Chapter 13

Eye of the storm

A/N: Well, I should clarify because someone decided to bring this up: No, the line in which Jules refrained from killing Alek was not a typo. He really wanted to hurt him because Dylan was kissing him.

…

Jaspert Sharp woke in a cold sweat. For a few tense minutes, he lay in his bed trying to figure out what had just happened, why he was awake. Finally Jaspert smirked, amused at himself. For a moment he had thought he was in danger. It seemed his dreams were getting to him, if he was thinking that he was going to die any minute now.

'Just a dream, nothing to worry about. Deryn's okay, I'll see her tomorrow. The Minotaur's still in the air, the Clankers are far away. Nothing's going to happen.'

'Nothing to worry about.'

Jaspert rolled over in his bed and fell back asleep. He thought he was safe. This was the first time a Sharp would be wrong that night.

…

In her entire career as a soldier, this was the closest Deryn had ever come to completely breaking down. She had been through a lot in the past few days. She'd been hurled between realities, her body had been dropped hundreds of feet, and she'd been psychologically kidnapped. She'd been at the mercy of three different people in the course of four days and was sick of continuously getting stuck.

And now…and now…

The crew filtered through the hall, message lizards waking some of them up and the rest roused by their roommates. Deryn blended in easily with them, almost invisible in the crowd of men. She had tried to fly her whole life, after her father had died, after her mother and her aunties had tried to stuff her back into skirts. Now she was back in her element, high in the sky and serving her king. And now this! If there was a God, he hated her. Maybe because she was a godless Darwinist. Maybe because she was a girl dressed in boys slops. Who knew His will, but He and those who had gone past?

'Da knows now. And so does… and so does Da.' Deryn couldn't stomach the thought. But she was a soldier first, she had to be. So she would need to act like one.

"Come on, you lot, hurry up. We've got to tell the captain about you and Opal. He can't underestimate the Clankers with her!" Deryn tried to guide Artemis, Alek and the fairies through the crowd of men. Holly had shielded quickly and No1 looked indistinguishable from the throng of men with an appearance spell. Artemis, however, remained fully visible and drew a number of odd looks and side glances from the crew. He took it professionally and ignored them as much as he could, even though it was hard to overlook someone who was glaring at a sword you had slotted into your belt.

Deryn moved down the corridor as urgently as she could. Anyone would want to stop her and figure out who her peculiar escort was, but they made it to the captain's cabin before anyone could pull them aside. Captain Hobbes was pulling on his socks when they knocked.

"Ah! Dylan, Your Highness, come in." Hobbes looked over at Artemis. "Who's our guest? Not someone who's going to stir up any more trouble?" Hobbes was trying to sound dismissive, and mostly pulled it off. First Mate Fowler and Mister Hirst were in the room as well. 'At least they're all here,' Deryn thought. 'Got to make this convincing'.

"Captain Hobbes, when I said that I didn't remember the time I was missing, I was lying. I recalled it perfectly, but was forbidden to tell anyone. While I was up in the Huxley, I was sucked into a parallel universe populated by fairies in hiding. They found me, healed me and offered to take me back at the price of my memories. I encountered something that took over my consciousness and created a body for himself, kidnapping me and casting out my body. Artemis Fowl here" - Deryn gestured to the pale youth, who bowed - "found me the first time and then my body. I owe him my life. He and some of his associates have come aboard the Leviathan and are trying to assist us. They're called - "

"Jules and Verne." Hobbes finished the sentence. "They talked me into granting them asylum. I'm glad that I seem to have made the right decision. But what do the Clankers have to do with these fairies?"

"Almost nothing," Deryn continued, heartened considerably by his reaction. He seemed to believe her story. "However a particularly dangerous fairy, a pixie called Opal Koboi, has formed some sort of alliance with the Germans. They are tapping into her magical power and using it to power the Tesla cannon on the Herkules. If they return with reinforcements, then the Leviathan will not survive. And neither will anyone aboard her," Deryn finished with quietly. Hobbes, Hirst and Fowler all looked her over before the captain nodded, understanding. Fowler didn't.

"You've gone daft, Sharp." Fowler looked like he would sooner surrender to the Clankers than believe something as impossible as the existence of fairies. Deryn didn't blame him for that, but she was still angry. Artemis intervened on her behalf.

"Everything that Dylan has said is the absolute truth. I do come from a universe populated by fairies and humans." Deryn caught Artemis's change in accent. While with the fairies he had spoken with a clean Irish accent, now he spoke with a harsh Scottish one. He sounded a lot like herself and her family. "We can prove it to you if you wish." Artemis glanced at the soldier that had been following them. Deryn had assumed that he was No1 in disguise and was ready to be proven right. Fowler scoffed quietly.

"There isn't anything that you could do to prove your story. You're probably Clankers, come here to try and kill us." Fowler drew his air pistol. "I told you, Calvin, she was turned by the Clankers. She's a spy."

That drove Deryn over the edge. She pointed at No1, and said simply: "Show them."

No1 undid the magic, allowing the charm to vanish and reveal him for the whole room to see. Silence reigned for a moment. Hirst's eyes threatened to jump from their sockets. Fowler's air pistol was shaking ominously. Hobbes had gone very white. Alek simply stared, mouth agape. No1 gave a little wave to the assembled. Finally Hobbes spoke up, shakily, but coherent either way.

"So are you a, er, pixie?" Hobbes gulped, not taking his eye off No1.

No1 snorted. "No, sir, I am not a pixie. I am, in fact, a demon."

This did not have the intended effect.

Fowler gasped loudly and pulled the trigger. The ball bearing hit No1 smack in the forehead. Fowler then gave a little squeal and collapsed, knocked out by Holly's Neutrino, with Holly herself staying invisible. Hobbes scrambled over his bed, pulling out shelves from the nightstand next to it. Alek gave a little whimper and fainted. Hirst gasped and made to pull his air gun out, but froze when he saw that No1 was rubbing his head. The ball bearing that Fowler had shot him with just bounced off the armored plates. "That was really rude, you know. I could have been – Hello."

Hobbes had returned from his crusade into his clothes with a Bible. Shoving it out from his chest he proclaimed: "You shalt not take me tonight demon." He began reciting the story of Gideon under his breath. No1 just facepalmed.

"And who says Darwinists are godless," Deryn murmured. She put her hand on No1's shoulder, and spoke louder. "No1 here isn't a demon, well, not a steal-your-soul sort of demon. He's a fairy demon warlock. He's harmless." No1 smiled serenely. Hobbes pointed at his first mate.

"And you call that harmless? He's killed him." Hobbes went back to reciting Holy Scripture, but Hirst looked thoughtful. Before he could say anything though, Alek moaned and came to.

"Mien Gott! Dylan I just had the strangest dream, I…" Alek drifted off when he saw No1 again. For a moment Deryn hoped he would just try and let her explain. But Alek gave a shriek worthy of any highborn woman, and half-lunged, half-crawled for the door. He hit something midway there and collapsed on his stomach. Holly phased back into the visible spectrum, her booted foot on Alek's head, eliciting gasps from the three people that were not used to magic and still conscious.

"This is Holly; she's an elf." Deryn smiled at the female elf, who smirked back at her. Hobbes looked from Holly to No1 and back and finally threw down the Bible in exasperation. "She's a field soldier and she's the one who knocked out the first mate. She's not as harmless." Hirst nodded to himself then turned to Hobbes.

After several moments of quiet deliberation, Hobbes turned back to the midshipman, the genius, the archduke, the demon, and the elf. It only registered to Deryn then how weird the group probably looked from the outside. It really was something that would have never been seen anywhere on her world and probably on Artemis's too. Hobbes cleared his throat and after only a few false starts began speaking.

"If this pixie, Opal Koboi, is in allegiance with the Germans, then we have to defend our position until assistance can arrive. We must also search for any survivors of the Minotaur's wreck. You, No1, you mentioned that you were a warlock. What can you do?"

No1 shrugged modestly. "I'm a healer. I'll help anyone who is hurt."

Hobbes nodded, then said "You'll be needed down in the medical bay. And if you'll be as kind as to, um, not look like that?" No1 smiled and the officer he had been impersonating reformed around him.

Hobbes turned to Holly. "You're a soldier, right? We'll need your expertise." Holly didn't wait for a reply; she merely turned and jumped out of the window, her wings sliding out and carrying her aloft. Hobbes finally turned to Artemis.

"I'll assume that tactical retreats aren't your intention, in which case I'll be quite useless to you." Artemis gestured out of the room. "It would be best for me to leave." Hobbes held up a hand, stopping Artemis.

"You'll still stay on our ship, if you would be so kind. You're our insurance that your friends don't leave us." Hobbes grimaced. "I don't like the idea of holding someone against their will, especially a child, but this is for the good of my crew." Hobbes waived his hands hopelessly. "I hope you'll understand."

Artemis nodded, impassive, then grimaced himself. "I'd have done the same thing, captain." Turning to Alek, Artemis asked, "The Captain called you 'Your Highness'. May I ask who you are?" Deryn sighed. She had consciously avoided talking about Alek when she had arrived, and only now had it come to her attention that she had let him come with her and Artemis.

"Yes, he said 'Your Highness.' Can we discuss this at a later date, please?" Deryn shoved both boys out into the hallway, pushing them in the direction of the medical bay and the starboard engine. Hopeful that Artemis wouldn't know what to do, Deryn began to guide him, but was brought up short when Captain Hobbes called her.

"Mister Sharp, we will need you on the ground to search for survivors of the Minotaur." The captain's words rang like the toll of an iron bell. Deryn opened her mouth to protest, but Hobbes just raised his hand. "We need all the men we can get, and that includes you. Any and all soldiers we have need to be down there." And he dropped the subject.

For a moment, Deryn stared after him, seized by the urge to scream at him, to say she wasn't a soldier, that she wasn't a man, that she shouldn't be helping look, that she shouldn't even be here on the Leviathan. But all she could manage was a silently choked back sob and a half-hearted salute. Anything less could not be accepted from Dylan Sharp, a boy alive and well.

…

Deryn stood on the lip of the cargo bay of the Leviathan, ropes dangling down to the surface, connecting her home in the sky to the land below. 'First Istanbul, now here. I'll have a fine long list of places I've wanted to barking kill myself in before the war's over.' Deryn sighed and gripped one of the ropes. A Huxley was working its way up, carrying Newkirk and a message lizard. She been told she would ride it down and start searching for anyone who survived. But Deryn had other plans. She really hadn't figured them out yet, but… 'First Da, now Jaspert. Why is this happening to me?' At least they hadn't found her father's body. She wouldn't have known what would have happened to her if she had been faced with his corpse. Even so, she hadn't spoken for a month.

Now she would go done and try to find her brothers body. Everyone thought they were only cousins, didn't even suspect that they were siblings. If they ever found out and tried to dig into who she was, they would ship her off to home faster than she could say 'blisters'. Women in the military were either found out and shipped back home or walked off the battlefield as men. They hid their secrets in combat or hid their faces at home. And Deryn Sharp was not going to be walking off this battlefield a girl. 'Hopefully not in a pine box either, like Jassss… no. Not in a pine box.'

Newkirk reached the cargo bay and tied off the Huxley. Deryn nodded once and stepped into his place. But before she could cast off, his voice caught her. "Dylan, are you sure you want go down there? It's a slice of hell." That, right there, almost convinced her to turn around and go to the captain.

Almost.

"No, Saulb, I'm sure. I've been ordered down there by the captain. I have to follow orders. We all have to, especially with the wounded men down there." Her voice came out hollow, like it was from someone who was sick and dying. Newkirk placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I know that your brother was on the Minotaur. We've already found men alive. Hurt but alive. If your brother was down there, he'll be found. I know it. Don't ask me how, but I'm sure that he'll be found." Saulb removed his hand, and Deryn turned to him. Newkirk didn't look a thing like her. Scrawny and barely three inches taller than her (with at least one of those inches from his knobby knees), messy black hair and bright green eyes that looked like leaves, he was a world away from her pale skin, blond hair and sapphire blue eyes. But, maybe it was a side effect of war, he felt like her brother in every way. He hadn't been through the fights she had, hadn't been at her side the same way Alek had, but he was her brother in arms.

Saulb threw her a salute, then spun on a heel and started towards the cabins. Deryn watched him go. Then, even though no one could possibly see her, Saulb included, she threw the salute back. She set back to work on a knot Newkirk had tied, and a moment later she was descending to the earth, feeling just a little lighter.

…

Deryn touched the scorched soil for the first time in ages. She hadn't been in her own world when she had been found, so this counted as the first time since Istanbul she had been on the ground. Men ran every which way, some moving wounded on stretchers, some struggling with hydrogen sniffers, more setting out in teams to look for missing. Deryn spotted one such group leaving with four men and two sniffers, hot on the trail of men, healthy or wounded. Deryn caught the leader's ear and convinced him to take her. He nodded and took her out into the night.

Newkirk had been right; it was a slice of hell down in the forest. Brush fires burned in random areas, waiting to be doused by ballast. The escaping hydrogen ignited at random intervals, their loud bangs disorienting the sniffers. Strafing hawks and flechette bats wheeled in mad circles, more than one releasing a dart or two on the search party. Deryn watched one fall in front of her, looking like an iron snowflake. The crash loomed larger in the distance every time she looked; a funeral pyre to so many men.

"Alright boys and girls, we've got ourselves a lot of work tonight. If you find anyone-" The search team leader got no farther than that, when a louder than usual bang echoed across the night. The sniffers shrieked and bolted, taking advantage of their handlers' momentary distraction. He and Deryn dashed after the dogs. Deryn stuck her fingers in her mouth and blew, trying to calm the dogs. One paused and the handler grabbed its leash. The other shot into the forest, with Deryn running and whistling after it.

At length the hydrogen sniffer slowed and stopped, its six legs no longer churning the ground in front of it. Deryn finally caught it, snatching up the leash in triumph. But now she was alone in the Russian wilderness.

Deryn turned and turned again, reorienting herself off the crashed whale. The Leviathan's searchlight pierced the dark, providing a rough locale to aim for. Deryn watched it swipe across the woodland, coming over her once, before turning to the crash and setting out for it, deciding that she might as well do the thing properly.

The hydrogen sniffer led her towards what looked like the lattice work of timbers and leather that hand been the guiding frame of the Minotaur. Deryn had almost reached the rear engine house when a crash of twigs sounded behind her. Deryn spun round, trying to see if it was someone wounded, a crewman from the Leviathan, or a wild animal. It wasn't any of those. The red clad man with a pirate's hat was Jules.

The man starred at Deryn for a moment, his mouth slightly open. Deryn gave him a low nod and pointed to the wreck. He glanced around and said, "I'm looking for someone, and you're not him, Deryn. You'll welcome to join me though." Jules waited for Deryn's reply. When it came, it was a strangled gasp.

"You know me." Deryn starred at Jules, who shrugged. "But you've never met me, how could you know my barking name?" As answer, Jules gave a sheepish smile.

"I heard you name in the tunnel. People can hear each other's thought in them, to an extent. You were repeating you name over and over in it. And thought you were dead." Jules gave another weak grin at Deryn's only slightly horrified look. What else had he heard?

Jules turned back to the wreck, not advancing anymore, but staring at the fires. A loud, wet bang, hydrogen igniting in the membrane rather than open air, spooked the sniffer. Deryn settled down next to it, whistling high and then low to calm it. When she stood back up, Jules was beaming at her. "What?"

"Gift of tongues." Jules answered. "It seems you acquired the trait in the tunnel. Not something I expected, but definitely something that you'd want with the line of work you're in, Deryn." Jules's grin widened fractionally.

Deryn shrugged modestly. "I've always had the trick. I've had a way with animals ever since my Da-" Deryn cut herself off, shocked that Jules had got her babbling. She hadn't mentioned her father to anyone, save for Alek. Frantic for something to move the conversation away from her father, Deryn asked, "What about you? What do you do?"

Jules's smile faded. He looked back at the wreck, quiet. At length, he began. "I was a father. I had two beautiful children, and a loving wife. My job was simple and easy and I enjoyed it. I lived in a dream, a happy one, free of fear and worry. Then there was… an accident. I lost everything I loved in one fell stroke." Jules lived his arms, the sleeves falling down. Beneath the cloth were withered and blackened arms, scarred and torn. Deryn gasped, and Jules lowered his arms. For a moment neither spoke. Then-

"It was a kerosene explosion. They were torn from me, ripped away in the most heinous fashion." Jules looked at Deryn, distant. "I went mad with grief. I still think that the world around me is a dream, but now a nightmare. Even now…" Jules reached out and rubbed Deryn's cheek, his hands brushing the shallow scar that a bullet had gouged in it from the tunnel. Deryn didn't move to brush his hand away. She trusted him, because she had felt the same when Da had died. She had been so lost without her father, so sad.

They suddenly heard twigs snapping from the direction of the wreck. Two men staggered out of the gloom and shadows, carrying a man between them by his legs and arms. Both stopped dead at the sight of Deryn and Jules. Jules snatched his hand away from Deryn's face, turning to the men. "What do you need?"

"Um, a stretcher, if you have one. We need to get this one to the Leviathan." The lead man looked like he had expected something other than two near teens in the forest, though the second seemed less surprised and more wary. Jules wandered over and looked at the body between them. Deryn heard his gasp and went over to him. The men laid the body on the ground, and Deryn saw it was Jaspert.

The eighteen-year-old was pale and bleeding out of his shoulder and under his eye from cuts. Bruises and scrapes riddled what flesh of his body was visible. His normally pale complexion was bone white, a perfect match to the shirt and shorts he wore. But with a slow rasp, Jaspert inhaled. He was far from healthy, but Jaspert Sharp lived.

Deryn made to grab at her brother, but Jules beat her to it. With a flick of his wrists and fingers, a green cup appeared under Jaspert, lifting him up. Jules set out wordlessly, the scoop and Jaspert with it, along with the men, following him to the Leviathan's recovery point. After a moment, Deryn followed. Her brother was alive and alright. He would be fine.

This was the third time that a Sharp had been wrong that night.

…

Jaspert Sharp heaved himself to his feet. The wreckage of what had been his cabin was spread out around him. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he was only in his drawls and a button up shirt, when he remembered what he was doing here.

'There'd been a commotion outside my room. The men were saying that a Clanker land dreadnought had fallen out of the sky. I went back in to get dressed when I …got …shocked. Barking spiders, we were hit by a Tesla cannon.'

Jaspert tried to get his bearings. The cabin was smashed beyond repair, broken to pieces that were broken themselves. It was a miracle that Jaspert was alive and unhurt.

A sharp twinge ran down his arm. Jaspert winced. 'Guess I can scratch out the unhurt bit'. Jaspert looked down the wreckage. The hall was shattered like his room, but someone was standing in it. A man, with pale skin and jet black hair, stood on a patch of debris. Fire wreathed itself around him, but it didn't touch him. Jaspert gaped at it being one thought one his mind. 'No.'

The figure turned and vanished through the flames. Jaspert moved after it. The figure broke into a run, jumping through the flames like they weren't there. Jaspert ran as quickly as his arm would allow, all the while wondering if he was dead. The being sprinted and jumped through the fire. Jaspert followed through a last clump of flaming debris, and found himself in a clearing. The tail of the Minotaur swept past him. The figure had its back turned to him, but even here the fire did not leave it. Jaspert stepped forward and said one word.

"Da."

The figure turned with deliberate slowness. Black hair turned blond. Blue eyes burned hazel. Jaspert looked into the face of his sister and screamed. The being charged, and vanished. Jaspert passed out.

And that was the second time a Sharp had been wrong that night.

A/N: A whole Deryn chapter, like chapter seven. You like? And I have a Beta. Finally.

B/N: Yeeee~s you do.

Hi, I'm stopthattime_rave. I'm the one who's editing this thing, starting right now. If you see any mistakes I made/forgot, for the love of God, TELL ME. Don't worry about hurting my feelings; I really don't care. I'm practically made of iron. ^_~ (Also, my greatest apologies for getting this done so late. Waa.)