Page 78 of Fly to Fury
She shook her head as she sat on the top of the ladder, putting her only a few feet taller than Mak. “No. I can’t. Ihave to stay here and take care of the squadron. It’s what he’d want me to do.”
“Others can fix aeroplanes.” Mak rested a hand on the ladder, as if by steadying it he could steady her. “But you aren’t going to help anyone like this.”
In other words, she needed to get a grip. Stop being such an emotional female, suck it up, and deal with it the way all the big, tough, strong men were doing. As if she hadn’t seen a few of them sneaking off to shed some tears.
“I’m fine, Mak.” She clenched her fists in her lap. “I can do this.”
She was half-dwarf. She’d just have to remember that, remember that dwarfs were as tough as the mountains, and somehow find enough strength to keep moving forward.
“I know you can. But I hate to see you like this.” Mak pulled her in for a partial hug, awkward with her sitting on the ladder and him standing beside it.
Still, she leaned into the hug as best she could. “I hate it too. But what else can I do? It isn’t like the army is going to grant me immediate leave. I’m stuck here, no matter how much I might want to go.”
More footsteps approached this corner of the hangar, and Pip hurriedly straightened, scrubbing at her face again. Bad enough that Mak had caught her mid-meltdown. She couldnotallow anyone else to see her break.
Chief Mechanic Dunner strode into view, and Pip scrambled down the ladder. Her feet reached the floor as the chief mechanic halted before her.
He held out a folded piece of paper. “Mechanic Detmuk-Inawenys, I have new orders for you.”
What the monkey wrench? New orders?Now? Pip reached for the paper with shaking fingers. Bad enough that Fieran and Merrik were leaving. If she was ordered to alsoleave her flyboys, she didn’t know what she’d do. Probably something crazy.
“It has been a pleasure working with you. Thank you for the good work you’ve done here.” The chief mechanic held out a hand.
Only reflexes prompted her to take that hand, shake it as firmly as she could manage, and not collapse to the floor as the chief mechanic spun and strode back the way he’d come.
Pip shoved the paper at Mak, her vision too blurred, her breaths coming too fast.
He unfolded it and quickly scanned the page, stilling, before he slowly looked up. “Pip. You’re being sent to Aldon.”
“What?” Pip snatched the paper back, her heart hammering as hard as a riveter in her chest. For a moment, the words were nothing but gibberish, her eyes flicking over the page too fast for anything to register.
Taking another deep breath, she forced herself to calm and focus. Even then, only snatches broke through.
Temporary reassignment to the Alliance Magical Power Company…
Expert consultant…
Train leaving on…
She froze at that last one. “My train leaves in an hour.”
Maybe less than that now. She hadn’t glanced at the clock on the wall in the past few minutes.
The train. The same one Fieran would be on.
Was this all mere coincidence? That she would, somehow, be reassigned last minute to go with Fieran to Aldon?
No, it couldn’t be. Someone had arranged this. But who? And why?
It didn’t matter. This was the answer to her wrestling. She hadn’t wanted to selfishly abandon the flyboys to chaseafter Fieran, nor had she believed going with him was even possible. But if she was officially ordered there, then goingwasher duty. She’d have a place to stay. A right to be there. A mission to keep her hands busy while she figured this mess out.
She wasn’t sure how things stood with Fieran. But at least this way, she’d have a chance to find out.
When she finally peeled her gaze from the page back to her brother, he was giving her the first smile she’d seen from him in days. He gave a small shrug. “Then I guess we’d better get you packed.”
“Your footlocker has been packedand loaded on the train.” Dacha had his hands clasped behind his back as he stood beside the bed rather than sit.
“Ellie’s books?” If Fieran arrived in Aldon without Ellie’s books, especially the new one, he’d never hear the end of it.
