Fiona grimaced. “Moth, I don’t know…”
“I do know,” Moth insisted. “I believe it, Fiona. Before he died Leroux made me promise I’d help Esme. I told him I would. I didn’t believe it then, but now I do. It’s all true.”
Fiona struggled to believe it, too. “Maybe. But what can you do about it?”
“Keep my promise,” said Moth. He stood up and cradled the strange object in his hands. The silvery metal glowed in the moonlight. “I have to go.”
“What? Cross the Reach?”
“Yes,” said Moth without flinching. “There’s nothing here for me now, Fiona. All I ever wanted was to be a Skyknight, but that can’t happen anymore. And I can’t let your grandfather take this away from me.” He paused, gazing thoughtfully at the quiet city. “They’re already looking for me. If I stay they’ll find me. I have to go now.”
“But Skyhigh said to wait…”
Moth was already moving. “You can tell him what happened,” he said, heading back toward the doors. Lady Esme followed, half hopping, half flying behind him. When he reached the doors he said to the bird, “Esme, fly off somewhere and hide. Wait for me, all right? I won’t be long.”
As if she understood every word, Lady Esme once again took flight, shooting into the night. Confident she would return, Moth squeezed back into the hangar. Fiona hurried after him.
“You can’t go now,” she protested. “It’s dark.”
“I have the moonlight. I’ll be okay.”
“But you won’t be able to see anything in the Reach, Moth.”
Moth made his way through the hangar, but not back to their loft. “I’ll wait at the bottom of the mountain until morning,” he said. “I’ll head for the Reach when the sun comes up.”
“And then what? How will you find your way through the mists?”
“I’ll walk straight and keep going,” said Moth. “I’ll believe , just like Leroux told me. He said there’s someone across the Reach who would help me. A wizard.”
“A wizard,” scoffed Fiona. “And maybe some talking frogs with funny little hats.”
Moth stopped at a pile of cartons overflowing with discarded clothing. Musty coats, undergarments, boots were all shoved unlovingly into a corner of the hangar. “This’ll help me,” he said. He set the silver instrument safely on a barrel and started rummaging through the containers, looking for a coat small enough to fit him, tossing out clothing as he searched. “Too big,” he said, again and again. Finally, he fished up a coat he thought might suit him. “Here,” he pronounced, turning toward Fiona as he slipped it on. “This should keep me warm out—”
He stopped, shocked to see Fiona already buttoning up a coat of her own. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going with you,” she announced. She stretched out her arms, spinning to show off the coat. The long, blue garment flared out like a skirt around her ankles.
“You can’t,” said Moth. “You have to go back.”
“No. I can’t ever go back there. I can’t, Moth.”
Moth knew she was just acting brave. Or maybe she really was afraid, but not of the Reach. “Fiona, you think you have nothing to lose but you’re wrong. You have everything.”
“Like what?” said Fiona tartly. “My parents are dead. My grandfather’s a criminal who doesn’t want me around. I have nothing, Moth. The only thing I have is you.” She shoved her fists into the coat’s floppy pockets. “These pockets are plenty deep. We can stuff ’em full of food.” She peered into a crate packed with boots and started picking through them. “We’ll need these, too,” she said. “For the mountain.”
Moth slid closer. “Fiona?”
“Come on, help me look. Start trying them on.”
“You can’t just run away, Fiona. He’ll come looking for you.”
Fiona was careful to keep her face turned away. “No he won’t, Moth,” she said, her voice breaking. “He’ll just come looking for that star-thingy.”
MISSING
SKYHIGH CORALIN STALKED across the misty airfield, sneaking past the silent hangars with an unlit lantern and his pockets stuffed with food and matches. Dawn was less than an hour away, and Skyhigh hurried to reach the barn before the sun came up. After a long and sleepless night spent patrolling Calio in his dragonfly he had managed to scrounge up a few more supplies for Moth and Fiona, but the day ahead promised to be another busy one, and Skyhigh knew he wouldn’t have much time to spend with the kids. By now Governor Rendor was looking for Fiona, he was sure. He glanced about as he made his way to the old hangar, afraid he might be followed. Taking supplies to Moth and Fiona was a risk. If he was discovered…
“Don’t think about it,” he whispered, crossing into the shadow of the barn. He would check on them quickly, he decided, give them the things he had brought, and then be off. If he was lucky he’d be back to work by the time the cooks started slopping out breakfast.
As he rounded the west side of the building, Skyhigh put the lantern handle between his teeth, letting it swing from his jaw to free up his hands so he could open the doors. But the doors, he discovered, had already been opened. He bit down miserably on the handle of the lantern.
“Oh, no…”
At once he peered inside, listening carefully, The vast interior of the place stood silent. He stepped into the dark hangar.
“Moth?” he chanced. “Fiona?”
No answer. Skyhigh pushed on deeper, his mind racing with awful possibilities. His eyes scanned the blackness as he made his way toward the loft, but when he came to a disheveled pile of clothing and boots, he paused. The coats had been picked through, thrown aside in a hurry. The barrel of boots was the same.
“No!” he shouted. Angrily he tossed the lantern to the ground. The glass enclosure shattered to bits. “Moth!” he growled. “Don’t you ever listen?”
He thought of going after them, but doubted he’d find them. Calio was a small city but full of good hiding places. All they had to do was wait long enough to hop on the train.
“I don’t have time for this,” groaned Skyhigh.
He went back toward the doors, slipping outside again into the cool air. He’d have to look for them later, he decided. Right now there were escorts to fly.
As he headed for the barracks, Skyhigh’s gaze fell upon the distant Reach. He paused, staring at the endless sea of fog, sickened by a sudden sense of alarm.
“No,” he whispered. “They couldn’t have…”
Yet in his heart he knew the truth. Moth. Fiona. Bull-headed teenagers, both of them.
“Oh, you stupid, harebrained kids!”
Skyhigh made it back to his barracks just as the sun peeked over the city. His fellow Skyknights were already out of their bunks and making their way to the dining house for breakfast. Skyhigh, who had already dressed for duty, hoped to melt quietly into the group. Young squires dashed through the throngs, carrying messages or machine parts for the dragonflies. Two airships remained moored at the docking platforms, while the big, black Avatar stood apart from the rest, tied down with metal cables and surrounded by guards. Skyhigh avoided everyone as he slipped into the crowd.
Until he saw Major Hark.
A trio of men in dark suits were with him, listening as he spoke with wild, angry gestures. Skyhigh cursed his bad luck and turned away, heading toward the barracks instead.
Please don’t see me…
“Coralin!”
Skyhigh froze, afraid to look back. Rotten, bloody….
When he turned around again Major Hark was coming toward him. The dark suited men fanned out around him. Skyhigh ran through his story in his head, just the way he’d practiced. He hadn’t seen Moth in days, he told himself. And Fiona? No idea.