The second time on the Thunderhawk, Wil pushed himself. Now that he had a feel for it, the Thunderhawk responded almost by thought. The sensation of holding on for dear life stopped being scary and became a thrill. Cutting across the lake practically turned him sideways before the stabilizing spell baked in righted him. It was the only hiccup before he returned at fifty three seconds to screams and applause.

“Just like that, Mad McKenzie casually breaks a record. Nothing to it.” Thomas clapped obnoxiously, playing the crowd like a fiddle. “Is there anything in the world he can’t do? Oh yeah. Be cool.”

Wil dismounted, grinning in the face of laughter and jeers. He gave a mock bow and said, “There is one thing I can’t do. Go home, apparently!”

He laughed, and everyone else did so, hesitantly.

“If I had to be stuck anywhere, I’m glad it was here,” said Wil. “Getting to know some of you and work on this has been a dream come true.”

“How much did that thing cost to make?” Rand Sandoval called out, taking another sip through his straw. He had slicked back jet black hair, and wore small spectacles on a friendly but unassuming face. Looking at him, no one would expect him to be one of the top wizards in the country.

“About forty thousand zynce,” said Wil. “If I had to pay for the materials on my own, more like sixty thousand.”

Thomas jumped in, “Let’s call it forty. We wasted some material on early prototypes, and now you know what works and what doesn’t. Forty thousand to produce. Do I detect a desire to invest, Mr. Sandoval?”

Rand raised his cup. “I don’t know about investing, but I wouldn’t say no to having one of my own. That looks fun, and I’d be so interested to look at how you made it.”

Despite Wil’s lack of interest in business, Rand appreciating his work made him want to squeal. He did his best to play it cool, shrugging and taking an offered drink from manor staff. Spiked lemonade was perfect on a day like this.

“It’s nothing you couldn’t have done,” said Wil. “We actually used a lot of your theory on alloys to make it happen. It took a particular mix to have the proper push against the ground while still being light and maneuverable. I wouldn’t have thought of it.”

“So how much to buy one off you?” Rand asked with a shameless grin. “I have my own flying devices, but none so exciting.”

“One hundred twenty thousand seems a fair price, right?” Thomas interjected. He moved up to Wil and threw an arm around his shoulders. “Between materials, labor, and how rare they are. Wil and I are the only ones who know how to make it exactly like this, and this one’s his baby.”

“Tom, I’m not sure I’m going to have the time to -- “ Wil started.

“Sold!” Rand cried, thrusting a finger into the air. “In the meantime…can I ride it?”

After a bunch of warnings and instructions on how it worked, Wil and Thomas stood by as Rand climbed on and got moving. Very slowly. He went around in circles, cheering and screaming after he nearly fell off at one point. The rest of the assembled wizards cheered him on, while a couple kneeled on the ground, petting a tolerant Isom who half-heartedly swiped at them on occasion.

“I appreciate all your help,” Wil said to Thomas, drinking more of his lemonade.

“There’s a but coming, right?” Thomas chuckled.

“Yes. But, I am not sure I want to make things for a living. My job is serving my community and helping out with problems. It’s not building things for the military and rich people.” Wil turned to him. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think anything's wrong with that, it’s just not me.”

“It could be,” said Thomas. “Not trying to force you to do anything, just expanding your horizons. You’ve got a lot of potential, and I feel like you try to hold yourself back for reasons others might uncharitably call silly.”

“Others, but not you, obviously.”

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Thomas grinned. “I’m only saying, it doesn’t hurt to explore your options, and to take care of yourself. You had the money to build this without my help, but you could make this in two months next time. That’s eighty thousand zynce profit split for an average of forty thousand a month. Which is like four times as much as you make, right?”

“Yes, that is great money,” said Wil. “Not sure what point you’re trying to make. That’s a lot of money for doing something I want to do mostly for fun and personal enrichment.”

“That’s what the patent is for,” Thomas insisted. “Do it once, prove that it can be done and you know how. Show the way for others, and you gain a little trickle coming in for every major thing you do. Eventually, you have the money, the power, the connections to do anything you want. You'll have big name recognition, and with that comes influence.

“That’s what I’m offering you, McKenzie. Influence. Wouldn’t that have made your recent troubles so much easier?”

Wil paused. Time in the workshop and library had done a lot to distract him, but four months was a lot of time to ruminate. He had more than enough time to go over his actions and what he could’ve done differently or better, had circumstances been different.

“It wouldn’t have hurt,” Wil admitted. “I thought Harper Valley would be fine if I let them see for themselves that the fae could be good allies and friends.”

“Small towns are notorious for being slow to accept change. Trust me, I know. If you had more influence, or used what you had more aggressively, things might’ve been smoother.”

Thomas smiled the teasing way he did when he spotted weakness he intended to exploit. “Not saying you have to become a businessman. Just that you have to consider using everything at your disposal to get what you want. Influence lets you do it without violence.”

Wil sighed. “And what do you get out of this? I’m still not giving up the secret to leylines.”

“Wil, I’m hurt. Me? Ulterior motives?” Thomas shook his head sadly. He made it a whole three seconds before cracking. “I help you, you help me in the future. If not with that, then with something else. We make connections that could be useful later, and we enjoy ourselves while doing it. Unless you’re trying to tell me you haven’t enjoyed working with me. But then you’d be a liar.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Wil said with a chuckle. “It’s been nice having a friend here. But I know you want more than that.”

“I want to be on the front lines of discovery and change,” said Thomas. “And I can see you’re a man to be watched. Besides, you’re such a sap I could basically ask anything else of you and you’d give it.”

“You’re not wrong. Hey, he’s coming back.” Wil pointed out to where Rand wobbled on the Thunderhawk.

He never went faster than about fifteen miles per hour and was unsteady on his legs when he got off. He staggered forward, fists thrust in the air as he cheered and the others swarmed him. A few eyed the Thunderhawk, but no one was drunk enough to take it without permission.

“Think I should make a safer version for him if I do make one?” Wil asked. “One that doesn’t go as fast and has more crash protections.”

“Oh definitely,” said Thomas. “Him using one is the best advertisement. Everyone will want one, and then you can hire some workers who all build one part of it and -- “

“Tom,” Wil groaned.

Thomas held his hands up. “I’ll wear you down.”

They started off in the direction of the rest of the crowd, until Wil saw Maddy running across the lawn their way. He stopped, and Thomas stopped a few seconds later.

“Master McKenzie!” Maddy called, waving an envelope in the air. “This message came for you, and I’m told it’s urgent!” She closed the remaining distance and handed the message over.

Wil took it silently and ripped it open. His eyes went line by line. The message was short, simple, and threatened to knock him on his ass. He took a deep breath and read it again.

“Bad news?” Thomas asked after a minute.

“Kind of,” said Wil. “Good news, bad news situation. The good news is the date of my hearing has been set. The bad news is that it’s in two days. Tomorrow I’m to go into town to meet with Pierce one more time so he can finish preparing me, and then it’s time to face the music.”

“It’s been wonderful having you here, Master McKenzie!” Maddy chirped obliviously.

Thomas swore under his breath. “They’re really doing everything they can to put pressure on you, aren’t they?”

“Seems that way,” said Wil, folding the letter and shoving it in his back pocket. “I’ll be okay. I made some mistakes, but everything I did was for the good of Calipan. And last I checked, we’re still not at war with Faerie, and have even had more visitors from Oakheart Spiral. That’s got to work in my favor.”

“You know what doesn’t?” Thomas elbowed him. “Holding out on some critical, world changing information. Give them what they want and they’ll let you go. I guarantee it. But,” he continued, seeing the look on Wil’s face, “I know why you don’t want to. So how about we ditch this crowd and see what else you can offer them as a bribe.”

Wil hated how much sense Thomas made. If it came down to it, if it was keep this secret or die…Well, Wil was awfully attached to his life. There had to be a way for him to protect his fae friends and appease Cloverton.

“I appreciate it, Tom,” said Wil. “I’m sure we’ll think of something. Even if I have to sell the Thunderhawk to the military.”

“Now you’re thinking!” Thomas put his arm around Wil’s shoulders and together they went to grab the Thunderhawk and put it away. For better or worse, Wil wouldn’t be stuck in Marlowe Manor much longer.