Patterson held Cass’s chin with his fingers. “What in tarnation happened to you?” He gently turned her head one way, then the other, and clicked his tongue as he examined her from behind his spectacles. His peppered hair stood in jagged pieces around his face.

“I got lost,” she said faintly.

“Got lost? In Decadenn? And where were you?” he said, focusing his glare on Theo.

“I didn’t go with the crew to the pub. I found Cass on my way back from visiting a friend.”

“I’m going to have a word with those young men,” Patterson muttered as he dropped his hand and turned toward the galley counter.

“It’s not their fault,” Cass told him. “I insisted on coming back to the ship alone. I’ve never had this happen before. And I won’t let it happen again.”

Patterson shook his head as he rummaged around. “Darn right you won’t because I won’t let it happen.” He brought out a small box and placed it on the counter. The pans above his head swung as the ship rocked with the wind. “You’re a young woman now.”

“Who can handle herself. I was careless tonight. It won’t happen again,” she repeated.

Patterson reached into the box. “I’m not saying you can’t take care of yourself, it’s all the other fools in this world that make me worry. This could have happened to any of the crewmembers. What I am saying is you can never be too careful. Wolves can pick off a solitary person. But when there’s more”—he gestured—“there’s strength in numbers.” He pulled out a small dark vial and a roll of bandages. “And you, my dear, are a lovely young woman. So let an old man worry a little. Now let me see your wounds.”

Cass sat patiently as Patterson placed ointment on the cuts and bandaged them up. He clicked his tongue again as he looked at her face. “No damage to the bone or the eye. Good thing I had ice delivered earlier today for the icebox. That will help with the swelling and bruising.”

Patterson went back into the galley. He appeared again a couple minutes later with something wrapped in a piece of muslin. “Here.” He handed it to her. “Hold this against the lower part of your eye for fifteen minutes. Take a break, then use it again. And use this when the compress starts dripping.” He handed her a tea towel.

Cass stood up and placed the wrapped ice against the swollen area. “Thank you, Patterson.”

Patterson grumbled. “You’re welcome. See me tomorrow. I want to make sure everything is healing.”

At the door to her cabin, Cass stopped and looked at Theo, who had stayed with her. “I’m going to turn in for the night. Thank you, Theo, for your help.” She took a breath. “For . . . uh. . . saving me.”

“It was my pleasure.” He seemed to sense her awkwardness and changed the subject. “If you like, we can look over your books tomorrow.”

She smiled. “I would like that. I’m going to be busy preparing for the dive into Voxhollow, but we are still two weeks out. I think I can steal away for an hour in the afternoon.”

“I’ll probably be in my cabin. Come find me. Until then, sleep well, Cass.” Theo hesitated, then headed down the corridor toward his own room.

Cass watched him leave while pressing the cold compress to her cheek. A strange jumble of emotions filled her. She was both relieved and distressed to see him go, and, for a moment, she thought about calling out to him and asking him if they could talk for a while longer.

She entered her tiny cabin. She lit the gas lamp, then changed into a faded nightshirt. After putting her clothes away, she lay down on the hammock and continued to press the ice to her face as she stared up at the hanging light.

Her whole body ached from her encounter, and as she recalled that moment in the dark alley, she shuddered. No, she would not let that happen again. No more skirts, no more wandering the streets. She had to take care of herself. Tonight only proved that one slipup could cost her everything.

If it hadn’t been for Theo . . .

Theo. His fists had come out of nowhere, knocking out two of the men and sending the third one running. He went to a boarding school and university. She knew little of those, except they were only for the elite. Who exactly was he?

Why did she feel a slight pain to think of those things? Was it because he was everything she wasn’t? Educated, smart, rich. Those things had never bothered her before.

She placed the cold compress aside and turned off the gas lamp, then lay in the dark, letting the gentle rocking of the Daedalus lull her toward sleep.

For the next three days, every time Cass ran into Jeremiah, he asked her forgiveness for not escorting her back that night in Decadenn. His concern was well intentioned, but it was beginning to wear on her. She didn’t want to live in a world where she had to rely on a man to go somewhere, but that meant acknowledging that she had been careless. To use Theo’s words, it wasn’t weakness to ask for help sometimes.

The rest of her days were spent preparing for the trip down to Voxhollow. At midpoint, she took Theo on another dive. Both she and Bert felt confident that he would do fine solo diving.

Her stomach clenched as she was storing the packs after inspecting the gliders. It wasn’t necessarily the dive she was anxious about, it was the unknown. What if they had another Magmire incident? They still didn’t know why the Turned were so different there. What if there were more? What if her revolver jammed again? What if—

She shoved the packs away into the locker and shut the door. The rest of the storage area was clean, save for a settling of dust along the crates. Light trickled through the portholes, and she could hear the thumping of the crew’s boots on the deck above.

She would be no good if she let her fear take control over her. Bert would be down there, and so would Cyrus, the new diver Bert had been working with. She would have two revolvers on her this time, and she would be prepared.

Cass turned and headed across the ship toward the stairs. Soon they would reach the area where Voxhollow was located. But before they could dive, they would have to get permission to go into the no-fly zone, something Theo had promised he could do.

Yet even though he’d been on the Daedalus for over six weeks, she still barely knew anything about him.

She started up the stairs again. They would finish the job, get the money, and pay off Eli Gresley, then the Daedalus would belong to the crew. And she would never have to worry about losing her home again.

She would finally be safe.

As they approached the western mountains, a patrol ship spotted them. The Mist swirled below, darker than usual, with the sunlight glinting off the edge, while the mountains ahead were sharp and narrow, with only a few trees clinging to the sides of the cliffs.

The patrol ship was half the size of the Daedalus, with smooth lines and painted in blue and gold, the colors of the House of Lords. Instead of a cabin extending below a balloon, the ship was directly attached to the ivory gasbag, with a pair of wings spreading across the front of the balloon like the old-time figureheads once used on maritime ships. Twin turbine engines graced both sides of it, filling the air with the steady whoosh as the ship drew near.

Bert brought the Daedalus to a pause, then ordered Jeremiah to prepare the plank.

“Why is there a patrol way out here?” one of the crew complained.

“The House of Lords recently made this a no-fly zone,” Will told him.

“Why?”

“No clue.”

The sailor glanced at him suspiciously. “Must be something valuable below. Or something dangerous. What exactly are we retrieving?”

“A family heirloom,” Will told him.

“Strange.”

The patrol ship shut off its motor and let the airship gently coast close to the Daedalus. Once the two ships were near each other, ropes and boards were brought out to tether them together, but keep their balloons apart. Cass watched the proceedings with fascination. The crew of the patrol ship were dressed in uniforms similar to bluecoats, with gold tassels along their shoulders and bright brass buttons along the fronts of their jackets.

Once the main plank was set between the vessels and the rope railing up, Bert and Theo went over to the other ship. The captain greeted them, then led the two men below the top deck.

After they disappeared, Cass let out a sigh, and her body relaxed. She hadn’t realized how tense she had been. Before she could get back to work, she caught a glint of gold out of the corner of her eye.

Murmuring spread across the deck of the Daedalus. On the patrol ship, a man as tall as Theo stepped out from a doorway and onto the deck. His face was covered by a golden oval mask with slits where eyes, nose, and mouth should be. He was dressed like a gentleman, complete with a top hat, jacket, and cravat.

He paused and stared at the Daedalus. Or at least that’s what it looked like to Cass. She couldn’t see his eyes.

“Is that an automaton?” Will asked in a hushed tone.

“I don’t know.” It looked like an automaton, but the way it moved, and the feeling she got from it, was that it was more human than machine.

Then her eyes widened. Had she seen this same metal-man in Decadenn? Her mind churned as she thought back to that night, before she ran into the thugs. She was sure of it. He had been the distraction that caused her to be careless.

What was he doing in Decadenn? Was he following them?

The thought gave her an uneasy feeling as the figure turned and went back through the doorway. But his strange appearance left the crew abuzz.

A half hour later, Bert and Theo returned. Cass was cleaning oil from her fingers when they stepped onto the ship. Bert gave orders for the crew to commence their voyage, then headed to the upper deck. Cass pocketed the cloth as she walked over to Theo.

“So how did you convince the patrol ship to let us through?”

“I had a letter from one of the Families from the House of Lords,” he told her.

Her eyebrows shot up. “You did?”

“Yes. That was my errand when we were docked in Decadenn.”

“But how?”

Theo smiled. “I know the Atwoods. They agreed to help with my mission.”

He went past her and headed for the doorway beneath the upper deck. Cass caught up to him. “You know the Atwoods?”

“I do. Enough to help me with my cause.”

“Which means better research.”

Theo paused inside the dark corridor. “Yes, something like that.” The clanging of pots and pans from the galley echoed along the hallway. “At least I hope what I find will bring me closer to a cure.” He excused himself, leaving Cass standing, imagining a world where there was no more Mist. Where people could live wherever they wanted. No Purges, no fear of Turning. Her thoughts shifted. But where would that leave her? There would be no more need for divers or airships.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as she gazed at the doorway. What would become of her then?

As the sun began to set, Bert rang the ship’s bell to alert them that they had arrived above Voxhollow. The crew gathered along the deck and waited for instructions.

Cas was struggling with a subtle feeling of nausea that had grown in the past few hours, accompanied with thoughts of everything that could go wrong, that did go wrong on the last dive there. And instead of five skilled divers, there would only be Bert and herself, with the newly trained Theo and Cyrus. Her hands were cold and numb as she stood on the deck listening to Bert explain what would happen in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow they would do an exploratory dive to get the lay of the land, since this was a new area. The next day, if the weather continued to prove fair, they would begin searching for their client’s object.

It was all business, like every other dive before. The profession of diving was all about the unknown, being prepared, and taking the risks for the reward at the end.

Cass watched as the crew dispersed and Jeremiah set about lighting the lamps around the ship. They could soon be free. Debts would be paid, and the Daedalus would belong to the crew. And if Theo proved to be correct, the possible eradication of the Mist. This could be history in the making.

She fingered the thin silver chain around her neck, then pulled out the locket. The small oval was smooth and cool in her hand. A tender smile came to her lips. What would Mama and Papa think if they were here? “Thank you for saving me,” she whispered. She looked up at the night sky. A dozen stars twinkled across the expanse, and more appeared every second. She thought of Captain Gresley who had saved her, too.

“We’ll finish this mission,” she said to them silently. “And who knows, we might change the world doing it.” The thought didn’t sweep away her uneasy feelings, but it did calm them.

Just a little.