The Precarious Child

By Pip Ballantine

The street urchins that will one day be called the Ministry Seven, have a task from Agent Harrison Thorne. It seems simple enough, however their leader Miss Verity Fitzroy discovers that a surprise from her past is tangled up with this mysterious man which leads to a very precarious situation.

Tales from the Archives are short stories set in the world of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. They explore events mentioned in the novels, characters seen and unseen and may include novel teasers of things to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ImagineThat Studios
• Release date: Jan 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465837349

Pip Ballantine

Born in New Zealand, Philippa (Pip) Ballantine has always had her head in a book. A corporate librarian for thirteen years, she has a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and Information Science. She is New Zealand's first podcast novelist and has produced four podiobooks. Many of these have been shortlisted for the Parsec Awards, and she has won a Sir Julius Vogel Award. She is also the author of Geist and the soon-to-be-published Spectyr. While New Zealand calls, currently Philippa calls America home.

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The Precarious Child

The Precarious Child

PIP BALLANTINE

Published by Imagine That! Studios 2012

Copyright © 2012 by Pip Ballantine

Interior Layout by Imagine That! Studios

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental. Any actual places, products or events mentioned are used in a purely fictitious manner.

Also from Pip Ballantine

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series (with Tee Morris)

Phoenix Rising

The Janus Affair

Dawn’s Early Light

The Diamond Conspiracy

The Ghost Rebellion

Operation Endgame

Verity Fitzroy and the Ministry Seven (with Tee Morris)

The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh

The Mystery of Emerald Flame

The Secret of the Monkey God

Steampunk Anthologies

The Books and Braun Dossier

Magical Mechanications

Ministry Protocol: Thrilling Tales from the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences

From Pip Ballantine

Books of the Order

Geist

Spectyr

Wrayth

Harbinger

The Chronicles of Art

Chasing the Bard

Digital Magic

The Shifted World

Hunter and Fox

Kindred and Wings

Hanging by her fingertips from a balcony, was not the situation Verity Fitzroy’s father would have hoped his daughter to be in. She knew that and was a little sorry, knowing that he would have been disappointed.

He’d taught Verity about the importance of three points of contact when climbing walls, the proper way of dispatching vipers, and the most efficient method of riding at speed. In fact,