To the Upper Air Chapter 11!

flintsredhair:

So, I requested feedback/encouragement/kudos and holy crap did you lot deliver! In honor of the fact that I’ve gotten so many lovely, lovely comments and gotten so much writing done as a result – here’s the next chapter!

As usual, the chapter’s also up on Ao3 here:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8200756/chapters/19701670

Chapter 11: Decisions and Detente

He had come home in a daze. The world was spinning, and Thomas’ head spun with it, his mind entirely editing out the drive as he attempted not to be ill with the fear and anger and guilt that numbed his lips and sent his stomach churning. He did not remember how he had gotten into the carriage, nor how he had gotten into the house, although he had a vague memory of Hobbs’ hands helping him in and of begging the man to check the surrounding alleyways for signs of James. He had returned and shaken his head, a look of defeat on his face.

“I’m sorry, my lord. There’s no sign of the Captain beyond -” He gestured to the hat in Thomas’ hands, and Thomas felt as though something in his stomach unclenched. He was not dead, then. He had gotten away, or been taken alive – he had to have, because Miranda was missing, and it was all coming apart, just as it had done last time, only this time it wasn’t James that had been left to pick up the pieces. This time it was Thomas, and he was not equipped for this – not ready to face a world in which both of the people he loved were gone, taken from him by forces outside of his control, and it occurred to him suddenly and horribly that James had not been either. The terror coursing through him now – was this what James and Miranda had felt the night he had been stolen from them? Was this – Dear God on High, was this what they had gone through?

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