24Adeline had her arms folded over the rim of the basket, her hair slipping across her gaze in the wind. The Balloonist was beside her, sitting on a trunk, looking out from under her hat brim into the night. She grasped the ropes in her hand lightly as though reigning in the creature that allowed them to fly.
Dmitri and Alexei were tucked in a corner of the apparatus, covered in a thick green blanket. They were sitting quietly, wide-eyed with amazement. Their hands were clasped, and they exchanged kisses back and forth when they thought no one was watching.
“Tell me about yourselves,” the Balloonist chirped suddenly.
“We are sort of . . . priests. Believe it or not,” Dmitri offered.
“And . . . you’re a nun?” she tried toward Adeline.
“No,” the woman laughed. The noise rang out like a
