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

Hank wrapped the blankettighter around Steel and himself. The rum was warming from the inside, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The occasional snowflake drifted down from the dark sky and Hank could smell both the winter in the night and the smoke on Steel. Aurora flew peacefully, the steady sounds of the steam filling the balloon almost made him nod off.


“We could always have it like this.” Steel burrowed down a little closer.


“We could always be freezing our arses off on deck?” Hank chuckled and took another swallow from the bottle.


“No.” Steel poked a finger in his middle and Hank wrapped an arm around him. The way Steel melted against his side made some of the fog in his head go away.


“We could always be here, on Aurora, on our way somewhere.”


Chapter 19