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CHAPTER TEN

I was in heaven. Funny that it had never occurred to me before that heaven would look like a laboratory above a haberdasher’s, but here we were.

“And, of course, this is a complete catalogue of scientific and mathematical papers and publications,” Winnie said, pushing her glasses up her nose and gesturing to the bookshelves in front of us, which teetered with bound manuscripts. “Thanks to Mrs Finch’s connections we can get hold of things before anyone else. Quite a few of these are awaiting translation, but we have a team that takes care of that. I’m sure you know: the gears of academia grind slowly, so anything we can do to move them along…” Here, Winnie Phillips, third daughter of the third son of the Earl of Newborough, grinned at me.

I was already grinning back. In fact, I hadn’t stopped smiling since I had been introduced to Winnie, and she’d blinked and said, “F. Vane is Max’s sister? How wonderful! Dr Volterra and I have been discussing your work on harmonic progression and I find myself a touch out of my depth. Would you go over some of the figures with me?”

That was three hours ago. Since then, Winnie and I had been locked in her lab, while she peppered me with questions about my work, and I peppered her with questions about hers. I might be a mathematician, but I had more than a passing interest in the scientific world, keeping myself up to date on all the latest studies.

“My work is in natural sciences,” Winnie had said, “though everything must be underpinned by a sound foundation of mathematical study. I’m not working on the same level as you, of course, but…”

It was like music to my ears. Here was someone who was not only a potential friend but a true colleague, a person whose work intersected with mine in several fascinating ways. Already she had shown me several of her experiments that had promise and that might benefit from collaboration. Winnie may not have quite my mathematical skill, and I may not have her breadth of scientific knowledge, but each of us knew more than enough about the other’s field to get lost in excited conversation.

It felt as though something inside me had opened up. As though I had been walking around for years speaking a different language to everyone else, only to finally stumble across someone who understood me. Having been confined to written correspondence with great men who didn’t even know who I truly was, this afternoon with Winnie felt like a gift, a moment bursting with joy.

Was this, I wondered, what university would be like? To be surrounded by people who cared and understood and valued the work with the same fervour and enthusiasm that I did? I’d always been a solitary sort of person, often alone but rarely lonely. I liked my own space to think, but now I felt the same pull of recognition that I had when I met Cassie. Perhaps university would fill out parts of my life in unexpected ways. I felt my determination to reach such a place solidify, there and then, into something sure and unbending. Whatever happened, I decided, I would find a way.

“Sorry to interrupt.” The redhead from the shop downstairs popped her head round the door. I knew now that this was Maud, another of Izzy’s colleagues. She gave Winnie a fond look and said, “I know you’re having the time of your life, Win, but there’s quite a lot to do to get Felicity ready…”

“Yes, of course,” Winnie said, tearing her eyes away from the chalkboard where she and I had been looking over some of the mathematical principles that I was using in my card play. “Although I do think we’re on to something here.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to work on it,” Maud said soothingly, and when she came and rubbed Winnie’s shoulders, Winnie gave a small sigh of contentment. “But first I need to take Felicity to the next stop on her tour.”

“Which is?” I asked.

“The training room.” Maud grinned, a dimple appearing in her right cheek. “At least Sylla agreed to let you start off with me. She’s the one you need to be afraid of facing in there.” She gave a delighted shiver. “Bloodthirsty woman.”

“Right,” I said, looking longingly towards the chalkboard.

“I’ll keep working,” Winnie promised. “I’ve had a few ideas that might prove helpful.”

“What sort of ideas?” I asked, but Maud was already tugging me out into the corridor on the second floor of the Aviary.

“It will be some scientific doodad,” Maud said cheerfully. “Something that explodes, or something that’ll poison someone. My Win has taken a liking to you.”

Maud pushed a door open, and I followed her through to another room. I should have stopped being surprised by the Aviary at this point, but I couldn’t conceal my shock at discovering myself in a space that contained an actual boxing ring. Leather punching bags hung from the ceiling on iron chains. On the wall, a large glass cabinet had been mounted, holding an enormous display of—

“Swords!” I breathed, heading straight for them.

“Fencing foils, mostly.” Maud followed behind me. “And there are some sabres in there too. But as we only have a week you’re not going to be learning swordplay. We’ll just have time to cover some rudimentary self-defence.”

“Oh, but … please?” I turned to her, trying to look as winning as possible. “I’ve never held a real sword before.”

Maud gave me a long look. “Let me guess,” she said finally. “Anne Bonny?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

Maud’s eyes took on a conspiratorial twinkle. “For me too. All I wanted to be when I grew up was a lady pirate. I think that’s why I joined the Aviary. Closest I could get.” She went to the cabinet and carefully removed one of the shorter, lighter-looking fencing foils before holding it out to me. “You want to grip it like this.” She showed me.

“So how long have you been part of the Aviary?” I asked, giving my foil an experimental sweep. It felt clumsy in my hand, but the sound it made was satisfying.

“I was twelve when I came,” Maud said, selecting her own weapon and spinning it effortlessly in her hand, before slicing deftly through the air in a flash of steel. I wanted to learn how to do that. “My mother had died, and I didn’t have any family to speak of – although I thought myself fully grown back then, anyway.” I thought of Ash – he had been the same sort of age when he joined the navy. But he hadn’t been alone. He had a family that he must have turned away from. “My mum worked in a factory, and I suppose I would have followed in her footsteps, but the owner, Mr Spigot, he was a bad man. Tried to hurt me. Hurt some of the other girls too. I ran away, and one of Ma’s friends sent me here to Mrs Finch. She took me in.”

Maud spun round, dipping low to the floor and sweeping out with the sword in her hand. She looked like a warrior, fierce and formidable, as she flew back up, delivering an imaginary opponent a killing blow.

“And she did for Mr Spigot too.” Maud’s grin had a feral edge. “Oh, yes, she took care of him good and proper.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, thinking of the elegant woman I had met with the keen gaze.

“Let’s just say, when she was done with him, he couldn’t hurt any other little girls. And I learned to look after myself.”

“I think you and Winnie might be my favourite people in the whole world,” I said.

Maud laughed. “Well, you’re part of the family now,” she replied, and there was that feeling again. Like a key turning smooth in a lock. Uncomplicated, undemanding. I simply … belonged.

“Now,” said Maud, her tone brisk. “I’ll give you ten minutes of sword training, but then it’s on to hand-to-hand, like I promised Sylla.”

“Twenty,” I countered, attempting to brandish my sword in a rakish manner and almost poking myself in the eye.

“Let’s see how you get on,” Maud said knowingly.

Ten minutes later my arm felt like it was on fire. Or, perhaps more accurately, it felt like it had already been on fire for some time and had now melted down into something limp and useless.

“Why … is it … so heavy?” I panted. “It wasn’t always so heavy. Is it getting heavier?”

I dropped my arm to my side, muscles screaming.

“It’s you fancy ladies,” Maud scoffed. “You’ve got to practise lifting something heavier than cucumber sandwiches.”

“That … is offensive,” I said, lying on the floor. The cool, cool floor.

Maud came to stand over me, then bent down to pick up my fencing foil. She hadn’t even broken a sweat. After she had replaced the foils in the cabinet, I heard her approach once more.

“Now it’s time for the real work,” she said, looming into view, holding out a hand to me.

“Just leave me here to die,” I grumbled, but I placed my fingers in hers.

“Come on, Anne Bonny.” She hauled me up. “Let’s see what you can do.”

“Izzy taught me a few things. I did incapacitate a giant,” I said.

“That’s my girl.”

Maud and I moved through the exercises that Izzy had taught me, drawing a sound of approval from my new instructor.

“Fine,” she said. “But we can do better. I don’t reckon you’ll need to defend yourself; Ash will have it in hand, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.”

“What do you know about Ash?” I asked as Maud gently manipulated my arm behind me.

“Not much,” Maud admitted. “Now, see how I’ve got your arm here? If I pull up…”

I winced. “Yes, I see.”

“It’s likely that you’ll be smaller than the person you’re fighting,” Maud said. “You have to be clever. You can’t use brute force. If in doubt, always aim for the soft parts: stomach, nose, in between the legs.” She smirked. “Especially the last one.”

“So Ash is a bit of a mystery, then?” I said, taking advantage of the brief pause.

Maud’s brows arched. “Why are you so interested, Lady Felicity Vane?”

“I’m going to be working with him. Don’t you think I should be asking questions?”

She smiled at me. “That’s not why you’re asking, but I can’t blame you. If I were that way inclined, I’m sure I’d be the same. He’s a handsome man.”

“That is an objective fact,” I agreed.

Maud’s smile grew. “Piratical, in fact.”

“Well, he was in the navy.”

“Told you that, did he?” she asked. “To be honest, I don’t know much more about his past than that. I trust him, though. He’s a terrible flirt – had more affairs than I can count, but they never last long with Ash. Somehow he always manages to leave things on good terms – you’ll find few with a bad word to say about him, and plenty who’ll tell you he showed them a good time.”

“Yes,” I said, my interest sharpening. “I can imagine that.” I could imagine it very well indeed.

“He and Joe are tight,” Maud continued thoughtfully, “and they run that club like a well-oiled machine. They’ve helped the Aviary out many a time – Joe has a list of contacts you wouldn’t believe. They’re not always strictly by the book, of course. Joe is one of the best fences in town.”

“Fences?”

“A fence sells on stolen property. A sort of bridge between thief and buyer.”

“Oh,” I said, fascinated.

Maud nodded. “And Ash seems to be able to get his hands on anything. His old sailing pals, I think.”

“They sell smuggled liquor at the club,” I said.

“Well, of course,” Maud said. “It’s good business sense. Anyway” – she put her hands on her hips – “that’s enough of a rest for you. We’ve got a week to work on you. Let’s see what else you can do.”