Page 14 (2/2)

"And ere you out on Vil’s arust

With a snort, I robe, sorry for its shabby shape and e it was to be self-conscious for the first tiation not have waited for breakfast? Or at least after I ake and dressed? Do you think me so silly and easily spooked that I would spill ht enerally yield results?" She stopped in front of E down at the short strawberry-pink curls with hercontest ensued, I When Een knew that she had won

"Folk like to talk," Ehtness "A word here, a word there You can’t bla curious"

"And you’re so very en crossed her arms "Do not think me the heroine of one of your penny dreadfuls, Abi I’ I’o to Mr Murdoch’s wagon to manufacture the necessary equipment for en’s sleeve, as if she could pull information out by brute force, if necessary

"You’ll have to wait until the equipen smiled sweetly "Where’s the fun if I tell all ed her beard, pulling down her thick lower lip "What’s he like, under all that leather? No one’s ever seen hiles" She took a deep breath and exhaled a sigh, ending on a hopeful note "Is he handsoen said staunchly "I have never seen Vil unmasked myself"

"But does he hiccup soawful! And--"

Eood, Abi She’s a steel trap, this one"

"Anything else?" I, leisurely look around the roo the ceiling "We didn’tworth, I’en said under her breath

Emerlie flounced out the door, but Abilene stopped

"Oh, and Master Scabrous said to tell you to stop by for costume measurements," she said "I really did irl out the door by her beard, and I it open to check that the brooch was still pinned in place to her jacket Eirl wasn’t prepared for this level of danger

Ele a doorknob and toss a rooossip

But for that brooch, Beauregard would kill

After breakfast, Vilforever distinguishing hi with so,the door with his body

"I was given to understand orked in tande Vil into another fit of hiccups

"Not today, I’loved hands from the doorja littleher

"Fine," she said, louder than necessary "Let hio, she headed for the costu trailer of Master Scabrous, which was painted the shiny canary yellow of a wet lemon drop She knocked on his door and was ads, and ticklish h his dark skin and light hair were rather exotic, he was entlerin and his easy banter, she realized that her feelings about Blud She felt safer within the confines of his trailer than she had felt in her own father’s house His snapping blue eyes laughed as reat confidence regarding a costume that would complement her butterflies and their act, not to ure

At lunch, she bypassed Emerlie and her cronies to sit with the contortionists, De as they looked By the tirown accustomed to their dimpled smiles and red-painted lips The teacups of blood raised across the table from bowls of bludbunny steere simply a part of carnival life She was fascinated to learn that Deer from much farther afield, saved from the brink of death and bludded by Cri had found her on the er Ier the poor child with a scientist’s curiosity about a world she had only ieting Her wagon felt confining and dark, despite the lanterns With nothing else to do, she explored the bathing car, played with makeup for the first ti another of the racy novels Cri a sle time toward Henry’s trailer

When Abi left to play her part in the carnival, Io from the doorstep The bus-tanks ru masses of skittish city dwellers, and the countryside seeic of the caravan to twinkle in the air She longed to dance again, to see the wagons and performers she had love Instead, she closed the door and curled up in her bed, feeling as cold and alone as she had in London The only difference was that now she knehat she was le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>