Gabriella was forced to agree. It did, indeed, sound like fun.
Magpie raised her hand. “Permission to speak freely, sir.”
The captain sighed. “As though I could stop you.”
“Who are we working for?” Magpie asked.
“Is it so important?” the captain asked, her voice taking on a clipped edge.
Unlike Gabriella, Magpie neither fidgeted nor squirmed under the captain’s scrutiny. Someday, Gabriella knew she would stand just as firm in the face of authority. She just knew it.
“Yes,” Magpie said. “I think it does matter. Especially since we really don’t know what we are after. Maybe if we knew who we were employed by, we’d have a fairer time of finding whatever it is we are looking for.”
With a sigh, the captain turned away from the crew. She strode to the far side of the deck and stooped over the railing, grasping it with both hands, staring overboard at the water below. Gabriella knew it wasn’t out of form for the captain to keep the name of an employer to herself. Especially if the work in question was questionable. Ransacking an island for a mysterious artifact sounded dubious to the debutante in Gabriella.
After several moments of breathless anticipation, the captain returned. In a flat voice she said, “Madame Ruby.”
The crew gave a collective gasp. Everyone, that was, except Gabriella.
She had no idea what all the gasping was about.
* * * *
The women stood on the deck, staring open mouthed at Rose. It didn’t take long for the wide-eyed gaping to turn into frustrated grimaces. While the crew hated the idea of working for Ruby, Rose despised it. She had lost more than a few good nights’ sleep over the whole affair. When it came down to it, there was no other choice. With employment at a premium, any job was a good job. She only hoped the girls could see the logic of it.
Magpie covered her face with both hands. She groaned. “I thought that last carrier pigeon was from The Red House.”
“I’m not working for that woman,” Jayne said.
“Madame Ruby asked for us by name,” Rose responded.
“That hussy?” Dot asked.
“Yes, that hussy,” Rose said. “She made us a very generous offer for very little work, so I took it.”
“I wouldn’t take her money if my life depended on it,” Jayne snapped.
“It may very well be,” Rose answered.
“She’s right,” Magpie agreed. “We haven’t had a real job in almost six months, the food stores are pitiful, our sundries are nearly all used up, and I’m guessing the fuel has seen better days.”
“We might get another few days out of the coal we have,” Jayne admitted. “If we don’t stop and get some more soon, the boilers will run cold. We’ll be back on the sails.”
It had been a while since the ship had to run on sails, but everyone aboard knew it was a less than desirable state to be in. While the giant airbag kept the ship in the sky, it was the massive props on either side of the vessel that gave her movement and control. A complex array of complicated boilers in her belly provided the necessary steam to push the propellers about, but if needed, the ship could cast sails from runners that lined her sides, harnessing the wind. Yet Rose would do whatever it took to keep from resorting to the sails. Such an act was not only hard work, it was also unrewarding in terms of lift and power.
“The sails won’t get us a quarter of the speed we need to keep up with the competition,” Magpie said. “We’re near dead in the water without more fuel.”
“And there is no stopping for fuel,” Rose said. “Because there’s no money for it Soon, there won’t be any funds left. The fact of the matter is simple. If we don’t complete this job...” She paused to look down, as if unable to face her crew when she said, “I’ll have to let all of you go.”
A chorus of “no” rose from every throat.
“Captain,” Magpie said, “I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we don’t just consider this ship a place of work. We consider it our home.”
Nods all around agreed.
Warmed by their dedication, Rose’s lips twitched ever so slightly. Loyalty, however, didn’t pay the bills. “I appreciate the sentiment, but the fact of the matter remains. We are a working crew, and we need to accept employment if we wish to remain in the sky.”
“Then let’s do it,” little Guppy said.
Rose narrowed her eyes at the young girl. This kind of outburst from the demure child was unusual. It pleased Rose to hear the girl speak her mind.
“I don’t see what all this distress is about,” Gabriella continued. “We needed a job. We we’re offered a job. So let’s just do it.”
“Honey,” Dot said, “it isn’t just the work that’s the problem. It’s the association with The Red House that we don’t want.”
Jayne snorted. “Yeah, it’s bad enough that everyone thinks we’re in the same line of work.” She set to pacing across the deck in a nervous measure. “If we actually do a job for her, the gossip will never cease.”
“What line of work?” Gabriella asked.
Everyone fell silent, staring at one another rather than answering the question.
Magpie leaned close to Gabriella to say in a voice so low Rose almost didn’t hear her, “The Red House is a bordello.”
Gabriella covered her mouth as she gasped in surprise.
“Yes,” Jayne said. “You can see why we’re so reticent.”
Gabriella’s cheeks glowed cherry red, yet the glint in her eyes told Rose it was the scarlet hue of anger, not embarrassment.
“No, I don’t see,” Gabriella said. “I don’t see at all.”
“Guppy?” Rose asked. “Are you well?”
Gabriella clenched her fists, puffing out her chest as she stepped forward to address the rest of the crew. “I don’t understand you lot. All you ever do is talk of freedom and equality and how we should have the right to choose our own paths.”
Rose smirked, amused by the turn of events. Gabriella’s outburst was odd enough, but a speech of this nature was unheard of. What had gotten into the young thing? Rose cocked her head at the child before she asked, “I’ll take it our idea of freedom disturbs you?”
“No,” Gabriella snapped. “But who are you to pass judgment on what another woman does for her pleasure?”
The argument came to a grinding halt when every mouth fell open. The sudden silence was sliced by the hum of the props, punctuated by the occasional slap of a wave cresting against the ship’s hull. The women shifted their stances, doing their best to avoid each other while Rose tried to tame her own smirk. She lost. Her grin spread wide.
“I don’t understand,” Gabriella said, “how this Madame’s money is different from anyone else’s? Just because of how she earned it?”
Jax cleared her throat. “The little fishy has a point. Ruby’s money is just as good as anyone else’s. Better than any man’s for sure.”
Magpie chuckled. “Unless she offered trade?”
“No,” Rose said. “The offer was cash on delivery. I don’t like to talk so openly about finances, but there are quadruple digits involved here, ladies.”
Eyebrows raised. Lips curled.
Anyone will buckle for a great bottom line.