The Airship Aurelia (The Aurelian Archives) (47 page)

There was nowhere to go but down another set’a marble stairs. Thankfully, the water was only a few inches deep down here, which meant the door mechanisms hadn’t shorted yet and Po was able to seal the doors behind them to keep the floodgates closed. Lettin’ her fingers drift over panels and hit levers, push buttons, and cross-tie wires helped calm her somewhat, even if it couldn’t stop her fears flowin’ like the water underfoot. For all she and Mordecai knew,
The Aurelia
and everyone in the city they cared about could be long gone by now. Reece…Gideon…Scarlet…there were so many ways they could’a been hurt or worse. This was just like leavin’ Atlas all over again, and not knowin’ if Gus and Tilden would be alright. The not knowin’ was the worst part.

Suddenly, Mordecai’s gnarled hand covered hers where it had been fiddlin’ mindlessly with a wire.
“Ain’t nothin’ you can do for them here,” he said in a fatherly voice. “The sooner we get to the ship, the more useful we’ll be. Ah. There you go. Got that one awfully quick.”

The door slid open, and together, they stared down the stretch’a new tunnel at the door at its opposite end. It stood open and waitin’, but between them and it ran a length’a bowed glass walls that were webbed with cracks that as they watched, split off, tapered, and multiplied. The whole thing couldn’t be but seconds away from explodin’ inward and floodin’ this whole level.

Mordecai grabbed her arm, and shoutin’, yanked her after him in as much of a sprint as they could manage, tearin’ down the hall. The crackin’ glass sounded like clickin’ teeth; outta the corner’a her eye, Po could see fissures racin’ along beside her. Her heart punched like a fist against her chest, and in the chaos, it was hard to tell its furious drumroll apart from the sound’a her boots poundin’ the marble and the regular snaps’a the glass givin’ way. It all rolled up into one blind panic, one frantic run for her life.

She slid through the open door beside Mordecai, spun to face the door panel, and let out a wail’a despair when she saw it had short-circuited already. Thank goodness Mordecai still had his wits about him. Roarin’ with the effort it took, he grabbed the slidin’ door in both hands and powerfully jerked it out. Without the mechanics’a the panel to latch it, it couldn’t close all the way, but he pushed it with his palms until just a sliver was left. Not a half-second later, they heard the tunnel crunch and the glass shatter, and an explosion’a water pounded into the door, fountainin’ outta the crack, soakin’ Po’s hair.

Mordecai’s white-knuckled hands shook where they gripped the door, and his face was goin’ purple with the effort’a holdin’ it as close to shut as possible. Even then, the water level in the room—some sorta lobby from the looks’a it—was risin’ steadily. It was already up to Po’s knees and splashed higher when she pushed forward to examine the only other door in the room, which was blessedly open, though that wouldn’t help much if they couldn’t get it closed. Gaspin’ and coughin’, she threw herself around the side’a the door to look at its panel. The floor fell out from under her stomach. It was dead.

“
We gotta keep runnin’!” she screamed to Mordecai.

He struggled to look at her over his shoulder. Veins stood out all along his arms.
“Can’t let this door go for long, or we’ll be swept away.” He jerked his chin at the exit. “That got an emergency release?”

Po ducked down and felt around on the floor. Her fingers found the edges of a small lid, and when she peeled it back, a handle. The only problem was…it was on the wrong side’a the door. Because in case’a an evacuation, the people’a the city would usually be runnin’ the other direction, up, not down. She’d tried to be clever, and it had wound her up at a dead end.

Whimperin’ as she wrapped her arms around herself to try and hold in her precious little warmth, she stood and trudged back to Mordecai. “It’s no good. It’s—it’s in here, with us. We gotta run for it, Mordecai. You gotta let it go.”

For a long moment, Mordecai looked at her without expression, though there was somethin’ about his blue eyes that pierced her right through the heart and out the back. Then he nodded once, drew a deep sigh, and let go’a the door. Between his mad run and the fresh burst’a water propellin’ him along, he quickly reached Po, who was fightin’ to keep to her feet, and grabbed her roughly by the bicep to haul her towards the door.

They reached it together.

Po went through alone.

By the time she realized it and swung about with a shout, Mordecai was already pushin’ her by the shoulders so she flew into the water and landed on her back. Gaggin’ and flailin’, she pulled herself outta the waves just in time to see the exit door zip closed. Through its round window, for just a second, she saw Mordecai’s whiskered, smilin’ face. Then it whipped outta sight, washed away behind a blur’a water, erased as if it had never been.

Somehow Po found herself at the foot’a the door, though she couldn’t recall how she’d gotten there. She screamed and kicked and mashed her fist into the door panel in a blind storm’a anger and horror, but nothin’ worked, no matter how hard she fought, no matter how hard she cried. Her hands were bleedin’ as they pulled and plucked at wires as if she could somehow fix this, and yet she knew she couldn’t, or else this wouldn’t be hurtin’ so bad.

The water kept risin’ until she had to tread to keep afloat, and then until her head almost bumped the ceilin’. She could barely manage to make her arms work; they felt as heavy as steel thrunge plates as she clumsily rowed them. She ducked underwater, came out in a stairwell, and kicked upward until her head broke surface with a hoarse, choked gasp. Her fingers hooked a stair. Shakin’, she drew her over to it, and then she crawled, one painful knee up at a time, until she dropped exhaustedly above where the water lapped the glass stairs that glittered prettily in the water. It dully struck her as odd that anythin’ pretty should be in this nightmare.

It was so quiet here, so dark. She preferred the ragin’ chaos. However bad her fear had been, it had nothin’ on her sadness. But she
was
scared. Scared because she knew if it hurt this bad now, it’d be a million times worse when it all started to feel real. Mordecai. Mordecai.
Mordecai
.

“
Po!”

Footsteps shook the stairs, and she planted her hands and pushed herself up with a whine. She’d hoped it would be Reece, or Hayden, or
anyone
besides Gideon, but it was always Gideon lookin’ out for her, so when he knelt down next to her, already peelin’ off his coat to wrap it around her shoulders, she didn’t feel any real surprise. Just shame. This was her fault. Gideon had already lost all his family, and now thanks to Po and her bleedin’ cleverness, he’d lost Mordecai too.

Her mind started catchin’ up to the rest’a her, and she realized she was bawlin’ hysterically, grabbin’ at his arms as he stared at her in bewilderment. He caught her face between his big hands and pushed her hair outta her face with his thumbs.

“Po Girl, you gotta slow down,” he urged.

Rather than listen, she choked out in one coughed sob,
“
Mordecai
…” She looked over his fingers at the way she’d come, and after a beat, he cursed and snatched his hands away from her face. She gasped as he effortlessly heaved her to her feet, givin’ her a push to start her up the stairs. She gibbered dumbly, tryin’ to tell him it was too late, but he just snarled, “
Get goin’!”
and dove into the water, disappearin’ into the dark. For a moment, she stood there yellin’ for him to come back, lurchin’ down a step before the cold water hit her feet and she realized what she was doin’. Even then, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the swellin’ well’a water. A part’a her was scared that if she left, somethin’ might happen to Gideon, and then his death would be her fault too. Not that she’d be good for much if he
did
need her. Mordecai had, and now he was dead.

Somehow, she made it to Aurelia. She couldn’t remember the journey; her mind had been too flooded with thoughts’a Mordecai to grasp her surroundings until the moment her soaked red boots clunked against the mesh floor’a the outer engine room. Gulpin’ down big gasps’a air, she crouched, elbows on her knees, head in her hands, back pressed to the metal heat compressor for warmth and comfort. She didn’t hear the others. What if they were all dead? What if she was the last one alive? Should she try to fly the ship out? Run and hide? She shouldn’t be here. This was all wrong.

At last, she heard someone paddin’ around in the cargo bay. For a second, it occurred to her she should prolly be terrified it was The Kreft come to steal Aurelia. But she just didn’t have the will to move. If it
was
The Kreft, she was dead anyways, and Mordecai had saved her for nothin’. She brought her knees all the way up to her chin to bury her face and shut it all out, but it didn’t help, because what was killin’ her was already locked inside.

The footsteps started her way. She huddled, too afraid to do anythin’ else.

It was Hannick who stepped outta the shadowy tunnel to the cargo bay with drops’a water in his red hair, his green trousers soaked up past the knee. There was somethin’ hard about his face, somethin’ cold and cruel that started her shrinkin’ back till the heat from the compressor made her skin itch. Hannick noticed her with a flinch and just like that, pulled on his easy, cat-like smile, but unlike usual, the smile didn’t put her at ease so much as it made her want to cry. Seemed like no one in the Epimetheus ought to be smilin’ if Mordecai was dead.

As she choked on a shameful sob, Hannick hurried over to stoop and take her hands.
“There, there, Love. Are you alright? I didn’t know if I would find anyone here.”

“
It’s just me,” she finally got out, sniffin’. “Wh-what’re you doin’ here? The city—it’s—”

“
Under attack, yes. It’s bad. They took out the docks almost right away.”

That didn’t answer her question, but she nodded anyways and shrugged into Gideon’s coat. It smelled earthy, like leather and sawdust and pine. She hoped he was alright. She hoped they were
all
alright. She should’ve stayed and tried to find them instead’a scamperin’ in here liked a spooked mouse. The shame was gonna drown her just the same as the sea would have.

After glancin’ at the door, Hannick gave her hands a squeeze and said,
“Listen to me, Po. I think it’s safe to say most of your crew probably didn’t make it. The north pier was practically decimated, and the real attack has only just begun. With the docks totaled, your ship might be our last chance to make it out of here. Do you know what I’m saying?”

Unbelievably, Po thought she did.
“You want us…to run?”

He nodded, and she tried to slip her fingers outta his, but he held fast. It was one thing for Po to force herself to think about the possibility’a her friends bein’ gone, and another thing for someone like Hannick to suggest it without even battin’ an eye, like their deaths might work in his favor.

She drew herself up as straight as she could manage with what felt like the weight’a three heliocrafts on her shoulders. “I ain’t leavin’ them. I just saw Gideon not a bit ago. I gotta at least wait for him.” There was a flash’a fire in Hannick’s eyes. His smile tightened at the same time his grip did, and Po winced, fightin’ to free her hands. “Let go, Hannick!”

“
Fly the ship for me,” he demanded, wringin’ her wrists. She yelped and bent her body to lessen the awful angle, but Hannick just stood up, drawin’ her along with him as he backed towards the door. “Don’t make this difficult, little girl. Just get me into space and I’ll take it from there.”

Her face screwed up in pain, Po kicked his shin, and when he gasped and released her hands, shoved off his chest to make a run for it, scramblin’ up a ladder into the safety’a the Afterquin.

But Hannick was too fast. He caught her by the boot and with a growl, yanked her down. Her hands raked across the rungs; she landed on her feet with a shock that jarred her teeth and knocked her knees. Before she could so much as get her breath back, he spun her about and crushed her against the ladder. Then he kissed her.

It was more shockin’ by far than bein’ pulled off the ladder, and twice as unpleasant. Her scalp felt as if it might rip, his hands in her hair were so tight, and when she tried to squirm away, he braced an arm over her chest and pinned her there with the metal scorin’ her back. Her mind slid into panicked white noise. As the hand in her hair slid down to her face, she twisted and bit the fleshy part’a his thumb pad like Gus had taught her to do in case she ever tussled with street toughs.

With a furious yowl, Hannick jerked back, and then used that same hand to backhand her. She didn’t even see it comin’. In fact, she hardly felt it hit. One second she had been slumped against the ladder, and the next flyin’ to land sprawled on her stomach, her head ringin’ like someone had dropped a bell between her ears.

“
Stop it
!” a voice cried, shrill and alarmed. Hayden, at least, was alive. Po couldn’t really process that right now, though. She couldn’t really process anythin’ outside’a the way she could still feel Hannick’s lips on hers and his hand squeezin’ her cheeks so they mashed against her teeth. She curled up on her side, makin’ herself small, and tried to stop existin’ for just a minute.

Hayden stood in the doorway, water-logged and shiverin’ wildly even as he stared at Hannick in shock. Hannick looked briefly surprised at the interruption, but he was sneerin’ again in no time.