Their second morning in the city, Iris and Victoria awoke before sunrise -- thanks to Victoria's uncanny knack for awaking exactly when she intends to. Iris cut short her usual waking process of groaning and trying to go back to sleep, instead forcing herself to blip out of bed and promptly get dressed. They both donned their full adventuring gear, with Victoria tucking her hair away tightly while Iris tightened her leather armor. It was only a precaution, but it was best to be ready for anything.

The pair left silently, blipping and phasing through the ceiling to the roof overhead. The dark hours of the morning were the only hours when Fale Nalore was quiet and still, and they allowed themselves a few moments on the rooftop to enjoy the view until the sky began to brighten. Their next stop was the highest branches of a tree overhead, where the city street below was obscured but they could get a clear line of sight to the Gaping Maw in its dock. Their plan was simple and direct -- wait for the ship to take flight so they didn't draw any undue attention while it was still docked, and then get aboard.

"Think anyone will try to stop us?" Iris asked.

"Probably not," Victoria said, "I don't imagine they'll know what to make us at first, and even if they figure it out, leaving is exactly what they want the pirates to do. Worst case scenario, we'll be gone before getting spotted even matters."

Iris eyed the ship warily, waiting for any sign of movement as the sky further brightened. She watched through her spyglass as the sails were unfurled and the black shark's mouth flag was raised. It was just before the first crack of sunlight peeked over the horizon when the rear thrusters of the ship came to life with a blast of fire -- flashing wide at first before refining into a smaller, concentrated jet not yet strong enough to move the ship.

"Get ready," Victoria said as she shifted into her spectral form.

Iris put away her spyglass, donned her goggles, and conjured her broom-staff -- that was the name she had finally settled on calling it -- before poising herself to leap from the branch.

"Loser tells Eli it was their idea not to get everything on his list," Iris said.

Victoria glanced at her with a smirk, and then the thrusters roared and the jets of fire widened. The ship began to crawl forward, its keel scraping across the docking trench while vines reached out from the branches to pull it along.

"Not yet," Victoria whispered.

Both women had their eyes locked on the ship as it slowly picked up speed across the trench. The crawl increased to a slide and the second half of the trench was crossed in a quarter of the time as the first. Finally, when the ship flung over the edge of the suspended dock and its wings snapped open, Victoria shot forward in a ghostly blur while Iris launched off the branch with a great leap and a far blip, mounting her broom-staff midair as she reappeared ahead of Victoria.

Iris hunkered down over the broom-staff as it abruptly lurched forward, quickly outpacing Victoria -- but only in the short-term. The specter was soon gaining on her, her pace steadier than Iris and unimpeded by the wind resistance. The ship turned in the sky and steered towards the northeast, catching the powerful headwinds beneath its wings and quickly gaining altitude as its thrusters shut off.

The city of Fale Nalore shrank away behind the girls as they raced after the Gaping Maw. Iris swore to herself at the headwinds she fought against while Victoria effortlessly glided past her. After rising above even the tallest of the tower-trees, the Gaping Maw swung to the east and began rounding the circle of towers. Iris saw her chance and broke off to the right, hoping to meet the ship's trajectory while Victoria was left chasing behind it -- but Victoria had the same plan and soon banked to the right as well.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

As the ship passed by the last of the tower-trees, Victoria swung around it with a wide birth. Iris instead chose a direct path, shooting like an arrow just below the lowest branches and just above a docked balloon-ship. There were shouts from below, but Iris barely heard them over the wind.

As she ducked and dodged leaves and emerged from the crown of the tower-tree, the Gaping Maw returned to view. She was close now, only a few seconds before her feet would touch down on the main deck -- the tension in her body released and she slowed her speed, sitting upright on the broom with her shoulders slumped at the sight of Victoria waving at her from the deck. The ship started getting away from her, traveling faster than she anticipated, so she leaned forward and shot across the final stretch before coming in for a gentle landing near a smirking Victoria.

______

The party gathered on buckets and barrels near Eli's bunk for dinner. They were joined by Cameron and Adan, and an awkward tension filled the air as the party was careful of what was said in front of them and the many other pirates in the crew's quarters.

"Any trouble from the crew when you got back?" Eli asked before taking a bite of his food.

Iris shrugged, "I think my boss might be mad, but it's hard to hear what he's yelling while I'm blipping away."

Autumn choked on laughter while Eli frowned.

"You should probably--" he began.

"I know," Iris rolled her eyes, "I'll work it out tomorrow."

He sighed, glancing sideways at Adan before choosing his next words carefully, "did you get everything on the list?"

Iris abruptly paused with a half chewed bite in her mouth, briefly glancing at a grinning Victoria before finishing her bite and speaking, "actually, it seemed like we didn't really need everything--"

"I was very specific with that list--"

"We had a tight budget!"

"I accounted for that!"

The vague bickering went on for a few moments, both of them careful not to reveal what was on the list or why it was written in the first place. Eventually, Cameron cleared his voice and attempted to change the subject.

"The weather's looking rough," he said simply, "not the kind of storm I'd want to get caught in on foot."

Though the sun had set, they had all seen the dark clouds spanning across the horizon in the early evening. Not long after the sky grew dark the heavy rains had begun, coming on all at once as if the ship had passed through a veil. Even now, with the doors to the stairwells shut, water trickled down the steps and collected in the lower decks. All that was visible through the portholes was raindrops on the glass and a dark expanse beyond.

"Indeed," Adan said, the only one in the group not eating, "it would be quite unfortunate to be on the ground right now."

Eli and Titus shifted uncomfortably in their seats, while Victoria glanced towards Autumn.

"You're smart, right Adan?" Autumn asked.

Adan hesitated for a moment, "I suppose."

"And pretty good at figuring things out?" she prodded.

"Yes, quite good in fact."

Autumn made eye contact with Eli, who glanced at Adan for a moment before speaking, "I imagine you're also smart enough to keep most things you figure out to yourself. Probably even from your father, who seems less-- reticent."

Adan looked at Eli without an expression and nodded silently.

Eli nodded back, "good. You're a nice one to have around," he looked towards Cameron, "both of you," he panned his gaze around the party, making eye contact with each of them to be sure the message was received.

"If I had a camping trip planned," Titus said, "I'd be looking to reschedule."

Eli thought for a short moment before replying, "sometimes your schedule's packed, and there's only one chance to go camping for quite a while."

"Yeah," Cameron agreed, "if it were me, I'd probably wait until the last minute and hope the weather lets up."

Eli nodded, and after a moment so did Titus.

"Is anyone anyone else worried it might be the lightning wizards again?" Iris asked.

Victoria shook her head, "I don't think so, this one's different than the storm back in the forest. There's no unnatural aura, and the last one didn't have wind like this either. It also eased in over days, instead of coming on all at once."

Adan nodded, "the storm over Giantrock City was unseasonal and strange in many ways. We are nearing the ocean, where it is not unusual for great storms to brew in the late summer. I would imagine the source of this one is natural."

Iris glanced down at Littletooth, who was licking his bowl clean after devouring a second serving of dinner. He was beginning to grow quite large after spending more time out of the bag, his head now almost reaching her knee when he stood tall. She hoped, for his sake and theirs, that this storm wasn't the lightning wizards coming back for him.