by S. S. Engle
“An open wound.”
“You d-d-don’t mean wh-wh-what I think do you?”
“Step back Harlan and watch the door.”
“K-k-kass no! That’ll be a l-l-lot of bl-bl-blood!”
“Well if I pass out you can finish what I started.”
“That’s n-n-not funny K-k-kass!”
“It’s a little funny.”
12
The paper writ. The stain affected. The key is gilded undetected. Seventeen in iron pen. Mr. O’Brien can’t offend. Rolled across the wooden floors of the O’Brien mansion in Kassidy’s blood was the clue from her father’s spyglass. She had to think about this for a while. What she needed most she didn’t have. Luca’s notebook would probably have tons of information on what these lines could have meant. But she had no idea where Luca was, and she knew after what she did to him up in the office that he’d probably want nothing to do with her. Not if he was smart. But she couldn’t waste anytime. She could piece some of the clues together, but not enough to make any sense of the whole code. She figured at the least she was going to be looking for some sort of document. The paper writ. Some official document more than likely. She slumped herself into a fancy chair with an ugly floral pattern and ornately carved wooden legs. She knocked it back on two legs and hung herself in the middle, just leaning ever so slightly to keep from falling. She had her fingers drawing random words in the air above her as she stared at the ceiling for a blank surface. Her hand was roughly wrapped back up in the striped strip of fabric from Luca’s shirt, by now though it was soaked dark red. In the middle of her thought process Harlan ducked his head into her line of sight.
“Yes Harlan? Can I help you?”
“M-m-making any head-head-headway?”
“I’m going to have to track down some sort of document. Something important.”
“W-w-where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wh-wh-what document?”
“Not a clue. There’s too much I don’t know. I’ve been gone too long.”
“Is there an-n-ny way I can h-h-help?”
“Unfortunately I don’t think so. The only aide I think I could use right now is probably hauling himself far away from here.”
“You n-n-need L-l-lucky don’t y-y-you?”
“No. Just Luca’s papers.”
“His pa-pa-papers?”
“Yes. He’s got this little black notebook full of information the Dreadcranks have pulled up on my father. If I had that I might be able to find just what I need to make sense of this riddle.”
“I’ll b-b-be right b-b-back.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have to g-g-go check on som-m-mething. I’ll be b-b-back soon th-th-though.”
“I’ll be here.”
Kassidy continued drawing in the air while Harlan left the room. Without hesitation he went right back down to the basement. Luca’s items were all laying in a pile on the ground, and he remembered seeing some sort of black notebook that Kassidy had just described. Thankfully there were still no guards down by the holding cell because they were all too busy living a life of debauchery upstairs. Luca now was leaning on the bars, his one arm dangling through, and his head hanging down so he was staring at the floor. When Harlan’s shoes came into focus he perked up a little bit though. He hoped Harlan had news that Kassidy had indeed left the mansion and was safe. But Harlan had no intent of honoring the so called deal, and just continued to rifle through Luca’s items until he pulled the notebook out. When he stood back up and began running for the stairs Luca couldn’t let him go without an explanation.
“O’Brien!”
“I’m not letting you out Lucky.”
“Is she alright?”
“Kassidy is fine.”
“Good. Then where the hell are you going with that? That’s mine. You better not be taking that to Asa!”
“She said she needed it.”
“She needs it? Then she’s still here?”
“Yes. She’s upstairs in a second story room with blood all over the floor.”
“She went back.”
“What?”
“What happened?! Why is there blood all over the floor?”
“It’s not what you think. She got the code out of the spyglass.”
“Why didn’t she just use ink?”
“That’s what I told her!”
“Is she alright though? That would have taken a lot of blood.”
“She’s trying to figure out the riddle, but she doesn’t have enough information. She’s just frustrated right now.”
“O’Brien you have to let me out. I can help her.”
“I can’t let you out.”
“Why not? The key is right there on the desk!”
“Asa would know I let you out.”
“So?!”
“So I don’t want you out.”
“You just don’t want me with her.”
“She doesn’t need you!”
“You’re jealous of me aren’t you O’Brien?”
“She said she didn’t need you, just the notebook.”
“She’s annoying when she’s right. Fine, go. Be her hero.”
“I will. She’ll be better off without you.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
“You’re a Dreadcrank. That gang is illegal. You’re illegal.”
“So is she.”
“What?”
“She’s a Dreadcrank too.”
“You’re lying!”
“Why would I lie about that?”
“Women can’t be in the Dreadcranks.”
“Says who?”
“Says the rules.”
“I’m the leader, I make the rules.”
“You broke the rules for her?”
“I changed the rules for her. She deserves to be a Dreadcrank. It’s her father’s gang, her gang. I’m no more illegal than she is. So if you think I belong down here, then she belongs down here with me.”
“She doesn’t belong with you.”
“Then go run up and ask her!”
“I will!”
Harlan left the basement again and rushed to return to Kassidy. As he opened the door to the second story room a dagger was flung out at him, and hit the doorjamb just beside his head. She smiled innocently as he entered and removed her dagger from the wood. He gave it back to her and she tucked it away on her thigh sheath. He kept thinking about what Luca had said, that she was a Dreadcrank now. He didn’t want to believe it, but he knew it was probably true. She was more than capable, but he hoped he was wrong. He didn’t want her to get mixed up in any of that. He wanted her to stay safe. She could be safe with him. Harlan wasn’t affiliated with any gang. She was preoccupied drawing in the air again, and occasionally frowning. She was busy and didn’t have any time for him, so he thought he’d bring her attention to him. He waved the notebook in her line of sight and she toppled the chair back down onto all four legs.
“Where did you get this?!”
“Lucky’s l-l-locked up in the hol-hol-holding cell down in the ba-ba-basement. I got the-the-this out of h-h-his pile of things they con-con-confiscated from him.”
“How is he?”
“F-f-fine.”
“Good. I’ll have time to get this code written down and hopefully figure it out before he comes back.”
“Comes back?”
“We promised whoever got the spyglass first would wait for the other to come back to this room.”
“That’s wh-wh-what he meant.”
“What now?”
“N-n-nothing. I d-d-don’t see wh-wh-why you still n-n-need him. I thought all y-y-you needed w-w-was the no-no-notebook?”
“I do need the notebook. But I’m not so foolish as to believe Luca won’t be able to break himself out of that holding cell and come back here. Like I told you before, I need what he knows.”
“I c-c-could help you too y-y-you know.”
“But I need what he
knows Harley. That’s all.”
“Can I a-a-ask you something?”
“Right now? Can’t it wait?”
“No. He said y-y-you were a Dread-Dread-Dreadcrank now. Is th-th-that true?”
“I didn’t know you two had talked.”
“Is it, is it true K-k-kass?”
“Yes. I earned my spot though! I don’t need you thinking I’m his charity case or anything like that. I shot the best that day. That’s all there was to it.”
“B-b-but you don’t need those g-g-guys.”
“I do. I need protection. I need information. I can’t do this alone Harley.”
“Y-y-you’ve got me.”
“I need more than that. I don’t want to see anything happen to you, and you’re too close to Asa. I wouldn’t ever jeopardize you like that.”
“B-b-but you set the re-re-record for the m-m-most gang kills in o-o-one night!”
“Seventeen.”
“The R-r-ringers say it can-can-can’t be broken.”
“Everything can be broken!”
“W-w-what?”
“Only three of those kills were even mine. The other fourteen were just thanks to poor swimming skills, cold weather, and a dilapidated dock.”
“B-b-but I thought…”
“You can’t believe everything you’re told. People lie alright?”
“Did you miss me sweetheart?”
“Luca?!”
Luca was holding his arm in his right hand, dangling it at his side. Kassidy ran up to him quick then realized what she was doing and stopped short of hugging him. He held up his mechanical arm and rose his eyebrows up to her. She nodded and brought him over to the chair she was sitting in to help him reattach his arm. She’d done it once now, and was more familiar with what to link up to where. It only took a few minutes now before Luca could get up, bash his shoulder into the wall and shake it back into perfect position. Harlan was a little taken aback by the brutality of the reattachment process and couldn’t help but stare at it. Luca had it back and it was fully operational, and just to mock the younger O’Brien he waved his little fingers at him as he walked by. Luca and Kassidy resumed studying the code as if they’d been working on it together for hours. After Luca wrote the code in the book he told Harlan to make himself useful and cover the drying blood up with the rugs so people wouldn’t notice what had happened in here. Harlan refused at first, but pleading look from Kassidy had him rearranging the furniture by himself. Meanwhile Kassidy sat on top of one of the couches over Luca’s shoulder as they began bouncing ideas off of one another.
“What do you have so far sweetheart?”
“The next clue has something to do with a document. A pretty important one from what I could figure.”
“A paper writ. It’s an official document if it was written by hand. That means it has to be old. What’s old an important?”
“Lots of things.”
“What’s more important than Engia’s Charter?”
“The founding papers of the city! But where are those hidden away?”
“I don’t know. Let me work this out. The stain affected. I have no idea what that means. But the key is gilded. The key was forged, melted, the key is…the key is brass?”
“Brass? Luca lots of keys are brass in Engia.”
“I know. Seventeen in iron pen. An iron pen, it’s a prison, a jail. Mr. O’Brien can’t offend. It’s the Brass Bulldogge!”
“Connect the dots for me.”
“Patrick O’Brien signed the Engia Charter along with our fathers. Asa is untouchable. The O’Brien’s are above the law. When you break the law where do you go? Prison. The Brass Bulldogge is the most high security prison in the entire city. And you know what its address is?”
“Surprise me.”
“17 Roden Ave. Where else would you hide the most important document in the city if not in the most secure location?”
“So in order to get to the Charter, we’re going to have to get into the prison?”
“Ideally, yes.”
“That’s insane! How are we going to do that?”
“I was going to leave that up to you.”
“Why me?”
“You’re the one who knows how to get in and out of places. I only know how to get in. Now what good would that do?”
“You broke yourself out of that holding cell downstairs.”
“Yes, but you broke me out of the jail across town. And you also broke yourself out of that jail. You’ve got more experience with prisons than I do.”
“Now I know you’re making fun of me.”
“I am not. I’m just giving you a list of facts.”
“You think you’re so smart.”
“Well I did figure out the riddle didn’t I?”
“Just because you’re right a lot it doesn’t make you some sort of genius. It just means you got lucky.”
“I get lucky a lot. Guess that’s why they call me Lucky.”
“Remember what I said about being cocky?”
“I’m working on it.”
13
The thunderstorm wreaked havoc through the night, but not more than the party did inside the mansion. By morning though all had passed, the skies were clear blue outside and the hangovers were deep inside. With people passed out and draped over themselves and every open piece of furniture it made getting out of the mansion quite easy. The alley in back was still flooded, and getting back to Dreadcrank headquarters or the royal palace by foot was going to be an impossible task. The train was still working though, so under the cover of their now dry black coats Kassidy and Luca were going to travel in public today. Harlan wanted to come to, insisting he could be of use to Kassidy and Luca. Kassidy took a second before she vouched for her friend to Luca allowing him to
come. The three were a suspicious pairing to say the least at the train station, but with everyone’s faces shoved in a newspaper they somehow managed to not create a scene for themselves. It was tight seating with only two people to a room on the train now. Luca got on first, holding his hand out to Kassidy to jump in after him. Harlan would have to ride in the room behind them. Luca smiled smugly at Harlan but Kassidy was so preoccupied with being on a train for the first time in seventeen years that she didn’t even notice. She was biting her lip in excitement and Luca couldn’t take his eyes off of her. When she turned to look out the window he awkwardly pretended to look too. She was leaning against him to get a better look outside and then slumped back in her seat. Her eyes were glazed off as if she was staring at nothing and everything all at once.
“What are you thinking about sweetheart?”
“One of us is going to have to get ourselves thrown into the Brass Bulldogge to get our hands on that Charter.”
“Yeah I was doing the math on that too.”
“It’s going to have to be me.”
“What?!”
“Luca you can’t go in there. Asa would do everything in his power to keep you there for life. You’re the leader of the Dreadcranks, I’m nobody. I’ve got a better chance at getting out than you do.”
“I don’t like the idea of you being locked up in there. I’m not sure I’d be able to get to you in time. Besides, you’d be famous in there. Captain Wilhelm von Detten’s daughter. The inmates would give you all sorts of trouble.”
“Not if I did something bad enough to get me locked into isolation.”
“The guys they have in there would find a way to get to you. Blue would find a way. You said he locked you up in jail before right?”
“Yes. And I sure as hell don’t want to cross paths with him again. That’d be…I don’t even want to think about how that would be. But I’ve got to do this. It has to be me Luca.”
“I know. It just doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Take comfort in knowing it doesn’t sit well with me either. Hey Luca?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you only nice to me?”
“I don’t think I underst
and what you’re asking.”
“Why do you give Harlan such a hard time? He’s never done anything to you has he?”
