The Pinocchio Factor

Oliver Twist takes up the tale of the company's adventures after "the Battle of the Bronze Cascade." Can he trust Spring-heeled Jack when so many strange things happen each time he comes around? Costume balls conceal more than the faces of the wealthy and powerful. Trevor Newsome disappears just days before the election but they can't search for him from the London Lockup. When the trip to Switzerland finally becomes a reality, it's for a funeral, not for a wedding. They begin to learn about quests for power and immortality. In Switzerland they see different kinds of worship of very different kinds of men with terrifying and tragic consequences. And when Long John Silver arrives, Oliver has to do some fast thinking to protect more than just his own life from the pirate who says he only cares about rescuing his daughter. "Twist Look out " I spun and swung wildly as the crack of a Colt revolver split the air. Sluefoot Sue had both her firearms out and was shooting at something below me. To my astonishment tentacles rose out of the Thames and wrapped themselves around the Catfish. Each time one of Sue's bullets struck them they disappeared under the water again, but when she paused to reload they re-emerged and began to reach for me, climbing the Catfish sub. I hastily winched myself over toward the dock but a tentacle grabbed hold of my leg just as I started to set myself down. It flung me down on the dock and started dragging me to the edge. "Hey, boss lady " Dobbs, Sue's assistant, hollered out from inside the workshop. I was just able to see a pump-action shotgun cartwheel through the air and land in Sue's gloved hands. Just before it began to blast me deaf, I realized that it was in fact no ordinary shotgun, rather had some sort of gattling action, and a bit more. I hoped I would get a better look at it rather than end up 20,000 leagues under in some sea monster's maw.