“She came back in a hurry,” Jace said. “Seemed kind of flustered. Maybe somebody was putting on the moves?”

“What? No way! She just forgot something she had to do.”

Jace nodded knowingly. “Right. You’re good.”

It frustrated Cole that Jace kept after him. Why did he care so much? “Wait a minute,” Cole said. “How do you know everything she was up to? Were you following her?”

“I just pay attention,” he said, sounding a little defensive.

“We weren’t by the common room.” Understanding dawned. “Oh, I get it, you like her.”

Twitch looked intently at Cole and gave a little shake of his head.

Jace exhaled sharply. “Whatever. In her dreams.”

He was trying to act tough, but he couldn’t hide that Cole had gotten to him. Twitch’s anxiousness confirmed it. “How else could you know we were out there together?” Cole pressed. “You really were following her! Were you up on the roof?”

The guilt was written all over his face. “Shut up, Cole.”

Cole made his voice dreamy. “I bet you wish you were with her under the stars. Sailing in a lifeboat, putting flowers in her hair.”

“Keep your messed-up daydreams to yourself,” Jace almost shouted, his eyes darting to Twitch.

“I wasn’t the one tailing her,” Cole pointed out.

Jace’s face went rigid. It took him a moment to speak. When he did, his voice was barely under control. “She’s one of the few people in this place who is actually nice. Actually a good person. I watch out for her a little. Don’t try to make it sound like I . . . You don’t want me to hate you, Cole. You really don’t. Watch it.”

Cole knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t resist. “I’m sure you’ll do plenty of watching for both of us.”

Jace’s hand strayed to his pocket. He glanced at Twitch again, who had his head down as if wishing he could disappear.

“I’m just messing with you,” Cole said, trying to lighten the mood.

“You’re right about that,” Jace replied. “I hope you think it’s worth it.”

Cole felt bad for teasing him so hard. Jace was really fuming. “Thanks for the tips today.”

“Want a new tip? Stay out of my way.”

“We sleep in the same room.”

“Then borrow a lesson from Twitch and keep your head down.” He turned and walked out, leaving the door open.

After a quiet moment, Twitch went and closed it.

“What was that about?” Cole asked.

“You’re not very careful,” Twitch replied.

“Neither was he.”

“He’s not new. I’d watch my step. Jace is probably the best scout we have. He’s the last kid I’d want to cross.”

“Does he have a crush on Mira?”

“We should forget about it. But what do you think?”

It seemed pretty obvious, especially since he had been so touchy about the subject. Cole considered how he would feel if somebody had caught on that he liked Jenna and kept pestering him about it. “I’ll try to make it up to him.”

“That’ll just remind him. The smart move would be to follow instructions. Keep your head down and let it blow over.”

Chapter 11

PROVING GROUND

One week later, Cole boarded the Domingo for his fifth scouting mission. As a rule, the captains tried not to assign any scout more than three missions in a week, but that courtesy was getting harder to honor since two scouts had died over the last five days. Cole hadn’t really known either of the boys.

He couldn’t help wondering whether other slaves from the caravan of trick-or-treaters would end up at Skyport. According to Twitch, Adam Jones seldom sent buyers to Five Roads to make purchases. Certain slave brokers made acquisitions there and brought likely candidates directly to Skyport. Part of him didn’t want any members of the caravan to end up at Skyport, but a more secret part hoped for it, just so he could see someone from his world and feel a little less alone.

Dalton and Jenna had been selected to go to the king, so even if people from his caravan ended up here, they wouldn’t be the ones he was most anxious to see. He tried to be happy for them. Hopefully, serving the king would be safer than raiding sky castles.

None of the three missions since the scorpipede had been as harrowing as his first outing. The worst had involved headless semblances chasing him through mazelike ruins around a single tall tower. The entire area had been slanted about ten degrees from level. Not exactly a day at the beach, but the Jumping Sword had kept him out of their clutches.

He had made little progress on an escape plan. His superiors kept him busy. If he wasn’t trying to stay alive as a scout, then he was doing chores. Skyport was isolated, and a runaway could be tracked down by a mounted militia armed with special items. But Cole had noticed that as people earned more trust here, they were occasionally included in groups that traveled away from the Brink on Skyport business. That gave him something to daydream about while he searched for other opportunities to escape.

As he advanced up the gangway one handshake at a time, Cole found Mira and Durny in line to thank him. She wore a Jumping Sword at her waist. Cole wanted to ask why she had come aboard, but stopped himself. He had taken Twitch’s advice about not antagonizing Jace, and a part of that had included avoiding Mira. She had made no effort to seek him out, either. Jace still wasn’t acting very friendly, but at least he had stopped giving Cole angry looks.

Because Cole had been avoiding Mira, shaking her hand made him uncomfortable. He accepted her thanks with a nod. It was peculiar to have Durny along as well, since he spent most of his time in his workshop, shaping objects and training apprentices.

Handshakes finished, Cole went and sat on his usual bench while the other men took up their stations. Mira and Durny joined him.

“Where have you been hiding out?” Mira asked.

Trying to act casual, Cole shrugged. “I wondered the same thing. I haven’t seen you around.”

“I’ve practiced a lot with Durny this week.”

“What brings you guys onboard?” Cole asked.

“We mean to harvest floatstones,” Durny said.

“Durny wants to teach me how to extract them,” Mira clarified.

“Dangerous work,” Durny said. “Remove the wrong floatstone and an entire castle might collapse.”

“Why risk it?” Cole asked. The Sky Raiders had three major skycraft—two for active missions, and a third held in reserve.