Mechanical Hearts (Skeleton Key)

by Nicole Blanchard

  “You coming?” he asked as he held out a hand.

  Without a thought, I put my hand in his and stepped out of the trees.

  Grime still coated the glass walls, but I could see shelves of reef surrounding the side of the capsule.

  But there was no pod the farmers had left behind.

  “I suppose it was too much to hope they would have forgotten one behind, then,” I said, disappointment coating my voice.

  “Don’t give up yet, princess,” Ezra said as he strode forward. “The comms panel looks intact. We might be able to signal a passing ship.”

  “Here’s hoping,” I said. I came to a stop beside him as he opened the panel and peered inside.

  “You sound enthusiastic about the prospect of leaving the pleasure of my company.” He grinned up at me. I took a sip from the canteen while I thought of a response. I hoped the water would undo the knot in my throat.

  “I just want to go home,” I said. Apparently, the water didn’t help, because I stumbled over the words.

  Ezra’s expression softened. He abandoned the work with the comms panel and cupped my cheek. His eyes warmed and his fingers traced the shell of my ear. “I know you do, Caroline,” he said. “I promise I’ll get you home.”

  The tension between us thickened, and I swallowed back the sudden urge to have him come closer.

  “Don’t you dare think about kissing me,” I warned.

  “I’m not thinking about it. I fully intend to. The only problem with kissing you—” he leaned in so the words were a whisper in my ear “—is that I may not be able to stop.”

  He nuzzled along the line of my ear, replacing his fingers with his lips, and I couldn’t stop the shiver that coursed through me.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked. “What do you want from me?”

  Ezra pulled back to look at me, and I had to tear my eyes away from his lips. They were no longer bleached of color; instead, they were tinted red and probably still tasted like pears. If my fists weren’t knotted at my side, I was afraid they’d be tangled in his hair or tugging up his shirt to feel his chest paved with smooth muscle.

  “Why do I have to want something from you in return for a kiss?” His hands were moving along my body, but that time he definitely wasn’t checking for injuries.

  “You were the one who wouldn’t help me find a way home without getting something in return,” I said matter-of-factly. “I’m just wondering what this is going to cost me.”

  “I don’t pay for women,” he returned. “I don’t think it speaks well of either of us that you’re implying it.”

  Blood rushed to my cheeks and I moved back a half-step. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  But he silenced me with a move so smooth I couldn’t help but melt into his arms.

  I knew without another thought that I’d forever associate the scent of sweet fruit and the taste of pears with the kiss like an ambrosia. If I were the superstitious type, I’d believe the thought that fluttered through my brain as his lips caressed mine—that the key had brought me there for that moment alone.

  He murmured my name against my lips, and his mechanical arm twined around my waist.

  As he pulled me closer, a voice rang out beside us. “You there! What are you doing?”

  To the Moon and Back

  My lips still tingled a half hour later as the farming technician who checked on all of the abandoned capsules drove us back to Arliss. Ezra spoke with him in hushed tones.

  I wanted to wipe the memory of his kiss away, but I didn’t want to be so obvious. Ezra kept shooting me furtive glances that I’d need a dictionary to decode. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do or how I was supposed to act, so I just pretended nothing had changed.

  Apparently, when we docked at the ag-farm, we triggered an intruder alarm. Which was just as well because we learned the comms system had been disabled years ago.

  “I can take you to Arliss, but not any further,” the technician named Largo said. “I’ve got business at the port, ye understand?”

  “Thank you,” I offered, when Ezra stayed silent. He was too busy scanning the dark water for any sign of his men. “Have you seen anything strange in the past few days?” I added.

  “No,” Largo answered. “Nothing out of the ordinary. I did have one hell of a time with an eel a few days ago, though.”

  At that, Ezra looked at me and smiled. I found myself smiling back before I could help it.

  After a while, Ezra came to sit beside me. “Once we get back, we’ll go to The Tycoon. I can’t know for sure, but I don’t believe he hired the man who attacked us.”

  “If he can get us another boat, then we can go after those people who attacked us or we can look for another whale. Either way, I need to get home.”

  It had already been way too long. Had it been a week already? It felt like an eternity. Part of me was filled with sadness about leaving, but I knew I needed to be there for Phoebe.

  There was a heavy pause, then Ezra said, “I need to talk to you about that. I—”

  Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the loud shouts from Largo.

  In front of us, harnessed to an airlock at Port Arliss, was the ship that had attacked us.

  “Bloody hell,” Ezra whispered to himself.

  Inside the capsule, we could see a wall of armed guards. They were waiting for us.

  Largo managed to outmaneuver them in his smaller craft. He docked on the far side of the port and we hastily thanked him as he shouted, “Go! Run!”

  Echoes of the assassins shouting orders followed us down the street. We were both headed in the same direction. It was just a matter of who made it there first.

  We had moments to spare before the assassins reached the city center. If they captured us, I knew I would never see Phoebe again. That encouraged me to run faster even though I could no longer breathe. My lungs were fit to burst, and my calves and abdomen were taut with unrelenting knotted cramps.

  “There!” Ezra shouted, pointing at The Tycoon’s monstrous house. “You stay in front of me, no matter what, and don’t stop until you reach the top floor. He’ll help you.”

  “What about you?” I managed to wheeze out.

  “Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.”

  “Be careful,” I said.

  He turned a corner, pulling me out of sight, and pressed a hasty kiss to my lips. “I’m always safe, princess. Never careful.”

  Then he pushed me in the direction of The Tycoon’s house and leapt into the street to face the band of assassins alone. I wanted to help him, I even turned my back on the building to join the fight, but the crowd was already swallowing me along with them in their hurry to flee the battle taking place in the middle of the street.

  I ducked into the foyer of The Tycoon’s building, but I didn’t go up to the top like Ezra ordered me to. There was no way I was going to leave him to fend off a dozen men with guns by himself.

  With my ear pressed to the door, I could hear the stampede of people passing. Their screams ricocheted off the brick facades of the nearby businesses and the hurried slap of their shoes against the pavement reminded me of the roar from a tornado.

  When I no longer heard their screams, I dared to peer outside through a crack in the door. I didn’t risk opening it more than an inch or so, just enough for me to find Ezra and make sure he was okay.

  What I didn’t expect to find was Ezra standing in the middle of the road surrounded by the men with guns having a polite conversation like they hadn’t just tried to kill me.

  “I didn’t think you understood, mate,” one of the men was saying.

  “Of course I do,” Ezra replied, even as blood from his still-open head wound dripped down the side of his corded neck. “Anything to protect Arliss.”

  What the hell?

  “So you’ll give up the girl?” the man asked.

  “You know I can’t do that without speaking to The Tycoon first. He hired me to find a mechanica
l heart, and since she is the only human to possess one, I’m required to take her to him.”

  After that, I couldn’t hear over the tremendous buzzing in my ears. I faltered back from the door and stumbled my way across the room. It felt like I was still on his submarine, weaving through the ocean currents. Maybe Arliss was unstable because it certainly felt like the floor was tilting on its axis.

  I braced myself on a counter and stuck my head between my knees.

  Has he been lying to me this whole time? Was it all just an elaborate ruse to get me back to The Tycoon once he realized I was valuable? Is that why he kissed me?

  I was still trying to wrap my head around it when the front door opened and Ezra charged through, his face wild and bloody.

  When he saw me sitting on the floor, he stopped so suddenly it was like he’d run into a wall.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked. “You’re supposed to be in Fletcher’s office where it’s safe.”

  “Wouldn’t want your precious heart stolen again, would you?” I didn’t recognize the bitterness in my own voice. If I were a snake, the words would have pierced his skin like razor sharp teeth and spewed a deadly poison.

  His mouth opened, but no words came out.

  “Don’t worry,” I said as I got to my feet. “I’m not going to run. I figure you’ll catch me or the guards you’ve no doubt got stationed at the door will.” That time when he started to speak, I cut him off. “Don’t bother. Let’s just get this over with.”

  “I never—” he said.

  “I said I don’t want to hear it.” I turned away from him and walked blindly in the other direction. There was an old-fashioned elevator at the back of the main floor, and I strode toward it. Ezra followed silently on my heel.

  I got into the elevator and crossed my arms over my chest. The glare I gave him as he punched in the button for our floor allowed me to understand the meaning behind the phrase ‘if looks could kill’. Because if they could, he would have been a bloody, blubbering mess at my feet.

  All too soon, the elevator dinged at the top floor and I got out. Anger made the room flash red and I whirled around. “No, you know what. I deserve an explanation. How long have you known you were going to hand me over without holding up your end of the bargain?” When he didn’t answer, my voice dropped an octave. “Did you know when they attacked us? When we were in the agriculture capsule? After?”

  If it were after, if he’d learned after he’d kissed me, I could live with that. But if he knew …

  “When the sextant pointed to our location.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “I thought you said it was damaged.”

  “It wasn’t.”

  “Then how could you possibly know it was pointing to me?”

  “You were in the water,” he said. He seemed to think that was enough of an explanation.

  “Please do make a point.”

  “You were in the water for an extended period of time and did not catch the plague. Anyone who’s ever gone into the ocean experiences symptoms ranging from fever to death.”

  “Tink said that was normal,” I said. “I wasn’t in the water for that long.”

  “Tink said that because I told him to.”

  I reeled away from him, my mind swimming. “Then why did we even go after the whales? Why didn’t you just turn me in the first time you suspected anything?”

  “I never wanted to turn you in.”

  “And yet here we are.”

  “I don’t have a choice.” Finally, he shed the façade of patience.

  “We all have a choice,” I said.

  “Not if I want to provide for my family. Not if I don’t want to watch them starve to death.”

  “You’re not the only one with family,” I snarled.

  I wanted to run, I wanted to scream, but I could do neither. There was nowhere to run. I didn’t have a ship I could escape in and there were only limited places to hide in Arliss. It wasn’t like my world where there was an entire planet to lose yourself.

  I was well and truly trapped.

  I put my hand on the door to pull it open, but Ezra slapped it shut, and my strength was simply no match for his.

  “I’m not sure why you’re delaying the inevitable, but I’d really like to get this over with.” I didn’t turn, couldn’t look at him for even a second longer.

  “I promise once he’s done I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. I’ll go to the ends of this Earth to help find what you need so you can go home to Phoebe.”

  “Don’t say her name,” I said through gritted teeth. “From this moment on, I want nothing more to do with you. I never should have trusted you in the first place. Now move.”

  “Caroline …”

  “Move!”

  His sigh caused our bodies to brush, and I stiffened as his front came in contact with my back. I cursed him and myself for the mess we were in, but I wasn’t going to give him or Fletcher the satisfaction of seeing me break.

  As soon as he lifted his hand from the door, I swung it open so hard it slammed into the wall.

  Fletcher was waiting behind his desk looking down at the city from floor to ceiling windows that stretched across one wall.

  If I wasn’t so angry—and yes, I admitted to myself, sad—I would have enjoyed looking down at the neat little boxed shops and the gleaming glass in relief of the dark water beyond. It truly was a beautiful world; one I’d grown to love.

  It was a shame I would have to leave it.

  Fletcher turned when the door closed behind us and simply lifted a brow at my dramatic entrance. My fists clenched by my side in an effort to restrain myself from leaping across the room to tear his face off.

  “Castle,” Fletcher said. “And guest. What a pleasant surprise.”

  “Oh, cut the crap,” I spat.

  He ignored my outburst and said to Ezra, “Do you have what I need?”

  I snorted, but they both ignored me.

  “Do you have what you promised me?” Ezra didn’t allow me to move more than a couple feet away from them as we crossed the room. His voiced followed me like a shadow until we came to a stop in front of Fletcher’s desk.

  Fletcher merely jerked his head toward the glass. Ezra finally left my side to stride over to the wall of windows. Whatever he saw made his shoulders slump in relief.

  “I suppose you are satisfied?” Fletcher asked. When Ezra nodded, he said, “Good. Now for your end of the deal.”

  Despite my rage, my hands still trembled so I knotted them together in front of me. There was no way I was going to let either of them see my fear.

  “That would be me,” I said and was proud to find that I didn’t trip over the words.

  What passed for a smile flitted over Fletcher’s lips. “I don’t have time for games, girl.” To Ezra he said, “Which dock did you park at, my boy? As soon as I have my whale, The Avenger is yours.”

  “I don’t have a whale,” Ezra said and then hurried to continue before Fletcher started to bellow. “But I have her.”

  “Her?” Fletcher exclaimed. “What the devil am I supposed to do with her?”

  “Well, this is a nice change of pace,” I said as Ezra pushed me forward. “I suppose you were right when you said you weren’t a hero. More like the villain, right?”

  His normally composed expression wilted and his unreadable eyes begged me to understand. “Don’t talk like that.”

  I was having none of it. I gave him my trust and the first chance he got, he was abusing it. Worse than that, Phoebe was going to pay the price for it. There was no one to blame but myself, but I could damn well be pissed off at him for lying to me, leading me on, and robbing me of my chance to go home.

  “Well, at least I can look at the person betraying me in the face instead of having them stab me in the back.”

  “I promise I’m going to find a way to get you home.”

  “Enough,” Fletcher barked. “What the hell am I supposed to do with her?”

 
“You know, Ezra, I’ve lost count of the lies you’ve told.” The words even tasted sour so I spit them out.

  He reached for my hand, but I pulled myself away. “I would never lie about this.”

  “And why should I believe you? Don’t even say because I can trust you. We both know that’s just another lie.”

  “I said, what the hell am I supposed to do with her?” Fletcher repeated.

  Ezra and I ignored him.

  “You don’t understand,” Ezra said and ran a hand through his hair. My fingers twitched at the memory of what it felt like to run my own hand through those silky strands.

  “Then why don’t you explain it to me?” I demanded. “You at least owe me that much.”

  When he didn’t answer, I scoffed, “That’s what I thought.” I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. “The least you can do for me is find a way to pass a message to Phoebe. Can you do that?”

  Ezra frowned. “You can do it yourself.”

  “If you think I’m going to get out of this alive, you’re deluding yourself.” I didn’t let him argue, I just kept talking. “Just tell Phoebe I love her, okay? Can you do that? Tell her I love her to the moon and back.”

  Heartless

  “What did you say?” Fletcher shouted, but I wasn’t listening.

  I wasn’t even in Arliss anymore. Not in my head, anyway.

  In my head, I was with Phoebe, and we were in Aunt Millie’s backyard, although Millie wasn’t there, thank God.

  Phoebe and I were swinging on a creaky old bench swing with the scent of sweet spring air swirling around us.

  I wasn’t trapped by the man I’d come to care about.

  I wasn’t in an alternate world, scared, about to die, and completely alone with no way to go home.

  As if through a bubble, I heard a commotion, but it was hard for me to shift my attention from the comforting illusion I’d woven to keep myself from breaking. There was shouting on the other side of the bubble, the sound of gunfire.

  Someone was tugging on my arm, but I couldn’t find the energy to move, or even look up to see who was pulling at me.