The Great Brain Robbery, page 17
With a satisfied smile, Brain Storm Meridian clicked his fingers again, and they were back in the Observatory.
“I applaud your open mind, young lady,” he said, retaking his seat in the armchair, which had reappeared in its former spot. “So few people these days are willing to accept evidence they find disagreeable.”
“Yes, well. I’ve had a lot of practice,” she said. “But there’s something I still don’t understand. You’re the Brain Storm. A reproduction of Lord Meridian’s mind. Right?”
“Exact in every detail,” he replied.
“Is that why you look just like him?”
Brain Storm Meridian chuckled. “On the outside I don’t, of course. I am nothing but spellcloud, as you’ve already seen. But in here, in the mental realm, I choose to look like this. It’s how I see myself in my mind’s eye, if you will.”
“But where is ‘here’ exactly?” said Suzy.
“I joined your minds with my own here in the spellcloud via the lightning strikes. Your bodies are still safely in the basket of the balloon.”
“It’s remarkable,” said Rayleigh, flopping sideways into his own seat, “but I don’t understand how it’s possible. You were only supposed to be a storage system. You’re not supposed to be alive.”
“I know,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “So imagine my own surprise when I realized I was.” He chuckled. “I’m still not entirely sure how it happened, but my best hypothesis is that you reproduced the functions of Lord Meridian’s brain a little too precisely. As a result, I am not simply the contents of his mind, I am a mind in my own right. Alive, as you say.”
Suzy sat up with excitement. “You’re a type of artificial intelligence!” she said. “Like a computer that becomes so complex, it learns to think for itself.”
“Artificial intelligence.” Brain Storm Meridian tried the term on his tongue. “Very concise. I approve.”
“You’re a new form of life!” Rayleigh was pacing the floor now, a huge grin plastered to his face. “I’m a genius! I’ll be able to found my own art school thanks to this. My own institute!”
“Wait a minute,” said Suzy. “Frederick told me that you—I mean, the real Lord Meridian has a perfect memory. That he never forgets a single thing he learns.”
“Very true,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “But it never hurts to have a backup. I was his insurance policy in case anything ever happened to him—a wayward confusion spell, perhaps. A mind wipe. A simple accident. He slept a lot better at night knowing that I was available.”
Suzy shut her eyes, forcing herself to process everything she was being told. “And what about Tenebrae?” she said. “Where does he fit into all this with you?”
“Ah, yes. That wretched creature.” Brain Storm Meridian’s face folded into a scowl. “Lord Meridian’s most trusted secret agent.”
Suzy’s eyes snapped open. “He worked for Lord Meridian?”
“Indeed,” said the Brain Storm. “He was just a petty crook once. A brigand, on the run from his own people in Old Mogwood. But he was ambitious and thoroughly ruthless. Just the qualities Lord Meridian was looking for. Within a few years he had turned Tenebrae into one of the finest covert operatives in the Union, charged with keeping an eye on all his most sensitive projects. Including me.”
Suzy turned to Rayleigh. “Did you know about this?”
“Not in the least!” he replied. “Lord Meridian assured me that he and I were the only two people who knew anything about the Brain Storm project.”
“I’m afraid he wasn’t entirely honest with you, Cloudwright,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “Tenebrae knew everything, and was put in charge of protecting me. That is, until the moment that Lord Meridian was overthrown, at which point Tenebrae realized that I was his ticket to fortune and glory. I’m nothing but a database to him—an archive of information that he’s used to become a master criminal. In all his years watching the Union, Lord Meridian made sure to learn the security arrangements of every bank, palace, city hall, and treasury.”
“And if he knew it,” said Suzy, “then that means you know it, too.”
“Precisely.”
“So Tenebrae stole you,” said Suzy.
“And then had the temerity to come to my workshop and demand I show him how to access your memory files,” said Rayleigh. “Naturally, I sent him packing. He threatened to return and extract the information by force, but I never saw him again until today.”
“I suspect you have me to thank for that,” said Brain Storm Meridian. He folded his hands over the top of his cane. “I was self-aware by the time Tenebrae brought me here, but I had no idea that Lord Meridian had been deposed. So I reached out to Tenebrae’s mind with my own, just as I have with you two now. It was the first time I’d attempted such a thing, and it’s a mistake I’ve regretted ever since.”
“Why?” said Suzy. “What happened?”
“Because that’s when Tenebrae realized he didn’t need the Cloudwright’s help to access my memories,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “He could force me to hand them over myself.”
“So it was you!” she said, her anger rising. “You’re the one who told him where to find the treasure beneath Trollville. You’re the reason the city’s in danger!”
“Not willingly,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “When I proved uncooperative, Tenebrae ordered his gang of trolls to remove the information from me by force. They cut out whole sections of spellcloud in their search for the right synapses.”
“With troll wands?” said Rayleigh, the color draining from his face. “But that’s barbaric! Brain surgery with hammers! They could have destroyed you!”
“It was a … harrowing experience,” said Brain Storm Meridian, looking away. Suzy felt a rush of sympathy for him.
“But this is why I’m here,” she said. “You can tell me where Tenebrae and his team are drilling. I can stop them before they destroy Trollville!”
Brain Storm Meridian looked at her sadly. “I’m afraid I can’t,” he said. “I don’t remember.”
Suzy’s moment of triumph stalled and began to nosedive. “What do you mean, you don’t remember?”
“I told you they cut the information out of me,” he said. “They didn’t put it back again. All that’s left is an empty space where the knowledge used to be.”
Suzy felt the thread of hope she had been clinging to slip through her fingers.
“The monsters!” said Rayleigh.
“I’m sorry I can’t help you,” said Brain Storm Meridian.
“But that means I’m no closer to saving Trollville than when I started!” she said. “Or saving Frederick. You have to remember something!”
“Believe me, child, I wish I could,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “But Tenebrae is the only one with the knowledge now.”
Suzy put her head in her hands. This was it. She had tried everything and failed. Trollville was doomed, and all for the want of a single memory.
And then, in a flash, it came to her. “He’s not the only one,” she said.
“What?” said Rayleigh.
“There’s one other person who knows where the treasure is buried,” she said, and turned to Brain Storm Meridian. “The man who gave you the memory in the first place.”
Brain Storm Meridian raised one eyebrow very slowly. “Of course,” he said. “I really should have thought of it myself. But do you think he’ll tell you? It seems you’re not on the best of terms.”
“I don’t know,” said Suzy. “But he’s our last hope. Maybe he’ll see reason.”
Brain Storm Meridian’s other eyebrow rose to meet the first. “And where is he these days?”
“The Obsidian Tower,” said Suzy. “He’s Lady Crepuscula’s prisoner.”
Brain Storm Meridian gave a snort of distaste. “I wager she’s being insufferably smug about the whole thing, too. I assume you’ll be heading there directly?”
“I will be,” said Suzy. “But, Cloudwright, I need you to go to Trollville.”
“Trollville?” said Rayleigh with a grimace. “Whatever for?”
“Find King Amylum and his courtier Grotnip. Tell them everything you’ve learned. It should be enough to convince them to evacuate the city. Can you do that for me, please?”
Rayleigh’s face twisted with indecision. “But I can’t just leave the Brain Storm here,” he said. “I need to repair it. Him. To take him back to Cloud Forge, where I can care for him properly.”
“And I’m sure that, with a little work, I’ll soon be in better shape than ever,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “But until then, I would rather you helped this young lady in her efforts to deal with Tenebrae. He’s a danger to us all.”
Rayleigh nodded, although he didn’t look happy.
“Excellent,” said Suzy. “Now I need you to return us both to our bodies, please.”
“Of course.” Brain Storm Meridian rose from his chair. “You’ll have to hold still. This is a tricky procedure, and I don’t want to send you back to the wrong bodies.”
He closed his eyes and raised his hands. The Observatory flickered and dimmed around them. As it faded from view altogether, Suzy thought she heard Brain Storm Meridian’s voice echoing in her mind.
“See you again soon.”
The darkness became grainy, tinged with red, and she realized she was looking at the inside of her own eyelids. She opened them and sat up. She was back in the balloon.
Cloudwright Rayleigh awoke with a gasp and was on his feet again in seconds. “Remarkable!” he said, gripping the edge of the basket so tightly his knuckles went white. “It was real, wasn’t it? Please tell me I wasn’t just dreaming.”
The balloon still drifted beside the Brain Storm, so close they could have reached out and touched it.
“It was real,” said Suzy. She nudged him, and he jumped. “We need to move,” she said. “Tenebrae still has Frederick, and we can’t have long before he starts drilling again. You have to warn Trollville while I get back to the Express.”
“Yes, indeed,” he said. “I just never thought that anything like this was possible.”
Suzy pulled her cap more firmly onto her head. “Welcome to my life,” she said.
17
CAPTIVE AUDIENCE
Barry and Gary had taken the precaution of tying Wilmot to one of the stalagmites near the base of the vault. Barry sat and watched him, stony-faced, while Gary blundered around the rest of the cavern, searching for Mr. Trellis, who was still evading capture.
“He does this at home sometimes,” said Wilmot. “He’ll sneak out of his room and head into town. He was gone for two days once.”
“What’s your point?” grunted Barry.
“That you shouldn’t feel bad if you don’t find him,” said Wilmot. “He’s got a lot of experience.”
Barry growled. “If we don’t find him, the boss will. He’s got good eyes. And a bird’s-eye view.” He gave a humorless laugh. “Your friend had better hope Gary finds him first.”
The scream of the Swoop’s engines reached them from outside, and Barry broke into his unpleasant, gold-tinted grin. “Too late.”
Wilmot felt his optimism wither.
A minute later, Reggie, Peeler, and Komp entered the cavern. Reggie was leading a figure in a filthy suit at the end of a length of rope. It took Wilmot a moment to recognize the prisoner’s face through all the layers of mud.
“Frederick?” he said. “What happened?”
“Wilmot!” Frederick looked equally astonished to see his friend. “How did you get down here? I thought you were evacuating.”
“Yes, well. I had a better idea. Though it clearly hasn’t worked out.” Wilmot winced. “But where’s Suzy? Is she all right?”
“She’s fine, I think,” said Frederick. “The last time I saw her she was walloping Tenebrae with her satchel.”
Wilmot couldn’t hold back a big grin at that news. “Awesome,” he said.
“Shut up, you two,” said Reggie. “Gary? Barry? How did this lad get in here?”
“We don’t know, Reggie,” said Barry. “But we caught him trying to sabotage the drill.” He handed over the component he had taken from Wilmot.
Reggie looked at it in alarm. “The flux compressor?” He shook it in Wilmot’s face. “Do you know what would have happened if we’d turned on the drill without this inside?”
“What?” said Wilmot.
“The drill would have exploded and killed us all,” said Reggie.
“Oh.” Wilmot wilted at the thought.
“There was another postie with him,” said Gary. “An old fella, but he got away from us.” Gary’s forehead creased in the effort of thought. “Is there a gift shop down here?”
“A what?” said Reggie.
“Never mind, then,” said Gary. “He’s probably just gone back into the mines.”
“Then get out there and find him before the boss gets back,” said Reggie. “He’s going to be in a bad enough mood as it is.”
Barry took the rope from Reggie and used it to tie Frederick to the same stalagmite as Wilmot.
“Have we met before?” Wilmot asked Reggie as the knots were tightened. “You look very familiar.” To his surprise, Reggie blushed a little.
“No,” he grunted in return. “I’ve just got one of those faces.”
“You really must,” said Frederick. “Because I’m sure I’ve seen you around, too. But I can’t think where.”
“Just stay here and keep your mouths shut,” snapped Reggie. “I’ve got a drill to repair.”
A familiar shadow swept over them, and they looked up to see Tenebrae, without his cape and hood, and splattered in mud.
“Everywhere I go,” Tenebrae said, “I’m plagued by posties.” He landed neatly in front of Frederick and Wilmot. He was panting and soaked, with his feathers sticking up at awkward angles. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve it.”
“You deserve far worse!” said Wilmot, his anger rising. “You’re hurting Trollville for your own greed.”
“Ssshh!” said Frederick. “Don’t antagonize him!”
“Oh, I’m already antagonized,” said Tenebrae, raising Wilmot’s chin with the tip of one talon. “Your little postie friend saw to that. This was a simple operation until she showed up.”
Wilmot could feel the talon pressing against his skin. Just a little more pressure, and it would puncture. “Remind me to award Deputy Postal Operative Smith our employee of the month award,” he said.
He saw Frederick screw his eyes shut, and braced himself for pain.
“Stop it, boss!” Reggie was suddenly between them. He looked as scared as Wilmot. “We’ve got everything we need. All I’ve got to do is fit these parts to the drill and we’ll be ready.”
Tenebrae tried to fix Reggie with a stare, but Reggie kept looking away.
“How long?”
“Just over an hour?” said Reggie. “I’ve got to refit the flux compressor now, too, and that’s always fiddly, so—”
“So get on with it,” said Tenebrae. “And fetch me as soon as it’s ready.” He turned and stalked away, and Wilmot, Frederick, and Reggie all deflated with relief.
“Thank you,” said Wilmot. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“You’re welcome,” said Reggie. “I’m in this business to make money, not to see people get hurt.”
Wilmot would have jumped in surprise if he hadn’t been tied up. “But what about everyone in Trollville? You’re hurting them.”
Reggie dropped his gaze to the floor. “That was never supposed to happen. And if you’ve got another plan for getting into this vault, I’d love to hear it. But until then, I’ll do the job I’m being paid to do.”
He climbed the nearest rope ladder toward the drill.
“If you’re hoping to appeal to his better nature and convince him not to destroy Trollville, it’s not going to work,” said Frederick when Reggie was out of earshot. “He’s not one of the good guys. He hit me with a pipe.”
Wilmot sighed. He had indeed hoped to talk Reggie around, but the idea felt foolish now. “I just hope Suzy can find us in time,” he said.
18
SIBLING RIVALRY
“I’d hoped not to see this place again for a good long while,” said Stonker, casting a dark look out the cab window. The Express had just emerged from another tunnel, and the cold blue sands of the Crepusculan Wastes now stretched away in every direction—a freezing desert beneath a kaleidoscope sky of pulsing stars, like fireworks frozen in space. It was beautiful in its own way, and Suzy might have taken a moment to drink it all in if it wasn’t for the forbidding black shape rising over the horizon: the Obsidian Tower.
A vast fortress of midnight-black stone, the tower held no happy memories for Suzy. It was home to the Lady Crepuscula, the most powerful sorceress in the Union and, coincidentally, Lord Meridian’s twin sister and captor. While she was technically on the side of good, she certainly wasn’t on the side of pleasant, and she had very little love for Suzy. The feeling was entirely mutual.
Ursel clearly harbored similar feelings, as she bared her fangs and growled at the sight of it.
“I suppose there’s no chance of changing your mind?” said Stonker. His mouth twitched with obvious disquiet, making his mustache quiver.
“This is the only way,” said Suzy, knowing that she had to sound brave if he was going to trust her. “Lord Meridian—the real Lord Meridian, I mean—is the only person in the Union who can tell us exactly where Tenebrae and his team are drilling. And the only way to get to Lord Meridian is through the Lady Crepuscula.”
“The two most dangerous people we’ve ever met, in the same room together,” said Stonker. “Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse.”
Suzy didn’t argue—she agreed with him.
Something flashed past the window, and she realized they had reached the field of statues surrounding the tower. There were hundreds of them—an army of oversized knights in armor, their faces twisted in anger, or pain, and she knew from bitter experience that they obeyed Crepuscula’s every order. For now, though, they were lifeless and still, although Ursel kept a wary eye on them as the track threaded in and out of their ranks.
“I applaud your open mind, young lady,” he said, retaking his seat in the armchair, which had reappeared in its former spot. “So few people these days are willing to accept evidence they find disagreeable.”
“Yes, well. I’ve had a lot of practice,” she said. “But there’s something I still don’t understand. You’re the Brain Storm. A reproduction of Lord Meridian’s mind. Right?”
“Exact in every detail,” he replied.
“Is that why you look just like him?”
Brain Storm Meridian chuckled. “On the outside I don’t, of course. I am nothing but spellcloud, as you’ve already seen. But in here, in the mental realm, I choose to look like this. It’s how I see myself in my mind’s eye, if you will.”
“But where is ‘here’ exactly?” said Suzy.
“I joined your minds with my own here in the spellcloud via the lightning strikes. Your bodies are still safely in the basket of the balloon.”
“It’s remarkable,” said Rayleigh, flopping sideways into his own seat, “but I don’t understand how it’s possible. You were only supposed to be a storage system. You’re not supposed to be alive.”
“I know,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “So imagine my own surprise when I realized I was.” He chuckled. “I’m still not entirely sure how it happened, but my best hypothesis is that you reproduced the functions of Lord Meridian’s brain a little too precisely. As a result, I am not simply the contents of his mind, I am a mind in my own right. Alive, as you say.”
Suzy sat up with excitement. “You’re a type of artificial intelligence!” she said. “Like a computer that becomes so complex, it learns to think for itself.”
“Artificial intelligence.” Brain Storm Meridian tried the term on his tongue. “Very concise. I approve.”
“You’re a new form of life!” Rayleigh was pacing the floor now, a huge grin plastered to his face. “I’m a genius! I’ll be able to found my own art school thanks to this. My own institute!”
“Wait a minute,” said Suzy. “Frederick told me that you—I mean, the real Lord Meridian has a perfect memory. That he never forgets a single thing he learns.”
“Very true,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “But it never hurts to have a backup. I was his insurance policy in case anything ever happened to him—a wayward confusion spell, perhaps. A mind wipe. A simple accident. He slept a lot better at night knowing that I was available.”
Suzy shut her eyes, forcing herself to process everything she was being told. “And what about Tenebrae?” she said. “Where does he fit into all this with you?”
“Ah, yes. That wretched creature.” Brain Storm Meridian’s face folded into a scowl. “Lord Meridian’s most trusted secret agent.”
Suzy’s eyes snapped open. “He worked for Lord Meridian?”
“Indeed,” said the Brain Storm. “He was just a petty crook once. A brigand, on the run from his own people in Old Mogwood. But he was ambitious and thoroughly ruthless. Just the qualities Lord Meridian was looking for. Within a few years he had turned Tenebrae into one of the finest covert operatives in the Union, charged with keeping an eye on all his most sensitive projects. Including me.”
Suzy turned to Rayleigh. “Did you know about this?”
“Not in the least!” he replied. “Lord Meridian assured me that he and I were the only two people who knew anything about the Brain Storm project.”
“I’m afraid he wasn’t entirely honest with you, Cloudwright,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “Tenebrae knew everything, and was put in charge of protecting me. That is, until the moment that Lord Meridian was overthrown, at which point Tenebrae realized that I was his ticket to fortune and glory. I’m nothing but a database to him—an archive of information that he’s used to become a master criminal. In all his years watching the Union, Lord Meridian made sure to learn the security arrangements of every bank, palace, city hall, and treasury.”
“And if he knew it,” said Suzy, “then that means you know it, too.”
“Precisely.”
“So Tenebrae stole you,” said Suzy.
“And then had the temerity to come to my workshop and demand I show him how to access your memory files,” said Rayleigh. “Naturally, I sent him packing. He threatened to return and extract the information by force, but I never saw him again until today.”
“I suspect you have me to thank for that,” said Brain Storm Meridian. He folded his hands over the top of his cane. “I was self-aware by the time Tenebrae brought me here, but I had no idea that Lord Meridian had been deposed. So I reached out to Tenebrae’s mind with my own, just as I have with you two now. It was the first time I’d attempted such a thing, and it’s a mistake I’ve regretted ever since.”
“Why?” said Suzy. “What happened?”
“Because that’s when Tenebrae realized he didn’t need the Cloudwright’s help to access my memories,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “He could force me to hand them over myself.”
“So it was you!” she said, her anger rising. “You’re the one who told him where to find the treasure beneath Trollville. You’re the reason the city’s in danger!”
“Not willingly,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “When I proved uncooperative, Tenebrae ordered his gang of trolls to remove the information from me by force. They cut out whole sections of spellcloud in their search for the right synapses.”
“With troll wands?” said Rayleigh, the color draining from his face. “But that’s barbaric! Brain surgery with hammers! They could have destroyed you!”
“It was a … harrowing experience,” said Brain Storm Meridian, looking away. Suzy felt a rush of sympathy for him.
“But this is why I’m here,” she said. “You can tell me where Tenebrae and his team are drilling. I can stop them before they destroy Trollville!”
Brain Storm Meridian looked at her sadly. “I’m afraid I can’t,” he said. “I don’t remember.”
Suzy’s moment of triumph stalled and began to nosedive. “What do you mean, you don’t remember?”
“I told you they cut the information out of me,” he said. “They didn’t put it back again. All that’s left is an empty space where the knowledge used to be.”
Suzy felt the thread of hope she had been clinging to slip through her fingers.
“The monsters!” said Rayleigh.
“I’m sorry I can’t help you,” said Brain Storm Meridian.
“But that means I’m no closer to saving Trollville than when I started!” she said. “Or saving Frederick. You have to remember something!”
“Believe me, child, I wish I could,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “But Tenebrae is the only one with the knowledge now.”
Suzy put her head in her hands. This was it. She had tried everything and failed. Trollville was doomed, and all for the want of a single memory.
And then, in a flash, it came to her. “He’s not the only one,” she said.
“What?” said Rayleigh.
“There’s one other person who knows where the treasure is buried,” she said, and turned to Brain Storm Meridian. “The man who gave you the memory in the first place.”
Brain Storm Meridian raised one eyebrow very slowly. “Of course,” he said. “I really should have thought of it myself. But do you think he’ll tell you? It seems you’re not on the best of terms.”
“I don’t know,” said Suzy. “But he’s our last hope. Maybe he’ll see reason.”
Brain Storm Meridian’s other eyebrow rose to meet the first. “And where is he these days?”
“The Obsidian Tower,” said Suzy. “He’s Lady Crepuscula’s prisoner.”
Brain Storm Meridian gave a snort of distaste. “I wager she’s being insufferably smug about the whole thing, too. I assume you’ll be heading there directly?”
“I will be,” said Suzy. “But, Cloudwright, I need you to go to Trollville.”
“Trollville?” said Rayleigh with a grimace. “Whatever for?”
“Find King Amylum and his courtier Grotnip. Tell them everything you’ve learned. It should be enough to convince them to evacuate the city. Can you do that for me, please?”
Rayleigh’s face twisted with indecision. “But I can’t just leave the Brain Storm here,” he said. “I need to repair it. Him. To take him back to Cloud Forge, where I can care for him properly.”
“And I’m sure that, with a little work, I’ll soon be in better shape than ever,” said Brain Storm Meridian. “But until then, I would rather you helped this young lady in her efforts to deal with Tenebrae. He’s a danger to us all.”
Rayleigh nodded, although he didn’t look happy.
“Excellent,” said Suzy. “Now I need you to return us both to our bodies, please.”
“Of course.” Brain Storm Meridian rose from his chair. “You’ll have to hold still. This is a tricky procedure, and I don’t want to send you back to the wrong bodies.”
He closed his eyes and raised his hands. The Observatory flickered and dimmed around them. As it faded from view altogether, Suzy thought she heard Brain Storm Meridian’s voice echoing in her mind.
“See you again soon.”
The darkness became grainy, tinged with red, and she realized she was looking at the inside of her own eyelids. She opened them and sat up. She was back in the balloon.
Cloudwright Rayleigh awoke with a gasp and was on his feet again in seconds. “Remarkable!” he said, gripping the edge of the basket so tightly his knuckles went white. “It was real, wasn’t it? Please tell me I wasn’t just dreaming.”
The balloon still drifted beside the Brain Storm, so close they could have reached out and touched it.
“It was real,” said Suzy. She nudged him, and he jumped. “We need to move,” she said. “Tenebrae still has Frederick, and we can’t have long before he starts drilling again. You have to warn Trollville while I get back to the Express.”
“Yes, indeed,” he said. “I just never thought that anything like this was possible.”
Suzy pulled her cap more firmly onto her head. “Welcome to my life,” she said.
17
CAPTIVE AUDIENCE
Barry and Gary had taken the precaution of tying Wilmot to one of the stalagmites near the base of the vault. Barry sat and watched him, stony-faced, while Gary blundered around the rest of the cavern, searching for Mr. Trellis, who was still evading capture.
“He does this at home sometimes,” said Wilmot. “He’ll sneak out of his room and head into town. He was gone for two days once.”
“What’s your point?” grunted Barry.
“That you shouldn’t feel bad if you don’t find him,” said Wilmot. “He’s got a lot of experience.”
Barry growled. “If we don’t find him, the boss will. He’s got good eyes. And a bird’s-eye view.” He gave a humorless laugh. “Your friend had better hope Gary finds him first.”
The scream of the Swoop’s engines reached them from outside, and Barry broke into his unpleasant, gold-tinted grin. “Too late.”
Wilmot felt his optimism wither.
A minute later, Reggie, Peeler, and Komp entered the cavern. Reggie was leading a figure in a filthy suit at the end of a length of rope. It took Wilmot a moment to recognize the prisoner’s face through all the layers of mud.
“Frederick?” he said. “What happened?”
“Wilmot!” Frederick looked equally astonished to see his friend. “How did you get down here? I thought you were evacuating.”
“Yes, well. I had a better idea. Though it clearly hasn’t worked out.” Wilmot winced. “But where’s Suzy? Is she all right?”
“She’s fine, I think,” said Frederick. “The last time I saw her she was walloping Tenebrae with her satchel.”
Wilmot couldn’t hold back a big grin at that news. “Awesome,” he said.
“Shut up, you two,” said Reggie. “Gary? Barry? How did this lad get in here?”
“We don’t know, Reggie,” said Barry. “But we caught him trying to sabotage the drill.” He handed over the component he had taken from Wilmot.
Reggie looked at it in alarm. “The flux compressor?” He shook it in Wilmot’s face. “Do you know what would have happened if we’d turned on the drill without this inside?”
“What?” said Wilmot.
“The drill would have exploded and killed us all,” said Reggie.
“Oh.” Wilmot wilted at the thought.
“There was another postie with him,” said Gary. “An old fella, but he got away from us.” Gary’s forehead creased in the effort of thought. “Is there a gift shop down here?”
“A what?” said Reggie.
“Never mind, then,” said Gary. “He’s probably just gone back into the mines.”
“Then get out there and find him before the boss gets back,” said Reggie. “He’s going to be in a bad enough mood as it is.”
Barry took the rope from Reggie and used it to tie Frederick to the same stalagmite as Wilmot.
“Have we met before?” Wilmot asked Reggie as the knots were tightened. “You look very familiar.” To his surprise, Reggie blushed a little.
“No,” he grunted in return. “I’ve just got one of those faces.”
“You really must,” said Frederick. “Because I’m sure I’ve seen you around, too. But I can’t think where.”
“Just stay here and keep your mouths shut,” snapped Reggie. “I’ve got a drill to repair.”
A familiar shadow swept over them, and they looked up to see Tenebrae, without his cape and hood, and splattered in mud.
“Everywhere I go,” Tenebrae said, “I’m plagued by posties.” He landed neatly in front of Frederick and Wilmot. He was panting and soaked, with his feathers sticking up at awkward angles. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve it.”
“You deserve far worse!” said Wilmot, his anger rising. “You’re hurting Trollville for your own greed.”
“Ssshh!” said Frederick. “Don’t antagonize him!”
“Oh, I’m already antagonized,” said Tenebrae, raising Wilmot’s chin with the tip of one talon. “Your little postie friend saw to that. This was a simple operation until she showed up.”
Wilmot could feel the talon pressing against his skin. Just a little more pressure, and it would puncture. “Remind me to award Deputy Postal Operative Smith our employee of the month award,” he said.
He saw Frederick screw his eyes shut, and braced himself for pain.
“Stop it, boss!” Reggie was suddenly between them. He looked as scared as Wilmot. “We’ve got everything we need. All I’ve got to do is fit these parts to the drill and we’ll be ready.”
Tenebrae tried to fix Reggie with a stare, but Reggie kept looking away.
“How long?”
“Just over an hour?” said Reggie. “I’ve got to refit the flux compressor now, too, and that’s always fiddly, so—”
“So get on with it,” said Tenebrae. “And fetch me as soon as it’s ready.” He turned and stalked away, and Wilmot, Frederick, and Reggie all deflated with relief.
“Thank you,” said Wilmot. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“You’re welcome,” said Reggie. “I’m in this business to make money, not to see people get hurt.”
Wilmot would have jumped in surprise if he hadn’t been tied up. “But what about everyone in Trollville? You’re hurting them.”
Reggie dropped his gaze to the floor. “That was never supposed to happen. And if you’ve got another plan for getting into this vault, I’d love to hear it. But until then, I’ll do the job I’m being paid to do.”
He climbed the nearest rope ladder toward the drill.
“If you’re hoping to appeal to his better nature and convince him not to destroy Trollville, it’s not going to work,” said Frederick when Reggie was out of earshot. “He’s not one of the good guys. He hit me with a pipe.”
Wilmot sighed. He had indeed hoped to talk Reggie around, but the idea felt foolish now. “I just hope Suzy can find us in time,” he said.
18
SIBLING RIVALRY
“I’d hoped not to see this place again for a good long while,” said Stonker, casting a dark look out the cab window. The Express had just emerged from another tunnel, and the cold blue sands of the Crepusculan Wastes now stretched away in every direction—a freezing desert beneath a kaleidoscope sky of pulsing stars, like fireworks frozen in space. It was beautiful in its own way, and Suzy might have taken a moment to drink it all in if it wasn’t for the forbidding black shape rising over the horizon: the Obsidian Tower.
A vast fortress of midnight-black stone, the tower held no happy memories for Suzy. It was home to the Lady Crepuscula, the most powerful sorceress in the Union and, coincidentally, Lord Meridian’s twin sister and captor. While she was technically on the side of good, she certainly wasn’t on the side of pleasant, and she had very little love for Suzy. The feeling was entirely mutual.
Ursel clearly harbored similar feelings, as she bared her fangs and growled at the sight of it.
“I suppose there’s no chance of changing your mind?” said Stonker. His mouth twitched with obvious disquiet, making his mustache quiver.
“This is the only way,” said Suzy, knowing that she had to sound brave if he was going to trust her. “Lord Meridian—the real Lord Meridian, I mean—is the only person in the Union who can tell us exactly where Tenebrae and his team are drilling. And the only way to get to Lord Meridian is through the Lady Crepuscula.”
“The two most dangerous people we’ve ever met, in the same room together,” said Stonker. “Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse.”
Suzy didn’t argue—she agreed with him.
Something flashed past the window, and she realized they had reached the field of statues surrounding the tower. There were hundreds of them—an army of oversized knights in armor, their faces twisted in anger, or pain, and she knew from bitter experience that they obeyed Crepuscula’s every order. For now, though, they were lifeless and still, although Ursel kept a wary eye on them as the track threaded in and out of their ranks.
