Deck the Cogs

By Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

A Christmas collection from the steampunk world of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. Action intrigue and the spirit of the season...

A Christmas to Die for by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

Even an assassin must go home for Christmas.
Sophia del Morte, skilled spy-for-hire, now faces the most formidable of opponents: family. It is the closing of the year, after all; and the lethal Italian beauty returns to her home village for wine, food, and memories.
As this is the del Morte family, Sophia tries to brace herself for awkward talk at the dinner table, and perhaps a touch of intrigue.

Home Alone for the Holidays by Tee Morris

Wellington Thornhill Books of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences has quite a remarkable cat in Archimedes—but he doesn't know it. Left alone in the house over the holidays, Archimedes finds he must defend it from agents from the Department of Imperial Inconveniences.

In the Spirit of Christmas by Tee Morris

It’s Christmas Eve, and Wellington and Eliza investigate an incredible haunting in the heart of London. What looks to be a job well done in the end quickly becomes a lump of coal in their stockings when their client takes some offense...

Merry Christmas, Verity Fitzroy by Pip Ballantine

It's Christmas Eve, and Verity Fitzroy finds herself distracted from her duties with the Ministry Seven. When she endangers her fellow urchins, she begins to question her role in their life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ImagineThat Studios
• Release date: Dec 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370896622

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.

Book preview

Deck the Cogs

DECK THE COGS

A Steampunk Christmas Collection

PIP BALLANTINE

TEE MORRIS

Published by Imagine That! Studios 2017

Copyright © 2013 by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

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 AND TEE

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series

Phoenix Rising

The Janus Affair

Dawn’s Early Light

The Diamond Conspiracy

The Ghost Rebellion

Operation Endgame

Verity Fitzroy and the Ministry Seven

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 as Philippa 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

CONTENTS

A Christmas to Die for

In the Spirit of Christmas

Home Alone for the Holidays

Merry Christmas, Verity Fitzroy

About the Authors

A CHRISTMAS TO DIE FOR

BY PIP BALLANTINE & TEE MORRIS

Siena, Italy

December, 1894

Even an assassin must go home for Christmas.

Sophia del Morte was not smiling when she stepped down onto the airship's gangway, and looked around at the swells of people within the aeroport; some embracing one another in delight while others familiar counterparts greeted one another in a distinctly chilly manner. There was no need to take survey of the tiny travel centre as Sophia knew it intimately. It was packed with a crowd of bustling travellers, but considering the time of year, this was to be expected.

A quick hairpin into the nape of the neck of those plodding in front of her would move things along, but such initiative would not win Nonna’s approval. The matriarch of the del Morte family did not appreciate attracting such attention this close to the family village. Nonna's wrath was not something even Sophia wanted to face.

The town of Siena was pretty, with its caramel coloured buildings, rooftops sprinkled with snow, and the elegant Torre del Mangia towering above the Piazza del Campo, but it was not her final destination. This was merely a waypoint before reaching Monteriggioni, because this was as close as conventional transportation could get her. Her Nonna and relatives would not allow anything as dangerous as an airship to get close to their mountain village. This insistence was well known amongst the local provinces, so much in fact the local government agreed to designate the aerospace above Monteriggioni a no-fly zone. It was safer that way.

In light of this, Sophia now faced a day of horseback riding, cross-country to reach Monteriggioni; nothing like an hour testing her thighs’ endurance to get into the Christmas spirit.

Picking up her small valise, she strode towards the exit leading to the main street, the pending holiday with her family turning over and over in her head. She kept her hat tilted at a ridiculous angle so it obscured most of her face, but the concealed occulars in the rim allowed her to have proper peripheral vision of the street. It would be most humiliating to be caught unawares so close to her birthplace.

However, to the citizens of Siena she was only a woman in a stylish green dress. Much as it was in the travel centre, there was a throng of people outside. The majority were returning locals like herself, meandering and milling about. This made Sophia's journey to the local stables particularly frustrating, because there another crowd had gathered. More waiting. Lovely.

So she stood in the chill with the rest of the rabble, waiting for her turn to find a suitable horse for the final leg of her journey.

Sophia! the voice behind her called.

She spun on her heel, her hand already pulling free her muff pistol, but the grip on its handle immediately slackened.

Mio dio, she swore inwardly. Why me?

Ortensia. Sophia had been delayed so late in leaving London that she would be arriving with Ortensia.

The black sheep of the family trotted towards her with a smile so merry and bright, it turned the heads of the men around her. Ortensia had the same dark beauty all women of the del Morte family claimed as their own, even though she did not claim that surname. Unlike the rest of Sophia's family, her cousin Ortensia was not an assassin, a spy, or even a bounty hunter. With the name of their village as her surname, she had undertaken the honourable profession of surgeon in Vienna. Thankfully, Sophia only had to see her once a year and could easily avoid her company at this once-a-year-test-of-mettle commonly known as Christmas.

However it appeared, this year would not be as Sophia preferred—a solo journey.

Sophia! Ortensia trumpeted again, sending unsuspecting travellers to the ground as she parted the crowd through brute force to wrapped her arms around her cousin. Ortensia smelt of bleach and roses. Her cousin had obviously tried to cover up the odour of her profession in completely the wrong way.

Ortensia,