Thin Lines (The Child Thief #3)(107)

“Was the meadow actually on the other side of the trees, or was it just in the middle of them?” I asked, of no one in particular.

“It was on the other side,” Jace answered, coming up next to me and placing his hand possessively on my arm. “I looked around, wondering exactly the same thing, while you were still trying to figure out if your leg would work or not. There were no trees behind us when we left.”

“Around it is,” I told Henry, sliding my hand up to take Jace’s.

He squeezed mine in a show of support—and, I hoped, forgiveness for the situation. He had to know that I hadn’t planned for Henry to show up when he did.

And I certainly hadn’t asked Henry to come with us. That had just been another sticky situation the universe had thrown us into. It had nothing to do with Jace, or my relationship with him. Granted, I obviously still had leftover feelings for Henry, but that didn’t change how I felt about Jace.

Henry’d had his chance. He’d run. That was all I needed to know.

But there was a small corner of my heart that dug its feet firmly into the sand at that thought and shouted that I was being stupid and na?ve if I actually believed it. It seemed irrational, but we’d brought a child into this world together, after all…

Henry suddenly swerved to the left and began crashing through the bushes and grasses surrounding the forest, and I tore myself from my thoughts and spared a moment to worry about the tank of fuel behind us, wondering if it would survive the journey at all, or if we’d find ourselves blown up courtesy of rough driving. But a second later the way smoothed out, and then Henry was turning right at the edge of the forest and rumbling up toward the large meadow that I could now see in the distance. There the bushes and taller grasses suddenly stopped and gave way to short grass and flowers. I would have recognized the area no matter how long it had been.

“That’s it!” I breathed, my heart starting to race. Surely if we could see the meadow, that was a good sign. We’d just have to turn into it and find where the airship was parked…

“Uh, guys, I think we’ve got company,” Jace suddenly said.

I turned and saw that he was pointing up into the sky… directly at a drone. A round, sleek, eerily black object that looked almost beetle-like. It was hovering right over us, and it didn’t take a genius to see that its cameras were trained right on us. Right on the semi-truck that was barreling through a grassy field, in a place where no semi-truck should have been.

“Oh no,” I said. The Authority had found us, then. And it didn’t matter whether this drone was a new addition, set to watch over a certain place, or something that had been following us since the road. More likely something that had found us on the reckless and rapid drive here. The only thing that mattered was that it had us now.

And I had no doubt that it had already transmitted information back to the Authority’s HQ.

We weren’t going to be on our own much longer.

“Henry, can this thing go any faster?” I snapped, my mind flying ahead to the airship we were hoping still existed.

Because I’d had one other quick thought about the drone. If it had been sitting here in this spot waiting for us, it meant that the Authority had found the airship. And if they had, then they would have been stupid to leave it in one piece.

We might be heading right for what we thought would be our salvation, and find nothing but a burnt-out shell of what had once been our air support.

Henry shoved the gear sticks into different positions, and we shot forward, hitting the meadow and turning right again, and then we were all staring desperately into the forest, trying to find the place where Marco and Julia might have hidden an airship. Praying that said airship was still there.

And that we could still get it into the air at all.

“There!” I shouted, shoving my arm out, pointer finger extended.

The shape of the ship was clear as day. If the Authority had actually been looking for it, they would have been able to spot it.

“I guess this means the Authority didn’t get around to figuring out that we’d hidden an airship in the area,” Jace muttered. “Thank heavens. Though, that does mean that the drone above us has been following us for some time. Let’s move it, guys. We can’t count on being alone for much longer!”

I frowned at that. He wasn’t completely right. The Authority might have been here and left the airship. If that was the case, though, I was guessing that the engine was gone, or at least not working.

It didn’t seem like their style. They always seemed to prefer burning things or blowing them up. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t a possibility.

Jace was already on his feet and ready to get out of the truck. The minute Henry rolled to a stop, I threw open the door and we all started piling out, jumping to the ground without even trying for the step. Henry had done the same, and I could hear him running back toward the end of the truck, calling for us.

“I’m going to need some help with the hose!” he shouted. “Someone big!”

Jace turned and darted toward Henry while the rest of us moved toward the airship, one eye on the ship and the other on the sky. If there was a drone, there was bound to be other air support soon. And I was betting they’d have stealth technology, which meant we wouldn’t hear them coming.

“Watch the skies, guys!” I shouted, my heart pounding. “The Authority is going to have planes or choppers on their way here, you can count on it, and we might not be able to hear them before they arrive!”