The Vagrant (The Vagrant, #1)

by Peter Newman

The Bonewings appear to hang in the air as the world turns beneath them. Wonderland approaches, brightly lit, vibrant. Towers race each other to the stars, rendering a chaotic skyline. Necrotic pipes line the high ceilings. As the Bonewings approach a number of them lift up, like antennae, sphincters opening, gaping and splitting into four petal fingers, ready to accommodate the silent gliders. Bonewings and pipes meet, one sheathing itself in the other. Rejoined. Wisps of essence detach themselves from the Bonewings, rushing through the pipes. Before a bird can blink they shoot through the ridged tunnels, across the roof, slipping within walls, and down again, beyond the cracked paving stones, into the bowels of the city, streaking to its centre, its beating heart, their mother, the Uncivil.