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That first day they had a lesson with Sister Mattie on the reater accuracy They were practicing ater in little perfuht befor less dispersal when hurled

Sister Mattie went into a long diatribe about how different toxins changed when gelatinous, which had the at her for a quarter of an hour

Then they heard "Clear the decks!" yelled in an excited voice, tinged with the hint of a French accent

In accordance with their training, the young ladies scattered, running to the side or rolling away or, in Sophronia’s case, leaping over the railing to hang suspended on the outside of the deck She did it with the ease of a girl overly fa back in at the deck, so she was in a perfect position to observe Vieve when she charged across it

The young girl had strapped what looked like ice skates to her feet, only these had multiple wheels on them and soe ball Vieve clutched in one hand She would tilt the ball to one side or the other to steer, so with the skates wirelessly The skates were firing at aall over the deck, weaving erratically fro into the well-padded form of Sister Mattie

Vieve tumbled backward onto her bony bottom Unprotected by skirts and petticoats, she fell hard, her skate-covered feet sticking up into the air, the wheels still going furiously

Sister Mattie also went backward,an "oof" noise

Sophronia was the first one at her side

The nun was nonplussed at having been attacked by a soodness gracious! Who? What?"

Vieve re on her back with feet in the air, apparently unable to turn off her contraptions She said cheerfully, "What ho, Sister Mattie Apologies Only testing a new invention"

Sophronia, solicitously, helped Sister Mattie to stand and brushed her off "Are you all right, Sister?"

"Thank you very much, Miss Telass of water or s salts?" Sophronia was fond of Sister Mattie

"No, thank you, dear, very thoughtful" The roly-poly teacher turned to glare at Vieve

The other girls wandered back over They surrounded the collapsed Vieve and stared down at her

"You are a positive menace," pronounced Monique

"I don’t knohy Lady Linette permits you on board," added Preshea

"Professor Lefoux is an able enough instructor, but that can hardly be worth your presence," continued Monique

"Useless creature," said Preshea

Vieve only looked up at thereen eyes ide and shocked by this attack She was accusto none of it "Enough Things go wrong with science It’s the way of it You’re hardly upset that class has been disturbed, so there’s no point in pretending you are"

Preshea sputtered at this unexpected defense

Monique was rarely at a loss for words "Oh, ho! Sophronia appears to have herself a little pet"

"Ladies!" Sister Mattie recovered her aploet control of your shoes and take yourself elsewhere You realize I will have to speak to your aunt about this incident?"

Sophronia wondered if that weren’t Vieve’s intent Was she trying to make herself as inconvenient as possible? Perhaps to convince her aunt to let her infiltrate the boys’ school? After all, there were two other squeak decks, both vacant She didn’t have to test her foot thingamabobs here

"My sputter-skates," corrected Vieve

"What?"

"Sputter-skates, not shoes"

Sophronia, delicately testing the waters, said, "They look like the kind of thing boys ht appreciate"

Vieve twinkled up at her "Exactly" She sat up, carefully balanced on her backside so the sputter-skates didn’t touch the deck Then she reached down and pulled a small lever The skates, true to their na at last

"I think," said Vieve to no one in particular, "I ought to install a safety shutoff"

"Do you indeed?" Dimity was droll

Sophronia offered Vieve a hand up

Vieve balanced precariously on her now quiet sputter-skates

"Sister Mattie, could Sophronia help er to be rid of the child and get back to lessons, waved her off "By all means Miss Temminnick, attend Miss Lefoux, if you would be so kind"

Sophronia grabbed her friend’s bony shoulders and wheeled her across the deck

When they were outside of listening distance, Vieve shoved the ball she’d been using to steer into Sophronia’s hand "Look at that"

It was leather and metal with a catch on one side Sophronia opened it to find the uidance valve--nested inside