“Eh? Oh—Lieutenant Price had an interesting trick to how he let the glamour spool out. Instead of holding it directly, he is, in essence, holding an opening in the ether and letting the motion of the ship draw the glamour out.” Vincent gestured with his right hand. “Shall I show you?”
“Yes, but may I suggest that you not succeed quite so well this time?” Jane tugged her gloves off, intent on having a go herself, once he had shown her the technique.
“Hm? Why not?”
“Because the helmsman seemed astonished by your display. He said that he had not seen anyone go past twelve.”
“Oh. Lieutenant Price said that he knew a fellow who could go to thirty. Mind you, I do not know how. It feels as if it is drawing your breath out with the glamour. I have never been winded so quickly. And the heat! Were it not for the breeze, the heat would have undone me. Here, I will show you.” Vincent extended his hand into the ether.
Jane let her vision shift to the second sight to watch what he did there. He spun his hand so the palm was up. With his thumb and forefinger, he reached forward, as though to pinch a speck of salt, then spread them wide almost like a set of scissors opening. It was not an uncommon motion, but rather than catching a strand of glamour and drawing it forth, he held the gap in the ether open and used his remaining three fingers to guide the glamour that streamed out of the opening. Without that little bit of direction, it would not have retained enough distinctness to be visible. Even so, bits and pieces shattered around his hand in a phosphorescent mist. The stream of rainbow that emerged from his hand spread and diffused almost immediately as it streamed back down the length of the boat.
“I think I have it.” Jane tilted her head and considered whether there were any changes she might make to alter the position of the hands. Attempting a contrariwise Bellinger’s grip might improve it, but only if she could catch hold of the glamour in the first place.
Letting the glamour dissolve, Vincent wiped his brow. “Thank heavens. I had to watch three or four times before I could spot what they were doing.”
“You always say the kindest things.” Though she teased, Jane was secretly pleased that her ability to trace and understand patterns was superior to his. Dipping her hand into the ether, she parted the curtain and let glamour flow out. The effect was as if she were managing a massive fold and spinning it out at enormous speed. Her breath quickened till she was quite panting, but she held on, perversely intent on reaching at least a count of twelve. At a count of six, Jane felt her stomach churn. Perhaps this was not so clever a plan after all. She released the glamour.
“What did you think?”
Jane swallowed back her uneasiness, though it was significantly milder than it had been that morning. “It seemed to require as much exertion as working a large fold at speed. Do you suppose … do you suppose that the glamour itself contains an energy? Might that be what causes the corporeal effects rather than exertion?”
“I had the same thought. Certainly light does, though glamour is composed of only waves, while light consists of both waves and particles.” Vincent leaned against the rail, looking back at the white wake the ship left behind them. “Perhaps it is the friction of the waves? That might account for the unhealthy effects of some of the glamours outside the visible spectrum. Too rough for safety, or some such.”
Jane considered the art involved in managing glamour. It seemed likely that if one were able to do more than produce an oily rainbow, then Napoleon would have found a way to control that power for use during the blockade. The fact that he had not certainly added weight to the old belief that glamour was not possible while at sea. It was simply too difficult to control the relationship of the glamour both to the ether and to one’s own self given the constant motion of a ship. However … if one did not have to maintain the relationship with one’s own body … “I should like to see what happens when we use one of the Verres Obscurcis.”
At the mention of their experiment in glass, Vincent pushed himself away from the rail. “By Jove—yes.”
“Should we make the attempt, so exposed like this?”
Vincent returned to the rail, looking around them. “If it works, then we shall be invisible, and if it does not, then we simply have a ball of glass.”
“And if it works imperfectly?” Jane gestured to the men working around them. There was not a place on board the vessel where they could go and be unobserved, save their own cabin. That was not an option, since the Verre Obscurci required full sunlight to work. “The dining room is unoccupied and, with the skylight, should have enough direct sun to make the experiment.”
“I acknowledge the superiority of your plan.”
“As you should.”