Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War) by SM Blooding Page A

away. Those hats. What was the point of a hat that covered so little space of your head? I had no idea. And why one needed a feather on one’s ludicrously small hat was simply beyond me.
    Joshua handed both of the girls goggles.
    I didn’t expect Yvette to get them over her head. Her brown hair was piled high with curls and pins and that silly hat, but she managed to do so without disturbing a single feather or bead.
    Keeley wore her normal green and gold, her dress simple, her red hair in a long braid. She put her glasses on, nodding to whatever it was that Yvette was saying, and grabbed a stained apron.
    “Are we ready, ladies?” I asked.
    Yvette turned to me, one hand on her hip. “I don’t know how anyone can understand a single word you say.”
    Yeah. She was one to speak. Her Handish was so garbled by her accent, I think Keeley was the only one who truly knew what she said.
    I looked at Joshua. “I’m taking that as a yes.”
    “As long as you’re not going to blow us up again.” She handed Keeley a glass jar of the fertilizer they were both working on. “ T’es prêt? ” You ready?
    Keeley nodded absently, studying the jar.
    Yvette clicked her tongue. “ Ouais. ”
    I let out a long breath, shook out my arms, raised the pistol, sighted down the short barrel and pulled the trigger.
    Energy rushed out of my arm in long runs of burning heat. The pistol transferred it from my hand and…
    Melted.
    That hurt!
    I took the metal scraper from the table and quickly rubbed the melted pistol from the palm of my hand, some of my skin going with it. With a thought, however, the skin grew back.
    Yes. That was a side effect of my powers that we discovered when we nearly blew… me… up.
    Yvette tsked and pulled her goggles from her eyes, setting them on her forehead. “That was disappointing.”
    I sent her a quick glare, throwing my goggles on the table. “We’re making progress.”
    “How?” Joshua demanded. “Wha’ever we did melted the bloody thin’.”
    “Ah, yes,” I said with a cheeky grin, “but that’s a definite improvement over doing nothing.”
    He growled something under his breath and pulled out the schematics for the pistol. “I tried tellin’ ye that addin’ the copernicium was a bad idea. But would ye listen? Noooo. An’ why no’?” His lips flattened and his freckled nose flared. “Because yer the great new Primus with all this fantastical power tha’ ye can’t ruddy use, but ye know more’n the rest o’ us do.”
    “Joshua.” I tipped my head and looked at him with a playful grin. “The copernicium was the thing that triggered the reaction.”
    “It’s too bloody unstable,” he argued, scribbling over his diagrams. “I told ye and told ye and—”
    “Yes.” I rolled my eyes and stared at my notes. “However, we’re succeeding in outwitting its volatility.”
    “Oh, yes, Master of the Elements, we’ve succeeded in not blowin’ ourselves up. Hooray for us.”
    “Indeed.” Sometimes, the man’s sarcasm far outreached his mind’s capacity. “So if we just add—”
    We spent the next hour working on the metal composition of our next test version while the girls occupied the far edge or our large table, and worked with something that looked like dirt but smelled much worse.
    People filed in, reclaiming their benches and work areas. A group on the far end of the room was working on a floating disc. Who knew what they were going to do with that? The possibilities seemed endless. Another group was working on one of the two-winged flying machines. I wished, not for the first time, that I could fly one.
    The large laboratory filled with a loud buzz as people collaborated and experimented and occasionally blew things up. I had no idea why the Heads of the Collegium were so upset with us when it was a weekly occurrence.
    Finally, Yvette put her fingers to her temple, and let out a long sigh of frustration. “I’m done and famished.”
    That was a language I