Page 22 of A Game of Scandal

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?”