Free Charmed Vengeance by Suzanne Lazear

motionless and silent. The brass gleamed in the dim lamplight.
    “She’s beautiful.” And cleaner than the kitchen back home. Closing her eyes, she put her hands on the still main engine, getting a feel for it. Hello there. Metal came from the earth, and sometimes working with metal came easier when she remembered that, overcoming the sprite’s insistence that thinking was hard.
    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