Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories by Kelly Link Read Free Book Online

says. No one wants to spend eternity in such a place as that.
    Once you was done, the priests gave you your first real taste of Poppy to seal your covenant with the One God. Miracles and wonders played across your eyes then, reminders of His mercy and goodness. Master Crawford muttered that it weren't proof of nothing 'cept folks' willingness to be hornswaggled. But nobody paid him any mind.
    I told John Barks all of this the week before his baptism while we were walking in the orchard.
    "They say that when you take your first taste of Poppy, your legs go all prickle bones and your tongue numbs like a snowcake feast and stars explode behind your eyes, making new flowers against the closed dark-velvet stage curtains of your retina, letting you know the One God's show's about to get under way," John said, bustin' with excitement.
    "Well, the Poppy is right strong," I said.
    "And did you feel the One God sure and true then, Addie?"
    "I reckon."
    We'd stopped under a blue nettle tree in full bloom, the glasslike, bell-shaped blossoms pulsing with small bursts of lightning. The air was sharp. Overhead, the seeding ships pierced the dark-red cloud blanket, trying to bring on rain. John Barks's arm brushed mine and I colored. We were s'posed to keep a respectful distance, as if the One God's mam walked between us.
    "What did the One God reveal to you down under the river, Adelaide Jones?" His hand had moved to my cheek. "Did you see us here by the tree?"
    We weren't s'posed to tell our visions. They were for us alone. But I wanted to tell John Barks what I'd witnessed, see what he'd make of it, see if he could ease my mind some. So right there with the new light buzzing all around us, I told him what I seen under the river. When I were done, John Barks kissed me soft and sweet on the forehead.
    "I don't believe that," he said. "Not for one second."
    "But I seen it!"
    "I think the One God leaves some things up to us to decide. He shows us a vision, and it's your choice what to do with it." He smiled. "I can tell you what I hope to see next week."
    "What?" I said, trying hard not to cry.
    "This," he whispered.
    It started to rain. John Barks put his coat over us and kissed me on the mouth this time, and oh, not even clockworks could match up to the feeling of that kiss. It made me believe what John Barks said, that we might could change our fates, and I forgot to be afraid.
    "Yes," I said, and I kissed him back.
    I thought about that day while me and the Glory Girls collected the blue nettle, and I thought about it, too, while I extracted them tiny beats of lightning and placed 'em inside the Enigma Apparatus. While I watched them light strands prickle and inch toward the serum inside the glass vial, some new hope stirred in me, too, putting me in mind of Master Crawford's vision, the messenger who would come and liberate us from our time-bounded minds. Maybe the Glory Girls were the ones to set us free. And the Enigma Apparatus were the key. Them thoughts about sliding through past and future come prickling up again, only I didn't push 'em away so fast this time, and the only prayer that left my lips was the word "Please . . ." while I waited for the spark to set things in motion.
    The blue nettle connected with the vial. The serum pulsed inside its cage. The second hand on the clock face ticked. I shouted for the girls to come out quick. Soon, they was crowded 'round me in that workshop while we watched the Enigma Apparatus hum with new life.
    "Girls, I think we've got ourselves a timepiece again," Colleen said.
    I were supposed to have a rendezvous with the chief.
    I missed it.
     
    We tested it on a mail train the next day. It were just a local, steaming across a patch of plains, but it would do for practice.
    "Here goes," Colleen said, and my nerves went to rattling. She bent her arm and aimed the clock face at the train.
    I've had me a few thrills in my sixteen yearn, but seeing the Enigma Apparatus do its work had to be one of