The other five held on tight as Matilda swung in the wind. The rope stretched between them, distributing her weight.

“Momentum, girls. Like we practiced. Swing her for momentum and bring her back!”

Anna, who was second to last in line, nodded at her teacher. She began swinging the end of the line. Matilda worked with her, shifting her weight, making the rope swing farther.

Matilda went back and forth, back and forth, until finally she swung up high enough to reach the bottom of the cabin. She stuck her hands and feet up onto the wood and clung there like a cat. Then she quickly scrambled her way to the side wall, joining the others at last.

She trembled a little, as her nerves settled.

Marissa nodded and looked for a door again. She saw one a few feet away and moved toward it, holding onto the side of the cabin. The other girls moved with her, shifting over toward the entrance.

Marissa unlatched the door, grateful to find it unlocked as she had hoped. She put her foot inside, then pulled the rest of herself in. The room was deserted.

Marissa had banked on finding an easy way in by coming down from the middle of the vessel. Closer to the front, near the main passenger section for most airships, would have been riskier. This bet paid off.

The other girls followed her inside. When Matilda crawled through the door, Marissa nodded, and everyone unclipped from the rope. Molly rolled it up and put it back inside her rucksack.

Marissa said, “Shotguns, girls.”

Anna said, “I hate shotguns.”

“Anna! I expect more maturity from you. Please refrain from commenting on our choice of weapons. Or making any other comments, for that matter, in the midst of an operation.”

“Yes, Lady Fisher.”

Anna dutifully pulled out a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun, the Damascus steel gleaming in the dim light. She broke the barrel and loaded it with two rounds of buckshot. The other girls followed suit, clicking the barrels shut once loaded.

“Now remember. The otherworlder taught us the eyes are vulnerable. None of you are good enough shots to take out the eyes with a regular gun. Well, with the exception of Evelyn, perhaps. And maybe Molly. But I doubt the rest of you could hit a gasmask eyehole at twenty paces unless you have a skill I don’t know about. Thus, the shotguns. Remember, get close and blast them in the face. Is that perfectly clear, girls?”

All spoke in unison.

“Yes, Lady Fisher.”

“Very well. Let us proceed to clear this ship of vermin.”

Marissa approached the door to the room holding her own sawed-off shotgun in one hand and pulling the latch with the other.

The door swung open soundlessly and she peered down a hall with windows to the left and doorways to the right.

She moved into the corridor, the girls following close behind.

The first blast is going to alert the whole crew, she thought. Sad, but necessary.

Halfway down the hall, the door in front of her clicked open. A sewer trooper walked out into the corridor and turned to look at her, eyes wide in surprise behind the gasmask’s glass.

Marissa raised the gun in front of his face and pulled both triggers, setting off an enormous boom.

The trooper flew back, his head a bloody pulp, the gas mask obliterated.

“They’re not enhanced, girls. At least, this one was not.”

Doors up and down the hallway clicked open as more and more troopers stuck their heads out in the hall.

“That, at least, is the good news, girls. Prepare yourselves. Use your other guns when the shotguns are depleted.”

Three more shotguns went off in quick succession as the girls blew open sewer trooper heads like melons.

The survivors pulled back in their rooms and slammed shut the doors. Matilda aimed her shotgun at the nearest latch. It roared in response to the trigger pull, and shot ricocheted through the hall.

“Matilda! The entire ship is enhanced. You cannot simply blow open a door.”

“Yes, Lady Fisher.”

“It is probably unlocked. They do not seem to need locks up here. Why would they? Who would come onboard up in the air and attack like this? Use your dynamite, instead. One stick should take care of any unenhanced troopers in that room.”

“Yes, Lady Fisher!”

Matilda’s eyes lit up, pleased to have a chance to use something with which she was actually somewhat decent. She pulled out a stick from her backpack and lit a match, then held it to the fuse.

She reached for the door’s latch and pushed it down . . . but the door would not open.

“Matilda! You should have checked to make sure the door was open first! Must I explain everything in advance?”

“But you said . . .”

Anna pushed her.

“Stand aside, Matilda.”

The larger girls slammed against the door with her shoulder, budging it open a few inches.

“Throw it in! Now!”

Matilda tossed the stick through the crack and Anna pulled the door shut just before a massive explosion ripped through the room.

Smoke blew out from the underneath the door.

Anna raised her eyebrows and turned to Marissa.

She said, “Should we open it and check?”

“There’s no need, dear. Now, let’s carry on. We have more vermin aboard this ship.”

“Yes, Lady Fisher.”