Rebel Mechanics (32 page)
Authors: Shanna Swendson
Alec turned to us and asked, “Will that do for you?”
“You have an airship? How is it powered?” Henry asked, looking and sounding very much like Rollo. “Wouldn't a steam engine be too heavy?”
“Everett can explain it to you,” Alec said with the first real smile he'd given Henry. Henry's enthusiasm about the machine had apparently made a small dent in Alec's resentment of magisters. He paused, frowned, then seemed to come to a decision. “The fighting tonight wasn't really about revolution. It was a diversion to distract the soldiers who weren't at the ball or the theater so we could carry out our real mission.” He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a few sheets of paper. “We managed to get into their offices and copy their codebooks. I doubt they have any idea that we have these. They think we were just fighting a skirmish.” He handed the papers to Henry. “You can probably make better use of these than we can.”
Henry gave a soft whistle of surprise as he took the papers. “I owe you an apology, then,” he said. “You were being more strategic than I gave you credit for. Thank you. I'll put these to good use. We've stolen a lot of dispatches we need to decode.” He folded the papers and tucked them carefully into his breast pocket.
“And now, we'd best be on our way.”
“Godspeed,” Henry said with a jaunty salute.
Alec hesitated, then said, “Verity, may I have a word?” He pulled me aside and said, “I'm sorry for tricking you the way we did. I should have known what a piston you were. You really came through for us tonight in warning us, even if you did bring a magpie with you.”
“You wouldn't have escaped without him.”
With a deep sigh and a rueful smile, he said, “I know. I hate it, but you're right. Our machines couldn't have done it alone.” He glanced at Henry, then back at me, paused, took a deep breath, and said, “You could come with us if you like.”
“Wouldn't you be giving up a valuable spy who has access to the highest levels of magpie society?” I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my voice.
“I don't care about that.” He took my hand and squeezed it fiercely. “I'd rather have you with me than have you being useful. I've missed you.”
I weighed what he'd said, realizing what a sacrifice he was willing to make. I'd been so potentially valuable to them that they'd engineered an elaborate ruse to get me on their side, and now he was willing to give up the spy they'd worked so hard to create. But they'd done their job too well. I couldn't just leave now. I shook my head. “We've got a lot of work to do, and I think Liberty Jones has a lot more stories in her. Who knows what I might learn among the magisters?”
He looked disappointed for a moment, then he grinned. “That's my girl, Liberty. I'm sure I'll see you again.”
As Alec boarded the engine, Henry came up behind me. “If you want to go with them,” he said softly, “I'd understand, even though hiring a new governess would be very inconvenient.”
I turned to face him. “Do you want me to go, now that you know about me?”
“Only if going is what you want. Nothing has to change, as far as I'm concerned.”
I glanced at Alec and the magnificent engine, then turned back to Henry. “No, I think I can do more in the city. Besides, there are the children, and there's my newspaper career.”
“Newspaper career?”
“Just one of the many things we need to discuss later, but we're running out of time to get home safely.”
Everett and his crew had wheeled the airship out of the barn, and he gave us goggles as we boarded. The ship was soon soaring upward. I could see the rebel engines below, snaking their way into the wilderness, and I waved, but I wasn't sure they could see me.
Henry was like an older version of Rollo as he moved around the ship, taking note of every detail of how it worked, and then looking over the side at the approaching city far below. “Rollo would be so jealous,” he said with a grin. “I feel guilty for getting to do this without him.”
“Maybe someday we can arrange it for him,” I said.
“Perhaps. You're the one with the connections.” He studied me for a while, then took my hand and said, “That, back there, is that why you had to come to the city, why you said you have nowhere else to go?”
I nodded. “I think my father always knew I wasn't his child, and when my mother died⦔ I gave a weak shrug, and he nodded. “He didn't even know about the magic, but that was how I knew.”
“Do you know who your natural father was?”
“I have no idea. It wasn't the sort of thing anyone talked about. My parents pretended nothing was the matter, until my mother died and her husband didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I didn't know until I arrived in the city that what I am isn't accepted. I never found out what happens to half-breeds, but Mrs. Talbot hinted that it was dire.”
“I think it involves isolation, to make sure the blood isn't further tainted. And they may be used to provide power for magical objects. Slave labor, essentially.” I gulped in horror, and he gripped my hand tightly. “I hope you can trust that I'll keep your secret. You keep so many of mine.”
“Isn't that the ideal relationship between a governess and her employerâeach having enough knowledge to thoroughly destroy the other?”
“I think it's also the ideal foundation for a good friendship,” he said with a laugh. “Think of it as us having a great deal of trust in each other.”
“Oh, what about your roadster?” I asked, remembering one last loose end from the night's adventure.
“I'll send Matthews to retrieve it. He's in on all my secrets. If you ever need help and can't find me, you can always turn to him, and I'll let him know he can trust you as well. I suppose all of us have some planning to doâafter we get some rest.”
The sky was still dark, but lights were beginning to show here and there in windows as early risers woke, when the airship came in behind the Lyndon house. Since we had left through the kitchen door, the bedroom windows were closed, but Henry and I went down on the ladder together, and he magically opened my window for me and saw me safely inside before the ship moved farther down the building to his room.
The servants had assumed we'd be out late at the ball and let us sleep in, so I managed a short nap before I had to face the day. I was grateful that I'd accepted Mrs. Talbot's offer to walk Rollo to school in the morning because that allowed me to take my time getting up and dressing. It took me forever to pull all the pins out of my windblown and tangled hair, but eventually I looked like my usual governess self, and I felt safe going downstairs for breakfast.
Henry was already there, and after the way he'd been the night before, I was somewhat disappointed to see him in his familiar guise, with the spectacles on his nose and the vague, absentminded air about him. I liked the real Henry so much better. “Good morning, Lord Henry,” I said cheerfully. “Is there anything interesting in the papers?”
“Nothing much,” he said. Then he lowered the newspaper and looked at me over the top of his spectacles. “But I understand there are some mad people about who plan to start a revolution.”
I sat across from him at the table and poured a cup of tea. “Imagine that!” I said, unable to hold back a smile when I met his eyes.
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Shanna Swendson
is the author of the popular adult romantic fantasy series, Enchanted, Inc.
Rebel Mechanics
is her first novel for young adults. She lives in Irving, Texas.
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CONTENTS
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In Which I Face Bandits and Butlers
In Which I Land Amongst Mechanics
In Which I Land Amongst Magisters
In Which My Position Becomes Unexpectedly Precarious
In Which I Am a Rescuer and Am Rescued
In Which I Receive Multiple Invitations
In Which I Sample Strong Drink, Strange Music, and Steam
In Which I Get Blood on My Hands
In Which I Overhear Valuable Information
In Which We Face Young Criminals and Traitors
In Which Things Do Not Go According to Plan
In Which the Fight Moves Uptown
In Which I Reassess Many Things
In Which I Gain a New Perspective on the City
In Which I Assist Robbers and Revolutionaries
In Which I Discover a Dreadful Deception
In Which the City Falls Under a Shadow
In Which an Errand Takes a Dangerous Turn
In Which I Am Reunited with an Old Acquaintance
In Which We Enter the Lions' Den
In Which We Must Lighten the Load
In Which I Must Decide My Future
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Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010
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Text copyright © 2015 by Shanna Swendson
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All rights reserved
First hardcover edition, 2015
eBook edition, September 2015
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eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
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Swendson, Shanna.
       Rebel mechanics / Shanna Swendson. â First edition.
           pages cm
       Summary: In 1888 New York City, sixteen-year-old governess Verity Newton agrees to become a spy, whatever the risk, after learning that the man for whom she has feelings sympathizes with rebels developing non-magical sources of power, via steam engines, in hopes of gaining freedom from British rule.
       ISBN 978-0-374-30009-8 (hardback)
       ISBN 978-0-374-30017-3 (e-book)
    [1.  GovernessesâFiction.  2.  SpiesâFiction.  3.  MagicâFiction.  4.  InsurgencyâFiction.  5.  New York (N.Y.)âHistoryâ1865â1898âFiction.  6.  Science fiction.]  I.  Title.
       PZ7.1.S94Reb 2015
       [Fic]âdc23
2014041381
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eISBN 9780374300173
