Ignacy waved me away from the controls so he could turn, and Derfel plucked his helmet off my head and put it back on his own. I saw him talking. But over the roar of the Blenheim’s twin engines I couldn’t hear a thing he and Ignacy said.

They seemed tense and focused now.

I crawled to the observer’s seat to stay out of their way. Then through the panel in the clear nose of the plane, I saw why they were paying attention. We’d reached the navy ships we were looking for. From the air they seemed tiny, fragile things, black water bugs in an absolutely endless world of gray.

For a moment I thought, It could be Daddy!

Then I remembered it couldn’t.

Not on a navy ship.

Nor on a merchant navy ship anymore, either.

Oh, Daddy. How did I get here? I wondered again. How did I get here?

My pilot and navigator now seemed to forget I was there at all. That frightened me a little. I wondered if this was how they felt all the time they were flying: a little bit scared.

We followed Jamie’s plane into the gray sky of fitful sun, and the other Pimms Section plane followed us. Somewhere ahead of us, I knew, Madeira Section was also on patrol. Safety in numbers.

We were faster than the ships below us, so we swooped around and back, sweeping the skies for enemy planes, who might have guns even if there was an agreement not to use them today.

Who made that agreement? How did they let each other know? A radio message? In code? In German? In English?

It was impossible not to feel uneasy.

Ellen:

“Aw, fer cryin’ out loud,” said Chip in the back. “The Luftwaffe is out here on Christmas Day after all. I can hear ’em jabbering away in Kraut. Tune in and listen, Cap’n, they’re not on the same frequency as us—”

Jamie twirled the dials, and then I heard it too, crackling in and out: men’s voices barking orders in a tongue I could not understand.

I had a queer sense of the sky full of invisible young lads ready for a fight.

Jamie and Silver felt it too. They were pulling worried faces at each other. It made my mouth go dry.

I swallowed and licked my lips. “What’s up, Jamie Stuart?” I challenged him.

“Ah, well, lassie,” Jamie said in a low voice, “I might not have brought you along if I’d known there was going to be a surprise party. I suppose that’s the nature of a surprise party, actually.”

Louisa:

Ignacy and Derfel burst out laughing.

Derfel handed me his flight helmet. We’d picked up the Luftwaffe radio signal too. They were probably patrolling their own shipping, like us. I couldn’t hear much—mostly crackling static.