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“Have you seen Justice?” Liberty set the crate of jars down and looked around the dilapidated warehouse. Most of the ceiling was now missing so she could clearly see that daylight was quickly disappearing. “Damn it to hell. How many times did I say not to wander off alone?” Her anger was all for show, so Mender wouldn’t know that Justice’s disappearance cared her half to death. What if the kid had gone off and gotten hurt? As soon as she found him, she was going to kill him.
Mender lowered his crate of odds and ends onto the ground before pushing his hair out of his eyes. He looked as exhausted and she felt. They had already made several trips, carrying crate after crate to their airships. He glanced around the enormous cavern before repeating the same question. “Where is that damn kid anyway? I swear he was right behind me just a second ago.” He looked around the darkening warehouse once more before releasing a pent-up breath. “If he’s gotten himself lost, I’m going to kill him too.”
She giggled, but sobered up quickly enough when Mender turned and glared at her. “I’m sorry. I giggle when I get nervous.”
He shook his head. “Well, what do we do? You told us we would have to find our own way back if we wandered off and got lost. Do we leave him to fend for himself tonight and come back in the morning?”
Liberty kicked her crate. “Hell, no. When did you ever start listening to anything I said anyway? You know I’m all bluster and hot air.” She waved toward the back of the warehouse. “I’ll start looking for him over there, and you go outside and see if he decided to leave without us.”
Mender clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t go get yourself killed.”
She nodded. “You neither.”
They both headed off but stopped when there was a loud bang, sounding like a pile of glass jars had crashed onto the warehouse floor. Without saying a word, they ran toward it.
Because of his longer legs, Mender soon outpaced Liberty. She picked up her speed when he disappeared around a row of racks. The warehouse was now almost completely dark, not a place she wanted to be in alone. When she rounded the corner and didn’t see either of them, she stopped and listened. It took a moment to hear anything over her labored breathing, but after concentrating, she finally caught the sound of running feet. Damn the man for leaving her behind. She was now going to kill both of them when she saw them again.
Liberty took off in pursuit, hoping to either catch up with Mender or find Justice. She stopped at the end of the racks and again listened. This time she called out, “Mender! Justice! Where the hell are you two?”
“Over here!” The reply echoed around the vast space.
Liberty guessed where the voice had come from and took off running that way. She soon saw Mender up ahead, bending over and shoving crates out of the way. She stopped, though, when she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye.
She wheeled around but almost tripped when a man-sized shape slipped back into the shadows just a few feet away. Liberty pulled the pistol from her pocket but kept it hidden in the folds of her skirt as she inched toward where she had last seen the shape.
Mender must have noticed because he stopped. “Justice is under here! I need help getting him out.”
Liberty stared into the darkness for a moment. “I’ll be right there,” she called back, but an uneasy feeling had settled about her. She peered into the darkness again before the knowledge that her brother needed help made her slip the pistol back into her pocket and rush over to join Mender.
“Where’s Justice?”
“Right in the middle of all this mess.” He picked up another crate and threw it to one side. “Watch the glass. It’s everywhere.”
From where Liberty stood, all she could see was a bare arm. It wasn’t moving. That was enough for her to throw caution to the wind and grab the nearest object, throwing it behind her in a frenzy. It was completely dark by the time they finally reached Justice and it was impossible to see how badly hurt he was, as he was in covered in broken glass and blood.
She knelt next to him, licked the tips of two of her fingers and held them in front of his mouth. She could only just feel a whisper of breath, but at least it was there. “He’s breathing.” She looked over at Mender. “What do we do? Will we hurt him more if we try carrying him back to Airus?” Panic made it impossible for her to think clearly so she placed all her faith and hope in Mender’s hands.
He carefully wiped shards of glass away from Justice’s face and neck. “I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. I don’t know.”
A shuffling noise behind made them both turn. A gaunt man appeared from the shadows. Liberty pulled her pistol out and aimed it at him.
He held his hands out in front of him but didn’t stop. His attention seemed focused on Justice, not them. “Put that away. There’s no time for such nonsense.”
Mender placed a hand on her shoulder but she didn’t put the gun away, only dropped her arm so it hung by her side. “What do you want, mister?”
The emaciated old man stepped out of the shadows but then stopped, as if uncertain about Liberty and the gun. He seemed satisfied that she wasn’t about to shoot an old man and moved forward, kneeling down beside Justice. He felt for a pulse and then ran both hands down Justice’s arms, along his legs and then up his spine to his head. Finally, he turned to Mender. “I think it will be okay if we move him to my place.”
“And where’s that, Old Man?”
The stranger turned to Liberty. “Move your hands to his mid-section, and when I say ‘lift’, we’ll all lift at the exact same time.” He turned to Mender. “You’re stronger than I am so you’ll carry his head and shoulders. I’ll carry his feet.”
Mender didn’t move but again asked, “And where is that going to be to, Old Man?”
“The name is Patch, and I’ll tell you where as soon as we’ve picked him up.”