There is still magic to be found. Even in the bleakest of places.<br><br>Hank Goodenough has spent his entire life in the smoggy streets of London trying to keep his head down and not to get noticed. Not an easy feat when you’re the tallest one in the room and have a brass funnel protruding from your head. When he finds himself laid off work once again, his dad wants to drag him away on a crazy quest. Before he can figure out how to get out of it, he finds himself on a steam-driven airship in search of Odin, the old Norse God, and is sharing a room with Captain Elazar Steel, a man strutting around on one high-heeled boot and one peg leg.<br><br>Steel doesn’t care that the winks, smiles, and small touches he and Hank share might get them hanged once they land on the ground again. He is determined to show Hank there is magic in the world and that there is no better place to be than on his balloon ship steering towards the Arctic Circle.

Eight Feet of Magic

He did the best he could, tugged at it with all the force he dared to make sure it would stay in place; then he started to descend. Not until the deck was firmly under his feet did he hear Steel babbling.


“Well done, it looked great. Now do the other before you collapse.”


Hank nodded. He was ready to collapse, but Steel was right. He needed to get it done. It was easier the second time. He simply climbed, clung to the rope ladder when the wind tore at him and told himself he was safe. The howling of the storm was deafening, and the cold made his face burn in protest. When his fingers went numb he had a moment of panic, a scream bounced around in his skull, but he continued to climb.


With the second line secured he started to descend when suddenly the ship lurched. He lost the grip he had with his right hand on the rope ladder. His foot slipped on the rung, going through the hole.


Chapter 15