Chapter One
Being called a madwoman is, on the whole, preferable to being burned as a witch.
I looked forward to those occasions when male and female convicts were permitted to exercise at the same time, and I could converse with the man who shot me. Police Officer Dry—Mr Dry, now—and I had plenty in common. We were both born in London, we both earned our sentences, and we were both obsessed with my sweetheart, Matilda Newry.
Skrrr-clang!
The steel doors opened, releasing us into the exercise yard.
‘Has she written to you?’ Dry asked me, narrowing his cold grey eyes. Even with an impending state visit from Queen Victoria, ‘she’ always meant Matilda.
I massaged a length of tin between my fingers, feigning nonchalance. ‘Perhaps.’
He snorted loudly, drawing curious glares from the other convicts shuffling around the dusty rectangle the wardens called a yard. Unfortunately, the magical potential of the tin in my hand had activated the previous evening. It gave my true feelings away with a loudparp of distress.
Dry smirked, winning a point. Tin’s ability to communicate is a great wonder, but it deserves its uncouth reputation: it has no subtlety whatsoever.
From the other side of the yard, my friend Fei Fei rolled her eyes at me. She didn’t understand why I talked with Mr Dry at all. Sometimes, neither did I.
‘Perhaps,’ I said again. ‘Mail is slow throughout Victoria, so it’s entirely possible Matilda has written to me since she went away. Little wonder her letter hasn’t arrived yet, since crime in these parts is out of control.’
Dry raised his eyebrows. ‘You can stand here, at Her Majesty’s pleasure, and blame the police for slow mail? That is hardly fair, Miss Muchamore.’
‘I can hardly give your precious police force credit for catching me, since I appeared as expected at the door of Parliament, along with tens of thousands of signatures on the grand petition for women’s suffrage.’ I suppressed a shiver, remembering how frightened I was that day. ‘And what is more, that impressive battalion of police utterly failed to stop
