Katrina took a seat in her chair and put her hands on her head.
“Ma’am,” Layla said, walking over to pat Katrina’s back in a sign of support.
Les didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t seen Katrina like this since she first took the helm. But the trauma of losing her child, killing her former lover, and seeing X leave—again—and the burdens of being captain had likely stacked up.
She was a strong woman, but in the end, she was only human.
Katrina pulled her hands away from her flushed cheeks and stood again.
“Sorry. I’m fine. There’s just a lot on my mind, and I’m worried about our friends on the Sea Wolf.”
“X is still out there,” Michael said. “I can feel it in my bones.”
“He’s definitely a hard man to kill, but he isn’t immortal.” Katrina sighed. “I should never have sent him out there alone with Magnolia. We should have sent more boats. More…”
After a pause, she looked to Les. “Lieutenant, I want you to meet with Sergeant Sloan as soon as possible. Tell her I need the best militia soldiers she can spare.”
Michael raised a hand. “Captain, I thought I was in charge of finding new divers.”
“Things just changed, Commander,” Katrina replied, still looking at Les. “I need you for something else.”
He had finally figured out what had her so bothered. She wasn’t looking just for people who could dive—she wanted people who could fight.
FOUR
“I feel like I haven’t spent any real time with you in weeks, Tin,” Layla said as they walked down the passageway connecting the Hive to Deliverance.
News of the Sea Wolf had rattled him, but he couldn’t do anything about it right now.
They need you here, X had told him before leaving. If something happens, don’t come after me. Maybe so, but Michael was having a hard time sitting idly by while X, Mags, and Miles were potentially in trouble. To do nothing felt like abandoning them.
He knew that Layla was upset, too, though she wasn’t showing it.
“Have you missed me?” she asked.
He squeezed her hand. “Of course. I always miss you.”
“Great answer.” Her smile still had the same effect on him as when they were kids. The cute dimple and gleaming white teeth still sent a little shiver through him.
“I don’t know what to do about X and Magnolia,” he said.
Her grin vanished, and her hand went slack.
“Don’t do that,” Michael said, taking her hand again. “I know you’re upset, too, and I think we should talk about this.”
“Why talk about something we can’t control? We can’t go searching for them in those storms. You know that.”
“Yeah, but…”
“You can’t beat yourself up over this. Magnolia and X made their choice when they set off for the Metal Islands. They knew the risks, and besides, you said it best back in the launch bay: X might be in trouble, but he isn’t dead.”
Michael looked at the Team Raptor patch sewn over his chest. Inside his vest pocket were the words he had given X over a decade ago.
Accept your past without regrets. Handle your present with confidence. Face your future without fear.
He carried the quote with him even though he had it memorized. He had lived his life by the motto, and handing the quote to people was his way of giving back. Each time he gave it to someone, he wrote it down again for the next person.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Tin,” Layla said.
Michael kissed her softly on the cheek. “I know. Come on, I have a surprise for you.”
Her smile returned, and she followed him down the empty passage.
Around the next corner, two technicians were installing a monitor inside the relocated engineering school. Places like this gave him hope. This was where they would train the next generation of engineers—the men and women who would help keep both ships in the sky. Many of them would also become Hell Divers.
The cog continued to turn, spitting out the innocent youth aboard the airship.
Young men and women like Jed Snow and Sandy Bloomberg, who were still just kids in Michael’s eyes. He could still remember Jed and his mom in the trading post that day Layla and Michael had given him a fortune cookie.
He memorized it a long time ago.
Accept your past without regrets. Handle your present with confidence. Face your future without fear.
Michael and Layla walked past several kids drawing on the bulkhead, and he wondered if they too would end up in the cog someday.
Fresh paint glistened in the light. There were four kids, all about eight to ten years old. One of them was Phyl, Les Mitchells’ daughter. She reminded Michael of Layla at that age: innocent, fun, aggressive.
“That drawing stinks, midget,” Paul said to his friend Jimmy Moffitt. “You should just give up already.”
Michael shook his head. “Hey, there—”
But Layla beat him to the punch. “Paul, you apologize right now. I happen to think Jimmy’s drawing is really good.”
The short boy turned away from the bulkhead, where he had painted a stick figure of some sort of animal.
“Oh, yeah? What is it, then?” Paul asked.
Layla stuttered. “It’s art; that’s what matters. And name-calling is just going to get you into trouble.”
Paul lowered his paintbrush, looked at Jimmy, and said, “Sorry. Your drawing doesn’t suck.”
“And…?” Layla said, hands on her hips.
“You’re not a midget.”
“There, that’s better,” she replied. “Now, have fun, and don’t get that paint all over the place.”
She left Michael standing there with the kids. He cracked a half grin at Jimmy and then hurried to catch up with Layla.
“That totally reminded me of something from when we were kids,” he said. “Remember the time we were standing outside the school, and Pipe was teasing me about my tin hat?”
“That happened a lot.”
“I’m talking about the time you did something about it.”
Layla blushed. “Oh, yeah, I kicked him in the balls.”
“I believe you called them ‘marbles.’”
They both laughed as they walked on through the ship.
“Pipe was a good man,” Layla said. “A bit of a dick when he was younger, but I miss his jokes.”
“Me, too. And Rodger, and Ty, and Weaver, and…” Michael let the words trail off. “But enough about the past. Let’s focus on the present and how lucky we are.”
“Deal.” She gave him a sly grin. “So where are you taking me?”
“I told you, it’s a surprise.”
They passed several technicians and engineers in yellow coveralls, readying quarters for more lower-deckers from the Hive.
Michael and Layla had kept their quarters there. Deliverance had saved their lives, but the Hive would always be his home.
Until they found a place on the surface.
The thought reminded him yet again of X, Magnolia, and Miles. They were down there somewhere, in danger while he took his girlfriend on a date.
As if sensing his thoughts, Layla took his hand again. “Just you and me right now, remember?” she said.
“Right.”
Leaving the construction site behind, they turned into a passage already occupied by new passengers. Several hatches were propped open, providing glimpses into the lives of people who had lived belowdecks on the Hive for most of their lives.
Chloe and Daniel sat on a bunk in the room to his left. Both kids wore fresh bandages on their hands and over their heads.