they pay taxes, use U.S. currency, obey the law, and don't deny settlers, the government will leave them be. Did you know that drinking and gambling are illegal there?" He made face as if was a terrible, horrible thing.

Noli laughed at his expression. "I suppose opium and joy-houses are illegal as well? What a completely inhospitable place."

His lips pursed in a way that meant he didn't find her joke nearly as amusing as she did. "They mean business. Those MoBatts are nasty ... a nasty lot, well," he shot her a lopsided smile. "If you're on the wrong side of the law, that is. This is why certain types of ships utilize decoys when we need to travel through Deseret. They're even worse than the air patrol."

Her stomach sank to the toes of her black boots as she realized she was about to cross over to the wrong side of the law. There was a big difference between crashing an unregistered flying car when you had no operators permit and air piracy.

"Decoy? Well, that's one use for a sparrow-cla.s.s ship." The only good thing about the little ships was that they could be jerry-rigged to out fly anything in the sky.

They stopped in front of a raven-cla.s.s ship. Two oblong gas-filled balloons held by woven nets floated above it, fans on the sides, the crow's nest between. Wood and bra.s.s fashioned the body. It had a central engine that was part inside and part outside, not entirely outboard like a sparrow, and two smaller engines, one on each side of the main engine. Raven-cla.s.s ships always reminded her of a flying pirate ship, though in this ship, nearly everything would take place below, unlike falcon-cla.s.s ships. A bra.s.s wheel sat up top for emergencies. A flag waved from the crow's nest, burgundy with a blue stripe-a cargo ship for hire.

Clearly, someone took pride in this vessel. It had polished wood, fresh paint, and if it ever had been shot up it had been carefully repaired and concealed. The bra.s.s railings gleamed in the moonlight. The gangplank was down.

"Here she isthe Vixen's Revenge." Jeff beamed as he gestured to the shining ship.

"There's no name on the hull." Or picture. Many of the vessels she'd seen in the past had pictures of scantily clad women, mermaids, or other mascots painted on the side along with the ship's name.

Jeff shook his head. "Makes you easier to find-also it's more of a pleasure craft convention than a commercial one. Though the boats you usually fly on probably have them."

"What boats?" Noli laughed. "Mama doesn't like airships, remember? When we went to San Francisco she forced me to take a train. A train! Why plod across the ground when you can race through the air?" She made a noise of distain. "This is your ship? She's lovely."

He patted the ship's wooden hull. "She's a good ship."

"Jeff, is that you?" a female voice with a hint of a southern accent called. "Where have you been? As soon as Asa and Thad return we need to be off."

A woman strode down the gangplank. Well ... if it belonged to the speaker it must be a woman, but Noli had never seen a woman such as this before. She stood nearly as tall as Jeff and had a thin body devoid of any of the curves a woman usually had. Her boyishly short near-black hair, a lock of it dyed blue, hung in her big brown slightly-slanted eyes.

"Vix, come here, there's someone I want you to meet." Jeff waved her down.

Wait. Vix. This was the woman Jeff was sweet on?

Noli had seen women in trousers before, one of Queen Tiana's handmaidens often wore them, but they were always feminine, showing off her figure. This woman wore an outfit similar to Jeff's as if she wanted to be mistaken for a boy.

Leaping onto the dock with the grace of a cat, Vix looked Noli up and down and shook her head, dark stands flying. "We don't take pa.s.sengers."

"She's not a pa.s.senger, she's our new engineer-I hope." Jeff gave Vix a charming smile, the sort men gave women when trying to get their way. "Vix, meet my younger sister, Magnolia Braddock. Noli, meet Captain Vix, this is her ship."

"Captain." Noli curtsied. A female captain who wore trousers! "I thought this was your ship, Jeff?"

Jeff laughed. "I'm just the pilot, Vix tells me where to go."

Woman couldn't legally pilot airships, only co-pilot. But there was no law against female captains. What adventures she must have!

Vix, who stood the slightest bit shorter than Jeff, furrowed her dark brows in a way that made Noli's stomach twist. "This is the little sister? The one who fixes things?"

"We need an engineer, she needs work. It could be mutually beneficial," Jeff replied.

She scowled. "This isn't a place for just anyone."

"This isn't just anyone, this is my sister. Give her a chance, please?" His look pleaded.

Noli's chest tightened as she smoothed her blue skirts. She hadn't given thought to the idea that someone on the ship might not want her.

"Please, Captain?" Noli asked, voice soft. "I'll pull my weight, promise." She wasn't entirely what she'd need to do besides keep the ship running and in good repair. Whatever it was, she could handle it, surely. "Find yourself on the wrong side of the law again?" Vix didn't quite sneer, but it wasn't kind either.

She knew? Mortification crept through Noli. How much had Jeff told her of her previous exploits?

"If I allow them take her to Boston they'll have her married off to some society dirt-bag three-times her age before Christmas." He gave Vix another beseeching glance. "She wants to attend the university, she'll stay with us for awhile, save up, then I'll get her settled in."

"No favors. She pulls her weight like everyone else." Vix turned to Noli. "On my ship we don't make allowances based on gender-women do the same tasks men do. Or," she grinned at Jeff, "men do the same jobs as women. You maintain the ship, you keep the engine room tidy, and you make sure we have what we need to make repairs. Also, we share jobs...o...b..ard; you'll have a.s.signments like everyone else." Standing toe to toe with Noli, Vix looked her right in the eyes. "Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Noli felt as if she should salute or something.

"It's sir." But she didn't snap or say it rudely.

The captain's accent wasn't quite the same as Charlotte's but still made a pang of sadness shoot though Noli. A southern female captain. What would dear Lottie have made of that?

"I don't supposed you can use a pistol-or defend yourself?" the captain added.

"I can use a sword a little." Noli tried not to fidget under the scrutiny.

Vix scoffed, her rough and tanned hand combing through her short hair. "A sword? That's not going to help."

"She's an engineer, not a fieldhand or a gunner, she doesn't need to know how to shoot." Jeff kept his voice calm and quiet.

Fieldhand. Gunners. Pistols. One more indication this wasn't a respectable cargo vessel. The pistol around Vix's waist added to that. Did Jeff have a pistol as well?

Vix shook her head then looked to Jeff. "Go put her someplace where she won't cause any trouble then get to the bridge. They'll be here any moment and we can't afford to dally."

"Of course, Captain." Jeff didn't kiss her or put an arm around her, but the look he gave her told Noli that yes, this was the woman. And he loved her. A lot.

Jeff offered Noli his arm. "Noli?"

Noli remembered something from the days of visiting airships with her father. "Permission to come aboard, Captain?"

"Granted. Welcome to the Vixen's Revenge." Vix almost cracked a smile. Almost.

Jeff and Noli walked up the gangplank to the top interior deck of the ship. It looked as if they were in some sort of lounge or common area. He set his overboard in a rack, then they went down another flight of stairs. The inside of the ship seemed as neat and tidy as the outside.

"I'll give you a tour later, but I need to get to the bridge. Let me show you to your little domain." He gave her a shy smile. "Also, Vix will warm up to you, she didn't get where she is by being a pushover."

Noli smiled back, not entirely believing him. "If you love her then I'm sure I will, too."

They went down a hallway toward the stern of the airship. Jeff pushed open a door marked engine room. He turned on a lamp hanging on the wall inside near the door. "Here it is, the heart of Vixen's Revenge."

The engines, bigger than Noli, greeted them, motionless and silent. The bra.s.s gleamed in the dim lamplight.

"She's beautiful." And cleaner than the kitchen back home. Closing her eyes, she put her hands on the still main engine, getting a feel for it. h.e.l.lo there. Metal came from the earth, and sometimes working with metal came easier when she remembered that, overcoming the sprite's insistence that thinking was hard.

Thinking is hard, the sprite replied. Oh, that's shiny.

It's shiny, indeed, Noli replied.

Jeff chuckled in the background and her eyes snapped open, cheeks burning. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to think her eccentric, or even worse, mad.

"Engineers are so strange," Jeff teased, another lamp in his hand. "Parts closet is over there." He gestured to a wardrobe in the corner of the room. "Now, I want to show you something." A little door marked the far wall. "This was a closet. A previous engineer far before Vix got the ship made the closet into a workroom. Since an engineer on a ship like this is also chief inventor, tinker, and handyman it makes sense."

He opened the door. Inside was a workbench covered in tools which took up most of the back wall. Boxes of parts and such filled the little room. If she stood in the middle and stretched out her arms she could probably touch all the walls. The only light came from the lamp in Jeff's hand.

"This room and everything in it are yours to use. Also," he gestured to the cluttered s.p.a.ce lighting the corners with the lamp. "I think it would be best for you to sleep here. I don't want you with the rest of the crew. Hopefully, you can fit all this in the parts closet, though you can build some shelves if you need them. I'll get you a hammock and a locker for your things." Jeff looked at her bag and frowned. "Believe it or not, Vix is very good at shopping. Eventually we'll have time for you to get a few things. I'm sorry you couldn't bring your trunk."

"I've got everything I need." She patted her bag. Noli peered into the little room. "This is where I should sleep?" Once she moved out the boxes out it should suffice.

Jeff nodded. "That's safest. Right now we're running light. It's me, Vix, Thad, Asa, Winky-and now you. But we'll need to bring at least one more person on, perhaps two, and well, crew quarters aren't the place for a lady."

The corners of her lips twitched. "Do you share the captain's quarters?"

He blushed to the roots of his dark and messy hair. "I have a hammock in crew quarters, like everyone else."

"Of course," she laughed. "It would be improper not to."

Jeff squeezed her shoulder, still covered by her good cape. "There's not a lot of proper on an airship like this- or in what we do."

"I know." She looked up at him in earnest. "What did you steal? That's what you're waiting for, right? Asa and Thad stole something and you're leaving as soon as they return?"

His dark eyebrows rose. "You're smart."

The door to the engine room opened.

"Jeff, what are you doing in here?" a gravelly voice asked from behind them.

"Hi, Winky, readying the engines?" Jeff smiled at an older man, short and a little chubby, with a white beard and a striped stocking cap over his too-long white hair. He was dressed similarly to Jeff.

Winky nodded. "Captain's orders. You should get to the bridge." When he looked at Noli, his eyes widened in surprise. "Captain didn't say nuffin' about pa.s.sengers."

Jeff pushed her toward Winky. "This is Noli, my sister-she's our new engineer. Noli, Winky came with the ship. He can tell you everything you want to know about her."

Very useful. She curtseyed. "It's a pleasure to meet you ... Winky. I look forward to getting to know this ship."

He doffed his cap. "My pleasure. No one knows this ship like me. But never have I met a lady engineer."