Free Supernatural Devices by Kailin Gow Page A

demanded. “You barely know me.”
    “Well,” Cruces said lightly, “Holmes is a friend, and I should hate to earn his enmity. Besides, you are a most intriguing young woman. Who would I annoy if you were not around?”
    Scarlett rolled her eyes. “I have a feeling that you would find someone.”
    “Oh, undoubtedly, but no one who could look so beautiful when annoyed.” Cruces expression changed a fraction. “You are the daughter of famed archaeologists Thomas and Gemma Seely… believe me, you are a little more known than you think. Please, come with me to my home. It is as close as your own, and I would like you to see it. Besides, we should discuss the case.”
    Scarlett could not argue with that. Cruces was her client, after all. So she went along with him as he led the way up into Piccadilly, near to the palace and probably the most exclusive area of the city. Merely having money was not enough to obtain a house there under most circumstances. It was also necessary to know the right caliber of people, and for them to smooth the way. Cruces was obviously even wealthier than he looked.
    One curiosity of Piccadilly was that the houses there did not reflect great wealth from the outside. They were not mansions, and they generally did not stand within grounds. London had too little space for that, even when it came to the very wealthy. The houses there reserved their wealth for their interiors, and expressed their status in their proximity to the queen’s residence. Cruces’ home was close.
    It was a townhouse in the style of all the others, with three floors making up for the lack of horizontal space. As Cruces showed Scarlett inside, Scarlett could not help noticing small statuettes, apparently made from bronze and brass, in the shape of birds, small animals, and stranger creatures. As they approached, one or two of them seemed to move, their heads turning to follow Scarlett’s motions.
    “Automata,” Cruces explained. “Mere toys compared to some of my other experiments, but useful nonetheless.”
    “You are a man of science?” Scarlett asked. She found that slightly hard to believe. Cruces did not strike her as serious enough to undertake real research. Yet compared with everything else about him, it would not be so very impossible.
    “Yes, would you like to see?” Cruces led the way through to what might originally have been a billiard room, though it now seemed to serve more as a laboratory or work room. An array of glass beakers occupied a workbench at one side, while books sat on shelves nearby. A microscope occupied a small bench, along with tools that looked almost like those of the jeweler’s art. There were pieces of brass cut out in neat shapes there, forming the half-finished structure of a mechanical bird. Towards the ceiling of the room, there were what appeared to be small balloons, with what appeared to be designs for carriages or larger baskets beneath them.
    “In just a year or two,” Cruces explained, “I expect significant improvements to be made in the realm of lighter than air vehicles. Why, I would not be surprised if they came to replace the coach and horses as the dominant mode of long distance transportation.”
    “That seems a little far-fetched,” Scarlett suggested.
    “Really? But it is simply a question of finding the right gas with which to work. We live in an age of unparalleled wonders, Miss Seely, where anything is possible.”
    “And you are such an expert on hot air anyway.”
    Cruces laughed at that. “There. Most young women would not have dared to make that comment for fear of offending me. You are a wonder yourself, Miss Seely. Please, look around my work, and I will prepare tea. Then, if you are hungry, we will breakfast.”
    Scarlett raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were not a man for tea.”
    “I do not drink it much these days,” Cruces admitted, “but I know enough about it to make a decent cup. I even used to own a tea plantation or two out in the