Airship City

Chapter 15

IONE

After a while she got tired of moping around in her room. She decided there was no point in worrying about her father, or Joseph. There was nothing she could do about either of them, so the best course of action was to continue with her life, and try to distract herself from unpleasant thoughts.

She was walking across the Core, heading for the promenade and a bit of shopping, when she saw him.

“Joseph!” Astonishment coloured her voice.

He turned away from the boy he was walking with, and embarrassment flooded his features as he recognised her.

“Oh, hullo, Ione.” His face was quite red, and he looked nervously at the floor.

“What are you doing, Joseph? Don’t you know that Daddy has everyone scouring Aeropolis, looking for you? He’s convinced you’ve been kidnapped by the ZA! Where have you been?”

His companion, an apprentice-looking type, stepped forward. “Excuse me, Miss Hughes, but Joseph has been quite safe with us.”

She stared at him. “Quite safe? If that’s true, how did he get those grazes on his hands?”

The boy flushed, and looked as if he was about to protest, but Joseph spoke up first.

“It was my fault. I tripped.” He exchanged a glance with the other boy.

Ione frowned at them. “I don’t believe either of you. I think I should get Mr Thornton. He’ll soon find out what really happened.”

Joseph looked alarmed. “No, Ione, listen to me, Harry had absolutely nothing to do with my injuries. If anything, he—“

“I helped to treat them,” Harry cut in quickly. There was another quick glance between the two of them.

Ione sighed. “Oh, who cares? Keep your stupid secrets then. I don’t even know why I was worried about you.” She turned on her heel and stalked off.

After going about twenty steps, she had cooled off a bit. She heard Joseph call out to her, but she didn’t turn around. She heard running footsteps, and then he was beside her.

“Ione, I wanted to apologise.” He looked embarrassed and vulnerable, and she felt her heart melt a little. But she kept up her stern expression.

“What for?”

“For making you worry about me. And also for upsetting you at lunch. I was rude and thoughtless.”

Oh, he’s sweet. But I’m not going to make it that easy. “So you don’t think my father is crazy?”

Joseph flushed. “No. Of course not.”

“It was a shame about that. The lunch, I mean. Maybe you can make it up to me.”

A wary look appeared on his face. “How would I do that?”

“Well, we must have lunch again sometime.”

He frowned. “I’m not sure when I’ll be back on Aeropolis, though.”

“That’s OK. I’ll be in London on Saturday. In Kensington Gardens. You can meet me there for a picnic.”

“All right.” Joseph still looked a bit worried. “What time?”

“How about noon?”

“Very well. Noon in Kensington Gardens. Near the Peter Pan statue. I look forward to it.”

“Me too.” She stood smiling at him, secretly enjoying the way he seemed to grow more uncomfortable with every passing second. At last she took pity on him. “How are you getting home?”

He looked comically relieved as he replied. “Oh, I ran into Mr Churchill earlier. He’s managed to hire us another airship. Hopefully no-one will try to crash into it on the way home!” He laughed nervously.

She chuckled. “I’m sure that accidents don’t happen that often.”

“Accidents are one thing. It’s the deliberate crashes that worry me!” 

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, blushing again. “Bad joke. I shouldn’t joke about such things. Sorry.”

She shook her head. “No, I meant, why do you think the crash today wasn’t an accident?”

He looked at her, astonished. “Everyone thinks that! Besides, I saw the other pilot. It was deliberate, no doubt about it.” Then he suddenly put his hand over his mouth. “Oh, Ione, I’m so sorry! Your father must not have wanted to worry you—“

“It’s OK.” She forced a smile. “You’d better get going. I’ll see you on Saturday.”

“See you then.” He walked off hesitantly, but she turned firmly on her heel and strode off, thoughts whirling in her head. If my father believes the crash was a deliberate attempt to harm him, no wonder he’s suddenly worried about the ZA again. And the worst thought of all: what if he’s right, and they are trying to kill him?