Clockwork Twist : Missing (18 page)

“Right,” Twist said, swallowing the sudden wave of amazement at the strangeness of his own plan. “Myra, darling, if you would,” he said, gesturing for her to take the lead.

Twist realized quickly that it felt very strange to walk beside Myra without holding her hand in any way. He and Myra walked separately back to the tree and the reading satyr, while Kali padded along beside them. Myra stopped before the satyr, cleared her throat, and waited for him to look up at her. He then glanced at Kali with some interest.

“Hello,” she said brightly. “I forgot to mention it earlier, but I’m not exactly human.”

The satyr looked at her as if searching for something new in her face. “No, you’re not, are you?” he toned thoughtfully.

“Can my tiger and I come in?” she asked pleasantly. Twist shifted on his feet, but the satyr paid him no mind.

“You two?” he asked, already getting to his hoofed feet and putting his book on the stump. “Sure, you can come in.”

He then reached up to one of the protruding knots in the textured bark of the tree. Instantly, a large and previously invisible door swung inward into a hollow, dark space. Twist couldn’t see the back of the tree inside the darkness. It seemed to his eye as if the space inside the tree was much larger than the tree itself. There were, however, a set of stone steps leading down and deep sounds muffled by distance coming up. Almost instantly, a small, glowing ball of golden light flew up the stairs to hang in the air over the threshold.

“Oh, a pixie!” Myra gasped in a bright, delighted squeal.

“Be careful,” the satyr said, taking his seat again. “It steals shiny things.”

The glowing ball of light gave a bell-like but angry-sounding tone, though Twist could catch nothing even close to the sound of a word in it. Myra giggled softly but stepped forward with Kali toward the stairs.

“Just remember,” the satyr said over his shoulder, as he opened his book, “that’s neutral ground down there. No violence, deal making, or selling of favors,” he added with a listless wave of his hand.

Myra nodded, appearing to understand. Twist followed beside her while the pixie lit their way into the darkness.

Twist stood frozen on the last landing, a mere twenty more steps from the bottom, while his senses were violently assaulted. The cavern was unimaginably huge, and the rocky roof was hidden in shadow. The floor, however, was filled with creatures unlike anything he had ever seen; they all fit the description of the word “monster” quite well. Ten-foot-tall things that could only be trolls, small, knobby goblins, scale-covered dragons of all sizes and shapes, eagle-winged and lion-headed gryphons, and even a few centaurs and satyrs mingled among impossibly beautiful humans—or things that looked like humans—on a sweeping and crowded dance floor. Clustered tables of various heights and sizes rimmed the sides of the dance floor, where creatures drank glowing, colorful liquids from glasses and bowls.

There was a stage at the far end where a small band—lead by a screaming, or possibly singing, bull-headed minotaur—created the most aggressive, rhythmic, and oddly melodic sound Twist had ever heard. Pixies danced above the others, flashing brightly in the air and filling the darkness with shattered, colorful light. Twist had read Dante’s
Inferno
once, and he now wondered if Dante had come here to take notes. Myra tugged at Twist’s sleeve, drawing his tormented attention. She pointed to one of the tables off to the side.

Seated there with what looked like a Japanese man and a giraffe with flaming whiskers, was Vane. He looked exactly as he had the last time Twist had seen him, complete with the furry, white-tipped black tail hanging from the back of his purple tunic. Now that Twist saw him again, he realized that Vane’s dress was a simplified version of the fashions he’d seen in Tokyo. His pale, angular face reminded Twist of the Japanese people he’d seen on the streets outside. But even so, the slightly too long and pointed ears and nose, the empty and endless black eyes, and the furry black hair all seemed make him appear oddly inhuman. The tail, of course, didn’t help at all.

Twist and Myra carefully made their way closer, while Kali prowled along with them. None of the things around them seemed to pay any attention to them at all, as they shouted along with the band and danced to the strong beat. To Twist’s relief, the noise seemed to deaden somewhat near the table, allowing them to hear Vane speaking as they walked up.

“Then I just had to tell her,” he was saying in his usual accent that Twist now recognized as lightly Japanese. “Darling, it’s only marmalade!” he finished leadingly, with a wide grin.

The other two at the table broke into laughter instantly. Then the giraffe with flaming whiskers caught sight of Twist and Myra. It also seemed to have very pointed horns rising from just in front of its ears, and a full beard of white fur.

“What’s this?” it asked with an accent that reminded Twist of China. “What’s a human doing in here?”

“Twist!” Vane gasped, seeing him. His face split into a wide grin. “And Myra too! What the devil are you doing in Japan?”

“Hello, Vane,” Twist said, trying to ignore the fact that the giraffe had spoken. He caught Vane’s gaze with an intent look. “Jonas is in trouble.”

Vane put on a balking expression. Twist braced himself to hear his response.

“When
isn’t
Jonas in trouble?” Vane asked with a sigh. Twist stepped closer in his eagerness and put a hand on the unused armrest of Vane’s chair.

“You remember him?” he asked, almost breathless with shock.

Vane’s eyes lidded over slightly as a sly smile took place on his lips. “You always seem to carry a lingering scent of ozone, Twist. Not that I mind, of course,” he added with a purr to his voice. “It’s a rather fascinating idiosyncrasy.”

Twist backed away and shot him a glare. Kali gave a low, threatening growl, her brown eyes locked on Vane. He jumped in surprise at seeing her.

“Holy hell!” he gasped. “Is that a tiger? Where the hell did you get a tiger?” he asked Twist accusingly.

“Actually,” the man seated at the table said, staring at Kali, “that’s a familiar.” He then glanced up at Twist. “And it’s not his.”

“Vane,” Twist said sternly. “Do you still know who Jonas is?”

“Do you mean, besides being a quite attractive but rather disturbed little sky pirate?” he asked back, keeping his eyes on Kali. “Does your tiger understand English? I don’t taste good!” he said very clearly to Kali. Kali gave another low growl and bared her teeth at him.

“Wait, wait,” Twist said, putting out a hand to calm Kali. “But you remember him?”

Vane looked to Twist with a frown. “What are you on about? I just saw you two lovebirds in the Caribbean, not long ago. How bad do you think my memory is?”

“Storm was right!” Myra said brightly to Twist. Somewhere behind him, Twist could hear more yelling as the “song” came to a close. Twist refused to let any distractions catch him.

“Look, I think he’s been taken by a dragon,” Twist said to Vane. “The beast wants to take him to Jupiter. No one else remembers him. Just you, Storm, and I.”

Vane listened and then turned to the man sitting beside him. “Kaz-chan, this Jonas he’s talking about is nothing like a princess. Why would your people take him?”

“I told you not to call me that,” the man said with a sigh and a clear but somehow non-British-sounding accent.

“Fine, ‘Kazan,’ then,” Vane said with a sigh. “But really, what would you dragons want with some random bloke?”

Twist snapped his eyes to the man sitting across the table from Vane. With all of distractions in the noisy cavern, Twist hadn’t actually looked at him. Now he couldn’t believe he’d missed the fact that the man’s eyes were orange and that his short hair was a vibrant blue. Twist’s mind flashed back to the man who had startled him in the tea shop and then stolen Jonas away with a touch.

This man had the same strange, intimidating energy playing in his orange eyes. He too appeared tall, well built, and imposing, and somehow also quite arresting. Looking at him now, Twist’s heart once again leaped into high speed with pure, unidentifiable fear. Unlike the man with silver hair, this one looked Japanese to Twist’s eye and was dressed in deep-blue silks not unlike the style that Vane wore.

“I haven’t the foggiest,” Kazan answered Vane with a shrug.

“They need his Sight,” Twist said, forcing his words out on shallow breaths. He gripped his will and tore his eyes away from Kazan to look at Vane. “They want to go to one of Jupiter’s moons. They need him to guide the ship.”

“Clever,” Vane said with a nod. “Jonas’s Sight could do that easy.”

“We have to save him!” Twist spat angrily at Vane. Vane gave Twist a reproachful look. “They aren’t coming back to Earth for a hundred years! I know you’re immortal, but Jonas isn’t.”

“Wait a moment,” Kazan said, leaning across the table toward Twist. “You’re human, right?” he asked, looking Twist up and down with his orange eyes.

“Yes, it is,” the giraffe said before leaning down to lap at the glowing red liquid in its bowl. “I’d know that smell anywhere.” Twist gave the giraffe a cold look, wishing dearly that it would stop talking. There was already plenty of bizarre in the room without a talking giraffe.

“Then how do you know your friend is even missing?” Kazan asked Twist. “If he’s been taken by my people, then you shouldn’t remember him at all.”

“I didn’t forget about him when everyone else did.” Twist tried to look into those orange eyes coolly, but he could feel his untamed fear clamoring in to fill his own eyes. Kazan, however, didn’t seem at all affected by Twist’s fear. Twist almost wondered if the dragon expected it.

“I thought that didn’t happen,” Vane said, frowning at Kazan. “I mean, I’m not human, so naturally the spell wouldn’t work on me. But how can Twist fight it?”

“He can’t,” Kazan said, looking at Twist like a mildly challenging puzzle. “How did you get in here, anyway? Humans aren’t allowed.”

“The doorman couldn’t see me,” Twist said with a forced shrug, trying desperately to calm his heart as he held that orange gaze.

Kazan’s fine black eyebrows rose on his face. “Fae can’t see you? Since when?”

“I don’t know,” Twist said, shaking his head. “Someone told me that I’ve been charmed, or some such. I don’t understand anything about it.” He tried again to look back to Vane, but Kazan spoke again before he could.

“How old are you?” Kazan asked.

“What?” Twist balked. He was only vaguely aware that everyone else at the table was now watching the conversation with great interest.

“When were you born?” Kazan pressed impatiently.

“I don’t know. Why is that important?”

Kazan’s eyes sharpened with annoyance. Twist took a deep breath while the band on the stage growled into another song. As Kazan stared into him, Twist felt the answer suddenly voice itself without his express permission.

“I never knew my parents. I was left at an orphanage as a baby. I don’t know when I was born.”

“Good…” Kazan purred, as if to himself. “But you must have a year, at least,” he said to Twist with an encouraging gesture.

Twist shook his head, trying to think of anything. “Late 1852, maybe.”

Kazan’s eyes flitted down to the watch chain that hung from Twist’s pocket. “Do you have a small, handmade, brass pocket watch with the image of a sun engraved on it?”

Twist felt terror wriggle up his spine with Kazan’s words. “How the hell do you know something like that? Who are you?” he snapped, his fear shifting to anger quickly.

Kazan’s face softened into a smile as he leaned back, looking at Twist as if in a new light. Twist suddenly wished he’d never stepped into this bizarre club. Surely Vane’s help wasn’t useful enough to warrant this unsettling conversation.

“Oh, this is brilliant,” Kazan purred happily. “You said this friend of yours has a Sight. And so do you, of course. But your two Sights don’t work on each other. Or, if they do, it’s not in the normal way. Either way, your Sight responds to his in a totally unique way, as his does to yours. That’s why you still remember him. Your Sight blocked the spell.”

Twist stared at the man with orange eyes, from the deepest level of bewilderment. “How…?” was all he managed to voice in response.

Kazan turned to Vane with a smile and growing excitement. “This is fantastic. Take these two and their tiger back to the inn. I’ll…I’ll go and talk to some friends of mine and see what I can do,” he said, as if still forming the plan as he spoke. “I’ll meet you at the inn.”

“Wait, what’s happening?” Vane asked, staring at his friend in nearly as much confusion as Twist. “Are you going to help get Jonas back?” he asked, as if astonished by the idea. “Why?”

“I’ll explain later,” Kazan said, already getting to his feet. “Just take them to the inn, Vane.” He paused. “Actually, it might take me a little while to get back to you. Keep him there until nightfall, at least. Don’t lose him,” he added, with one more pleased look to Twist.

“They’re human!” the giraffe said with a scoffing tone. “What do you care?”

“I’ll see you later,” was all Kazan gave as response to the talking giraffe.

He stepped around the table quickly and moved in close beside Twist. Kali gave a growl, while Twist backed away a step, but Kazan didn’t seem to notice. He leaned close nonetheless and took a hefty sniff of the air around Twist. Twist stared at him in shock while his heart thundered in his chest. Every inch of his soul screamed at him to run, but confusion kept his feet locked in place. Kazan flashed him a razor-edged, orange smile, and then hurried off to disappear into the crowd on the dance floor.

Twist looked to Vane for some kind of explanation, but found nothing but confusion on his face as well. Myra appeared just as baffled, and Kali’s huge brown eyes were still watching the crowd. The giraffe looked at Twist as if he were the source of all of its troubles.

“This is why we don’t allow humans in here, you know,” it said ruefully. “They’re such a damned nuisance.”