The Lostkind (30 page)

"He'll talk to me." Vincent promised.

They walked down the dark hallway toward Owen's cell, when Connie noticed something on the wall. Taking Vincent's wrist, she pulled his lantern over so that she could get a clear look.

Drawn on the wall like cave paintings, was a scene of New York, though the shapes and details were all off. It was a drawing done by someone that had heard trees and cars and buildings described to them, but had never seen it themselves. It was the scene she had described to the kids only minutes before. "How?"

"They put it up for you." Yasi explained absently, leading the way. "They knew we'd be coming this way."

"How do you people live like this?" Connie demanded breathlessly. "With eyes on you from dark corners every
second
... how do you
stand
it?"

"Well, how do you stand living surrounded by security cameras, traffic cameras, computers that run your personal details every ten minutes?" Archivist shrugged. "It's just a part of the world you live in."

They reached the row of hatches in the floor, and Yasi went to the end one.

"An Oubliette." Vincent observed.

Connie's head tilted. "A what?"

"A kind of dungeon." Archivist explained to her. "It's from the French word meaning 'to forget'. So it's literally the place you put people when you want to forget about them."

"Only way out, is through a hatch in the ceiling they can't reach, or climb to... and wouldn't be able to lift if they could." Yasi told them. "The most secure prison cell ever to come out of the thirteenth century."

It took Yasi and Archivist together to hoist the hatch open, and they all stared down at Owen, who didn't seem surprised or worried.

"It's about time you got here." Owen said jovially, as though he'd invited Vincent to a dinner party. "I expected the Ninja-babe, but The Other Woman as well?" He waved in Connie's direction. "You got nerves of steel Vincent."

"I was surprised." Vincent confessed. "Two years, you never let on. I was hyper-aware of all things potentially Lostkind, and I never thought for a second that you might be involved."

"I'm not one of them." Owen assured him, quick to make that clear. "I come from a place where the sun actually shines. I'm like you and Connie. The normal people."

Vincent felt Yasi straighten at his back. Somewhere off the left Dorcan growled a bit.

"Tell me Vincent, why did you hide this place?" Owen asked him. "You got snatched by a girl you made eye contact with on the subway, you got thrown down a hole in the ground, literally, and just like that you were happy to grovel at Yasi's boots?"

"They showed me-"

"They showed you nothing. You think you can see all there is to see in this place after two hours? You had no idea what this place was, but you worshiped it after only a few minutes here." Owen pointed out. "Didn't it ever occur to you that maybe discovery was for the best?

Long silence.

"Yes." Vincent acknowledged. "Briefly."

"Our parents lied to us Vincent. Every child who reaches the age of three or four knows that scary things hide in the closet, or lurk under the bed. And every night our parents come in and tell us that it's not true, and our eyes are lying to us, until we grow up enough that we believe them. Even you. But not any more, am I right? You and Connie alone know that there was something really there."

Vincent leaned forward, his bruises making him almost inhuman in the dark. "Is that all you see here? Really?" He looked to Connie for support and found that she was not looking at him. "Connie? You don't agree with him, surely?"

"You miss the point. What do the monsters under the bed
want
, Vincent?" Owen pressed. "There are urchins in every dark corner, Gremlins slipping through all the cracks. The Borrowers clothe the whole Lostkind city by snatching bits and pieces from every closet, every laundry... Vincent, they have the run of the world. They're human sized rats with swords. What would rats do if they had the smarts to use their tunnels? How hard would it be to run the world if you
already had
the run of the world?"

"Oh come on, you've seen the Underside, or at least know more about it. It's mysterious, but it's not like it's at the top of the food chain." Connie argued. "If these guys ever started something, they'd be outnumbered a thousand to one in New York alone."

"I'm not talking about a revolution, I'm talking about taking what they already do; just kicked up another notch." Owen retorted. "Ask yourself: What sinks a politician? Say... the Mayor. What would end him faster? A dozen speeches against him during the campaign, or one Lostkind Gremlin who can rifle through his desk and find a dirty photo, or a bad check?"

Connie looked to Yasi, who never took her hawk-gaze off Owen.

Owen kept going. "Imagine for a moment you want to make a great deal of money. What if you could get someone into the offices of the Wall Street Stockbrokers? A small change in the right ledger..." He let the thought go unfinished before he moved on. "What if you had an enemy you wanted removed? Or a house you wanted cleared out for your own uses. It's all about the information, it's all about the locks and the walls we put up to protect the secrets. But we're sitting in the Secret City; in the World that lives Between the cracks of the world we come from." Owen gestured. "Ask her Vincent. Ask Yasi. You've seen what she can do... is there any door she couldn't open? She walks though secured rooms and locked up buildings like a ghost. You've
seen
her do it. Imagine if she
didn't
want to be friends. If she wanted to destroy you, what secret could you keep locked away from her? What could you do to hide from this place?"

Long heavy silence. The world that Owen had just spelled out was not a happy one.

"So that's why you want to expose the place?" Vincent spoke finally. "To stop them from using that power? To stop them from taking over?"

Owen gave him that look again, like he was a slow-witted child. "Idiot. This goes bigger than that."

"How?" Vincent demanded.

"I'll answer
that
one." Yasi growled. "Vandark is planning to do exactly what you just described, isn't he?"

Owen twitched. "Where did you hear that name?"

Yasi nodded. "That's why. Vandark used you to find ways in. Lots of them. The most tightly guarded secret of any Underside."

"He didn't use me. I volunteered." Owen retorted. "It was VonGunn, wasn't it? He told you. Bastard broke the rules."

Yasi continued, as though she hadn't heard him. "Then Vandark sends in his forces. Whoever left Berlin with him... plus the Riverfolk... They capture our home, and suddenly they have the run of New York. A global center for art, research, fashion, media, commerce for half the western world, a huge local and federal power base, the busiest international seaports and airports, more people than any other city in the USA..."

"To say nothing of Wall Street and the United Nations..." Vincent added.

Yasi nodded, still looking at Owen. "Vandark used you to find him a way into the Castle, so that he can move his people in and out of the Kingdom. He wants to set himself up here... so he can find any secret, pick and choose any leader, make or break any deal... and even if nobody knows he exists, Vandark becomes The Ultimate Kingmaker."

"And with that..." Owen finished for her. "He rules as The Ultimate King."

NINE: The Battle On The Seven Steps

Nobody said much on the way out of the prison. Connie wondered if the kids were still watching them; if they had heard every word. If they had, the Triumvirate didn't seem too worried about it.

Yasi had signaled that they keep the matter quiet while in company, and they made their way through the Underside toward a more private place. Connie wasn't sure if it was the fact that they were underground, or if everywhere was like this, but the route they took had them pressing through the crowds to get to the elevators.

Even in this wild circus, they made an odd group. Vincent and Connie stood out the most. Archivist and Keeper were constantly being approached by people who needed their opinion or ruling on whatever day-to-day matters they had. People saw Yasi and Dorcan coming, and stepped aside automatically.

Eventually though, they made their way to the basket lifts. There wasn't room for all of them, so Yasi and Dorcan climbed ahead, going up the ropes hand over hand, as the basket lifted them toward the upper part of the dome to Keeper's chamber.

Keeper's room had maps and images all over the walls. Victorian Era paintings, sepia toned photographs, the omnipresent cave drawings of the Underside Gremlins. Every inch of wall space was a gallery of The Underside through the years.

When they stepped off, Keeper went right to the largest singular image, essentially a blueprint of the Underside. Vincent looked at her out of the corner of his eye as everyone found places to settle. Yasi was pacing, Dorcan was over against the wall, not taking his eyes off her.

Long silence. Minutes passed as the only ones who knew in the entire Underside turned the conversation over in their head, weighing their options, considering their responses. After several heavy moments, Keeper turned away from her blueprint and spoke, giving them all her official opinion on the matter.

"We're screwed." She said profoundly.

A nervous chuckle went around the room; but the intensity of the situation hadn't eased at all.

Connie spoke up suddenly and Vincent almost jumped. She'd been so quiet he nearly forgot her presence. "Vincent told me that the Steam Pipe plan might have exposed a few ways in and out of this place during construction. The Company that wanted to do that was based out of Germany... Vandark sniffing entrances?"

"More than likely." Yasi agreed.

"How long would it have taken to prepare that?"

"A while, probably." Vincent offered. "New York City Construction... over a large area? Months, maybe years; for a project that size."

"Then two years working another angle wouldn't have been a significant problem for them, whoever they are. But there's one thing I don't get." Connie said. "What's this got to do with us? If Vincent hasn't been down here in three years... Vandark is clearly willing to work a plan that long, but... why would it still involve Vincent?"

"Your world and ours overlap in a few places." Keeper explained. "For the most part, that doesn't matter because none of you know it's here. But Vincent knows. He would notice if Wotcha disappeared, or if Yasi showed up in his office looking for something. He's a blip. A loose end to be tied up. And he's got access to all the information Owen's been gathering. If somehow we figured out their plan at any step, we'd come to him. Vincent was Owen's barometer of how much we knew. And we knew squat."

"Hell." Yasi spat. "I feel like I've been walking around with my eyes shut for three years. It's not about Vincent, or Keist, or even about Owen. It's about that office. It's always been about his job! How many times did you say it Keeper? If Vincent wanted to find a way in, all he'd have to do is put an hours thought into it. Owen put two years into it... And there's only one reason in the world you'd want to find all the entrances into a place."

Vincent said it for her. "Because you're planning to come in."

"Vandark played it perfectly." Archivist agreed. "He prepared his way in without involving us at all. If we hadn't found out about Keist's plan, our first hint of this would have been when they came in the front door!"

"And if Owen's found all the ways in and out of the Underside… All Vandark has to do is pick up a phone." Keeper whispered. It was a tone Vincent had never heard from her before. She was scared. "We're being held to Ransom here Archivist. If Vandark comes for us… He's got the Ace. He could expose us at will."

"He won't do that." Yasi told Keeper instantly. "That's Rule Number One. He won't take it that far."

"He will." Vincent countered instantly. "He's willing to go as far as he wants. The ultimate act of spite would be to expose the Underground. You guys told me the first time we met: Being remembered is the worst thing that can happen to this place. Yasi told me about 9/11 down here. The fear that some paranoid person would notice something. The Great Fear of The Underside is getting the attention of the rest of the world, and Vandark knows that! It's the heaviest bat anyone can use against you."

"No. He won't do it." Archivist put in. "I agree with Yasi. You heard Owen, Vandark wants to capture us. He won't wipe us out, and if he exposes us, then everything he wants us for gets thrown down the riverpipe."

"They're right." Connie agreed. "Vandark wants to be a Kingmaker, and he can't do that if anyone finds out about this place."

Silence.

"Maybe we could call other Undersides for help?" Vincent observed, not noticing Connie's sharp look at the word ‘we'.

"The Round Table used to have over a dozen people talking from a dozen cities." Archivist shook his head regretfully. "Nowadays... we keep to ourselves."