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Daring RescueBLANCHE CLIMBED THE STACK STAIRWAY IN A TEMpest of clicks. The metal rang so loud she was certain the whole town had stopped whatever they were doing and were listening to the music.
Thanks to her legs, she got to the top in less than three minutes. The girl wavered, stunned by this strange proximity of the sky. Everything seemed so close, the distant dancers over the mountains, the sea, the plateau…
She found the wires and the gear, but no Lupianne.
She looked over the rim, down in the tower shaft. The two taunt cables fell into endless shadows. Blanche unstrapped the binoculars Sabian had once fixed to one of her shoulder straps. Looking in, she noticed one half ring of light.
The beam was coming from Lupianne’s lamp. Her sister lay unmoving, jammed b
