Depth

by Emily Thompson

  When the song came to an end, Twist was surprised to find himself disappointed. The dancers stopped moving to clap for the band, and some wandered off the dance floor for a rest. Myra turned around to clap for the band as well, remaining very close before Twist. She was near enough, Twist silently realized, that he would have been able to feel the warmth of her skin if her body were made of flesh and blood.

  “You know,” Myra mentioned, turning back to him, “I think you’re getting even better at dancing, my dear.”

  “You’re a wonderful teacher,” Twist replied, unconsciously taking her hands in his. “I have no choice but to improve.”

  Myra laughed to herself, her delight at the compliment sparkling over his skin. “You’re too sweet to me,” she said, her face admonishing but her emotions indulgent.

  “Nonsense,” Twist said, leaning closer to place a kiss on her shining copper cheek. The warmth of the emotions in Myra’s touch deepened at this, but she made no reply except to smile back at him.

  “Ah, there you are,” a voice said from behind Twist. He turned to find Aden.

  “Oh, hello again,” Myra said pleasantly.

  “Would you mind awfully if I cut in?” Aden asked Twist, as the next song began to play.

  Although he would have liked to refuse the request, Twist acquiesced and let Aden take his place. After all, Twist considered, he could dance with his future bride any time he wished. Aden couldn’t. Twist stepped off of the dance floor as the dancers began to move into the song, and then he looked back to watch Myra and Aden dance. She was smiling to Aden politely, holding his hand and moving just as gracefully as ever, while Aden kept up fairly well.

  Another couple passed by, catching Twist’s attention. Jonas was dancing with Kima, leading her through the steps. Kima followed him, but it was obvious that she was struggling to do so, her face a picture of concentration. Jonas was speaking to her, though Twist couldn’t hear him. Judging by the gentle smile on his face, however, Twist guessed that he must be giving her tips and encouragements. Twist could only marvel at this, once again surprised by the way Jonas treated her. He seemed to have an infinity of compassion for Kima.

  “Lose your partner?” Niko asked, suddenly appearing at Twist’s side while he hadn’t been paying attention.

  “So it would seem,” Twist nodded. “What’s become of Tasha?”

  Niko pointed into the flurry of dancers, to where Tasha was dancing with another man.

  “Ah,” Twist noted.

  “I don’t like these fancy to-dos,” Niko grumbled. “These people just want to be seen, not to see each other. All the smiles are fake.”

  Twist looked at the young man appraisingly.

  “What?” Niko snapped.

  “I imagine that this sort of to-do is Tasha’s preferred environment. You’re an independent, intelligent young fellow. Why haven’t you found a companion who is more suited to your taste?”

  “Tasha’s all right,” Niko said, shaking his head. “I can suffer a ball or two, here and there, if that’s the price of her friendship. Besides,” he added with a sigh, “left entirely to my own devices, I’m sure I’d become a crazy old hermit. I have to rely on others to keep me human.”

  Twist silently considered Niko’s point. Twist had been very much a hermit in London and would have remained so indefinitely if Arabel hadn’t asked him to step out into the world. Since then he had changed drastically from the man he used to be, thanks almost entirely to his friends. Jonas had taught him to revel in new things rather than fear them. Myra had shown him just how deeply joy could soak into a soul.

  Thinking back, he realized that he had been learning from more than just his closest companions. Skye had taught him that any danger in the world could be met with bravery and optimism. Aazzi had shown Twist what true strength actually looked like, and Philippe had made it clear that love really could be unconditional. Even ridiculous Vane had shown Twist that loyalty could exist on its own, without even needing honor to support it. With this perspective, he could identify such lessons from nearly everyone he’d encountered since leaving London.

  “Good heavens,” he breathed, astonished by his findings.

  Niko glanced to him questioningly.

  “You’re quite right, Niko,” Twist said. “We can learn a great deal by allowing others to show us things we would otherwise avoid. Good for you to recognize that.”

  Niko shrugged, his face its usual mask of indifference.

  Twist looked back to the dancers, finding Kima and Jonas again in the crowd. Kima was smiling now and moving much more easily while Jonas continued to keep his eyes low and speak softly to her. Like Twist and Niko, she too was well outside her own realm of comfort and finding something positive among the difficulty.

  When Aden’s dance with Myra was over, Twist reclaimed his place with her once again. He indulged his new enjoyment of dancing for a while, but soon the forever-swirling crowd around them began to grate. Rather than push himself too far into this still-unfamiliar territory, Twist eventually made a mild mention that he hadn’t slept too terribly well the night before and voiced his wish to retire to his cabin long before the end of the ball.

  Though Myra was immediately worried for him, he promised her that all he needed was rest. She eventually let him go with a goodnight and a soft kiss on his cheek. The moment he stepped away from her, other men approached the pretty clockwork dancer hopefully. Twist hesitated, wondering if he should remain after all to keep watch over Myra in all of this attention, but she seemed to have no trouble choosing a new partner. He consoled himself with the thought that Tasha, Niko, and Jonas were all staying at the ball and that it would be very unlikely that Myra would find herself in any danger while on Aden’s ship.

  Twist entered his cabin to find that one of the porters must have come in to turn on the electric lights. The room also seemed warmer than it had before. The moment Twist shut the door behind him, the sudden silence and solitude enveloped him like a comforting embrace. He went to the controls set in the wall and opened the circular window in the ceiling to the starry black sky. He also turned the heating off, opened the vents to allow in some of the cooler outside air, and switched off the electric lights.

  He then sat on the edge of the bed below the window, took off his jacket, and leaned back to look up into the stars. The vents blew a gentle breeze over him, bringing a light scent of salty air. Twist pulled his watch out of his waistcoat pocket and wound it absently while the familiar clockwork danced at the edges of his thoughts. One of the stars in the sky looked much brighter than the others, and Twist idly wondered if it might be a planet.

  But no, he thought, remembering what he’d learned of the sky from sharing Jonas’s Sight for a few days. This far north, the planets wouldn’t appear at the top of the sky. The bright point, he surmised, must be a star. Perhaps it was Sirius. As these deliciously idle thoughts of faraway heavenly spheres played in his mind, Twist made a personal note to learn to recognize a few constellations so that he might know the sky better.

  A deep, contented breath flowed in and out of him as he let the solitude soak deep into his bones, and his body melted into true ease. Since he and Myra had been sharing a bed, moments of total silence like this one had grown few and far between. As much as he enjoyed her company, and that of Jonas as well, spending time alone was becoming more and more luxurious to him. He began to wonder if he shouldn’t develop some hobby or frequent activity that would allow him more time to himself. As he pondered a few possible options, the watch in his hands began to leak deeper into his Sight, putting a soft tick and tock into the air that only he could hear.

  Twist smiled to hear the imagined sound and closed his eyes, letting his thoughts fall away entirely. After a long moment, another sound joined the clockwork. It was soft at first, infinitely subtle, and vanished whenever Twist tried to identify it. But as he emptied his mind and let the sound waft through his now nearly silent thoughts, he recognized it. A shiver broke ov
er him as he realized that it was the unmistakable sound of gentle, soot-stained London rain on the thick windows of his attic room.

  In a flash, his distant memories flooded back as clear as day: the scent of the old wood, the blackened city air, and the high tang of metal polish all returned to him, along with the uncanny ghost of the damp chill in that poorly insulated upper room. He could almost see the soft gray light that seeped down through the thick clouds. He was pleased to find that this old memory still wound through the workings of his watch, as clearly as it had the day he’d put it there.

  Thinking back, Twist could hardly believe that he had ever really lived in that place. The day he’d left to rescue a mythical princess, he’d been excited, nervous, and amazingly naive. He’d honestly believed that he would be able to return home. He’d assumed that once he had set Myra’s puppet to rights, he would go right back to his little clock-mending business with nothing more than a pleasant tale to tell. His life would resume just as quickly as it had been disturbed. That day, mere months ago, he couldn’t have possibly imagined that he would fall in love with the princess and win her heart in return.

  And why should he have? His entire life, up until that point, had been one of complete solitude. Even when there were people around him, they had never been with him. He’d never even had a friend until Jonas arrived. How could he have ever guessed, back on that fateful day, how things would turn out?

  Twist took another deep breath and opened his eyes slowly, letting the vision clear from his mind gently. The stars met his gaze, making him laugh lightly. It really was no wonder why he didn’t already know the constellations very well. A clear, starry sky was a truly rare sight in London. It was only now that he saw those delicate pinpricks of light so regularly.

  A soft buzzing sensation bloomed in the base of his neck as Jonas approached the room. Twist sat up and looked to the door an instant before it opened. The light from outside spilled into the room like a torrent, making Twist wince against it and raise a hand to shield his eyes.

  “Oh, sorry,” Jonas said, shutting the door behind him and banishing the light. “Why have you got the lights out? You all right?”

  “Yes, yes,” Twist said. “I was just resting my eyes for a moment.”

  Jonas remained standing near the door, looking at Twist through gently glowing lavender eyes, but it was hard for Twist to see his expression in the darkness. Twist realized that although he couldn’t see in the dark, Jonas most certainly could, as clearly as in daylight.

  “So you’re sitting alone in a dark room, staring at the stars,” Jonas observed thoughtfully. “And yet you’re not going to bed early, like you told Myra you were. If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you were veering worryingly close to mopey sentimentality.”

  “Aren’t I lucky you know me better than that?” Twist muttered irritably. “There is nothing unseemly or at all mawkish about a moment of peace and quiet, you know.”

  “I suppose not,” Jonas said with a shrug. Apparently having found whatever he was looking for in Twist's eyes, his own shifted to green, and Twist noticed a lessened weight against his own Sight. “You need any more alone time? I can come back later, or something…”

  “I’m quite all right, but thank you,” Twist said, standing to retrieve his jacket from where he’d left it on the end of the bed.

  “Well, I did have a feeling you were lying about being tired,” Jonas mentioned. “I thought I’d come and see if you might want to join me for a drink before actually going to sleep.”

  “A drink?”

  “There’s a bar at the back of the dining room,” Jonas said. “I checked. They have a decent selection. I thought, after all the crowds and the annoying conversations, a nightcap might do well. Especially an unescorted one.”

  “Unescorted?” Twist asked. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean just a couple of blokes, having understandable and perfectly simple conversation. Not caring if we speak out of turn or are bothering to be bloody polite all the damn time.”

  Twist chuckled. “Of course.”

  “So? How about it? Would you rather come have a drink or sit here alone in the dark a bit longer? I’m going either way.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Twist said, slipping his jacket back on. “Lead the way, old boy.”

  Twist followed Jonas out of their cabin and back down to the dining room, which was now surprisingly empty. After seeing every seat filled during dinner, Twist was amazed by how quiet and empty the large open room could feel just a few hours later. Most of the electric lights had been shut off, leaving the gleaming silver of the floor and walls to reflect only the ghostly dim glow of a few small points of light near the back of the room.

  To Twist’s surprise, a few figures already sat at the long counter that stood near the back wall. He recognized Marcus at the bar, delivering drinks one at a time. Jonas took one of the few open spaces, and Twist sat beside him without gaining much notice from the others. It seemed to Twist that every other person in the room was already chatting with someone else or quite conspicuously eavesdropping on his or her neighbors.

  “What would you gentlemen like?” Marcus asked Twist and Jonas, walking by with two bottles of beer in his hands to deliver to the men sitting to their left.

  Jonas looked to Twist with a dangerous light in his blue-green eyes. “Do you trust me?”

  Twist stared back at him, suddenly nervous.

  Jonas laughed at this and turned back to Marcus. “Two neat Soleras, if you would.”

  “What was that?” Twist asked as Marcus nodded and stepped away.

  “Relax, Twist,” Jonas said, patting him encouragingly on the back. “You’re in good hands.”

  Twist let out a sigh and resigned himself to whatever was coming. Surely, if Jonas endorsed a drink, it would end up being some kind of rum. At least that much was certain. Usually it would end up being fairly good as well. A moment later, Marcus returned with two small glasses half-filled with a dark caramel-colored liquor.

  “Well,” Jonas said, lifting his glass, “here’s to retaining our sanity while surrounded by weird Sighted people and high society.”

  Twist chuckled and tapped his glass against Jonas’s before taking a sip. Sure enough, it was definitely rum: rich in flavor, but also pleasantly light. “That is quite a tall order, you know,” Twist mentioned, “retaining any form of sanity with all of the Sights on board.”

  Jonas gave an agreeing tone and then leaned in close. “You watch. Give them a day and some idiot will suggest a Sight circle.”

  “You said I’m not allowed to go to those anymore.”

  “Well, neither am I,” Jonas declared. “I say so.”

  Twist smiled at him and shook his head. “You certainly live life by your own rules, don’t you?”

  “Technically, everyone does,” Jonas countered. “Some people just decided to copy other people’s rules and then blame them for everything. No imagination.”

  “Speaking of your personal rules of conduct,” Twist said, raising a finger. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

  Jonas glanced to him suspiciously. “Should I be on my guard?”

  “I hope you won’t be,” Twist answered honestly. He paused, regarding his friend.

  He could broach the subject gently and have his questions batted aside. Or he could ask directly and be shouted at. Either way, Jonas usually hated to discuss his visions of the future. Finally deciding to take the bold path, Twist asked his question as simply as he could.

  “Have you had a vision of Kima’s future?”

  Jonas’s eyes flashed with yellow and shock, caught totally off guard.

  “If it’s unpleasant, then you don’t have to tell me,” Twist added quickly. “Honestly, you don’t have to tell me anything at all. It’s just that you treat her completely differently than you do anyone else. You’re always so very kind to her. And you think of her even when she’s not around. I can’t see any other reason why s
he would hold so much of your attention, as she does, unless you know something about her future. Something that changes the way you see her.”

  Jonas’s shock dulled as Twist spoke, and he looked to his glass thoughtfully for a long moment. The buzzing at Twist’s neck went quiet but calm. “It’s that obvious, is it?” he asked, his voice soft now.

  Twist shrugged. “I don’t know how obvious anything is. I notice more than most people, thanks to our Sights.”

  Jonas shook his head, smiling slightly.

  “Am I right, then?” Twist asked when it was clear that Jonas had no intention of explaining himself. “Have you seen her future? Or do you just fancy the woman?”

  Jonas, still looking at his drink, laughed to himself. “Maybe I do. I’m not so sure anymore.” He took a breath, his spirit seeming steady and resigned, and looked to Twist with emerald-green eyes. “You’re only going to keep wondering, aren’t you? Fine,” he added with a great sigh. “I’ll tell you. The first time I saw Kima’s face, I was six years old.”

  “Good heavens,” Twist gasped. He’d never imagined that Jonas had seen a vision of Kima so far back in his own past. “Wait, did you know who she was at the time? Was she a child in your vision, or an adult? What did you even see?”

  Jonas looked back at Twist with concern as the questions piled up.

  “Sorry,” Twist offered, struggling to beat back his own curiosity.

  “I met her at the same time that you did, in that flying village,” Jonas answered. “But in my vision, she looked about the same age as she does now, so I guess it’ll happen soon. I had no idea who she was or when we would meet, the first time I saw her in my vision.”

  As Jonas spoke, the buzzing at Twist’s neck turned cold. Jonas’s eyes went gray as they filled with memory. Twist held silent, unsure if he should offer some kind of support. Jonas seemed to return to the present on his own and went on as his eyes turned green again.