Storming

Thirty-Eight

WALTER SLID DOWN from the back of Papa Byron’s farm truck. Not because he wanted to, but because it was easier than staying there and having everybody pay attention to him. He stared across the field.

Seemed like the whole town had driven out to the pilots’ camp to celebrate. Bonfires spotted the darkness, framing a square floor of wooden planks hammered together for dancing. The town band was pumping out “Rose of Washington Square,” with the drum and the trumpet pretty much drowning all the other instruments. Half a dozen long tables had been set up on the far side of the dance floor, and every lady in sight seemed to be carrying something to set on it.

His stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten anything all day, except for a hunk of cheese he’d taken when he stole out of the house before breakfast. But out of all the punishments he deserved right now, being hungry was the least little bit of it. The pinched feelings inside of him squeezed harder.

He stood next to the automobile, arms slack at his sides. The rest of the family straightened their clothes—with lots of scolding from Mama Nan—and headed toward the party.

Jael, in a sleeveless dress of black lace, looked around and spotted him. She cocked her head to the side, almost frowning. “You are coming?”

He shrugged and stayed put.

She didn’t know what had happened this morning—not any of it. Unless maybe Hitch had told her about Taos getting captured. But she didn’t act like it. She’d been mostly cheery all afternoon.

She didn’t seem all that sad her home had crashed. Maybe she hadn’t been as happy up there as she had been here with them.

When she came home this afternoon, she seemed tired and a bit thoughtful. But then she looked at him and Aurelia and Molly and suddenly smiled her sparkly smile and started laughing.

Little pinched lines still edged her eyes, but her bones must not be hurting her anymore because she twirled Molly all around the girls’ bedroom and hugged Aurelia. “We have won!” she said.

That was something anyway. She deserved to be happy.

The rest of the family went on ahead of him to the party, but Jael walked back to him.

She set her hand on his shoulder. “What is wrong?”

What he’d said to Hitch this morning was the first thing he could remember saying out loud in a long, long time. But he’d been right before: it was easier to keep still.

His cheeks burned, and he shrugged.

“Come to party.” She brushed his hair off his forehead. “It is good thing to celebrate. We have fought, and we have won.”

She had fought. She and Hitch. All he’d done was mess everything up.

He pasted on a smile and darted one look at her to make sure she saw it. Then he slipped out from under her hand and wandered across the field.

All over the place, people laughed and shouted. Practically everybody was here: Deputy Griff, the Berringer brothers, Col. Livingstone in his wheelchair with both legs in casts, and the few pilots that were left. The smell of a roasting beef haunch wafted to him, along with wood smoke and leftover gasoline fumes from the planes.

What good would it do to see Hitch now? Probably Hitch hated him. Probably Hitch wished anybody but Walter was related to him. Walter kept his chin tucked and his eyes down.

He had deserved to be yelled at earlier. He’d tried to be brave, but he should have done like Mama Nan and everybody else wanted him to do. He should have stayed home, done his chores, and let the grown-ups handle it. That’s what had finally captured Schturming after all anyway.

Far beyond the dancing floor, the towering silhouette of the airship flickered in the firelight. Sheriff Campbell’s men had patched up the propeller and floated it out here, mostly so folks could see they really were safe again. Jael had said Sheriff Campbell was going to be personally guarding it all night, until they made sure Zlo didn’t have any plans.

Hands in his pockets, Walter slipped past the crowded food tables—loaded with pies and fried chickens and big bowls of baked beans. His stomach growled again, and he tamped down on the feeling. No food for him tonight. No food and no party. But… maybe it’d be all right to have one look at Schturming up close.

Aunt Aurelia, in her violet party dress, stood next to the table and balanced a greasy roast beef sandwich on her lace-gloved palm.

She caught sight of him and turned all the way around. “Walter! They have pickles!” She kept turning. “Don’t you want any? Where are you going?” She looked from him to Schturming. “Don’t go out there.” Her voice rose. “It’s horrible.”

He walked on.

The pirates were all in jail. The ship was tied to the ground.

Jael was right. The battle was over. So was the adventure.

He left the boundary of the firelight. Darkness stretched out to meet him. With his navy blue party suit, matching socks up to the knees of his short pants, and his black hair, he probably blended right in. Nobody’d be able to see him now anymore than they could hear him speak.

Maybe that was a secret power.

Or maybe it was just dumb. He was a dumb little kid who only opened his mouth when he had bad things to say.

Twenty feet away from Schturming, he stopped.

Lanterns surrounded the ship at intervals, marking the positions of the men guarding it. Sheriff Campbell stood beside the open front doors, talking with one of the guards. He jingled something brass in his hand.

In the dark, the moon gleamed against _Schturming_’s big balloon. She creaked against her tethers. But it was more like groaning than creaking, as if she was alive and sad because they’d caught her and tied her to the ground.

Walter’s stomach turned over. It wasn’t her fault the bad men had stolen her and made her do bad things.

Of course, unlike him, she wasn’t really alive. She couldn’t make her own decisions. She couldn’t try to be a hero. The corners of his mouth turned down, and he bit his lips together. Maybe you couldn’t try to be a hero. You just were, or you weren’t.

He wasn’t, that was plumb clear.

Ever since the bad day, when he’d nearly let Evvy and Annie drown, he’d been on the watch for a way to fix it all, a way to be a hero. And then Hitch Hitchcock—his very own uncle—had come, right out of the sky, and shown him how.

This had been his big chance, all right. But it was plain as plain he never would be any sort of a hero. He’d grow up to be like Papa Byron, only even silenter. He’d stay on the ground and stand back and watch while other people did brave and amazing things. He’d maybe have a farm. But he wouldn’t have a dog.

His mouth pulled harder, and he blinked back hot tears.

Behind Walter, running footsteps tromped through the grass. A man blew right past him, not more than six feet away. He had a beard and wore a long coat down to his knees. He opened his mouth, and something glittered where his teeth should have been.

Zlo. It was the pirate leader Zlo.

But… it couldn’t be. He was locked up in jail.

“Skoree, Seb!” Zlo bellowed. “Vremya prishlo!”

Behind him ran dozens more men, some of them brandishing revolvers.

They couldn’t have broken Zlo out of jail. Everybody’d said Sheriff Campbell had captured all of them.

And yet here they were. Zlo must have left some of them off the ship when they’d been hiding by the Bluff. And they’d come back into town to rescue Zlo from jail?

In the darkness ahead, things started thudding. Some of the lanterns winked out.

Walter’s breath caught in his throat. He pulled his hands from his pockets.

Zlo kept right on going, headed toward Sheriff Campbell. The sheriff barely had time to look up and around. The running shadow smashed into him and started bashing on him. Two seconds later, Zlo shot to his feet and lofted his hand above his head. The brass thing glinted between his fingers.

Walter dropped to his knees, so even the white of his face would be hidden behind the grass. Now what was he supposed to do?

Already, Zlo’s men were sawing loose the tethers and clambering aboard. Schturming floated a few feet up off the ground, held by only one tether at her front and one at her rear. The propellers started cranking.

This was his chance! He got his feet up under him, hands still on the ground. He could make everything right. Run back, tell Hitch and the others. It’d all be okay again. Except for Taos, of course.

He turned back toward the party.

Behind him, a dog barked.

His heart crammed itself so far up his windpipe it hurt. He whipped back around to look.

A small light pierced the dark hole of the main doors. Men ran around, most of them hauling themselves aboard. Some of them carried heavy loads—maybe things they’d hidden on the ground before Hitch captured Schturming. One of the loads wriggled.

If that was Taos, then Walter could make everything right again. And please, let it be Taos. Please, please, please.

All he had to do was sneak up there. He was practically invisible. If he was fast, he could find Taos, set him free, then still have time to run back to tell Hitch and the others. It could work. Zlo and his men wouldn’t be able to see him, like they had earlier today. This time, Walter knew about them, but they didn’t know about him.

He filled his lungs and tensed his calves, ready to run.

Behind, more footsteps swooshed in the grass.

“Walter? Waaaalter?”

Aunt Aurelia. Oh no, no, no. His throat clamped around his heartbeat again. He darted a look back at her.

She zigzagged in his general direction, both arms swinging, like she did when she was bored. “Waaaaalter, where are you?” She walked right past him, halfway to Schturming.

He looked at the ship.

The pirates had all gone still as a green sky before a tornado.

This was bad. He crouched lower. If she figured out what was going on, maybe she could run for help. But if she didn’t figure it out… who knew what Zlo would have his men do to her.

Walter hissed at her and gave his hand a little wave. Go back, he wanted to shout. Go back to the party and tell everybody!

She stopped and looked straight at him. “Oh. There you are. What are you doing?” When he didn’t respond, she raised her voice. “What—are—you—doing?” She walked toward him.

He held his breath.

The pirates seemed to hold their breaths too. For two seconds.

Then Zlo ran right at Aunt Aurelia.

No! Walter shot to his feet.

Aunt Aurelia whipped around to face Zlo. “You! No—” She screamed.

Zlo clapped one hand over her mouth and pinned her arms against her sides. He spun her around so he could scan the field.

“Are you there again, boy?” he said.

Walter’s feet grew roots. He stood, hands fisted at his sides. Just like this morning—just like that day at the creek with the twins—he couldn’t move.

Zlo shrugged and turned back to the ship, dragging Aunt Aurelia with him.

Not again. Not one more time could Zlo take something Walter loved because of Walter.

A scream built up inside of his head, louder and louder. It was like his eardrums were popping from the inside out. Who cared about being a hero? Who cared about being brave? This was about something else.

He opened his mouth and let the scream loose. He ran. His feet pounded the ground. He reached Zlo almost before the man could turn around to see him. Hot tears burst down his cheeks. All the air filtered out of his chest. But he kept right on screaming.

“Chevo? Zatknis!”

Walter dug his fingers into Zlo’s arm and hung on. He kicked Zlo’s leg, first with one foot, then with the other. Zlo lifted him clear off the ground, but he still kicked. His toes landed higher, leaving bone to thwack into the heavy meat of the thigh.

Zlo snarled and shook him off, like a dog shaking off a rat. “Vozmite ego tozhe!”

Hands reached out of the darkness and grabbed him. They hauled him away. Someone slapped him on the side of the head. Someone else held his mouth shut.

Pain swirled in his head, and he blinked hard. His lungs heaved for air, but, on the inside, the scream ran on and on. He would kill these men! He would kill them all!

In Zlo’s grip, Aunt Aurelia stared at him, eyes huge.

Zlo looked up from Walter and surveyed the distant glitter of the party. Then he nodded to whoever held Walter. “Otpustite nas. It is time to go.”