"I thought you said they were pirates," said Kipling, staring up at the Paragon vessel in the middle of the field.

"They are pirates. They stole the ship," Orix replied, running his hands over the side of the ship to find the ramp release. The two pirates were no use—they'd been silent the entire walk over to the ship.

"Ah." Perhaps they were better pirates than he'd assumed. How were they faring, he wondered, under Paragon attack at the pub? He doubted he would see them again...the Paragon wasn't known for its mercy.

It seemed a bit of a shame. Kipling prided himself on not being sentimental, but the group had sacrificed their lives to allow the mages to escape. An act of courage like that was admirable.

Hissss!

Nia waved her torch, alive with blue flame, at a squeeter that had crept too close to the group, and it cringed away.

"I hate squeeters..." Seth shivered, pulling closer to Millicent. She patted his arm comfortingly.

Kipling stared curiously at the shade without a mage, the one that supposedly belonged to Abraham. He wasn't entirely convinced, as Orix was, that the lost mage was still alive on the Settlement, but clearly someone had managed to separate from it. How had they managed it? Everything had a price, so what had this cost?

Nia sidled up to Kipling, pulling him away from the train of thought.

"What's the plan?" she asked in a rare break from her usual silence.

"The plan?" he repeated.

"Yes...Nathaniel Glass will be in the Paragon headquarters in Kinvarra. They won't take kindly to five mages showing up at their doorstep, Paragon ship or not. So we need a plan, correct?"

In truth, Kipling hadn't yet turned his mind to a plan. He had no idea how they were going to reach the president's son. But perhaps the Paragon ship would work to their advantage—with any luck, they could get up close and personal before the Paragon caught on that their ship wasn't manned by their own soldiers.

Millicent and Seth were looking at him expectantly. Clearly this was top of mind for them, too.

"Our plan," he began, "is to let the Glass boy come to us while we remain in the ship. We can hardly afford the time to disembark, anyhow, and as you said, five mages will only cause pandemonium."

"Why would he come to us?" Millicent asked. Sometimes, the girl could be thick.

"We have leverage, Millicent. Nathaniel's mother was lost in the Settlement. Once he hears that there are survivors, he'll come willingly. The tricky part, however," Kipling continued, "will be figuring out where Glass is located within the headquarters, so we can reach him with limited fuss..."

"I can do it," Nia said quietly. She had a gift for tracking.

Kipling clapped his hands together. "Excellent! Then there's our plan."

"Aha!" Orix cried in triumph. He'd finally located the ramp release, and they watched as it descended, allowing them entry. He whirled around. "Abigail, we need you to pilot this thing!"

But Abigail was nowhere to be found. Neither the purple-haired girl nor the large boy was anywhere in sight.

"Where did they go?" Orix cried. "Weren't you watching them?!"

Kipling scowled. Babysitting was hardly his responsibility!

"Deepest apologies, Orix," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We were discussing how to find the Glass boy without attracting the entire fleet of Paragon airships. Forgive us for not also minding two children."

Orix didn't look pleased in the slightest. "I gave my word that I would look out for them. And now we don't have anyone who knows how to fly this thing!"

"Don't be dramatic," Kipling snapped. "You may have given up magic, but the rest of us haven't."