Icebreaker: Chapters 7–11

by Lian Tanner
This first book of The Hidden trilogy is set aboard the ancient icebreaker Oyster, where twelve-year-old Petrel must both use and discard her identity as the Nothing Girl to ensure survival.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–11, Chapters 12–19, Chapters 20–26
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. reconnoiter
    explore, often with a goal of finding something or somebody
    Instead, Missus Slink did a reconnoiter at deck level, and came back with the news that the guard was wide-awake, sitting upright in his chair with his fingers tapping out an uneasy rhythm on his knee.
  2. nimble
    moving quickly and lightly
    But Petrel had learned to climb before she could walk, and she was as nimble as a cockroach.
  3. beckon
    summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture
    “Come on!” she hissed, beckoning to the boy.
  4. indistinguishable
    exactly alike; incapable of being perceived as different
    Even the bratlings of six or seven winters were pulling on their outdoor clothes and climbing the nets to the next deck. Within half a minute, Fin and Petrel were indistinguishable from the folk around them.
  5. conspicuous
    obvious to the eye or mind
    He couldn’t have made himself more conspicuous if he had tried.
  6. prod
    push against gently
    With Petrel prodding and pushing him, he managed to reach the top of the net.
  7. reprisal
    a retaliatory action against an enemy
    Ugly words spun around them, as folk vowed revenge on the intruders. There was even talk of a reprisal attack on the foredeck, despite it being neutral territory, but that was quickly squashed.
  8. trance
    a state resembling deep sleep
    He worked in a trance, pulling the fish up, throwing his line down. Pulling the fish up, throwing his line down.
  9. lurch
    move abruptly
    A fish flapped against his foot. His stomach lurched.
  10. viscous
    having a relatively high resistance to flow
    There was blood too, more than he had realized. It washed around his feet, red and viscous, and he could not escape it.
  11. premonition
    an early warning about a future event
    A bird flashed past, like a premonition of disaster.
  12. stagger
    walk with great difficulty
    “Staggering around the foredeck like a sick penguin.”
  13. scrawl
    write carelessly
    Her fingers were coated with her own blood, and bloody marks on the floor showed where she had scrawled something before dying.
  14. idle
    without a basis in reason or fact
    “Course! There’s no one else knows the ship like I do.”
    It was not an idle boast. Petrel had learned many things in her short life.
  15. counterpart
    a person or thing having the same function as another
    The Dufftown border guards were as absorbed as their Grease Alley counterparts, and Petrel scuttled past them unnoticed.
  16. compelling
    capable of arousing and holding the attention
    As she approached the galley, the smell of fried fish hit her, rich and compelling.
  17. grim
    harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
    Dozens of Cooks hurried back and forth with trolleys and baskets, talking furiously to each other. Dozens more gutted, filleted and fried, their faces grim, their knives flashing.
  18. sliver
    a small thin sharp bit of wood, glass, or metal
    Squid dug in her pocket and handed over a sliver of bone with a hole drilled in one end, and a length of thread spun from seaweed.
  19. ransack
    search thoroughly
    It gave Petrel the shivers to see folk poking into every corner and ransacking lockers and sea chests.
  20. deter
    turn away from as by fear or persuasion
    But he would not let danger deter him, or exhaustion, or the knowledge that nearly everyone on the Oyster thought he was a murderer and was hunting for him.
  21. dilapidated
    in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration
    Everything was strange and dilapidated.
  22. clammy
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    The walls were clammy, the air was foul, and there were machines of one sort or another everywhere the boy looked.
  23. treacherous
    dangerously unstable and unpredictable
    What if they weren’t dead? What if they were about to spring to life and steal his soul? He had heard of such things—the Initiates whispered about them late at night, whispered about the treacherous nature of machines, and how they could catch the unwary and change them forever.
  24. unwary
    not alert to danger or deception
    He had heard of such things—the Initiates whispered about them late at night, whispered about the treacherous nature of machines, and how they could catch the unwary and change them forever.
  25. loathe
    dislike intensely; feel disgust toward
    The boy loathed rats. There were none in the main part of the Citadel, but the punishment hole, which was underground and lightless, swarmed with them. They made him feel sick.
  26. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    The boy felt a fleeting sense of achievement.
  27. wade
    walk through relatively shallow water
    It was like trying to wade through mud—through living mud—and it made the boy whimper in protest.
  28. frenzied
    affected with or marked by mania uncontrolled by reason
    The rats grew more frenzied than ever, until he was sure that they would pull him to the floor and kill him.
  29. flail
    beat hard or give a thrashing to
    He scrabbled at it with one hand, flailing at the rats with the other.
  30. flurry
    a sudden and overwhelming outpouring or amount
    He felt a great flurry of triumph—followed immediately by a disappointment so immense that he wanted to howl.
  31. minion
    a servile or fawning dependent
    He could not yet reach the demon, but he could destroy one of its minions.
  32. reverberation
    an echo
    As he lay there, panting, the steady reverberation of the engines seemed to change, and take on a mocking tone.
  33. profound
    of the greatest intensity; complete
    The darkness was so profound in this part of the ship that he could barely find his own fingertips, but he eventually tripped over an iron device.
  34. seethe
    be in an agitated emotional state
    The whole ship’s in a fizz, and getting worse by the minute. Albie’s seething, Cooks are sharpening their knives, Officers are just about frothing at the mouth.
  35. daft
    foolish or mentally irregular
    I nearly bumped into Crab on the afterdeck. Never seen him acting so daft, washing his hands in the snow over and over again. And it’s all ’cos of you murdering Orca!
  36. subterranean
    lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed
    He tried to recall Brother Thrawn’s voice, but it was drowned out by the subterranean sounds of the ship, the distant scurry of rats and the beating of his own pulse.
  37. muster
    summon up, call forth, or bring together
    He wondered if the imp had cursed him. Or perhaps Petrel had poisoned him. Such a possibility should have filled him with alarm, but for some reason he could not muster the energy to worry about it.
  38. keen
    having or showing interest and intense desire
    “We have to get those answers, don’t we? You were the ones who were so keen. You were the ones who wouldn’t rest till I got ’em.”
  39. dismayed
    struck with fear, dread, or consternation
    “Don’t want sickness on the ship. Throw ’im off before it spreads, that’s my advice.”
    “No!” cried Petrel, dismayed.
  40. spanner
    a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt
    He cried out and clenched that old spanner in his fist and tried to fight back.
Created on Thu Dec 28 12:18:58 EST 2023 (updated Mon Jan 01 15:14:50 EST 2024)

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