The Monster War: A League of Seven Novel by Gratz Alan

Author:Gratz, Alan [Gratz, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Childrens, Young Adult, Historical, Adventure, Age Range 2 Older Audience, Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781466838529
Goodreads: 28260185
Publisher: Starscape
Published: 2016-07-12T07:00:00+00:00

18

Standing Peachtree was burning.

Buildings roasted like coals in a locomotive’s firebox. Red-orange flames rippled from the rooftops, their thick smoke blacker than the night sky. A blazing foundry crumpled in on itself. A boiler exploded, hurling red-hot steel. Everywhere, on every street, people swarmed away from the scorching city on steamhorses and airships and by foot.

Standing Peachtree was burning, and Fergus was arguing ethics.

“I don’t care if you like it or not,” Hachi told Fergus. “Just do it. We’re going to need it, and you know it. Hachi out.”

Hachi threw a pile of maps to the floor of the little airship. Slag Fergus. He’d better do it. This wasn’t the time to get all sentimental. The world was ending one way or another, and she wanted it to be her way.

“There,” Hachi told Martine. She pointed to a burning building on the north end of town.

Martine tilted her head. “The source of the conflagration is clearly midtown,” she said. She didn’t have to point. William Tecumseh Sherman, the burning man, stood out like a bright lilac star in the center of town.

“We’ll go there next. But first there. That white building with the columns.”

Martine steered her little airship, The Jellyfish, away from Sherman and toward the burning building on the north end of town. Away from the water, she had changed into tall black boots and a weather-beaten old black coat. Tall, gray, tattooed Martine was a steamhorse of a different metal, that was for sure. She didn’t understand emotions, or sarcasm, or humor, and rarely spoke. And when she did speak, it was usually to say something so blinking strange that it stopped you in your tracks. But none of that mattered to Hachi. What mattered was that when Hachi told her they had to go north to Buckhead before taking on Sherman, she didn’t ask why. She just did it. She and Hachi were going to get along just fine.

Martine piloted The Jellyfish over a lacrosse field next to the square white building. Smoke clouded the airship’s windows, and flames licked out of the square white building’s windows and doors.

Lady Josephine’s Academy for Spirited Girls was on fire.

“I need to see if anybody’s still left inside,” Hachi said.

Again, Martine didn’t ask questions. Instead she steered The Jellyfish directly over the building, set the autopilot to hold station, and took control of the strange tendrils that hung from the underside of the airship. Ptoom! One of them rammed straight down into the roof like a grappling hook, burying itself in the wood and tiles. Another of the tendrils glowed with aether and carved a slow circle in the roof around the grappling hook. The round roof piece separated with a tug on the airship, but The Jellyfish righted itself and rose, lifting away the circular section of ceiling.

“Brass,” said Hachi.

Martine handed Hachi a harness, helped her get strapped in, and clipped the harness to a winch in the ceiling. Martine stepped away and the floor irised open, leaving Hachi swinging in space over the hole in the burning building.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.