“Drink…” She passed him the flask, and then poured a glass of water as well for good measure.
“We must be precise,” Burnside said once his coughing fit had subsided.
“And we have little time to plan,” Zani lamented. The clouds were already gathering. “It must have happened during the storm. Or it will happen during the storm. I don’t even know how to talk about time with you, Burnside.”
“Welcome to my world.” The old man smiled. “Let’s just say ‘it happens when the storm comes.’”
“Right, so we will know it’s time to port down to the train when the storm comes.”
“If only we had a way tofreezetime. Slip in through a crack. But I’m afraid that’s beyond my abilities.” Burnside sipped a bit of the water and made a face. He added some of his porting juice to the glass and seemed more satisfied.
“Shouldn’t you eat something?” Zani asked.
“No, dear, I’m fine.” He shook his head. He coughed and drank again. He didn’t seem intoxicated, but Zani was concerned by how frequently the old man was slugging from his flask. It didn’t seem right. Burnside brushed a bit of dust off the steering console and Zani sneezed.
This jogged her memory.
“Burnside, what was that you said about freezing time just now?”
“It’s an interesting idea,” Burnside said. “But not one that I’ve ever been able to achieve. Porters are all about motion. We can go forward and backward, to and fro, but we’re hopeless at standing still, I’m afraid.”
“If only there were an invention that helped with that.” Zani grinned. “Something that gave you, say, two extra minutes to throw on some clothes so you don’t answer the door in your robe. Or just enough time to tidy up the kitchen sink before your fastidious relative comes for tea?”
“Yes! It would be so helpful!” Burnside enthused.
“I actually have something like that. Something for just such an occasion.” Zani reached into her bag, feeling around till she felt the small, furry clump of fuzz she was looking for. When she pinched off a piece, the lump squealed in protest. But Zani didn’t feel all that bad. She knew there was plenty more where that came from.
“Ta da!” She held out her hand, displaying the pinch of indeterminate gray fluff.
Burnside stared at the loose collection of hair, fragments, flakes, and particles in her hand dubiously. “You’re trying to tell me that adust bunnyhas the ability to freeze time?”
“Dust bunny?” Zani laughed. “This is no ordinary dust bunny. I hope you know how hard its creators are to capture. I’m quite fortunate to have one living in here.” She patted her bag protectively.
“Okay, I’ll bite. What exactly is that stuff?” Burnside squinted at the gray blob.
“Nobody knows. That’s part of its mystery. The man who gave me my pet liminal told me it may produce fluff that contains cat dander, pollen, pizza crumbs, and laundry lint. It’s impossible to perfectly recreate the stuff in a lab or witch’s kitchen. It’s just one of those things that generates spontaneously in nature, and only in nature. Once you study liminals too closely, they disappear and show up somewhere else. It’s enough to drive you mad.”
“We’re talking about ordinary household dirt?” Burnside still looked like he still needed some convincing.
“No, Burnside.” Zani sighed. “What I’m holding onto here is a pinch ofLiminal Lint.From a pet liminal. It’s not like normal dirt. This stuff is magical. It shows up ten seconds after you’ve just finished cleaning. It replenishes itself against all odds, even if you’re bald, have ten air filters, and don’t own a cat. Obviously, the only way it gets in and accumulates like it does is through some sort of cosmic crack in the timeline.”
“Some clever witch figured that out?” Burnside marveled. “Good on her!”
Zani just shrugged.
“If you know the right incantation, and sprinkle a pinch on your own head, you can use it to buy a few minutes to straighten things up. The trick,” Zani pointed out, “is not sneezing.”
“That actually works?” Burnside was impressed. “For how long?”
“Not for very long, I’m afraid. The carny who gave it to me at the street fair said it can work for up to five minutes, but I’ve only ever gotten three from it in trials. That’s all we really need, though, right?”
“I don’t know. How quickly can you undo and redo the wards?” Burnside asked.
“Sixty seconds, tops,” Zani calculated. “I’ll need a minute and a half if I’m entering the cabin and opening the case. Two minutes tops, in, out, and heading to the next train car.” She considered Burnside for a moment and amended her guess. “Maybe three.”
“I can’t wait to see that!” Burnside rubbed his hands together.
“So what I propose is this …” Zani spelled out a more detailed plan to the porter. “We port into the car behind mine. I’ll wait till the lightning begins. That should give us just enough time to steal back the stone, retreat to the next car, and port back to the airship, no?
