Clockworks and Corsets Read Online Free PDF

get inside. It’s not just a barrier. It’s a building.”
    “Oh, I see,” Magpie said. “This is the lab.” Poking at the map, she frowned. “I just assumed the little rectangle here would be, well, little.” She dipped her head in submission to the captain.
    “Sorry, Cap.”
    “No harm.” The captain smirked. “Jayne? How can you tell?”
    “Because,” the tinker said, “barricades of this size don’t usually sport conveniently man sized doors.” Jayne hooked a thumb behind her toward the wall.
    Gabriella stared at the spot the tinker pointed out. At first it looked like just another part of the impressive stonework. The more she stared, the more it changed. Soon, she saw what the tinker saw. Beyond the mossy age laid the faint outline of a large door set on wide hinges.
    “Well done,” the captain commended. “Now, do me one better, Jayne. Get us inside.”
    The tinker threw her hand up in salute. “Aye-aye, Captain.”
    Gabriella got a sinking feeling that was easier said than done.

    * * * *
    Rose sat on a rotting trunk, moaning while Click worked her shoulders with his strong hands.
    “So tight, my captain,” he said. “You should relax.”
    “I wish I could,” Rose whispered.
    “I know how to relax you.”
    She shuddered when he feathered the back of her neck with soft kisses. “Not now. We need to find a way in before the sun sets, otherwise we’ll have to trek back to the Widow and the whole day will be a waste.”
    Rose assumed Jayne would have the door opened in moments, but she’d been wrong. When they cleared away the wildlife, there was no handle. The hinges were not only bolted to the stone, they were welded in place. The door bore a strange carving—the open-mouthed face of some kind of demon with a square of marble mounted just below the beast. Although interesting, it was no help in getting the damnable thing open. For the last forty-five minutes, the crew poked, prodded, and pried at the door with no success. Rose was beginning to think they would return to Ruby empty handed. That wouldn’t do. Not at all.
    “Relax, my captain,” Click cooed in his lilting accent. “We shall get in soon enough. You’ll see. You just have to believe we will.”

    “I don’t know, Click.” Rose leaned against him, her shoulders sagging. Fear of failure left her stomach churning as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Click’s silence only enhanced her tension, forcing her to speak again to still her nerves. “I suspect it will take more than just optimism to get us past that door.” Rose glanced in the direction of the hindrance. At the door, a sweaty Jax with a large crowbar was trying her best to best the obstacle.
    “She’s going to pull a muscle like that,” Click whispered.
    “Jax!” Rose shouted. “Give it a rest!”
    Her first mate ignored her, instead groaning while she bore down on the metal bar wedge into the doorframe. The door didn’t even have the decency to at least groan in return.
    “Take a break, Jax!” Rose shouted. “That’s an order!”
    “Yebat!” Jax yelled. She yanked the bar free, hurling it across the clearing.
    Rose’s ears burned at the sound of the foreign curse.
    “Stupid doctor and his stupid ideas!” Jax shouted. “Who makes door no one can use? I ask that!” She stomped away from the impossible task to slump against a boulder.
    Rose looked to the skies.
    “I told you force wouldn’t work,” Jayne said. With a smug smile on her freckled face, the tinker lay down. She stretched her legs across a patch of mossy vines.
    “Then tell us what will,” Magpie said.
    “I told you already—” Jayne started.
    Magpie cut the tinker off in mid-sentence. “Yes, we know. It’s probably some secretive combination lock or puzzle.”
    “Jayne,” Rose said. “I appreciate that you, out of all of us, understand how Doctor Loquacious’s mind worked. We have yet to see any signs of a puzzle.”
    “Not true,” Jayne said. “That beast