Destiny's Fire - By Trisha Wolfe Page 0,61

didn’t know how many were aboard, but from where we hid behind the concrete pier, I could see at least two on the front deck.

We lowered our masks over our faces, and began creeping along the railing. I slid down the side of the boardwalk. The cove’s sand squished under my boots. As we neared the dock leading to a floating platform, my heart raced. The airship hovered just above us, lines cast down its side, anchoring it to the bay.

Thankfully, tonight was moonless. All around us was black, the only lights coming from the harbor’s dim gas lanterns, far behind us now, and the airship’s chemical lights along the deck.

Jace held up his hand, halting us. He looked around and motioned toward the floating platform directly under the airship. We slipped onto the platform and I glanced up, studying the underbelly of the ship. Jace adjusted the lens on his one-eyed telescopic goggles, pointing toward the stern. Then he reached into his jerkin and pulled out a couple of now-familiar devices. Grapplers.

He handed one to Nick, and Lana wrapped her arms around his shoulders. I did the same with Jace as per our plan. My heart thudded painfully, remembering when I’d first experienced this with Reese. But then I smiled as I recalled him explaining that you needed a grappling device when it came to airships. He was right. And lucky for us, Devon had some.

Jace strapped a leather belt around me, securing us together, before we lifted up. I clung to him as the device reeled us into the air.

I didn’t dare look down. We were going much higher than the waterfall, and there was nothing surrounding us to scale. When we reached the back of the ship, Jace grabbed the ledge and peered over the side onto the deck. He signaled Nick, and they both climbed over. I felt useless dangling, not being able to help. But once I was on my feet, I planned to take the lead in finding the documents. I had to.

Jace unhooked the belt once we were secure, and I crouched against the ship’s side. We’d timed it so we had two minutes to get inside the ship before the guards returned to patrol this end. Jace adjusted the goggle lens, sweeping the perimeter of the ship. Then he motioned us forward, signaling it was clear.

I spotted the door and took off behind them. I needed to get ahead of them once inside. More than that, I needed to separate from them and look in the right place. I mentally cursed. How was I going to do this?

Lana, Jace, and I pressed up against the outside wall of the ship’s main quarters, while Nick picked the lock on the door. I had no idea where the son of a Council member had learned to pick locks, but at the moment, I was thankful. I heard a light click. Nick smiled and waved us in ahead of him.

Jace was the only one with night vision goggles, so I was relieved to find the inside quarters dimly lit with gas lamps. That was a good and bad thing. I swallowed hard. I could see, but that meant the guards—or worse, the Council members—could see me, too. I wished I could turn invisible as I crept along the hardwood flooring behind the others.

None of us had ever been inside an airship before. We could only guess its design. Logically, the safest place for sleeping quarters would be the middle of the ship. During our planning, we’d assumed an office or meeting room would be near the back. But we could only pick one side and hope we were right. There wasn’t enough time to chance searching the whole ship.

At the end of the corridor was a set of double mahogany doors. They were locked, a promising sign that something of importance was behind them. We waited, nervously glancing around while Nick picked the lock.

Once inside the room, it was completely dark. Nick closed the doors behind us and we illuminated our hands, sparking small domes of Charge and lighting the room with a blue glow. Lana and Nick began searching cabinets along the wall as Jace moved toward a desk at the opposite end of the room. I couldn’t be in both places at the same time. Crap. I chose to follow Jace. The desk seemed a more logical place to store secret documents.

My insides roiled. I opened a drawer and rifled through files, most