commanded in a restrained tone of voice that suggested she was suppressing her pique. “It is enough to drive a person mad the way you belabour the point.”
I laughed gaily. “All right, all right. That is no way to speak to your benefactor, Juliana, but I will allow it as I am simply bursting to regale you. Eitenne's and Elodie's employer is none other than the very same Pietro Augustus Flaire.”
“Astrid! Indeed?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Why did you not lead with that?” Juliana looked so exasperated, Xander and I exchanged an amused glance.
“Eitenne is one of the Cirque du Flaire's more flamboyant funambulists. He is quite certain there is something nefarious afoot in the Cirque.”
“Such as?” Xander asked.
“He cites his sister's peculiar change of affectation. He believes Flaire is controlling her somehow.”
“How?”
“We can only conjecture wildly at that. Eitenne is, as they say, a bit of a flake. In any case, he suggested some of the patrons have disappeared off the ship from port to port.”
Juliana lifted her eyebrows. “Whilst in the air?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
I lifted my shoulders. “He could only offer specifics of one, and in that case I think it it entirely possible the young man misread the situation and was subsequently shunned by said guest. Nevertheless, I have agreed to take his case.”
Xander smiled. “I shouldn't wonder your decision to do so had something to do with the fact that the subject of the investigation is the famous Mr Flaire?”
“Indeed,” I admitted. “It did sway my decision somewhat.”
“Well?” Juliana put in. “So when do we begin?”
I withdrew my gold watch from the breast pocket of my vest. “Ah. I'm afraid we haven't much time. Pack your bags for an overnight trip.”
“But where are we going?”
I glanced up at my two young wards. “But haven't I mentioned? Eitenne was so kind as to offer us a suite on the Cirque du Flaire for the evening's sold out performance.”
“Astrid!” Xander exclaimed.
Juliana leapt to her feet with a disgruntled sigh. “Again, Astrid, you might have lead with that.”
“I find little fun in making such matters so straightforward, Juliana, as you know.” I rose from the bed to examine the contents of the wardrobe. “I would be most delighted to have my most loyal and trusted companions with me on this exciting investigation.” I half turned my head to give them a mischievous smile. “However, if you will be terribly disappointed to miss your exhibition...”
“No, no,” Xander said, humouring me. “I think we can catch the tail end of the exhibition when we return tomorrow. We will only be in the air for the night, yes?”
“Indeed. We will have limited time to solve our mystery; I suspect the famous Dr. Flaire will notice if we've stowed away on the ship to investigate his day to day activities.” I drew a most elegant green gown from the wardrobe and held it up in the mirror. It complemented my peacock blue hat most handsomely. “I do very much suspect, between us, that the flamboyant Eitenne is imagining the sinister motivations of his employer. He has offered little to support his claims. I have, however, suspected as much in the past. I am often sceptical when entering into an investigation and often surprised by the shocking reality of the situation.”
A grim silence settled upon us, and I knew my young wards, as I, were remembering poor Juliana's beloved father, Julius, whose gruesome crimes had utterly astonished us all.
“Well,” I said, slightly more subdued, “we have little time. I suggest we all pack our things and retire to the lounge below whilst we await a car. I believe it would behoove us to arrive at the airship port in style. Our client did, perhaps, somewhat exaggerate my especial importance to the realm in order to secure our reservation.”
My young wards and I were accustomed to last-minute preparations for hastily accepted assignments, and it took mere moments to pack our things for the evening's sojourn. We convened in the hotel's lounge, and I sipped my tea as Xander and Juliana eyed my elegant chapeau with scarcely concealed antipathy. I smiled luminously around at our fellow patrons, who, too, seemed put-off by the flash appearance of my peacock feathered hat. I was most pleased by the reactions; I could not have devised a more suitable accessory for such a fanciful evening as that which lay ahead.
“I understand Professor Eccelson visited the Cirque de Flaire last year while on holiday in France,” Xander said, diverting his gaze from my general direction. “The Cirque is quite popular there, I understand. The professor was only able to secure the reservation when his uncle took ill and was unable to attend as planned. His uncle recovered quite nicely, gratefully. The professor said it was a spectacle the like of which he had never seen, and he has spent much time in the Indies and Asia experiencing a life of exotic pleasures.”
“I have, in fact, heard somewhat sinister things about the carnival,” Juliana said. “I have heard there is an Indian snake tamer who is able to hypnotise complete audiences.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “And from whom have you heard such a thing?”
“Uncle Silas. He has seen the show himself in Vienna. He insisted he felt quite unlike himself afterward. As though he had undergone some transcendent experience. He said it felt as if he had gone out of his body and floated above the arena. He said it felt as though his fellow audience members were all around him, outside their bodies and soaring above the crowd.”
“Most provocative. I myself would like to experience such a thing, but I suspect it would be most difficult for someone such as myself, so firmly rooted in reality.”
Xander sniggered. “Firmly rooted in reality, Astrid? You have quested for cursed masks and walked with the ghosts of a haunted wharf.”
I lifted my chin. “Indeed, but I have never lost my head, have I? It is most indecorous.”
He smiled across the table at Juliana. My own smile was tinged with sadness. My two wards were becoming far too grown up for my liking. They treated me as much an equal these days as their guardian, and they hardly seemed to need one. The days of my young cousin's wide-eyed admiration and undivided attention to my every word had come so unexpectedly to an end, I wondered if he hadn't been putting me on for quite a number of years.
I did not so much mind this new dimension of our relationship, however. My two companions were quite enjoyable company, even if they often treated me like a tiresome spinster out-of-step with the more modern schools of thought. I had long ago suspected as much myself.
“Mrs Darby?”
A young, swarthy porter in a crisp navy suit approached our table already half hunched into a deep bow. I smiled at him. “Indeed, sir.”
He bobbed his head. “A steam car is waiting outside for you.”
I clapped my hands briskly. “Ace. Step lively then, my young cousins.”
If Juliana disapproved my sudden adoption, she did not remark. Her face lit up in excitement. Xander, too, looked as though the prospect of the evening had completely chased away any thoughts of Skeletal Imperatives and Astronomical Blunders, or whatever they had been so keen to research hours ago. I myself felt rather buoyed by the evening ahead, which quite explicitly promised delectation, stimulation and stupefaction.
Our driver was unfamiliar to me, but my preferred chauffeur, Mr Mills, was not, to my dissatisfaction, available to travel with my entourage. “Where ya off to?” the portly, middle-aged man asked cheerfully.
“The airship port, if you please, sir.”
“Ah. Off to see the circus, are you?”
“Indeed.”
“I heard it's a ripping good show, I did.”
“Yes. I am certain it will be. I have heard such myself.”
“Wish I could see it. I love the circus. Haven't been since I was a kid.” His cheerful aspect faltered, and he lapsed into a sullen silence which he maintained throughout the remainder of the journey, for which I was rather g
rateful.
The airship port was bustling with excited revellers, awaiting their turn to board the enormous aerostat. The ship bobbed gleefully several feet above the ground, as though the hundreds of multi-coloured balloons tethered above the smooth, shining red and yellow big top circus tent strained to lift the ship back up into the air. I had seen the ship in pictures and so had anticipated the remarkable vision, but Xander and Juliana exclaimed delightedly over the sight.
“It is most impressive, isn't it?” Juliana said. Her delicate features illuminated in a smile.
“It does look quite cheerful, doesn't it?” My gaze drifted uneasily to the bright, beamish balloons. “I do hope the construct is sound.”
Xander chuckled with a very slight note of smugness. “Astrid, I am certain the balloons are merely for spectacle. They are not the primary means of propelling the aerostat. There is likely an engine as any other ship of the kind.”
“It is most singular, though,” Juliana put in. “I have never seen a ship of its like. What sort of engine do you suppose is propelling the thing?”
“Ah, simple pressurised gas, surely. It is no different from the dirigibles to which we have grown accustomed.”
“It is rather larger.”
“Indeed. And rather more ostentatious,” I added. “I find I am feeling quite festive.”
I was not alone in this. The assemblage surrounding the floating tent was lively and loud. Juliana's remarkable head was not yet filled with the awe of the upcoming spectacle. “But how will we investigate the