“Just watch out for Imager Bots,” Xander warned as he sloshed through the muck. “Coach Wolfhelm isn’t above using modern technology to make sure we don’t beat his game.”
“That’s cheating,” Max complained, looking back over his shoulder for any sign of the spy bots.
Xander shrugged. “This isn’t a history lesson. It’s about survival.”
The rules were clear. Xander and Max were supposed to work as a team, but they’d be graded separately. That was going to be tricky. Max wanted to stand out, but he couldn’t try and score points at Xander’s expense. Wolfhelm deducted for what he called “glory hounding.”
“Wait a minute,” Xander whispered as he came to a halt a little farther down the sewer. “I think there’s something in here with us.”
Max froze. “Did you see it?”
“I felt it hit my leg,” Xander explained. “Could be a Sewer Serpent. The Emir used them like crocodiles in a moat. They’re cheap labor—cheaper than clockworks.”
Something bumped Max’s leg as he grabbed the first rung of the ladder. As quickly as he could, he followed Xander up, just as the water below started to bubble. Max looked down, and a terrible face rose from the darkness.
The Sewer Serpent’s eyes were covered in yellow cataracts, and its snakelike mouth was unhinged to reveal rotten teeth. As the monster lunged, Max let go of the ladder, barely avoiding fangs that were nearly as big as he was. He hit the murky water and sank to the stone floor below. His shoulder took the brunt of the impact.
Max gasped, and his lungs filled with sewage. Then his hand scraped against what he thought was a piece of driftwood. He grabbed it, planning to use the wood as a weapon. But when Max surfaced, he saw that he was holding a human femur.
“Watch out!” Xander shouted as the monster attacked again.
Max nearly tripped as he sidestepped the monster. Before he fell, he shoved the bone into the serpent’s eye. Like a needle piercing burlap, the femur punctured the cataract, and the monster screamed.
As the serpent writhed in the fetid water, Max seized his chance to escape. He surfaced, dove for the ladder, and scrambled up it, thankful for the help as Xander pulled him through the opening.
Xander kicked the grate shut and locked it before pulling Max away from the opening and into the shadows next to a wood-burning oven.
“I’m impressed,” he said as he handed Max a towel.
“Thanks,” Max replied, smiling and panting for air. “I don’t suppose you have anything to help wash this taste out of my mouth.”
Xander watched Max turn a strange shade of green. “Don’t tell me that you swallowed the water.”
“Trust me, I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Are you good enough to keep going?”
“Yeah,” Max said, coughing as he stood up. “Let’s just find what we came for and get out of here.”
White Xander studied the map that Coach Wolfhelm had given them, Max smiled faintly. He was sure that wounding the Sewer Serpent would boost his score. Xander might be able to beat him at Round Table, but Max had plenty of experience in the SIM Chamber. There was no way he was going to lose—not even to Xander.
“The stairwell to the treasury is this way,” Xander said.
Max followed him through the kitchen to a spiral staircase that was hidden behind a trick wall. After climbing nearly three hundred steps, they found themselves at a slit window. “Time to signal the cavalry,” Xander said.
Max nodded and pulled a mirror out of his pack. With a series of rapid hand movements, he sent several pulses of light to the streets below. When he saw three quick bursts in return, Max knew the hidden Templar Knights were ready.
“Is it just me, or has this been too easy?” Xander asked.
“Speak for yourself,” Max said. “I’m never going into a sewer again.”
“We’ll see.”
The boys continued up the stairs until they came to a pair of double doors. Max peered through the crack and quickly pulled back. “Two guards, and they have scimitars.”
“Clockworks or humans?”
“They look human to me.”
With that, Xander pulled out a small crystal from his pocket and rubbed it between his hands. Max tried to get a closer look, but Xander pulled it away protectively. “It’s called a Mesmero Crystal,” he warned. “Trust me, you don’t want to be the guy who looks at it. That is, unless you want me to carry you out of here on your back.”
Max rolled his eyes. “How does it work?”
“Watch and learn.” Xander smiled slyly.
He placed the crystal on the floor, just beneath the door, then gave it a push into the hall beyond. He held up his fingers and counted down, “Three… two… one…” Two heavy thuds followed, and Xander winked at Max before he pushed the door open. Both guards had fallen on their stomachs, their heads turned toward and their eyes locked onto the crystal.
“If we don’t run into any surprises,” Xander explained, “we should have about twenty minutes before they wake up.”
Max stepped over the unconscious guards and followed Xander into the treasury. It was a round room with a forest of columns and soaring brick arches. Above it all was a metallic dome that acted as a canopy for a towering tree of pure gold. Its branches stretched all directions, filled with mechanical songbirds. Like the tree, the birds were made of gold, and Max could hear the faint tick of their gears. Clockworks.
“No time for sightseeing,” Xander warned, pulling on Max’s arm. “We need to find those dice.”
Max’s eyes widened as he looked at the mountains of treasure. It would take a hundred people a year to find anything in this room. As his eyes floated over casks of jewels and statues draped in gilded finery, he began to doubt that they could find the knucklebones.
Moving through the room, Max discovered four golden figures that looked almost human. They were dressed in robes and armor, each grasping a scimitar in perfectly articulated hands. Their empty sockets stared at a table just behind Max.
Max waved his hand in front of their faces, wondering if they were ancient clockworks. The statues didn’t move. He pushed them. They teetered. He knocked on their chests. A hollow sound followed.
Turning, Max saw the table that the figures seemed so interested in. There were a number of gold plates, bowls, and pitchers, all filled with rare coins. In a small goblet, there was a faint green glow. The Dice of Damascus.
“I think I found them,” Max called out.
“Wait for me,” Xander warned as he made his way over.
Max wasn’t interested in handing the dice over to Xander, but as soon as he touched the knucklebones, the eyes of the clockworks lit with fire.
“Get out of here!” Xander warned.
He rushed onto the scene, engaging the clockworks. Xander dodged a sweeping blow from a scimitar, then another. “Didn’t you hear me?” he shouted. “I told you to go!” Somehow Xander seemed able to predict their every move. He would move just before a blow landed, each step purposeful as he sent the clockwork warriors into a spin, banging into one another in their attempt to skewer the boy.
Max watched as Xander pulled out a handful of marbles and threw them on the floor. Turning, he leaped for Max and pulled the Griffin to safety. The marbles ignited and then launched into the air like bullets. They hovered for a moment, then shot into the clockworks, punching holes through the metal. The clockworks didn’t seem to notice until there was a massive explosion in each of their bellies. Their eyes dimmed, and they fell to the ground.
“Magnetic concussive grenades,” Xander explained, as he rolled off Max. “I thought they might come in handy.”
Max was about to say “thank you” when Xander’s eyes shot wide. “Behind you!” Xander shouted. “Epsilon Class Djinn! A genie!”
Max spun to see a red cloud of mist swirl into the shape of a man. The Djinn had six massive arms, glowing eyes, and a pointed beard.
Suddenly, the only door slammed shut w
ith a thunderclap. The genie smashed through the treasure house as it raced toward them.
“Only one way out now!” Xander yelled. “Follow me!” He scrambled to his feet and dove out a nearby window. Max shouted in horror as he realized how high up they were. Xander would never survive the fall.
Then Max heard Xander’s voice outside, calling for him.
Max made for the window, but as he jumped through, the genie roared. There was a flash, and a ray of light leaped from the genie’s fingers and smashed into Max just as he cleared the window.
Max screamed as searing pain shot through his body. Everything seemed to warp around him, growing larger and stretched. His scream became a long croak and as Max began to fall, he caught sight of his body.
His arms and legs were short and stubby, and he had green skin that was slick with slime. Wings were sprouting from his back. He tried to flap them, but they were too small, and he too fat. Max sank like a sack of rocks toward the cobblestones below.
As he fell, Max imagined his guts splattered across the cobblestones. But he felt a jerk as a rope caught hold of his leg. With a yank, Xander hauled Max, now a Croaker Faerie, back to the ledge where he stood, clinging to the wall.
“You really smell awful,” Xander complained, as guards with crossbows peered down from the windows above. “Time to move!”
Max wanted to respond, but he couldn’t.
Xander leaped away from the wall as the first volley of crossbow bolts hammered the spot they had just left behind. Down they fell, Xander spreading his arms to slow the momentum. He somersaulted as they hit the first of several awnings. After they had plowed through the first two, the third broke their fall and they slid onto the street.
The impact sent Max sprawling, his squat legs unable to turn his body around. A woman shrieked as she saw him. Xander scooped Max up before leaping over a basket and disappearing down the alley.
The Emir’s guards weren’t far behind. They followed Xander as he veered down an alleyway and up a small flight of stairs. The chase sent him leaping between the roofs of several buildings as he dodged hanging laundry and shouting townsfolk.
He jumped back to the street, where a group of men in hooded cloaks waited. One caught Xander by the arm, but the boy relaxed when he saw the red Templar cross peek out from beneath his captor’s robes.
“This way,” the man ordered, pointing to a tunnel behind them. “We’ll handle the Emir’s guards.”
Xander raced off as Max craned to see a horde of black-robed soldiers rush the Templar Knights. Xander ducked into a tunnel, and soon the sounds of the city streets faded.
Suddenly they were back in the SIM Chamber. As the door opened, Coach Wolfhelm walked in, with a crowd of students trailing behind. They howled in laughter as they pointed at Max. He was human again, but he was covered in a thick layer of slime.
Xander won, hands down.
44
RAVEN
Monday morning found the Griffins headed over to their Natural Sciences class. The room was crammed to the eaves with scientific instruments, overstuffed cabinets, and illustrations of dissected monsters. Stranger still were the glass jars filled with pickled faeries and other bizarre creatures.
“Check it out,” Harley said, pointing to one of the jars. “I wonder if there are any Flying Tiger Eels or Portal Piranhas like that in Lake Avalon.”
“Or those eyeball sucker things,” Ernie declared.
“It’s called an Optic Lamprey,” Natalia corrected. She smoothed her dress, took a seat, and spoke in a hushed tone to the other three Griffins. “I think I might have a lead on the connection between Von Strife and the explosion that destroyed the old Iron Bridge. Her name is Raven Lugosi, and she’s a changeling.”
Ernie sighed warmly. “She’s so beautiful.” Realizing he had actually said that out loud, he blushed all the way to the tips of his ears.
The other Griffins looked at him curiously. Ernie had never made a comment like that about a girl before.
“From what I can gather,” Natalia continued, after clearing her throat, “she can read the memories of any inanimate object, like candlesticks or picture frames. If that’s true, she probably knows exactly what happened the night the school was destroyed and whether or not Von Strife was behind it.”
“Why would she talk to you?” Max asked.
“I have a plan,” Natalia replied, looking smug.
After the final bell, Natalia darted through the courtyard and down the Green Corridor, hoping to intercept Raven before she reached the subway. With her iridescent purple highlights, striped tights, and knee-high combat boots, Raven wasn’t difficult to spot.
“Hi,” Natalia offered, approaching her with a smile that was as genuine as she could manufacture.
Raven glared at Natalia. There were small gems underneath her eyes that looked a lot like colorful tears.
“I’m Natalia Romanov,” she said, extending her hand like a door-to-door salesman. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Raven raised her eyebrow.
“Sorry,” Natalia offered. “I just haven’t met too many people yet.”
“Je le crois bien,” Raven replied with a roll of her eyes.
“Oh, you’re speaking French. I love French. It’s so… je ne sais quoi.”
“What do you want?” Raven sighed as she switched to English. Her voice was husky and mysterious. She stepped onto the escalator, slinging her book bag over her shoulder.
“I’m just trying to be friendly, that’s all,” Natalia said, joining Raven. “You’re French, then?”
“Quebecois.”
“Oh. I’ve never been to Quebec, but—”
“Look, this may sound rude, but I fly solo, okay?” Raven said, clearly growing agitated. “I don’t really need a sixth-grade sidekick, so why don’t you go find somebody else to be your BFF.”
Natalia bit her lip to suppress a scathing reply, but she forced herself to swallow it. “It’s just that I… well, I don’t seem to fit in around here. I saw you and…”
Raven rolled her eyes.
With the escalator ride about to end, Natalia decided to just jump right in. “So you’re a changeling, right? Like my friend Ernie.”
“The dork who thinks he’s a superhero?”
Natalia stifled a laugh. “That’s him.”
Raven brushed her hair away from her face. As she did, Natalia noticed a small device peeking out from behind Raven’s ear. It was flashing with the telltale silver aura of MERLIN Tech.
Raven caught Natalia staring, and she sighed. “It’s an Inhibitor,” she explained. “It keeps me from using my powers when I’m not supposed to. All the changelings have them—except your geeky friend. It’s how they control us.”
“That’s inhumane,” Natalia declared, horrified.
Raven shrugged. “It could be worse. They used to experiment on us like guinea pigs,” she said, making a gesture that looked like she was cutting her own throat. “I could tell you some stories that would make your skin crawl.”
“How do you know so much? The teachers don’t talk about it.”
“I can read memories,” explained Raven, as the escalator neared the bottom. “Anything I touch, I can see whatever it has seen and hear whatever it has heard.”
“Really? Anything?”
Raven’s patience was thinning. She began walking down the escalator. “Anything that doesn’t breathe. Trust me, I already know it’s a stupid power, but it makes you think twice, you know? Especially when you realize that nothing you ever say or do will be forgotten by the chair you sit in or the bed you sleep in. Ever seen life from the perspective of a toilet?” Raven laughed as Natalia recoiled in disgust.
“I’d rather be invisible, or even fly,” she continued. “Instead I can talk to my toothbrush.” Raven stepped off the escalator and assumed a brisk pace that forced Natalia to jog in order to keep up.
“So does that mean you know how the first Iron Bridge was destroyed?”
“Sure, but you don’t need powers to figure that out.”
“What do you mean?”
Raven stopped and regarded Natalia suspiciously. “Look, what are you after?”
“Nothing, I just… I mean, this is my first year in a school like this, and it’s kind of creepy. If you know something, I’d really appreciate it if you would tell me.”
Raven looked at a nearby wall suspiciously, as if it might be eavesdropping. “All right, there was this changeling girl who used to go to Iron Bridge. Her name was Naomi. She was a fire elemental with amazing power. Then she disappeared.
“The history books claim nobody knows what happened, but I do. It was a teacher named Von Strife. He took her down to his lab and experimented on her. I can still hear her screams if I listen hard enough.”
“What happened to the school?” Natalia asked as chills rose up her skin.
“Naomi happened,” she replied. “One night, when Von Strife was working on her, he lost control and her powers went into overdrive. The next thing you know, ka-boom! No more school.” Raven stepped onto the subway, but not before looking back with an I-told-you-so smile as Natalia stood there, dumbstruck. “I bet you wish you never asked. Later, kid.”
The doors closed and the Zephyr sped like a bullet into the tunnel.
45
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
The Griffins reported to the Grand Auditorium at six o’clock the next morning. As far as Max was concerned, that was too early for a Saturday—even if it was the opening day for the Round Table qualifying tournament. He had been up half the night, splitting his time between studying his issue of the Toad Reports on Yoshino Takamori and reading messages from Natalia on his DE Tablet.
Thanks to the information she had procured from Raven, they knew the name of the fire elemental whom Von Strife had successfully operated on, the same one Ms. Merical had mentioned. Naomi. Natalia had tried to find more information about her, but there wasn’t much. That went for the other changelings that were abducted as well. The files Natalia found online were restricted, and she couldn’t break the code.
Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1: The Brimstone Key Page 16
