Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1: The Brimstone Key (6 page)

“I wouldn’t count on it any time soon,” Ross explained. “I’m sure there will be restrictions on students entering the city.”

“How long is this ride supposed to last?” Ernie asked. The bumps in the rails were making him feel nauseated, and he didn’t want to vomit in front of everyone.

“Time and distance are completely different in the Land of Mist,” Ross explained. “You might as well get comfortable, because we’re going to be in here for a while.”

As he spoke, the subway train cut into swirling fog. Max noticed everything around them start to shimmer, and then the subway changed. The rotted interior became sleek and polished. Gone was the smell of mildew and the bumps in the rail. Once it entered the Land of Mist, the
Zephyr
had returned to its former glory.

“That was incredible!” Harley said, marveling at the transformation.

“Not bad,” Todd agreed. “Just watch out for the rogue portals and bottomless pits.”

“Don’t forget the sea monsters,” Ross reminded him.

Ernie gasped.

“Don’t worry,” reassured Todd, with his nose pressed against the window. “The
Zephyr
will know what to do.”

The subway emerged into a glass tunnel deep under the shimmering water. Max watched in awe as they sped past sunken ships, schools of exotic fish, and a forest of plants that were as tall as skyscrapers.

“It’s amazing down here,” Todd remarked.

“As long as you don’t mind the threat of drowning or being eaten by sea monsters,” Ross added as he pointed toward a large, lumbering shadow in the distance.

“What in the world was
that
?” asked Ernie. He felt his throat constricting.

“Probably a Megalodon,” Ross observed, and Todd nodded his agreement. “Prehistoric sharks like that could bite this subway in half.” He followed up with a crunching sound.

“You can stop the theatrics,” Natalia scolded. “If this subway wasn’t safe, the Templar wouldn’t have put students on it in the first place.”

As she finished her sentence, the sound of metal twisting and snapping reverberated throughout the subway carriage. With a lurch, the
Zephyr
jerked to the side
before it slammed to a stop. Students flew to the floor as the lights flickered and died. The car was bathed in murky light that emanated from the lake bottom.

The monstrous shadow drew near.

Most students stared in wide-eyed awe as a few others started pounding on the doors to get out. Robert, the frightened boy from the depot, was among them.

Then the intercom system crackled to life.

“Please remain in your seats. We have encountered a minor problem with the aft turbine engine. We should be on our way shortly.”

“Aft
turbine
?” Todd repeated in puzzlement. “There’s no turbine on the
Zephyr
. It’s run by MERLIN Tech!”

There was another ominous rumble, as if the subway train were shaking itself like a wet dog. Windows began to fracture, and the dead lights overhead swung back and forth. Suddenly the shark wasn’t their only concern.

“It’s the Big Squeeze!” Ross proclaimed as he stood up on the seat. “The water pressure! It’s gonna squish us like bugs.”

“There
are
worse ways to die,” Todd said casually. “Uncle Seymour was sucked into a black hole at the Celestial Cyclotron, and Great-Grandpa Daanon was skewered by a rhinoceros in British East Africa.”

“Look, just because this junky train has been
grimthorped
doesn’t mean that I have to sit and listen to you two psychopaths read through the encyclopedia of death,” Natalia scolded.

The Toad brothers looked at her blankly. “Grimthorped?”

Harley pulled Natalia back into her seat. “She means that whoever restored the
Zephyr
screwed it up. And yes, she always uses annoying words like that.”

As Harley spoke, everyone could hear a low growling emanate from beneath the floorboards. The next moment, Natalia’s seat upended, throwing her into the aisle.

“What in the world?” she exclaimed, looking around in confusion. She was the only one on the floor.

“I think you made it angry,” Todd warned. “You better be careful.”

“Made
who
angry?”

“The
Zephyr
. I told you that the train was alive.”

“Are you kidding me? This piece of…” Natalia began, but she quickly found Harley’s hand clamped over her mouth.

The next moment, the lights reignited and the subway train resumed its course. Max looked around, but the cracks in the windows had been mysteriously repaired, and the floorboards were back in place.

Todd laughed and elbowed his brother. “I bet the
Zephyr
planned this all along. It was just testing us… you know, having some fun at the expense of the newbies.”

Natalia rolled her eyes at the preposterous notion of a living subway. She didn’t buy it for one second. Still, she kept her mouth shut for the rest of the trip, just in case.

The
Zephyr
raced through several stops in New
Victoria, and a few minutes later it pulled into Iron Bridge Depot. Natalia’s book bag was promptly launched out the window by the train, where it landed in a puddle.

The subway platform wasn’t in much better condition than the depot they had left behind, but it was certainly busier. A flock of teachers in hard hats guided the students through a maze of yellow caution tape. It looked like a disaster zone after an earthquake.

“I wonder who built all of this,” Max mused, looking up at a cavernous ceiling.

“Faeries, of course,” announced the sharp voice of a nearby teacher. She was thin, fitting into her clothes like a blade into a starched scabbard. Her eyes were bright, and her white skin was flecked with small red veins near her temples—possibly from too much thinking. She smelled of cats, and her hands were arthritic rakes with glassy nails. “Though I daresay machines are more reliable. Now, which one of you is Tweeny?”

“Um… I am,” Ernie admitted, his voice faltering. The teacher’s narrowed eyes peeped out from two wrinkly bags, and Ernie squirmed under the scrutiny.

“I am Dean Nipkin,” she said. “And I believe that we’ll be getting to know each other quite well, my little changeling friend. Yes, I’ve heard a great deal about you….” Her voice trailed off as her eyes fell on another student of interest. “Ah… the impertinent mongrel has shown up,” the dean said to no one in particular. She turned on her heels and clicked toward her new target.

The escalators leading to the surface were elegantly appointed, but like the
Zephyr
, that elegance had been brutalized by neglect. The wood floorboards were rotten, and the leather handrails had been nibbled away by a hundred years’ worth of hungry mice. Worse yet, the escalator was pitched at a murderous angle.

“This thing should be condemned,” Natalia stated as she listened to the floorboards moan beneath her feet. Steam rolled out from the cracks as invisible engines worked to move the students up to an impossible height. “It’s a giant lawsuit just waiting to happen.”

“Look at that,” Max announced, pointing back to the
bottom of the escalator. Dean Nipkin was arguing with a boy whose blond hair was spiked at impossibly sharp angles. He was dressed in jeans and leather boots, and his goggles were pushed up on his forehead like those of most of the other boys and more than a few of the girls.

“Maybe that’s the ‘impertinent’ kid she was talking about,” Natalia thought aloud.

As the argument escalated, the boy shook his head and, in a burst of black smoke, disappeared. An instant later he reappeared behind the Griffins, but only long enough to smile mischievously at the dean. Then he disappeared again, leaving another cloud of smoke. Up where the escalator ended, there was an explosion of books and papers, followed by a scream. Then the boy was gone.

“He’s a teleporter!” Ernie shouted with joy. “That means he’s a changeling, too. Holy cow! You were right, Natalia. I’m not the only one after all!”

“I wonder how many changelings are here,” Harley mused.

“They pretty much keep to themselves,” Ross explained. “It’s the rule.”

“Rule?” Ernie exclaimed. “What do you mean?”

“Welcome to Iron Bridge Academy!” Todd announced suddenly as they reached the top of the escalator.

Soaring above a cobblestone courtyard were buildings as varied and wondrous as Max could ever have imagined. Tall towers and gabled peaks rose above the mist, as walls of ornately arched stone bridges and hundreds of
stained-glass windows peered out over a thick green court of flowering trees, hedges, and fountains. Each structure was an architectural marvel of intricacy, and the buildings reflected the majesty of each subject taught within.

Max looked over his shoulder to see the massive walls that concealed any possible view of the city of New Victoria. The Toad brothers had aroused his curiosity about what the city might look like, not to mention who lived there.

“This path is called the Green Corridor,” explained Ross, gesturing to a grassy lane that led to the school grounds. “It’ll take you straight to De Payens Hall. That’s where all the offices are. Everything to the left is controlled by the Sciences Council, which means it’s off-limits. The right-hand side is for students.”

“How do you know so much about the school?” Ernie asked.

“We have our sources,” was all Todd would admit to.

They followed the mass of students into a wide courtyard where colorful hot-air balloons floated overhead. Strange vehicles slipped along white gravel lanes that connected the various buildings, while airships hovered high above.

The school was still under construction, and most of the buildings were cocooned within scaffolding. “Once they’re done with this place, Iron Bridge is going to be the jewel of New Victoria,” Ross proclaimed.

They followed the Toad brothers through a set of
double doors and into the three-storied brownstone that was called Apprentice Hall. Max looked for Brooke, but he couldn’t find her in the crowd.

When they got to the second floor, they could hear the sounds of cogs turning and holes being punched in paper. Lines of students were waiting in front of a console as Max watched Xander walk over and place his hands on an opaque ball. It lit up, and then a brass punch card emerged from a nearby slot.

“Is that his schedule?” asked Natalia.

“It’s more than that,” Todd replied as he pushed his glasses back onto his nose. “That’s a student ID. It has everything on it, from what doors you can open to what you’re having for lunch.”

“Meaning what?”

“The card knows you better than you know yourself,” Ross explained. “Diabetic? Vegan? Low on iron? The card can sense it and ensure you get the food you need.”

Harley whistled in appreciation. “It sounds like it reads your biochemical, or maybe your electrical, signals when you touch it. That’s pretty high-tech.”

Ross yawned. “The Cheiromantic Scheduler is an out-dated piece of junk. Stirling Academy has the Scheduler XT.”

Max watched as Xander entertained a throng of admiring girls before inserting his card into a second slot farther down the wall. As he did, a green light flared before a brass door opened, releasing a stack of books tied together
with a leather belt. Xander picked them up, along with the books of a beautiful girl, and together they strutted down the hallway.

Max decided right then that he didn’t like Xander. He reminded Max of someone, but he wasn’t sure who it was. At first Max thought it might be his old nemesis, Ray Fisher, the superpowered freak who nearly blew up the Griffins in a cornfield. That wasn’t it, though.

“Why do you keep staring at Xander?” Ernie asked, catching Max’s gaze.

“What are you talking about?”

“We saw it, too,” Ross added. “Look, maybe you guys will be friends.”

“Who knows?” Todd said with a shrug. “Stranger things have happened.”

“What makes Xander so special?” asked Natalia.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ross said sarcastically. “He’s brilliant and athletic, and girls think he’s handsome.”

“Most important,” added Todd, “he’s the highest-rated Round Table duelist in the world. Well, for the junior division anyway.”

“Max nearly beat a Round Table Grandmaster last year,” Natalia noted. “So Xander better watch out.”

Todd pulled out his little black notebook and jotted something down. His facial expression said it all, though—he liked what he had heard.

Max was the first of the Grey Griffins to approach the
console. He placed his hand on the globe, and a shock like static electricity shot up his arm. The light flashed, and Max took his card before making room for Ernie.

“What the heck is Transformational Science?” Ernie asked as he pored over his schedule.

“If you kept reading, you’d see that it’s a special class for
changelings
,” Max said. “Who knows, maybe you’ll end up in the same class as that kid who can teleport.”

Ernie broke into a smile. “That would be supersonic.”

“I have a class called Runes and Ciphers, and another called Forensics!” Natalia announced with enthusiasm.

Max scanned his own schedule. Physical Training. Arithmetick. Latin. Grammar. History. Lunch. Then it was Natural Science, followed by rotating electives—Bounder Care and Portaling. Not too bad, he thought… well, except for the Arithmetick part. Then his eyes went back to the Bounder class. He looked around at the students nearby, wondering if any of them had Bounders, as well.

“Why are you so happy?” Natalia asked when Harley’s eyes lit up.

“I got into MERLIN Engineering,” he answered.

“You can thank me later,” Logan said. Harley spun around to see the Scotsman smiling down at the Griffins.

“You got me in?”

“
You
got you in,” Logan corrected. “You already have the knack for engineering; I just let them know.”

“So you’re going to stay with us the rest of the day?” Ernie smiled hopefully.

Logan shook his head before scratching at the stubble on his cheek. “If I stay with anyone, it’s the young man whom I’m paid to protect.”