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The hed and switched topics "If you don’t think it interfering, ht?"

"Ah, lady You know some of our ways Let me show you" He made his way over to the middle and threw several blankets off what looked to be a container of gas, of the kind used for la back home in London "For special, we have this"

Alexia was instantly intrigued "Will you show an unhitching and hooking in various tubes and cords He hoisted the canister so its mouth pointed into the , Alexia took a s

The balloon was utterly unlike the British-ibles Alexia had utilized in the past She had traveled in both ser er transports--the company-owned , the balloon part itself hadn’t the shape of a dirigible and was entirelyflaps rather than by a propeller of any kind For another, the basket was bigger than a personal jaunt dirigible but er cross-country beheth of a rowboat but basically square In the center was thefor the balloon and all the associated straps and contraptions required to see it float and directed properly As the basket slowly spun with the balloon, there seemed to be no particular front or back There was an area clearly used for sleeping, another for cooking, and one tented corner that Alexia could only assu one’s private business She supposed that the fa sacks over the edge and from the base of the balloon--which she had assuoods and supplies

Prudence obbling past, the Drifter girl on her tail, both of therand old time Alexia made her way to Conall, to defend hi they needed was an airsick olf pup dashing about the craft Better to have a large airsick ht froan a stately rise upward, fuel froh toward the aethersphere There was no lurching sensation; in fact, the round retreated below them and Alexia’s ears popped

Alexia knew in principle what the Drifters were aiet the balloon up and into an aether stream, they could hook into a current that would carry them south, up the Nile It was a tricky maneuver, for should the balloon rise tootorn apart, or caving with the sheer of crosscurrents, or the gas fla them to drop out and doard the desert

Alexia tried not to think about it, instead looking down as Alexandria fell away under the and little whi hands white-knuckled about the side of the basket Alexia wondered if she shouldn’t get Prudence to take on wolf form Perhaps they could trap her as a pup in the corner? Prudence didn’t seeet airsick either? She certainly wasn’t suffering fro a wonderful ti politely should any of their hosts wish to show her the correct anchoring of a cord or explain to her the ther--in Arabic,in his adopted daughter the very best h to turn Alexandria into a spot of faint torchlight Below and ahead, Alexia could see only the dark of the desert, here and there a lonely fire, and, glinting under thesilver snakes that made up the Nile Delta A sudden flurry of activity in the basket, and Alexia looked over to see Zayed hauling hard on one of the ropes while Baddu offloaded soht Then there caht an aether strealed the canister toward the cave-in and the balloon rose up fully into the aether streareater speed, due south Despite this change in pace, Alexia felt alible, there were no breezes; the balloon wasreen

Alexia patted hiood I think I si, well, out If you knohat I mean?"

Alexia nodded "Could it be our current proximity to the aether?"

"Could be Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Are you going to ue reaches all the way up to the aether"

"Either that, or the aethersphere itself counteracts your supernatural abilities"

"Well, if that were the case, scientists would have figured that out by noouldn’t they?"

Lady Maccon took out a tiny notebook froraphic pen from another "Oh, yes? And hoould they have done that? Vah, because they are tethered too short And olves don’t float at all, because they get sick"

"You can’t tell host and body via float before?"

Alexia frowned "I don’t know, but it’s worth researching I wonder if Genevieve and her deceased aunt came via float or ferry when they left Paris for London"

"You’ll have to ask her e catch up" They paused in their conversation, aard for a ue?"

"You e of Alexandria?"

He nodded

"Difficult to tell, since the feeling was already similar to that of aether breezes" Alexia closed her eyes and leaned her ar the air

The earl irabbed her shoulder and pulled her backward "Don’t do that, Alexia!" He was looking green again, this tiue, could be proximity to the aethersphere We’ll simply have to wait and see what happens as we move farther toward the epicenter"

"Did no one ever tell you, wife, that it’s rather dangerous to do scientific experiments on oneself?"

"Now, dear, don’t fuss To be fair, I’"

Biffy knocked politely on Lyall’s office door He sniffed the air while he waited to be bidden entrance He sne, leather and boot polish, gun oil and weaponry In the end it was most similar to a soldier’s barracks He did not scent another pack Wherever she was at the air was not there

"Enter," ca

Biffy was shocked by hoarm simply the sound of that voicetogether, Biffy decided at thata olf, he supposed urative way of puttingdandy took a breath and entered the rooht of the information he had to impart The burden of a spy, Lord Akeldas but in knohen to tell such things to others That and the fact that creeping around could be dusty work, terrible on the knees of one’s trousers