Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1: The Brimstone Key (21 page)

Max wasn’t interested in handing the dice over to Xander, but as soon as he touched the knucklebones, the eyes of the clockworks lit with fire.

“Get out of here!” Xander warned.

He rushed onto the scene, engaging the clockworks. Xander dodged a sweeping blow from a scimitar, then another. “Didn’t you hear me?” he shouted. “I told you to go!” Somehow Xander seemed able to predict their every move. He would move just before a blow landed,
each step purposeful as he sent the clockwork warriors into a spin, banging into one another in their attempt to skewer the boy.

Max watched as Xander pulled out a handful of marbles and threw them on the floor. Turning, he leaped for Max and pulled the Griffin to safety. The marbles ignited and then launched into the air like bullets. They hovered for a moment, then shot into the clockworks, punching holes through the metal. The clockworks didn’t seem to notice until there was a massive explosion in each of their bellies. Their eyes dimmed, and they fell to the ground.

“Magnetic concussive grenades,” Xander explained, as he rolled off Max. “I thought they might come in handy.”

Max was about to say “thank you” when Xander’s eyes shot wide. “Behind you!” Xander shouted. “Epsilon Class Djinn! A genie!”

Max spun to see a red cloud of mist swirl into the shape of a man. The Djinn had six massive arms, glowing eyes, and a pointed beard.

Suddenly, the only door slammed shut with a thunderclap. The genie smashed through the treasure house as it raced toward them.

“Only one way out now!” Xander yelled. “Follow me!” He scrambled to his feet and dove out a nearby window. Max shouted in horror as he realized how high up they were. Xander would never survive the fall.

Then Max heard Xander’s voice outside, calling for him.

Max made for the window, but as he jumped through, the genie roared. There was a flash, and a ray of light leaped from the genie’s fingers and smashed into Max just as he cleared the window.

Max screamed as searing pain shot through his body. Everything seemed to warp around him, growing larger and stretched. His scream became a long croak and as Max began to fall, he caught sight of his body.

His arms and legs were short and stubby, and he had green skin that was slick with slime. Wings were sprouting from his back. He tried to flap them, but they were too small, and he too fat. Max sank like a sack of rocks toward the cobblestones below.

As he fell, Max imagined his guts splattered across the cobblestones. But he felt a jerk as a rope caught hold of his leg. With a yank, Xander hauled Max, now a Croaker Faerie, back to the ledge where he stood, clinging to the wall.

“You really smell awful,” Xander complained, as guards with crossbows peered down from the windows above. “Time to move!”

Max wanted to respond, but he couldn’t.

Xander leaped away from the wall as the first volley of crossbow bolts hammered the spot they had just left behind. Down they fell, Xander spreading his arms to slow the momentum. He somersaulted as they hit the first of
several awnings. After they had plowed through the first two, the third broke their fall and they slid onto the street.

The impact sent Max sprawling, his squat legs unable to turn his body around. A woman shrieked as she saw him. Xander scooped Max up before leaping over a basket and disappearing down the alley.

The Emir’s guards weren’t far behind. They followed Xander as he veered down an alleyway and up a small flight of stairs. The chase sent him leaping between the roofs of several buildings as he dodged hanging laundry and shouting townsfolk.

He jumped back to the street, where a group of men in hooded cloaks waited. One caught Xander by the arm, but the boy relaxed when he saw the red Templar cross peek out from beneath his captor’s robes.

“This way,” the man ordered, pointing to a tunnel behind them. “We’ll handle the Emir’s guards.”

Xander raced off as Max craned to see a horde of black-robed soldiers rush the Templar Knights. Xander ducked into a tunnel, and soon the sounds of the city streets faded.

Suddenly they were back in the SIM Chamber. As the door opened, Coach Wolfhelm walked in, with a crowd of students trailing behind. They howled in laughter as they pointed at Max. He was human again, but he was covered in a thick layer of slime.

Xander won, hands down.

Monday morning found the Griffins headed over to their Natural Sciences class. The room was crammed to the eaves with scientific instruments, overstuffed cabinets, and illustrations of dissected monsters. Stranger still were the glass jars filled with pickled faeries and other bizarre creatures.

“Check it out,” Harley said, pointing to one of the jars. “I wonder if there are any Flying Tiger Eels or Portal Piranhas like that in Lake Avalon.”

“Or those eyeball sucker things,” Ernie declared.

“It’s called an Optic Lamprey,” Natalia corrected. She smoothed her dress, took a seat, and spoke in a hushed tone to the other three Griffins. “I think I might have
a lead on the connection between Von Strife and the explosion that destroyed the old Iron Bridge. Her name is Raven Lugosi, and she’s a changeling.”

Ernie sighed warmly. “She’s so beautiful.” Realizing he had actually said that out loud, he blushed all the way to the tips of his ears.

The other Griffins looked at him curiously. Ernie had never made a comment like that about a girl before.

“From what I can gather,” Natalia continued, after clearing her throat, “she can read the memories of any inanimate object, like candlesticks or picture frames. If that’s true, she probably knows exactly what happened the night the school was destroyed and whether or not Von Strife was behind it.”

“Why would she talk to you?” Max asked.

“I have a plan,” Natalia replied, looking smug.

After the final bell, Natalia darted through the courtyard and down the Green Corridor, hoping to intercept Raven before she reached the subway. With her iridescent purple highlights, striped tights, and knee-high combat boots, Raven wasn’t difficult to spot.

“Hi,” Natalia offered, approaching her with a smile that was as genuine as she could manufacture.

Raven glared at Natalia. There were small gems underneath her eyes that looked a lot like colorful tears.

“I’m Natalia Romanov,” she said, extending her hand like a door-to-door salesman. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Raven raised her eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Natalia offered. “I just haven’t met too many people yet.”

“Je le crois bien,”
Raven replied with a roll of her eyes.

“Oh, you’re speaking French. I love French. It’s so…
je ne sais quoi
.”

“What do you want?” Raven sighed as she switched to English. Her voice was husky and mysterious. She stepped onto the escalator, slinging her book bag over her shoulder.

“I’m just trying to be friendly, that’s all,” Natalia said, joining Raven. “You’re French, then?”

“Quebecois.”

“Oh. I’ve never been to Quebec, but—”

“Look, this may sound rude, but I fly solo, okay?” Raven said, clearly growing agitated. “I don’t really need a sixth-grade sidekick, so why don’t you go find somebody else to be your BFF.”

Natalia bit her lip to suppress a scathing reply, but she forced herself to swallow it. “It’s just that I… well, I don’t seem to fit in around here. I saw you and…”

Raven rolled her eyes.

With the escalator ride about to end, Natalia decided to just jump right in. “So you’re a changeling, right? Like my friend Ernie.”

“The dork who thinks he’s a superhero?”

Natalia stifled a laugh. “That’s him.”

Raven brushed her hair away from her face. As she did, Natalia noticed a small device peeking out from behind Raven’s ear. It was flashing with the telltale silver aura of MERLIN Tech.

Raven caught Natalia staring, and she sighed. “It’s an Inhibitor,” she explained. “It keeps me from using my powers when I’m not supposed to. All the changelings have them—except your geeky friend. It’s how they control us.”

“That’s inhumane,” Natalia declared, horrified.

Raven shrugged. “It could be worse. They used to experiment on us like guinea pigs,” she said, making a gesture that looked like she was cutting her own throat. “I could tell you some stories that would make your skin crawl.”

“How do you know so much? The teachers don’t talk about it.”

“I can read memories,” explained Raven, as the escalator neared the bottom. “Anything I touch, I can see whatever it has seen and hear whatever it has heard.”

“Really? Anything?”

Raven’s patience was thinning. She began walking down the escalator. “Anything that doesn’t breathe. Trust me, I already know it’s a stupid power, but it makes you think twice, you know? Especially when you realize that nothing you ever say or do will be forgotten by the chair
you sit in or the bed you sleep in. Ever seen life from the perspective of a toilet?” Raven laughed as Natalia recoiled in disgust.

“I’d rather be invisible, or even fly,” she continued. “Instead I can talk to my toothbrush.” Raven stepped off the escalator and assumed a brisk pace that forced Natalia to jog in order to keep up.

“So does that mean you know how the first Iron Bridge was destroyed?”

“Sure, but you don’t need powers to figure that out.”

“What do you mean?”

Raven stopped and regarded Natalia suspiciously. “Look, what are you after?”

“Nothing, I just… I mean, this is my first year in a school like this, and it’s kind of creepy. If you know something, I’d really appreciate it if you would tell me.”

Raven looked at a nearby wall suspiciously, as if it might be eavesdropping. “All right, there was this changeling girl who used to go to Iron Bridge. Her name was Naomi. She was a fire elemental with amazing power. Then she disappeared.

“The history books claim nobody knows what happened, but I do. It was a teacher named Von Strife. He took her down to his lab and experimented on her. I can still hear her screams if I listen hard enough.”

“What happened to the school?” Natalia asked as chills rose up her skin.

“Naomi happened,” she replied. “One night, when
Von Strife was working on her, he lost control and her powers went into overdrive. The next thing you know,
ka-boom!
No more school.” Raven stepped onto the subway, but not before looking back with an I-told-you-so smile as Natalia stood there, dumbstruck. “I bet you wish you never asked. Later, kid.”

The doors closed and the
Zephyr
sped like a bullet into the tunnel.

The Griffins reported to the Grand Auditorium at six o’clock the next morning. As far as Max was concerned, that was too early for a Saturday—even if it was the opening day for the Round Table qualifying tournament. He had been up half the night, splitting his time between studying his issue of the
Toad Reports
on Yoshino Takamori and reading messages from Natalia on his DE Tablet.

Thanks to the information she had procured from Raven, they knew the name of the fire elemental whom Von Strife had successfully operated on, the same one Ms. Merical had mentioned. Naomi. Natalia had tried to
find more information about her, but there wasn’t much. That went for the other changelings that were abducted as well. The files Natalia found online were restricted, and she couldn’t break the code.

“Good morning,” Ms. Merical greeted Max as he entered the Apprentice’s Hall. She was wearing an orange sweater with a giant jack-o’-lantern cross-stitched on the front. “Are you ready for the big day?”

“We’ll see,” he replied with a sigh.

“All duelists need to check in over there,” she instructed, pointing to a long table in the hallway where Dr. Thistlebrow was seated. “Logan, you can join the rest of the audience in the Grand Auditorium.”

Max hesitated.

“You’ll be fine.” Logan patted his shoulder. “Chin up and stay sharp.” With that, the Scotsman made his way toward a gathering of other Templar security guards. To honor the return of Iron Bridge, important dignitaries, including some members of royalty, were expected to attend, so security measures had to be increased considerably. There were guards stationed at every door and gargoyle sentinels perched near the windows, and the entire campus was sealed off with a Class 6 MERLIN Tech Repulsor Field.

As Max walked over to the registration table, he spotted Catalina Mendez, the girl from his Bounder Care class with the lumpy imp. They were both sitting cross-legged on the floor, with Round Table cards spread out in front
of them. Kenji Sato stood nearby with his drake. Rumor had it he’d been up seventy-two hours straight preparing for the duel. He looked terrible.

Ernie and Robert were tucked away in a corner with Tejan. Robert was showing them his new pair of Salvino Technohancers. The Kinematic goggles were an early birthday gift from his grandparents.

Erica walked by a few moments later, glaring at Max but saying nothing. A number of students shook Max’s hand and patted him on the back, assuring him that he could win if he ended up having to duel against Xander. Max wasn’t so sure. Besides, he had to win enough matches to even get a chance to play Xander.