how to store an electrical charge in a box and read the suggested applications: running trolleys throughout the night, providing light in homes so people could read in the evenings, and enhancing the efficiency of large engines, steam engines, trains, airships…
Medina had read all that, pieced together all of those thoughts and ideas, and dreamed up an electrocution device buried in the arm of a killer. And she read about medical coatings and put armor plates in another killer’s chest. God only knows what else she read about in the journals and decided to put inside someone. Taziri felt her skin crawling and a faint taste of bile wafted up into the back of her throat.
They are insane. All of them. How else could they not just imagine such things, but talk about them, agree that they are clever and sound notions, and then cut open their own bodies to make these things real? How could any sane person do this?
A fresh rage boiled up in her chest. These people, whoever they were, had taken her dream and pissed all over it, wrapped it in blood and fire, and spewed out a new form of death. These monstrous people existed in the same world as her beautiful little girl Menna. They had taken Isoke, taken the airships, taken the major, taken her battery. And they would go on taking everything she knew, everything she loved. Taziri stood up.
She went back to the young man by the open door. “Excuse me, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to get that address now…”
“Detective!”
Everyone turned to stare through the open door at the woman sitting up in bed, her face ashen and exhausted. She blinked slowly and croaked, “What the hell is going on?”
The officers flooded into the room, carrying Taziri with them, but before they could do more than cheer and babble and congratulate each other, the nurses and doctors were demanding quiet so they could inspect their patient. Everyone stood in nervous, impatient silence while the detective was poked and tapped and stared at, and notes were taken on clipboards. Finally the doctors left and the joyful chaos resumed.
Taziri faded back to the far wall and let them have their moment, knowing it would take time, but that was all right. These officers deserved their moment. They had their friend back. Thank God for that.
“…pilot? Hey, pilot? Sorry, I didn’t get your name. Come over here.” The young man was standing beside the bed waving her over and the others made a hole for her to approach the detective. The officer told Massi, “She’s working with the marshals on a case and she needs to talk to you.”
Taziri raised her hands. “It doesn’t have to be right this second.”
“Of course it does.” Detective Massi groaned. She rocked about stiffly under the sheets trying to get comfortable, and Taziri could see the bulges of the bandages around her arms and chest. Her voice rasped and whispered like someone desperate to fall asleep. “There are things the marshals need to know, things you all need to know. But first I need to know something. Did you find another person at the fire?”
Silence.
“No?” Massi frowned at them. “A woman in a white coat? Missing an eye?”
Heads shook.
“Damn.” The detective gingerly prodded the gauze packed around her shoulder. “All right, pilot, ask your questions.”
“Engineer, actually. Lieutenant Taziri Ohana. It’s nice to meet you, detective.” She cleared her throat. “The marshals are looking to arrest Ambassador Barika Chaou. She was responsible for the attack on the train station and airfield in Tingis two days ago. We know she has some connection to an Espani doctor named Medina here in Arafez. That name brought us to the scene of the fire this morning, which brought us to you. Were you investigating Medina? Do you know anything about her connections to the ambassador?”
Massi chewed at the inside of her cheek for a moment. “All right, here’s the short version. A woman named Jedira Amadi came to me yesterday with a story. Amadi said her boss, Doctor Medina, was torturing animals in the basement of the shop. Thing is, Lady Sade had already told me about that research, so I sent Amadi home. But I did a little digging anyway and an hour later, a Persian tried to kill me for sticking my nose where it didn’t belong. His friend in the white coat killed Usem and Amadi.”
Jedira? The girl from last night? Taziri stiffened. She looked down at the brace on her left arm. Was that my fault too, somehow?
Massi coughed. “I made it to the basement and saw the animals, tons of them, all dead, all carved up and jammed full of strange machines. Like something out of an Espani ghost story, but with machines instead of demons. Some of you need to get down to that shop and start digging through the wreckage. Dig right down into the basement.”
“Dig for what?”
“Those bodies I saw. They’re evidence. Evidence of what, I don’t know, but they’re evidence. And when we figure out what was really going on there…” A silent snarl curled Massi’s broken lips.
There was a suddenly rumble of discussion and three officers dashed from the room. Taziri watched them go, and then looked down at the detective. Her face was mostly overlapping bruises, her lips alternately thin and puffy, and both eyes bloodshot. “Thank you, detective. Is there anything else you can tell me about Medina or Chaou?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Taziri nodded and touched the young officer’s arm. “I’m going to need that address now.”
He stood up and straightened his jacket. “Absolutely.”
Chapter 32. Lorenzo
As he stepped out the servant’s door beside the kitchen of Lady Sade’s manor house, the midday sun glared in Lorenzo’s eyes and he quickly set his wide-brimmed hat on his head. He couldn’t be certain whether the air would be warm or cool to a local, but to him it was rapidly becoming uncomfortably sultry. With a glance at his surroundings so he could be sure to find his way back, the hidalgo set out down the quiet back street that ran behind several large estates.
“Enzo!”
He stopped short and turned. Qhora stood in the doorway he had just left. She was wearing the purple dress he had given her, the light cotton one with the high collar. And for once, her feathered cloak looked almost fitting over her Espani clothing.
“My lady?”
She walked up to him with a stern squint, but he could not tell whether her look indicated her mood or merely that the sun was in her eyes. “Where are you going?”
Lorenzo said, “The cook told me about a butcher shop a few blocks away. This butcher has a meat locker that I’d like to see.”
“You’re running errands for Lady Sade’s cook?” Qhora moved around him to stand in his shadow and once in the shade her expression softened considerably. “Or is this how you intend to explore the culture and hospitality of our hosts? By touring their butcher shops?”
“It’s just a curiosity. The meat locker is walled with ice, which they keep cold with some sort of machine.”
A look of understanding passed over her eyes and Lorenzo’s chest tightened as he prepared for the inevitable lecture. But instead she said, “You want to be somewhere cold. Can I come with you?”
“You’d be bored. I’m just going to pray. I’ll be back soon.”
“Praying in meat lockers.” She stared into his eyes for a moment. “Can anyone see these ghosts of yours, or only the Espani?”
“Anyone, I suppose. But only in the cold and in the dark. Ghosts are fragile things. Too much light and heat makes the aether fade apart into the air.”
“And if I come with you now, will I see her? Will I see Ariel?”
It struck him then for the first time that in all the long months together in Espana and the several times he had spent long evenings with Ariel, Qhora had never seen the lingering revenant. Indeed, she had never seen any ghosts. Probably because she never strays from the fire, never goes walking at night. “If she comes, you will see
