The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas Page A

she told Kashkari.
    The carpet sliced through the night, out of the town in seconds—Eton was much longer than it was wide, and the residence houses were already near its western boundary. Iolanthe let the fire return to the lamps and sconces—it would not do to mess with gas-burning devices.
    â€œHow far west?” Kashkari asked.
    The question stumped Iolanthe. She had vaulted many times to the abandoned brewery that housed the southern entrance into Titus’s laboratory, but had never traveled there by conventional means. She, in fact, had no idea exactly how far it was or whether she could even recognize the place from outside in broad daylight.
    Then she felt it, the half pendant on her person abruptly heating up. “Titus is here!”
    She pressed the pendant into Kashkari’s hand. “Keep going in the right direction and it will continue to get hotter.”
    The night turned bright as day—a squadron of armored chariotshad arrived, shining their harsh, merciless light upon the countryside. From their metallic bellies dropped the desk-sized pods that had chased Kashkari and Iolanthe all over Cairo.
    In Cairo they’d had the advantage of the urban landscape. Here it was open and flat, with no places to hide—and not even darkness to help them disappear.
    Already, despite the tailwind she’d applied to the carpet, the pods were closing in. She willed the soil beneath a clump of trees to loosen, hoisted the trees with levitating charms, and sent them toward the pods.
    The pods dodged her missiles.
    She summoned the water of the Thames and erected a wall of ice. One chariot ran smack into the wall, but the others pulled up in time.
    Instead of throwing up another ice wall, she ripped apart the existing one and threw boulder-sized shards at her pursuers. Two of the chariots were hit broadside and knocked off their trajectory. But the rest extended their mechanical arms and either caught the ice chunks or swatted them aside.
    And there were so many of them, an entire swarm. Where was the brewery? If they didn’t find it now, they might never be able to.
    Even more pods fell from the sky, a particularly pernicious hailstorm. Their long mechanical arms reached for Iolanthe from all directions, and Kashkari was already flying them as low as possible without scraping the ground.
    â€œDo something!” cried Kashkari.
    But what else could she do? She looked about wildly and saw nothing but claws and metal underbellies.
    â€œVault!” Titus’s voice rang out, clear as a church bell. “You are out of the no-vaulting zone now!”
    Kashkari’s hand already grasped her arm. She closed her eyes and thought of the inside of the brewery. The next instant she and Kashkari were crashing to the floor of the brewery, thrown against a pile of old barrels by the residual velocity of their carpet.
    Before they’d come to a complete stop, they were already hauled to their feet. Titus—and Master Haywood!
    â€œCome on. Hurry!”
    The door to the laboratory was open, light spilling out of the familiar interior, with its long worktable and walls upon walls of shelves and cabinets. They raced inside. Titus entered last, slammed the door shut, and shouted, “Extinguatur ostium!”
    Iolanthe clung to Titus, her entire person shaking, her breaths in fits and wheezes. He all but crushed her in his arms.
    â€œFortune shield me,” he said, his voice hoarse. “For a moment I thought they had you.”
    Now she was hugging Master Haywood. He kissed her face and caressed her hair. “I thought there had to be some archival magic I could wield. But I drew a complete blank. I was scared witless.”
    â€œWe’re all right,” she answered, gasping. “Don’t worry. We’re all right.”
    She also embraced Kashkari, who, like her, was still panting heavily. “That was some very fine flying, old bloke. You saved us.”
    â€œI