Page 205 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
She must’ve been thinking along the same lines, because she said, “This one doesn’t have an electric gramophone hooked up to it, I assume?”
“Because I’ve had so much time to do so with my house arrest, of course.” They rose higher at a steady rate, and Hallie’s free hand clenched the arm rest. Kase eased back. “No, but a few of the bigger hovers we had used the same mechanism, so I’m familiar with it.” His blanket slipped a little. “The lever usually releases a higher voltage of electricity to interact with the innerworkings of the hover. I’m certain this does the same thing, except…”
The frosty sensation spread from his toes to the middle of his foot. He looked down to find the blanket had slid to the floor. Couldn’t the Cerls have come up with a better way to keep it at bay? Maybe he should just make a bracelet like Niels had. Man was smarter than Kase gave him credit for. Well, to be fair, Niels had said it was Petra’s idea. So she really deserved the credit. Yes, he liked that better.
With one hand still on the steering control, he grabbed the blanket with the other and tried to throw it over his shoulder.
The cold only receded a little but came back once the blanket fell once again. He stabilized the craft midair.
“Here, let me help you. Just don’t crash.” Hallie unbuckled herself and reached across. She tugged the blanket up over his shoulders.
With its replacement, warmth immediately flushed his system. “Thanks.”
Buckling herself back in, she said, “What’s the significance of the blanket, again?”
She grabbed her sketching supplies and flipped to a blank page. Kase eased the hover back into its ascent. “Something’s woven into it that keeps me warm when I fly. The Soul Tech makes me cold.” He nodded to her seat. “Should be another one under there, but I don’t know if you’ll feel the effects of the hover. Your father didn’t.”
Hallie pulled out the other blanket and assessed it. “Looks to be woven with the same metal as the ship. It’s probably Zuprium, but why is it blue? I don’t quite understand that.”
Kase shrugged and slowed their climb further. They were about a mile above the city now, which would be the perfect view. “All I know is that it works, and that somehow this machine knows what I’m thinking. Haven’t figured out how itcan do that, but these days, I don’t question things like that. Seen too much not to believe.”
Hallie nodded and pulled something else out of her satchel. His old goggles. She clutched them in one hand, the pencil in the other.
Kase reached across and placed his hand over hers. “You’re doing great, Hals. Now take a look below.”
“But what if I fall?” She didn’t look up.
“Then I’ll catch you.”
She shot him a half smile. “You make it sound so easy.”
“Remember when we fell out of that tree? I could’ve made it to safety, but I grabbed you instead.” Kase pulled his hand back and pressed the button to stabilize them further. A wave of cold swept over his hand, but it was gone in a second.
“And you didn’t even like me then, did you?”
Kase cracked his neck. “I might’ve…had a small crush, but I was too stubborn to admit it.” He pointed out the window again. “Now take a look before we fly a little to the west.”
The smile didn’t leave her face as she peeked over the edge of the hover. She gazed for a minute before sketching something quickly in her sketchbook. “Never realized the pattern the roads make leading up to McKenzie Square just before the Jayde Center. Looks like a starburst.”
She sat back quickly before slowly edging toward the side again. He laughed. “Not so bad, isn’t it?”
She laid a hand against her stomach. “Still feel a little nauseated, but it’s pretty way up here.”
“You’re not so bad to look at either.”
She raised a single brow, a soft flush brushing the tip of her nose and cheeks. “You’re in a good mood.”
“Everything is always better up in the sky.” He pushed the craft forward at a slow pace. “Makes all the noise fall away.”
They flew around in silence for several minutes. Hallie took notes or sketched in her book, and Kase took them in a wide circle above the capital city. From this angle, it almost looked as if the city was sleeping rather than lying in ruins. He could just make out a few specks below moving about. Slowly but surely, things were heading toward normalcy.
He glanced over at Hallie. She was intent on her sketch, her head bowed and her hand holding the pencil a little awkwardly. He couldn’t really tell what she was drawing—being left-handed, she had to hold the book at a certain angle—but he noted the small smile on her face.
It might have been the calm before the storm, seeing as everything was certain to fall apart no matter what she decided. But it was still nice. He was here with her now, and he could simply take in the moment and enjoy it for what it was.
The ship beeped happily, and Hallie startled, her pencil shrieking over the paper. She cursed softly, and Kase grinned. “Told you it had a mind of its own.”
Hallie rubbed the eraser down the side of the page where she’d scrawled across it. “Well, please tell Merlin that I would appreciate being able to draw without worrying we’re about to drop out of the sky.”
