I Will Breathe (Forbidden Book 1) by Regina Puckett

Chapter One
    Liberty tapped the glass on the pressure gauge, and when the needle didn’t budge, a sense of dread pooled in the pit of her stomach. “Bloody hell.”
    Thinking it needed gentler persuasion, she switched tactics and added a few sweet words of encouragement. “You can’t give up on me now, baby. We’re almost there.” If she didn’t do something soon, the entire ship was going to blow itself to Kingdom Come.
    Pressure needed to be released, but what if she let out too much? The airship’s balloons had to be filled to capacity to clear the last and highest peak. According to the numbers on the altimeter, Airus was barely going to have enough lift to make it over the crest.
    Liberty eyed the ever-nearing jagged mountaintop. She was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.
    “Captain, what do you think?” She wished for the millionth time since her father’s death that there was someone else to help with these types of difficult decisions. In the end, she did what she always did, put one hand behind her back and crossed her fingers. She briefly closed her eyes, took a much needed breath and pulled the release valve chain. Immediately, a mass of condensation from the steamer’s drum blew out from a pipe at the rear of the airship and a loud whoosh ripped through the air overhead.
    Liberty leaned over and tapped the pressure gauge again. Thankfully, this time the needle bounced down a couple of notches, out of the red. With no time to celebrate, she refocused all her attention on surviving the next immediate problem – the trip over the peak. All she needed was thirty more minutes of airlift. A good source of water waited on the other side. Once the tanks were refilled, she would head to Shatter’s place to trade the bits and pieces she had found in the Forsaken Lands, for the spare parts she needed to replace the seals on the pressure tank.
    Liberty ran to the side of the gondola and peered over the edge. The nearness of the mountaintop took her breath away, but she forced her fear to the back of her mind. There’d be time to contemplate fear later – she hoped. She ran back to the helm and grasped the wheel, waiting for either the crash or to sail clear over without a problem. She eyed the altitude and pressure gauges, and kept her mind on how nice a warm bath would soon feel.
    Seconds stretched out into eternity, all her senses set on high alert. Cold air and a damp mist cut through the thin fabric of her short-sleeved blouse and long skirt. Every so often she wiped a buildup of moisture from her goggles. Without her dad’s old hat, her long curls would have been a tangled mess by now, blown about in the heavy wind. Goosebumps covered her arms and had her wishing she hadn’t left her jacket in the cabin. What she needed more than warmth now, though, was to be prepared for the worse. She relaxed her fingers on the wheel, just enough to cross them for good luck.
    She listened closely for any sounds of Airus striking against the sharp, jagged rocks. Fortunately, she only heard the usual comforting sounds of the friction wheels turning, water boiling, wind whistling by.
    The airship approached the highest point of the peak and all looked good. Liberty relaxed her shoulders and allowed herself a faint smile. Maybe, just maybe everything would be okay after all.
    Close to halfway over, Liberty allowed that smile to take over her entire face. “Looks like we’ve avoided another catastrophe, my friend.” She patted the shiny brass of Airus’s helm. “Just a few more minutes, old girl, and we’ll be at the lake. You deserve a nice long drink after all we’ve been through these last few months.”
    As fate would have it, her happy pronouncement marked the start of a loud, scraping noise. When the airship titled portside, Liberty raced over to check on the damage. An avalanche of rocks slid down the mountainside. She watched in grim fascination as it increased in speed and destruction raced down