Thinking is hard, the sprite replied. Oh, that’s shiny.

It’s shiny, indeed, Noli replied.

Jeff chuckled in the background and her eyes snapped open, cheeks burning. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to think her eccentric, or even worse, mad.

“Engineers are so strange,” Jeff teased, another lamp in his hand. “Parts closet is over there.” He gestured to a wardrobe in the corner of the room. “Now, I want to show you something.” A little door marked the far wall. “This was a closet. A previous engineer far before Vix got the ship made the closet into a workroom. Since an engineer on a ship like this is also chief inventor, tinker, and handyman it makes sense.”

He opened the door. Inside was a workbench covered in tools which took up most of the back wall. Boxes of parts and such filled the little room. If she stood in the middle and stretched out her arms she could probably touch all the walls. The only light came from the lamp in Jeff’s hand.

“This room and everything in it are yours to use. Also,” he gestured to the cluttered space lighting the corners with the lamp. “I think it would be best for you to sleep here. I don’t want you with the rest of the crew. Hopefully, you can fit all this in the parts closet, though you can build some shelves if you need them. I’ll get you a hammock and a locker for your things.” Jeff looked at her bag and frowned. “Believe it or not, Vix is very good at shopping. Eventually we’ll have time for you to get a few things. I’m sorry you couldn’t bring your trunk.”

“I’ve got everything I need.” She patted her bag. Noli peered into the little room. “This is where I should sleep?” Once she moved out the boxes out it should suffice.

Jeff nodded. “That’s safest. Right now we’re running light. It’s me, Vix, Thad, Asa, Winky—and now you. But we’ll need to bring at least one more person on, perhaps two, and well, crew quarters aren’t the place for a lady.”

The corners of her lips twitched. “Do you share the captain’s quarters?”

He blushed to the roots of his dark and messy hair. “I have a hammock in crew quarters, like everyone else.”

“Of course,” she laughed. “It would be improper not to.”

Jeff squeezed her shoulder, still covered by her good cape. “There’s not a lot of proper on an airship like this— or in what we do.”

“I know.” She looked up at him in earnest. “What did you steal? That’s what you’re waiting for, right? Asa and Thad stole something and you’re leaving as soon as they return?”

His dark eyebrows rose. “You’re smart.”

The door to the engine room opened.

“Jeff, what are you doing in here?” a gravelly voice asked from behind them.

“Hi, Winky, readying the engines?” Jeff smiled at an older man, short and a little chubby, with a white beard and a striped stocking cap over his too-long white hair. He was dressed similarly to Jeff.

Winky nodded. “Captain’s orders. You should get to the bridge.” When he looked at Noli, his eyes widened in surprise. “Captain didn’t say nuffin’ about passengers.”

Jeff pushed her toward Winky. “This is Noli, my sister—she’s our new engineer. Noli, Winky came with the ship. He can tell you everything you want to know about her.”

Very useful. She curtseyed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you … Winky. I look forward to getting to know this ship.”

He doffed his cap. “My pleasure. No one knows this ship like me. But never have I met a lady engineer.”

Jeff made an annoyed noise. “Hayden’s Follies has a female engineer. So does The Laughing Mermaid.”

“Female yes, but never a lady.” Winky nodded so vigorously Noli thought his head might fall off. At the very least his stripped cap.

Making a face, Jeff glanced at his pocket watch. “I’ve need to get up to the bridge. You make sense of your little place here and get settled in. Winky’s going to ready the engines, which usually the engineer does. You should watch and take notes.” Jeff bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll check in on you later.”

She took the lamp. “I’m glad I’m here.”

“Me, too.” Jeff left, going back the way he came.

Noli looked to Winky. “Mr. Winky, would you kindly introduce me to the engines?”

His brown eyes went alight and he inclined his head. “Why, Miss Noli, it would be my pleasure.”

Despite the late hour Noli buzzed with too much excitement to sleep. Airship aloft, Winky had returned to his duties below after giving Noli an overview of the engines and the ship’s quirks. She’d concentrated on getting the room in enough order to sleep and would tackle the rest in the morning—such as putting away everything she’d taken out of the workroom so there was room for a hammock.

Her hat and cape hug on hooks on the door. More hooks on the walls sat at about the right place for a hammock, but she found none. Jeff hadn’t returned, but he might still be needed on the bridge. Noli yawned. Perhaps it was time to find the necessary and peek in on Jeff. If he told her where they stored the hammocks she could get it herself. She’d never slept in one, but it sounded better than sleeping on the floor.

All ships this class had the same basic layout. She climbed the stairs to the bridge. The common area had a room on one end—probably the captain’s quarters—and a kitchen area on the other, with a sitting room in the center. The bridge should lie on the far side of the kitchen, right at the bow of the ship. Voices came from that direction.

“What were you thinking, Jeff?” Nearly tangible exasperation dripped from Vix’s voice.

“We need an engineer. We’re courting disaster every day we fly without one. There’s only so much Winky can do. She has decent general knowledge of airships and she’s an ace at fixing things. She rebuilt that deathtrap of a flying car my father had,” Jeff replied. “She rebuilt the hoverboard I’d given up on. She even built my mother a steam-powered sewing machine out of junk lying around the house.”

“From all your stories I never realize she was so…dainty.” Vix sounded as if she considered this a detriment.

Noli stood in the dining area where she could hear but not see them. Dainty? That wasn’t a word usually used to describe her. Part of her preened at the idea. She knew it would make her mother proud. What would Mama of Vix? Noli took a deep breath and tried to squish those thoughts away.

“Look at her, she’s dressed for a party.” It sounded as if Vix paced the bridge as they spoke.

“As long as she can work in it, what does it matter?” Jeff replied.

“This isn’t the place for a lady. You always painted her as a hoyden but … ”

“They did something to her,” Jeff sighed. “I don’t know if it was the school or those people who kidnapped her, but something’s not quite right. If I let our mother take her to Boston, who knows what will happen. The last thing I want is for her to be taken advantage of or even worse, institutionalized.”

Noli’s blood went cold at the thought of being sent to an asylum. The words something’s not quite right made her stomach churn. True, something wasn’t quite right, but until her mother mentioned it tonight, she hadn’t realized anyone had noticed. She’d worked so hard to hide it.

“We don’t know she was actually kidnapped,” Vix retorted.

“She never mentioned in her letters what exactly happened, but you know she wasn’t here with us.”

Kidnapped? Kevighn hadn’t exactly kidnapped her. But she had been held in the Otherworld against her will.

“Still, things happened to her—and you know what those schools are like,” Jeff added. “She’ll be an asset and she won’t get in the way of our work. If she can hoverboard and fix flying cars in a dress then she can be an airship engineer in one.”

“That’s against everything the women’s equality movement works for,” Vix muttered.

“No it’s not,” Jeff soothed. “You work for women to have choices. This means they should have any and all options, not just the ability to wear trousers and take on men’s jobs, but the right to wear skirts and stay home with the children if they so choose. The point is that they have a choice. After all, if all women eschew staying home and raising children the human race would end, right?”

Vix made an annoyed noise. “Your logic makes my head hurt. She still has to pull her weight, I’m not making exceptions.”

Before Noli could stop herself, the sprite took over and strode to the doorway of the bridge. She looked on in horror, trying to fight to regain control of the body but unable to as the sprite spoke.

“I’ll do my share. Promise. I can be helpful even in a dress.” She twirled a little as she said that. The sprite liked to be helpful nearly as much as she liked to be pretty—or happy. “Jeff said you’re good at shopping, I can’t wait— that’ll be so much fun.” A giggle unwilling punctuated the statement. Mortification crept through Noli as she saw the look on Vix’s face.

Shush, she told the sprite, trying to regain control. If she doesn’t like us, she’ll throw us off the ship. It was always disconcerting to only be able observe her own words and actions, unable to do anything about it.

Then we’ll go to Boston and wear pretty dresses and go to parties? I want to go to parties. Will there be cute boys? And dancing? I like dancing,

Flying figs, the last thing she needed was the sprite trying to get them kicked off. No, we don’t want to go to Boston, we want to stay on the ship. It’ll be so much fun if we stay—more fun even than pretty dresses and parties. Oh, it will? The sprite perked. I like to have fun. Noli used this distraction to regain control of her body and lock the sprite away, wincing at the pain it caused. “Noli, Noli is everything all right?” Jeff’s face creased in a frown.

“I’m fine,” she brushed off. “I … I didn’t mean to intrude on your private conversation. I came to ask you where the hammock was so I could set it up and go to sleep.” She yawned for emphasis, though it was a legitimate yawn, sleep pressing down on her. “I know you’re probably busy. I’m perfectly capable of getting it if you tell me where it is.” Noli turned to Vix, hoping to salvage the situation. Blasted sprite. “I can do everything in a dress. Give me a chance. Please, Captain?” She didn’t understand why it mattered what she wore as long as she got the job done.

Vix nodded, brow creased. “I believe in giving people chances—and you don’t have to wear a dress.”

“I like dresses.” The words slipped out and Noli put her hand to her mouth, cheeks warming. “I … I … ” She looked at her feet. “I’ve always wore a dress or a skirt, even when hoverboarding.”

“You may wear a dress,” Jeff said. “What Vix is trying to articulate is that that you have a choice. If you wish to wear a dress, you may, but if you want to wear trousers, that’s perfectly acceptable. Whatever you’re comfortable in. We don’t really give a gear what you wear.”

Noli nodded, not wanted to offend anyone. She couldn’t envision herself wearing trousers, but options were useful. At least here no one would think her indecent if she wore a dress without sleeves when she worked on the engines. “I … I appreciate that.”

“Vix, if you would kindly take the helm for a few moments, I’ll get Noli set up.” Jeff gave Vix a wheedling smile.

Vix shook her head and waved them off. “Go ahead.”

“Are you part of the women’s equality movement?” Noli asked Vix shyly. “I … I hope they make it legal for women to operate conveyances solo. I happen to like hoverboarding.”

“Me, too.” Vix exchanged knowing glances with Jeff. If she dressed like a boy she could probably get away with hoverboarding far easier than Noli.

Jeff pushed on Noli’s shoulder. “Let’s get you to bed. It’s been quite the day.”

“Too much excitement running away from home?” Vix snipped as she took the helm. The bridge had a panoramic view of the sky as well as a periscope, something that projected what was happening behind them onto a small screen, and all sorts of lights, switches, and system monitors. A large lever controlled the speed of the engine, another released barrels of water from the hull, lightening the ship to make it go faster.

“Vix, please?” Jeff put an arm around Noli.

Vix huffed. “Good night, Noli.”

“Good night, Captain.” Noli nodded, nearly bobbing a curtsey out of habit.

Jeff led her down the stairs. “Go back to your room, I’ll be right there.”