Also by Scott Westerfeld The first book in the trilogy ... - Webgarden

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“I know who you are.”
“Right. Because Alek and I, we’ve been fencing and that. We’re friends.”
“You’re that idiot boy who put a knife to Alek’s throat.”
Deryn swallowed, willing her tongue to untangle. She’d only been pretending when she’d taken Alek
hostage back in the Alps, to force the Clankers to negotiate instead of blowing up the airship.
But under the man’s imperious gaze, the explanation wouldn’t come.
“Aye, that was me,” she managed. “But it was only to get your attention.”
“You succeeded.”
“And I used the dull edge of that knife, just to be safe!” She looked both ways down the corridor. “Do
you suppose I could come in?”
“Why?”
“I’ve got a message from Alek. A secret one.”
With those words Count Volger’s stony countenance shifted a squick. His left eyebrow arched, then
finally he stepped back. A moment later she and Tazza were inside the room, the thylacine sniffing at the
man’s boots.
“What is this creature?” he asked, taking another step backward.
“Oh, that’s just Tazza. He’s harmless,” Deryn said, then remembered the damage he’d done to the lady
boffin’s cabin. “Well, unless you’re a set of curtains, which, um, you’re clearly not.”
She cleared her throat, feeling like a ninny. The man’s cold, haughty manner had started her babbling.
“Will it repeat our words?”
“What, Tazza,talk ?” Deryn stifled a laugh. “He’s no message lizard. He’s a natural beastie, a thylacine
from Tasmania. Dr. Barlow has him as a traveling companion, though, as you can see, he’s mostlymy
responsibility. Anyway, I’ve got a message from—”
Volger silenced her with an upheld hand, then glanced up at the message tubes in the cabin. A lizard was
poking its head from one, and the count clapped his hands once to scare it off.
“Those godless things are everywhere,” he muttered. “Always listening.”
Deryn rolled her eyes. The other Clankers were even more twitchy about beasties than Alek. They
seemed to think that everything living aboard the airship was out to get them.
“Aye, sir. But lizards only carry messages. They don’t eavesdrop.”
“And how can you be sure of that?”
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