Hogwash.

Everything had turned into barking hogwash.

Normally Deryn would be spending her mornings doing something useful, such as feeding the bats or climbing topside to check on the rigging, but that wasn't the case any longer. Now, she would be using this time to prepare and deliver breakfast for the Count. Barking awful hogwash indeed.

She snapped at the cook to hurry up and be careful not to burn the bacon. Last time Volger had complained and sent her back to retrieve another helping. She had gratefully done so, and then spit in his eggs. That ended with her sporting a nasty bruise on the rump from a smack with the fencing saber. It made matters even worse when the man who you delivered breakfast to was also your new fencing instructor and a damn clever boots as well.

When the bacon was finished and the eggs cooked perfectly, Deryn snatched up the breakfast tray and stomped off toward the Wildcount's quarters. Besides being downgraded to wait staff, she had also lost her best companion on the ship. Only yesterday she had spoken to Alek for the last time ever before he escaped into Istanbul and out of her life. She remembered their conversation clearly.

"I think…..I think I'm in love!" Alek had said.

"What? I mean, I was going to tell you, but you must have figured it out on your own." She had answered daftly, honestly hoping that he had been talking about her.

"Huh?"

"You said you were….um…in love?"

"YES! I think I'm in love with this ship! I've become enamored with the Leviathan, Dylan, I just couldn't possibly leave now." Hogwash, all hogwash. Not only had Alek completely broken her heart, but he had left the Leviathan anyways despite what he had said. And to top it all off, Volger was still here, teaching her to fence and rubbing it in her face every minute of it.

When she reached the Count's room she knocked on the door harshly and waited for a response. There wasn't one.

"Oye, Mr. Count, I'm back. Your favorite person ever! And believe it or not I brought you yer breakfast again!"

No answer. Deryn frowned and put her ear to the door to get a better listen. Could the man be still asleep?

"….absolutely not! I don't care what newspaper you are writing for, I am not giving you any answers! Please leave my room immediately before I get even angrier!" Came Volger's voice. It was quiet but harsh.

"Please sir, just a moment of your time. All I need is just a few short…." Said another voice that Deryn didn't recognize.

"GET OUT!" Volger yelled. Deryn jumped back from the door as it was shoved open and a disgruntled looking man fell into her.

"Blisters!" Deryn swore. The tray had been bumped out of her arms and all the food scattered across the floor. The man who had bumped into her stood up and began to rearrange his clothes.

"Terribly sorry sir." He said in a funny accent, "I didn't expect to bump into you like that, but I also didn't expect to be pushed." He turned and gave Volger a nasty glare.

"Ignore him," Volger growled, "He's nothing more than a midshipman with an identity crisis."

Deryn blanched. "WHA?" She fumbled to stand up. "What on Earth are you blethering about now?" She demanded.

Volger scowled. "Nothing that has anything to do with you. So if you wouldn't mind, please escort this gentleman out of my sight!"

"Wait one second." The other man said. He held out his hand for Deryn to shake. She didn't take it so he instead grabbed an object from his jacket and put it on his shoulder. When she looked closer she realized it was some sort of fabricated frog. Funny, wasn't Istanbul a Clanker city?

"I'm Eddie Malone." The man grinned. "I'm a journalist for the New York Post and I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me."

New York? So this strange man was American, which explained the accent. Deryn eyed him suspiciously and looked at Volger. The Count didn't do anything to stop her from talking, but he didn't look keen about it either.

"Right, fine." She answered. "What do you want?"

Malone grinned at her. "I met the strangest character today, a young boy about the same age as you, said he had a message for someone onboard the Leviathan. He wanted me to deliver it to this Count fellow, which I did. Something about escaping from the ship and hiding. You wouldn't happen to know this certain boy, would you?"

Of course he was talking about Alek. "No, never seen him." She said. But the answer didn't seem to appeal to the young reporter.

"Really? That's funny, because he mentioned you."

WHAT? That barking Clanker Prince! She thought. How much of an idiot are you, Alek?

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, I remember it now. He said he had a friend on board that was a midshipman; a blond skinny fellow with a Scottish accent."

"Yes, what of it?" She glared.

"Well, your Count friend didn't seem at all interested in helping this boy, so maybe you would be? He seems to be in some sort of trouble involving anarchy and would like for some assistance."

That didn't sound good. "What happened?" She asked the American, but the man only shrugged.

"The Count asked me the same thing, but I'm afraid I can't tell you anything until you answer my questions." As soon as he said this, Volger snapped at him.

"You won't be getting any answers! So please LEAVE!" He looked like he was about to shove the man again but Deryn spoke up in order to stop him.

"Hang on a squick! If Alek's in danger we need to know what's going on!" She turned to Malone, "What do you want to know?"

The man was about to open his mouth when Volger interrupted him loudly.

"NO!"

"If the midshipman…."

"NO!"

"He obviously cares about his friend's…"

"I said NO!"

Deryn was shaking in her boots. Was Volger that stubborn that he couldn't give up a few tidbits of information in order to save Alek?

"Barking spiders, Volger, do you care about Alek at all! First you kick him off the ship while you sit here being pampered, and then you abandon him after he sends you a message for help! Blisters! The poor boy just had his parents killed and you send him out into a bloody foreign country by himself! I can't believe you!"

There was a long pause and Deryn slapped her hand over her mouth, suddenly realizing how high her voice had become in that last outrage. Volger's face was puffing up in anger and Malone had pulled out a pen and pad to scribble something down.

"Fascinating, so this Alek fellow is an orphan. Care to elaborate?"

Nobody said anything for a second until Volger pulled himself across the hall and began pointing at Deryn in the chest.

"Clearly I misjudged you, Mr. Sharp!" The way he said 'Mr.' had a slight sarcastic tone. "I didn't think you would know so much about Alek."

Even more humiliated now, Deryn realized she had said way too much.

"Very interesting." Said the reporter. "Was the midshipman not supposed to know that?"

Deryn suddenly found herself sucking in her breath and raising her chin. This reporter knew things about Alek that she needed to find out. If Volger was just going to stand there and not do anything, then it was up to her to answer the man's questions.

"No, Alek told me that bit of information in confidence. He also…."

But Volger drowned her out with his louder male voice.

"You seem to be very good at spilling secrets, Mr. Sharp. In that case, perhaps I could discharge your little secret as well?" He was grinning. Malone stepped an inch closer widened his eyes.

"HOW? I mean….what in the blazes are you talking about? I don't have any secrets!" Deryn cried. Volger just grinned wider, realizing he had her caught.

"I don't know how I didn't see it sooner, but the clues have been stronger as of late. Your fencing lessons have been quite revealing, something in the way you stand. And your outbursts about Alek have been most interesting."

She felt her face go cold. The barking Count had figured her out. It was all over now.

"I'm sure that the Captain would be intrigued by such information, and I would be happy to share it with him. That is, if you don't keep your mouth shut presently, Mr. Sharp." Volger purred.

So he was blackmailing her. If she said anything else about Alek to the reporter then her secret would be blown.

"I happen to be very interested in any form of secret." Said Malone. "If you could share that instead of other information, I'm sure I could give you the whereabouts of a certain young boy."

So Malone was willing to take her secret instead of Alek's? That seemed like a bizarre thing to say. But Deryn found that she didn't really have much choice in the matter. She needed to find Alek if he was in trouble. If Volger wasn't going to cooperate, then she was going to have to instead. She turned to face the American reporter before speaking again.

"I'm a girl." She said firmly.

Malone gave her a toothy smile. "Marvelous!" He said. Volger was giving Deryn a shocked but pleased expression.

Goodbye Airship. She thought as he life turned to more hogwash then ever before.