Take Back the Skies (14 page)

‘It might be early but that won't stop the men; they'll want a pint or two before setting off,' he told her.

When Matt and Ben had finished eating, they bid the rest of the crew goodbye and went off into the city in good spirits. Despite Harry's orders for them to both work in the engine room, Fox disappeared soon after Matt and Ben left, so Cat wandered down on her own to begin work.

It was strange being down there without Matt, and she was reluctant to touch anything for fear of breaking it. She wandered over to the large furnace in the centre, checking the tyrium levels inside. It always amazed her that just one of those small cubes of bright purple rock could power an entire skyship for several hours. That was why Anglya had controlled an empire at one point, she supposed; if there was one thing everyone needed to trade successfully, it was tyrium, and Anglya had it in abundance.

Sighing to herself, she left the furnace how it was and got to work cleaning some of the propeller belts where they were sticky with grease deposits. Maybe Fox would give her a hand, once he returned.

Cat was glad to get back on track the next day, her head healed over and Harry having no excuse to postpone things. Matt and Ben had been successful in finding blueprints – she'd hardly seen them since they'd returned from the pub, tucking themselves away with the papers in Matt's room – so now they just had to figure out which of the four government entrances was the best to use. That was where she came in.

Dressed in fairly respectable, clean clothing, Cat met the rest of the crew at breakfast in the galley.

‘Alice is going with you, brats,' Harry told her and Fox over breakfast. ‘Just in case the Collection crews come a-calling. I know you could probably escape, but we don't want to risk anything. Especially not with you, Cat.'

Cat bit her lip nervously, but nodded, glancing at Fox, who was staring back.

‘I'll keep an eye on you, shortie, don't worry,' he assured her quietly.

She smiled in relief, glad that even in his foul mood, he understood how bad it would be for her to get Collected. He was probably too old to be taken; though Cat didn't actually know his age he looked possibly seventeen, maybe eighteen if he hadn't shaved. Almost a grown man.

‘Sure you'll be able to restrain yourself wandering around Greystone?' she teased. ‘We won't go unnoticed if you're punching government workers in the face.'

Fox snorted, giving her an amused look.

‘I'm sure I'll manage.' The plan was to eavesdrop on as many people as possible, in the hope of learning more about the guard shifts around the entrances. As Nathaniel Hunter's daughter, Cat had always entered and exited through North Gate, but it was far too well guarded for street rats to sneak through.

‘We'll be docking for a while, so I need to file for a long-term permit with the warden,' Harry added.

‘We'd better get going, Mattie,' Ben urged quietly, nudging his friend's shoulder. Matt nodded, standing, and after a short whispered conversation with Harry, the two left. Cat wasn't sure what they were up to; they hadn't seen fit to tell anyone but Harry. Presumably, Alice wouldn't approve.

‘Come on, Alice, let's get going,' Fox said. ‘Coming, Cat?'

Waving goodbye to Harry, the three of them headed up on deck. Cat stood for a long moment, just peering out over the railing into the city. It was bizarre to think that she'd left – had gone all the way to Siberene – and it was only having seen the prosperity of the foreign country that she was able to see how truly desolate Anglya was. The crumbling brick and lopsided stone of the housing districts was more obvious to her, and the broken streetlights hard to ignore. Even the richest of common men wore threadbare clothes that had seen many better days. Everyone looked thin and haggard, and the city itself was dilapidated and filthy.

‘Shocking, isn't it? You don't realise until you've seen what everywhere else is like. What we
could
be like, if your lot weren't ruining it,' Fox muttered, nudging her in the back to get her moving. Cat elbowed him in the stomach.

‘They're not
my lot
! I hate them just as much as you do.'

He scowled darkly.

‘Whatever you say, girlie. Now, hurry up.'

Cat hurried down the gangplank. As she reached the bottom, she narrowly avoided being run over by two men carrying a large crate. They cursed at her as she darted out of the way and went after Alice.

‘Which end of Greystone are we looking at?' Cat asked, keeping her voice low.

Fox shot her a funny look.

‘What on Tellus are you talking about, ends of Greystone? Either end is full of pretentious middle-class bastards.'

Cat rolled her eyes. Now was not the time for prejudice, even if it was well founded.

‘Well, if you go up the Highdene end, it's right by the South entrance of the compound, which is where people like the Cantfields and the Mayfairs live. That end, you'll probably only get petty gossip about who's been seen stepping out with who, which families are currently in good standing and which have members who've done something rather naughty. Useless, boring drivel that delights the ladies and makes them think they've got access to some secret scandal. We might get something useful about the compound, but I doubt it. The Kentridge end is near … near where people like my father and the Gales live, and is also close to the gentlemen's club. That's where we'll get the more solid information – what's going on in the compound, who has business meetings they're being terribly tight-lipped about. But it's very difficult to get close enough to hear anything.'

‘We'll go there, then,' Fox snapped irritably and scowled.

Cat looked sideways at him.

‘Or …' she continued, elongating the word, ‘we could head to Kentridge through Appleby, which is furthest from the compound walls. We're less likely to get business information, but more likely to eavesdrop on workmen – guards, government mechanics, the ones who actually do what people like my father order them to. And trust me, the workmen like to complain. If we're going to learn anything, it'll probably be there.'

‘How in blazes do you know all this?' Alice asked, impressed.

Cat shrugged.

‘I went to a lot of meetings with my father. As his heir I was allowed to meet his associates, but as a girl I had to sit and wait outside while they discussed their business.' Her voice showed exactly how she felt about that. ‘A lot of the time, there was no one checking I was actually sitting outside, and those meetings would go on for hours. So I'd slip off into Greystone and no one would touch me, knowing who I was. No one dared bring the wrath of Nathaniel Hunter down on their heads,' she explained matter-of-factly.

Alice tutted, disapproving of a young girl wandering the streets alone. Fox just looked grim – at the inattention paid to a small girl, or the reminder of just how important she was, she didn't know.

‘So you recommend we go through Appleby, then?' he asked her, and she nodded.

‘It's been a little while since I've been there, but Mr Perkins should still live at number seven, and he's the commander in charge of coordinating the guards' shifts,' she replied, turning down a corner towards the familiar dark grey paved streets. ‘We're bound to learn a thing or two. He tells his wife everything, and she's an awful gossip.'

For once, she was leading the way, Fox and Alice trailing behind her. She could tell it was infuriating Fox that she was more knowledgeable than him in this area, and that made her smile. He deserved a taste of his own medicine.

‘You can't just walk into Greystone,' Fox hissed, grabbing her by the shoulder as she made to cross the street. ‘Not as a commoner, anyway.'

Impatiently she eyed her two companions.

‘Your clothes are fairly decent. Fox, stuff your goggles in your pocket and just walk in like you own the place. You manage to do that everywhere else, so it shouldn't be too hard for you.'

He blinked, taking a few moments to register that she'd insulted him. Far from being offended, he grinned.

‘Little girl has some fire in her belly.'

Cat stomped on his foot.

‘
Don't
call me little girl,' she warned.

‘If you had pigtails, lass, I'm sure he'd be pulling them,' Alice murmured wryly, and Cat saw the faintest hint of red colour in Fox's freckled cheeks.

Greystone was in markedly better condition than the inner-city areas, but most of the buildings still looked shabby and in need of repair, and she could count more broken windows than she had fingers. Glancing over her shoulder, she waved a hand impatiently, and Fox sighed before starting forward, confident swagger out in full. Alice kept her usual warm smile on her face, hiding her nervousness well.

‘Just keep an eye out and walk slowly,' Cat muttered under her breath, peering around the streets. It was relatively quiet, as most people were currently at work. However, that meant the wives were left to their own devices, and if she remembered correctly …

‘There.' Sure enough, they turned a corner and reached the small park in the centre of Appleby, where a group of women were sitting on benches chatting quietly, a few of them with babies on their laps. There were four young children, three boys and a girl, playing with a ball on the grass. The trio stayed back, wary of getting too close.

‘Perfect,' announced Cat.

‘Why perfect?' Alice queried.

‘See that blonde woman in the dark blue skirt with the grey corset and shawl? That's Mr Perkins' wife. I thought she'd be here at this time. The baby the woman next to her is holding is hers, and she'd never resist an opportunity to show him off. She practically threw a party when he was born.'

‘You know a worrying amount about the social habits of government scum,' Fox murmured, ignoring the sharp look Alice shot him.

Cat just shrugged.

‘One thing my father taught me that I actually bothered to listen to – always know what those who work for you do with their free time, just in case they're using it to betray you.'

Fox's eyebrows rose slowly.

‘That's … really quite paranoid,' he told her, and she nodded.

‘Completely, but it works. Now, how are we going to get close enough to listen in without being noticed?' She eyed the surrounding area, looking for somewhere that would shield them from curious eyes.

‘And just what do you think you're doing, you little brat?' Cat froze at the familiar voice, turning on her heel. Standing in front of them, proudly wearing his guard's uniform with a shiny new stud at his collar signifying a recent promotion, was Finnegan Rowley, son of Jeremy Rowley, head of ration allocation. Finnegan was a pompous idiot with delusions of grandeur – he had once told an
eleven-year-old Cat that he was going to marry her and become the head of the Hunter family. Fortunately, her father had overheard and laughed himself breathless, taking great pleasure in telling the boy that he would never give his daughter away to someone with so little standing.

‘Walking, what does it look like?' she retorted coolly, crossing her fingers behind her back, hoping desperately he wouldn't recognise her.

‘I don't know you,' he declared.

Cat rolled her eyes, staring up at the boy – man now, she supposed – through her ragged fringe.

‘Well, that tiny brain of yours can't be expected to remember every name you try and shove in it, Finnegan. I live down in Lethbridge at Miss Kasey's. This is my friend from school, Will, and his mother Alice.' She hoped Miss Kasey was continuing to take in higher-class orphans, or her plan was down the drain. Luckily, Finnegan nodded slowly, still eyeing her with distrust.

‘Tell Miss Kasey that if she doesn't stop letting in strays my father will have to cut her rations. I don't care for little orphan brats like you, and neither does the rest of the country. We'll start shipping you off if you keep asking for food.' Cat felt Fox stiffen behind her, a low growl escaping his throat. She reached back discreetly, placing a hand on his arm.

‘We're of the same blood, Rowley, so don't act like you're better than me,' she said curtly.

‘Yes, but I actually have parents who care about me,' he replied nastily. Cat wished she could tell him who she really was, just to see the look on his face, but giving the game
away wasn't worth a petty grudge match. Fox's growl grew louder, and he started forward, but Cat held him back. Finnegan's eyes darted between the two of them, completely ignoring Alice and lingering on Fox for a long moment, before he evidently decided that Fox looked too big a threat to try brawling with. Finnegan may have been solidly built, but it was obvious that most of it was not muscle. His double-breasted uniform jacket strained around the middle, and one row of buttons was uneven, betraying the need to adjust them in order to fit his girth.

‘Hurry along to Miss Kasey's, then, brat, and watch your attitude around your betters,' he spat.

Cat gave him a look of wide-eyed innocence.

‘Oh, I will, when I see them,' she replied, nimbly stepping aside when he aimed a punch at her face. ‘Oh, was I meant to stay still for that? Terribly sorry. Maybe next time I'll let you hit me, and then you can explain to your commander how you punched an orphan boy. I'm sure he'll agree it was a valid use of the power you've gained with that pretty new scrap of silver. Commander Grange, right?'

He winced almost violently, face going pale, and Cat knew she'd guessed correctly. Only Grange could inspire that reaction in his men.

‘You'll get yours one day, boy,' Finnegan muttered, turning on his heel and stomping off down the street, away from the park.

When he was gone, Cat let out a chuckle at the looks on her companions' faces.

‘That was fun,' she remarked.

‘You, young lady, are far too devious for your own good.
That poor boy looked about ready to mess his trousers after your last comment,' Alice muttered with a shake of her head, making Cat snigger. ‘Though with his attitude, I don't blame you!'