Page 106 of The Sky Pirate's Stowaway
My eyes threatened to tear up.
After a few seconds, he looked away and said, “Speak of this to no one.” He looked at Mad Murray. “I mean it, Murray. Not a word. Not even if Viper asks you.”
Mad Murray nodded. “But we need to—”
“Meet back here after we get into the air.” Max looked at me. “Both of you.” Then he ran for the ladder without a backwards glance.
I winced even as my chest tightened further.
We… had other things we needed to do. This—us—would have to wait, I knew that. I just… I wanted to make it right. I wanted to comfort him when he looked like that. I hated seeing that expression on his face, and it was worse because I’d put it there.
But before I could do any of that, we needed to get the hellfire away from this monster.
I started to follow Max, but Murray grabbed my arm to stop me. “Be careful, kid. If Viper finds out…” He trailed off with a shake of his head.
I grimaced. “I know.”
He made a disgusted face before releasing me, and I ran after Max, ignoring how weak I felt. I would rally, and that was all there was to it. Hopefully, the excitement of the fight and takeoff would help me ignore my wounds and energy loss.
By the time I made it up to the main deck, Max already had the ship powering back up and was preparing for liftoff. The pirates were fighting the sand kraken, but there was a new energy to the crew.
Before, everyone was fighting for their lives, but it had felt hopeless. No one truly believed we could make it out here on the desert floor, and after seeing it for myself, I had to agree.
But now, the crew knew they could get out of this, and they wanted tolive.
There was a fire to everyone’s moves.
We were going to get out of here.
We were going to be okay.
There was hope.
I joined in, slashing at the tentacles and following directions when someone told me to grab a rope or move something wherever it needed to go. I did everything in my power to help us take off.
It felt like it took an eternity to finally lift off the ground, but I didn’t care. We were going to make it.
Wehadto make it.
The second the ship lifted about a foot in the air, everyone cheered and went after the kraken with even more vigor.
The ship couldn’t lift any higher with so much damage and the monster still attached to the hull, so we cut and chopped and stabbed until the thing let out a terrifying roar and released our ship.
Its tentacles slithered and slipped off, and I ran to the rail to see it digging into the sand as we slowly rose higher and higher into the air. It was a bumpy ride with the destruction onboard, but we kept rising higher.
I didn’t think I’d ever been so relieved in my entire life.
We were safe.
We were beaten and bruised, but we were safe.
When I turned around and eyed the rest of the crew, I grimaced.
Not all of us were safe. Some of us didn’t make it at all.
Relief was a palpable thing, but so was the grief marring everyone’s faces.
I was almost afraid to find out who else hadn’t made it.
