Being hundreds of feet in the air on a ship as rickety as Theo’s is a terrifying experience. I can’t seem to stand still, pacing back and forth across the deck, staggering every time it lurches or the engine coughs and rumbles in double time.

                Theo stands at the helm, whistling cheerfully and occasionally yelling at his crew mate, a thick, brutish man with close-cropped yellow hair.

                “Dorlan,” he yells, “rip on the left hand cable, we’re takin’ her higher!”

                I clutch the side, feeling the boards lurch under my feet. The ship creaks and groans as it climbs higher, and the oxygen becomes thinner. Each breath crackles with electricity, and a quiet buzz starts in the back of my head.

                Gus and Ellie sit against the rails, their knees brushing. Ellie has her hat pulled down over her eyes, probably trying to avoid looking around her at the dilapidated ship. 

                “Have a seat little lady,” Theo calls, and I glance over to see him staring at me.

                “I’m good thanks,” I shove my hands into my pockets, thankful to feel the sword Jasper gave me bumping against my hip when I move. I trust cousin Theo as far as I can throw him, and though the diamond is safe on the chain around my neck, hidden under my shirt, I still feel his eyes on me while I pace back and forth. Probably leering.

                I can’t think of anything more disgusting.

                The hulking Dorlan glares down at me when I almost run into him on my next foray across the deck. I mumble an apology, and he grunts. Apparently a man of few words.

                “How long until we get there, Theo?” I say.

                Theo grins, and it’s a slimy expression, “now now, no need to fret so. What’s got you all up in arms? It’ll be at least an hour or so. You might as well relax.”

                “Yeah, thanks.” It wasn’t going to happen. The sound of my boots on the deck was helping to block out the squeaking sound of the ship. Every time I heard a board creak I imagined something else was falling off the vessel. When did we plummet out of the sky?

                Gus grinned at me, “come on, Molly. Have a seat, you’re going to drive us all crazy by the time we get to Bristol.”

                “Aye, and you’ll need all your wits when you get there, whatever your mission is,” Theo grunted.

                Finally I give up and sit down beside Ellie, crossing my legs and leaning back against the railings, “why do you say that?”

                Theo shrugs, “Well, Bristol is independent now,” he raises one brow at me, “don’t tell me ye didn’t know that?”

                I say defensively, “You don’t learn a lot about other cities when you live on the street. No time to read the papers, y’know.”

                Theo rolls his eyes, “No need to get snippy, little missy.”

                I think about telling him that the next time he calls me “missy” he’ll get my sword down his throat, but I want him to keep talking about Bristol, so I just stare at him expectantly.

                Theo continues, “they declared their independence from the crown a few years ago. They’re a walled city now, very war- like. Some crazy broad has apparently declared herself ‘high empress” of the city. “ he raises his brows at me, “hope you lot have a good plan to get inside the walls. There’s guards there at all times.”

                Gus and I exchange a look and he shakes his head. Clearly none of us knew about the changes to Bristol until now. This doesn’t bode well for us.

                “We can’t even land inside the city,” Theo glances over at Dorlan, who shrugs without saying anything, “we have to land on the outskirts. You lot can take it from there.”

                Theo dissolves into jaunty whistling, and nobody says anything for awhile. I lean back on the railing and shut my eyes, thoughts whirling like a crazy merry-go-round. So they had guards at the gate. Would we have to give them a reason for coming into the city? Couldn’t we just make something up? I don’t see why they would stop us coming in, it wasn’t like we looked particularly threatening. I look down at the sword at my hip. Okay, maybe we did have pointy weapons. Would they try to take my sword from me? I wasn’t familiar with the policies of walled cities.

                When I look over at Gus and Ellie it was to see them whispering to one another, heads close together. A flash of annoyance washes through me. Weren’t they even concerned about what was going to happen next? We had to think up a plan and they were getting cuddly? This isn’t fair.

                I look away quickly, staring at the knots and whirls in the wooden planks under my boots.  Why do they have to be all into one another like that? Now I’m like the third wheel on a bicycle. Unwanted and unnecessary.

                I can’t help thinking about Jasper, about his lips on mine and how close he pulled me before he left. It isn’t fair that Ellie and Gus are pairing off, where does that leave me?

                I’m lost in my thoughts for awhile, trying to avoid thinking about Jasper. Restless, I finally stand and drape myself over the rail, watching the landscape pass underneath us. Way ahead is a sprinkling of lights on the horizon, towers rising above a thick rust-colored wall in the distance.

                “There she is!” Theo calls from the helm, “Bristol in all its walled glory!”

                For the first time on the trip Dorlan speaks, “Sir.”

                We all look in the direction he’s pointing, and Theo whistles low and long, “black clouds heading this way.”

                He’s right.

                There are dark, ominous looking clouds sweeping towards us, and the wind, which until now has been only been playful, picks up, blowing my hair back and pushing at the ship’s balloon, pushing the ship sideways.

                Theo hauls on the wheel sharply, and I shriek as the ship bucks suddenly. I pitch forward onto all fours and my knees hit the deck painfully. The ship lurches again, and I growl, half in terror – sure the stupid thing is going down in flames – and half at sharp pain in my knees. Gus and Ellie are clinging to the rails, and Ellie’s screams mingle with mine.

                Theo grimaces as he wrestles with the wheel, bringing the ship around, away from the clouds. Finally, after a few more gut-wrenching bumps and shudders, the ship settles with the creaking groan of angry timbers. Theo wipes his forehead with his sleeve and beckons Dorlan to take the wheel,

                “Gore, I need a break! Take the wheel for a bit, mate.”

                Theo clumps over the deck and sits down next to Gus, “Whew, that was a sticky bit for a minute there.” He looks up at me, “you alright, darlin’? You had a bit of a spill there.”

                I turn to face him, trying to ignore my throbbing knees, “I’m fine, thanks.”

                “Good, that wasn’t…” Theo stops abruptly and his eyes go wide.

                He’s staring at me with surprising intensity, and my stomach drops in sudden alarm. When I glance down panic makes my stomach sour. The diamond must have fallen out of my shirt when I fell, it’s right there out in the open, and Theo is staring at it with shining eyes.

                “Well now,” he says, and his voice has gone high pitched with excitement, “obviously you aren’t telling me everything, cousin Gus.”

                Gus gets slowly to his feet, his voice filled with warning, “Now, cousin…”

                “Looks like you could have paid me a lot more, cousin.”

                Theo takes a step towards me, his eyes don’t flick up to my face once. The diamond is all he can see. I back away, “look, this diamond is cursed, don’t bother…”

                “Let’s see it…” Theo grabs for it suddenly, and I stumble backwards. He’s on top of me before I can even scream, and I lash out with one fist, but his fingers are already wrapping around the jewel, yanking at it. The chain bites into the back of my neck and then snaps under the pressure.

                “Don’t touch that!”

                Too late, Theo is standing there in the center of the deck with the black diamond on his palm.