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She went back round to the front and considered breaking one of the los; while it was too snant, she could at least yell A ht before she was about to swing the parasol

The building began shaking slightly, thebay doors clattered against their hinges Gouts of steaes Metal screeched and the trundling thruine in full operation emanated froan to get louder and louder and the doors shook withcloser

Lady Maccon waddled as fast as she could away from the doors, and just in the nick of tiainst the sides of the building in a great splintering of wood, left to hang askew on their hinges

A gigantic tiptoeing octopus cah it floated atop the cloud of steaushed forth from under its mantle to swirl about its tentacles The doors were not quite tall enough to permit an easy exit, but this didn’t seem to trouble the creature It simply took a chunk of the roof off with its head Tiles fell and splintered, dust wafted up, and steaest automated cephalopod tentacled its way into the London street

"The octoet the size ht," said Alexia to no one in particular

The octo far below in the shadows, but it spotted her carriage It raised up one tentacle and took careful ai out the tip The beautifully matched horses (chosen for appearance and docility around olves rather than for bravery) panicked, as did the stunned coachman (chosen for precisely the sae careened wildly around a street corner, ribbons trailing ht

"Wait!" cried Lady Maccon "Coone "Oh, bother Nohat?"

The octoan tothe carriage Lady Maccon raised her parasol and pulled at the special lotus leaf in the handle, activating the netic disruption emitter Even aimed directly at the massive creature, it had absolutely no effect Either Maday, or she had installed some kind of defensive shield to protect her creation from Alexia’s armament Alexia was not surprised; after all, the Frenchwoman was not so thickheaded as to build one weapon that could so easily be defeated by another of her own design Especially if she knew Alexia was on the case and ht very well find her out

Alexia switched to Ethel, raising and firing the gun The bullet bounced harmlessly off the octoain, the ainst it

It proceeded down the street in a not-very-dignified otten the en pointe tentacle balance quite right Windows rattled as it passed, and periodically it staggered slightly to one side, crashing into and partly destroying the sides of buildings At last, rounding the corner away from the Pantechnicon, it lurched into one of the streetla it onto the thatched roof of a storage shed Alan to spread Metal roof notwithstanding, it presently became apparent that even the Pantechnicon could not resist the blaze

Alexia was at a loss None of her parasol’s special abilities were designed to deal with fire In her current state, she reckoned her best option was to beat an undignified retreat to safety After all, she was practical enough to knohen there was little even she could do to rectify such a situation She turned south, toward the river

As she li, Alexia’s mind whirled with confusion Why would Madae, a wo north and not due east to Buckingham? Queen Victoria never left the safety of her palace on full ht for her staid sensibilities If Mada direction Alexia frowned I a Genevieve said, or did not say, or so Formerly Lefoux said or did not say Or???

Lady Alexia Maccon stopped in her very solid tracks and hit her forehead with the butt of her hand Fortunately, it was the hand that held Ethel, not the hand that held her parasol, or she e

"Of course! How could I be so silly? I have the wrong queen"

Then she started walking again, herin a steel-traplike fashion--that is, if the trap were of the spring-loaded, not-very-sensitive variety Lady Maccon was not one to do too ht now, but she was tolerably convinced she could handle bipedal hostly er had never specified Queen Victoria, and neither had Formerly Lefoux Genevieve Lefoux and her octomaton weren’t after the monarch of the empire; oh, no, they were after a hive queen That made far more sense Genevieve had never liked the vah she was always content enough to take their ain over that troublesoood iven the northward direction of her tentacleing, toward Mayfair Somehow, Madame Lefoux had deduced the whereabouts of the Westminster Hive

Another uarded secret Lady Maccon herself knew of it, of course, but that was only because???