Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1: The Brimstone Key

by Derek Benz; Jon S. Lewis

  “Wait a minute…” Harley said as he was about to step into the car. “Is that Sprig?”

  “Where?” Max asked, fearing the news was too good to be true.

  Harley pointed to the top of a building across the street where a pair of glowing eyes looked back down on them.

  “That’s not a faerie,” Ernie said. “It’s a clockwork.”

  “Get into the car!” Logan commanded.

  Ernie fumbled to open the door until Natalia pushed him out of the way to open it herself. But by the time they had all piled in, the clockwork was gone.

  As they cruised through the town, Logan’s grim look never lightened. Max wasn’t sure what he did wrong. He didn’t even throw a punch.

  “Where are we going?” Max asked as Logan drove past Lake View Terrace Boulevard—the street where Max lived.

  “Iron Bridge.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Ernie complained. “It’s Friday night, and I haven’t even spent my allowance yet.”

  “Another changeling has disappeared,” Logan informed them.

  “Who?” Ernie wanted to know.

  “The girl who can phase through walls.”

  “Becca?” exclaimed Ernie in horror. “Becca Paulson?”

  Logan nodded. “Her parents went to wake her up for school this morning, but her bed was empty. There wasn’t a trace, just like the first one.”

  “I don’t get it,” Max said. “Why are we going to Iron Bridge?”

  “Because it’s just about the safest place in the world right now, and I don’t want some maniac taking you, too.”

  40

  ROSENKREUZ LIBRARY

  Understandably, Ernie’s parents were upset when Logan informed them that their son needed to move to the dormitories for his own safety. Their natural reaction was to keep Ernie nearby so they could protect him. After Logan explained the dangers that were likely on their way, Dr. Tweeny and his wife relented.

  Since it was only temporary, the other Griffins volunteered to stay at the school with him. The boys ended up sharing a large room with two sets of bunk beds. Logan took the room next door so he could keep track of them. Natalia ended up in one of the girls’ dormitories, under Dean Nipkin’s watchful eye.

  When Saturday morning rolled around, all four of the Grey Griffins found themselves in the Rosenkreuz Library looking for information about Otto Von Strife and his clockwork program. Apart from some staff and the few boarding students who stayed at the academy, they were practically alone.

  Outside the stained-glass windows, rain was pouring down. The cold October wind had turned the library into an icebox. If it weren’t for the roaring fireplace, the Griffins may well have lost their noses to frostbite.

  Laid out on the table before them were maps, old encyclopedias, school yearbooks, newspaper clippings, and a pile of books on clockworks, including A History of Clockworks by Benjamin Glendenning and The Quandary of Artificial Intelligence, a Retrospective by Joseph Boudrie.

  “What do we know so far?” Max asked as Ernie thumped a pencil on the tabletop, distracted by his own thoughts. The only things on the sheet of paper in front of him were a few doodles. He couldn’t concentrate.

  Natalia thumbed through her Book of Clues, looking for her notes. “Otto Von Strife was a brilliant scientist from the Prussian Academy,” she began. “He was married, but his wife died in childbirth.”

  Natalia paused. “It always makes me so sad to read that part.”

  “Keep reading,” Max pressed.

  “Let’s see. Here we are. Von Strife started teaching Applied Magic and Technology at Iron Bridge in 1874 and, a few years later, was put in charge of a clockwork research program that lasted until 1910 or so. There’s not much about him until 1914 when he is mentioned as joining a group known as the Foundation. Then, nothing.”

  “Isn’t that about the time the old Iron Bridge was destroyed?” noted Harley.

  “Wait a minute. Did you guys hear that?” Ernie asked.

  “It was probably Natalia’s ghost friend.” Harley laughed.

  “There it is again.”

  They fell silent. The faint sound of a gear being wound up played from across the library. Then they heard what sounded like the ticking of a clock, or rather, several clocks. Max slipped out of his chair and signaled for the others to follow. Together, they cut through the Interactive Paleontology shelves before tiptoeing through the Spectral Biology section.

  Though it was dark, they could see four creatures, no more than knee high. Each was helping to set up a disk-shaped machine with a hollowed-out center wide enough to drive a small car through.

  “I think it’s a gateway,” Harley whispered. “I saw one in my textbook. They’re making a portal.”

  One of the creatures wandered into the firelight to collect a few wires and a coupling device. “Oh my gosh, it’s a robot!” Ernie exclaimed, as Harley clamped his hand over Ernie’s mouth.

  “Be quiet,” Harley growled. “Those aren’t robots. Can’t you hear the gears cranking? They’re clockworks, just like in the dining hall.”

  Max watched as the brass machines went about their work. Then he gasped as a new clockwork with eyes like binoculars appeared. “That’s the Imager Bot from Iver’s shop,” he whispered.

  Ernie shivered as he watched the metal creatures work diligently. “Do you think this is how they took Becca and Stephen?”

  “Maybe we should go get some help,” Natalia suggested.

  “Uh… guys?” Ernie pointed to the ceiling. Countless telescopic eyes stared down at the Griffins. As one, the machines blinked before dropping to the ground like a swarm of locusts.

  41

  BREACH

  The clockworks raced toward the Griffins, toppling bookshelves along the way. Blasts from energy weapons lit up the library as Ernie took off in a blur of speed. He wanted to find a hiding spot, but they were scarce. Clockworks were everywhere. Natalia ducked as one of the machines flew overhead. Then she followed Max behind a book return bin. Harley, however, was alone.

  He spotted the Imager Bot across the room. It scuttled up the wall and onto the ceiling before it crawled toward the records room. Harley watched as it dropped to the floor. Gears on its hand twisted and turned until all that was left was a key. A moment later it was inside.

  A blast exploded near Harley’s feet, and he dove behind a bookshelf. Books flew as bolts of energy struck. Natalia screamed, but Harley couldn’t help. A clockwork burst around the corner, taking aim at point-blank range. Without thinking, Harley leaped, wrapping his arms around the machine. It fought to break free, but Harley’s momentum helped him wrestle it to the ground. The clockwork fired energy bolts, but they missed Harley and ricocheted off the ceiling.

  Harley loosened his grip and reached for his pocketknife. One of the blades was actually a screwdriver. He opened it and went to work on the bolts that held the clockwork neck in place. The machine continued to struggle, but Harley was too strong. When the last bolt was loose, he dropped the knife and twisted on the head. It popped off, and the lights behind its eyes dimmed as the gears died.

  “There you are,” Agent Thunderbolt said as he skidded to a halt. He was out of breath and his face was drained of color. “We have to get out of here. Those things are everywhere!”

  “Have you seen Max and Natalia?” Harley asked as he reached behind the machine’s neck to rip out a fistful of coils.

  “I thought they were with you,” Ernie said, shaking his head. “What the heck are you doing?”

  “There’s a transponder in here,” he explained. “Monti told me that it worked like a remote control. If I can find it, I think I can rig it so it will tell the other clockworks to shut down.” Harley smiled as his fingers ran over the transponder. Then he pulled it out. “The only problem is that it won’t have a strong enough signal to reach all the clockworks from here.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  Harley flipped some switches and turned a dial be
fore handing the transponder to Ernie. “You’re the superhero, not me.”

  “No way!” Ernie argued, trying to give the component back to Harley.

  “Look,” Harley said. “All you need to do is turn on the afterburners and get that thing close enough to the machines so they pick up the signal. You’ll be moving so fast that they won’t be able to touch you.”

  “You want me to run around and play tag with a bunch of robots that have death rays?”

  “Either that, or we get obliterated.”

  Ernie rolled his eyes. At times like this he wondered whether Agent Thunderbolt should retire while he still had a head on his shoulders.

  “Look, what did Iver say whenever you got nervous before a big Round Table duel?” Harley asked.

  “To close my eyes, take a deep breath, and then go for it before the fear paralyzed me,” Ernie said.

  “Well?”

  “Fine. I’ll do it.” Ernie grabbed the transponder, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Then he became a streak of light, zipping back and forth through the army of clockworks. In mere seconds he had covered the entire breadth of the library. The machines buzzed in a mechanical fury, bursting blasts of energy in every direction.

  “It’s not working!” Ernie shouted.

  “Just wait,” Harley said, peering out from behind the bookshelf.

  As soon as the words left his mouth, the eyes of the clockworks started to fade before shutting down. Then the machines dropped in a clatter.

  Moments later, Max and Natalia emerged safely from the wreckage, surveying the damage in disbelief. The library was destroyed. Flaming papers, overturned shelves, and demolished furniture were strewn about. It looked as if a tornado had ripped through the room.

  “What about that Imager Bot?” Max asked. “I don’t see it anywhere.”

  Harley scanned the room. “It’s gone.”

  Natalia walked over to a shattered filing cabinet. Folders were scattered across the floor, and when she saw the name VON STRIFE, her eyes lit up. She opened it and found a newspaper article inside with a headline that read CLOCKWORK CALAMITY.

  “You aren’t going to believe this,” she said after scanning through the article. “Monti was wrong. Von Strife’s clockwork program didn’t get shut down because the machines had artificial intelligence. Von Strife was powering them with the souls of changelings.”

  “What?” Ernie exclaimed in horror.

  “Von Strife created a contraption that sucked the souls out of changeling children and placed them inside his clockworks. That’s how he was able to create intelligent machines that expressed human emotion.”

  “How did I know that the four of you would be involved in this catastrophe?” a dark voice spoke from across the library.

  The Griffins turned as one to see Baron Lundgren standing among the fallen clockworks. Throckmorton, his gargoyle assistant, was standing at his side.

  “We were just doing our homework, I swear,” Ernie started, “and then these robots started building a portal, and—”

  The Baron raised his hand to cut Ernie off. “If you could see that the gateway is dismantled and brought to the labs, that would be most helpful,” he said to Throckmorton. “Also, the assembler bots can be disposed of, with the exception of one. Send that to Montifer for analysis, please. And alert Jonah Trimble as well.”

  Throckmorton nodded and set about the task.

  “Well, then,” Cain said, turning back to the Griffins. “What am I going to do with you?”

  42

  ANSWERS

  Baron Lundgren led the Griffins down a lonely hallway. They pushed past a series of double doors, passing quickly through De Payens Hall and into the Master’s Hall. Before long they were deep inside the research and development center.

  Choosing a doorway marked ARCHIVES, the Baron turned the knob and stepped inside. The room was typical of the school, with warm wood flooring and cabinets, bookshelves stuffed with important-looking binders, and lamps powered by an ever-burning flame. He signaled for the Griffins to gather around a research table before unlocking a cabinet. The Baron pulled out a series of manila folders, each with a photo of a child attached to the top with a paper clip.

  He handed Max a folder with a picture of a young boy on the cover. As Max grabbed it, a chill raced over him. He knew that face.

  “It’s not possible.”

  “You know this boy, don’t you,” the Baron said. It was a statement of fact.

  Max nodded. “From a dream.”

  “His name was Johnny Geist, and he was a student at Iron Bridge before the school was destroyed.”

  “He was a paperboy,” Max added slowly.

  The Baron nodded. “In fact, he disappeared one morning while delivering his papers. No one ever saw him again. That was in 1897. There were rumors that Johnny had run away, but most suspected foul play. Unfortunately the authorities had no leads, and they were forced to close the case until a second boy, named Eugene Marks, vanished.”

  Natalia let out a muffled shout as she held one of the files up to the light. “This is Stacy Bechton! It’s the girl who gave me the invitation to the party.”

  “Each of these files represents an unsolved case,” the Baron confirmed. “And each student who went missing led to the mounting rumor that Iron Bridge was cursed. That is the reason why, when it was destroyed all those years ago, many felt it better to leave it in ashes.”

  Max glanced through more of the reports, and his stomach started to churn. Each case had one fact in common—they were all changelings.

  Cain continued. “It was only later that we found those disappearances were related to Von Strife’s clockwork program and his fiendish desire to meld changeling souls with machines through the highly illegal practice known as Transference.”

  “Does this have anything to do with Brooke’s abduction?” Natalia wanted to know.

  “My daughter’s disappearance has nothing to do with the matter at hand,” Cain said with finality, but Max thought Natalia might be onto something. After all, Brooke had abilities, just like the other changelings. Maybe she was a changeling, too.

  On second thought, Max decided that idea was ridiculous.

  “Aidan told us about Von Strife’s program,” explained Max. “We saw him on the Zephyr a few days ago. He showed us a journal that he took from Dean Nipkin’s office.”

  “Logan mentioned the encounter.”

  “Was Von Strife really trying to save his daughter’s life?” Ernie asked.

  “In part,” the Baron admitted. “Sophia contracted leukemia when she was very young, and Von Strife was desperate to save her. In time, he concocted a serum that contained an unusually large dose of faerie essence. It worked, of course. But at the expense of her humanity. As she grew older, and her changeling nature grew more wild, he grew desperate to find a way to save her. Nothing could stand in his way.”

  “So he began to experiment on other changelings,” Natalia whispered.

  “Sadly.”

  “I’m going to throw up,” Ernie said.

  43

  THE COMPETITION

  Before the Griffins left the archive chamber, the Baron made them swear that they wouldn’t tell anyone about what they had seen or heard.

  “You will only frighten the other students, and that may impact our ability to solve this mystery. You can talk to Logan or to me. That is all.”

  “Don’t the changelings have a right to know if we’re at risk?” countered Ernie.

  “We are doing everything we can. Trust me, Agent Thunderbolt. It is for the best. If any of the changelings panicked and left Iron Bridge, they would be picked off, one by one, until none were left. No, you are safer here. And your friends are better off not knowing.”

  Max wasn’t sure why the Toad brothers were so intent on creating a rivalry between him and Xander. It was annoying, to say the least. With the Round Table tournament looming, the entire school seemed to be buzzing about the potential sho
wdown between Iron Bridge’s top duelists.

  “I don’t see what the big deal is,” Max complained as the Griffins stood together on the observation deck of the SIM Chamber. Below, Coach Wolfhelm was berating a group of students who had just failed their simulation test.

  “People are excited. So what?” Harley said. “Everybody likes a good rivalry, so you’d better get used to it.”

  “But that’s my point,” Max said, exasperated. “Even if I make it to the final match—”

  “Which you will,” Harley interrupted.

  “Then who cares if Xander beats me?” Max argued. “All I’m trying to do is make the team.”

  “I don’t believe you for one minute, Grayson Maximillian Sumner,” Natalia said. “I’ve seen the way you glare at Xander whenever he walks past you.”

  Max couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I do not!”

  “I don’t know, Max,” Ernie said, piling on. “You seem kind of jealous of Xander sometimes.”

  Max opened his mouth to defend himself, but he shut it again. No matter what he said, they wouldn’t to believe him, so he decided to let it go.

  Unfortunately, Coach Wolfhelm had other plans. “I need Max Sumner and Xander Swift in here, double time!” he shouted.

  Max rolled his eyes as the room became quiet. This wasn’t exactly a Round Table duel, but facing off inside the SIM Chamber was close enough. Nobody wanted to miss it.

  Inside the active SIM Chamber, Max found himself standing next to Xander in a sewer. The rank water was nearly up to his chest. The stench and the thick layer of scum on the surface made Max want to vomit.

  Coach Wolfhelm had sent them back more than a thousand years into the past. For this training scenario, the boys were to secure a set of knucklebones know as the Dice of Damascus. The Emir who owned the dice was said to be the first ruler to have built a clockwork army. The clockworks wouldn’t be as sophisticated as Von Strife’s designs, but they didn’t need artificial intelligence to kill. They had dark magic.