Alkimiya - A Fantasy Mystery Series

FOURTEEN - Airborne

A sharp bell tolling above deck interrupted the story of the restaurant stabbing. Tilde tilted her head toward the door, ears perking at the sound. "Oh! We'd better get up there. Captain Inglehart is about to take us out of port."

Zenetra followed Tilde out of the room, making certain that the door latched closed so as not to let it bang around mid-flight, and climbed the ladder up to the deck.

With a glance over her shoulder and a smile on her face, Tilde took great strides toward the side of the airship where Mimi and Carver were leaning against the railings.

Zenetra needed no invitation. Once out of the hole, she set off to join them. Though she owned Noire Transport, a company that made seafaring vessels better than any other in the world, she had never set foot on a ship before. Her stomach cartwheeled in excitement as they sailed away from the docks.

At the top of the bridge where the navigation room was located, a large window filled a good portion of the wall. Zenetra could see Captain Inglehart in his brimmed black hat holding a clipboard. Seated next to him was James, whose mouth kept forming the word "check" every time Captain Inglehart said something. In her powder blue trench coat and alchemic sash, Inspector Hatwig paced behind both men with her hands clasped behind her back as Sunray gained speed.

"Zenetra!" yelled Tilde from the railings. Her hair whipped in the wind. "Get your cadet bum over here! We're about to take to the air!"

The fluttering in Zenetra's stomach returned as she approached the railing and took the open place beside Tilde. 

The surface of the Ghost Sea was a liquid pearl. Pink from the encroaching sunrise splashed over the silver water. Sunray's shadow stretched far ahead.

Take off was slow at first. Sunray glided across the water until more and more yellow hull surfaced. When the front end of the airship left the sea and the vessel went into a steeper incline, the hull dripped with salty water. A trail of white foam left behind in the water remained visible until it merged with the lapping waves. The rudder, a flat metal piece at the back of the airship that allowed captains to steer, expanded fully until an orange sail slipped free from its confines and stretched to catch the air.

Sunray officially became airborne.

As she watched the rudder sail flutter in the wind, Zenetra began to feel quite strange. Numbness spread from her hands to her forearms. Her legs trembled. A sudden urge to jump over the railing and into the sea seized hold.

Her mind and body switched to instinctual survival. It wasn't that bad of a jump, she told herself. The docks weren't too far away. She could swim it.

Zenetra's legs wouldn't budge, however, and the higher Sunray rose, the weaker she became. White specks appeared in her vision. Her breathing became erratic. For one horrifying second, she thought she might faint.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Everything went dark, yet the white specks remained.

The CF trained cadets on how to calm themselves in dire situations, but Zenetra had never been involved in anything that required her to put the practice to use. She tried to do as she was taught. Her face went as numb as her hands. Beside her, she heard Tilde suck in a breath and then felt a warm hand rest in the middle of her back.

"Are you alright?"

Zenetra's jaw would not open. "Mhm."

"What's the matter, Cadet?" came Carver's deep voice. "Motion sickness?"

"It's just the coffee," Zenetra mumbled quickly.

A warm body came to Zenetra's open side and wrapped her in a hug.

"Breathe," said Mimi. "Let's get you to Sickbay. Wallis will give you something. She's the best healer I've ever met."

Zenetra didn't know who Wallis was but even if she wanted to see this healer Mimi spoke of, she would have a hard time doing so.  If she let go of the railing, she would most certainly collapse. "I'm not nauseous."

Tilde began rubbing soothing circles on Zenetra's back. It helped. She opened her eyes to see the open sky all around—a breathtaking scenery of pink clouds—and the Ghost Sea far below. As she watched a flock of seagulls fly under the yellow hull, everything shifted. The world became one blurry concoction of gray colors, the temperature became colder than ever before, and there wasn't enough air in the world to fill her lungs.

"Oh," said Tilde distantly. "She's gonna—!"

Zenetra did not hear the last part of Tilde's warning. Her hands slipped from the railing. As she collapsed into Mimi's arms, the white spots in her vision turned into a blanket of fuzzy darkness.

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Preview for next chapter:

Zenetra meets Wallis and makes a startling discovery. It's a good thing Mimi has her back.

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