Firestarter

by Tara Sim

  “My father wouldn’t let me study. Said it was too dangerous to link our name with the mechanics. Still, that didn’t stop me from getting into the field, publishing reports and essays, going to clock towers to see how they ran. Knowing, in that locked part of me, the secret that led them to running in the first place.”

  She walked over to Colton, studying him the way one studies gearwork, its intricacies and its predictability. “When I told the prime minister I knew how to rebuild the fallen towers, they didn’t hesitate. They gave me a small army and told me to go to India. But that Lead Mechanic of yours tried to intervene, and then there was that horrible business with the viceroy. The prime minister told me to rebuild the towers as fast as I was able, to put a stop to the growing unrest.”

  “I still don’t understand. What do you get out of it?” Danny asked.

  “I suppose money and power are fine things to have. But, more than that …” Again that slow smile, her gaze still fixed on Colton, who met it with steel in his own. “I finally get to use this gift. This connection to time that my father told me never to wield. I’m going to change the legacy of the Archer line, to turn us into heroes, by strengthening the towers and the spirits within—to revolutionize Mechanic Unions all over the world.”

  She handed the cog holder off to one of the Builders and drew something from the satchel at her belt.

  When Danny realized what she was holding, he paled. The syringe flashed in her hand as Archer held it up and flicked a finger against the glass, making a hollow sound. She watched him with a hungry look in her eyes.

  Colton struggled against the metal bands, but one of the Builders raised his gun to Danny’s head.

  “Your heroism is getting a bit repetitive,” Archer said. “Well, Mr. Hart, let’s see what you can do.”

  Archer tore away the sleeve of his shirt at his elbow, and he remembered the way the Prometheus crew had slid the needles into his veins. He tossed his head back in alarm, hitting his temple against the gun’s barrel.

  “Stop. Stop!”

  But she didn’t stop, and the needle broke his skin. The world rushed into a black tunnel around him and he groaned, heart fluttering. Archer drew the plunger and the syringe began to fill with his blood.

  When it was completely full, she slid the needle back out and pressed a small cloth to the wound. “There, now. Not so bad, was it?”

  “What are you doing?” he panted. “Why do you need that?”

  “Patience, patience.” She held up the ruby vial. “This is precious fuel. Just a few drops had the most interesting reaction before. And we all know what happens when the blood of a time servant is spilled onto a central cog.”

  She turned back to Colton. “But the blood of a time servant might have other uses.”

  Colton’s eyes remained locked on Archer’s as she approached him. She ripped at his sleeve, baring the smooth, veinless skin of his elbow.

  “Don’t!” Danny yelled just as she stuck the needle into Colton’s flesh.

  There was no visible reaction until Archer pressed the plunger down. Danny watched his blood disappear, flowing in spirals of reddish-golden light into Colton’s body. At first, nothing happened. The room was silent. No one even breathed.

  Then, suddenly, the room began to vibrate.

  Archer stepped back, gaze eagerly fixed on the cog holder, which was now shining as bright as a sunburst.

  Colton groaned and hung his head, his body trembling as a golden light flickered around him. He struggled to contain it, to control whatever reaction was happening within him.

  But he couldn’t hold on, and as Colton screamed out in pain, the light flared out, blinding them all. Danny shut his eyes and called Colton’s name, but the room was chaos.

  The ship lurched. Clocks sounded all around them, seconds quickening into furious ticktockticks in their ears. Then, the sound of shattered glass—the clocks, the timepieces, everything measuring time onboard the ship exploding into twisted fragments.

  “Ma’am!” a Builder shouted. “We should evacuate! The ship—!”

  “He just needs to control it!” she shouted back. “Feel that power! It’s beautiful!”

  Colton kept screaming, his body lost within the light. The metal of Danny’s restraints twisted and snapped free, and he fell to the floor.

  The Builder holding the cog holder yelped and dropped it as if the metal had burned him. Danny squinted into the light and saw Colton tear through his own restraints like they were made of papier-mâché. Before the Builders could react, Colton grabbed Archer by the throat and lifted her into the air, his teeth bared. Light was pouring from every inch of him, turning him into a second sun, a golden god of vengeance.

  “How dare you?” His voice echoed and crashed like waves, from the lowest register to the highest trill and every timbre in between. “How dare you do this to us?”

  Archer scratched at Colton’s hand as her boots kicked feebly in the air. The other Builders clapped their hands over their ears and shrank toward the door as a sharp whistle cut through the room.

  “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you,” Colton said in that horrible voice, those echoing words. He tightened his grip and Archer sputtered.

  Danny struggled to his feet. His dizziness nearly made him fall back to the floor, but he focused on Colton, on this terrifying stranger who had replaced him. Gritting his teeth, Danny moved toward him, into the blinding light. Time wrapped around him, squeezing him like Colton’s hand squeezed Archer’s throat.

  “Colton!” he yelled over the whistling. The clock spirit’s body pulled him in, and he could feel his own blood singing in Colton’s power. “Colton, let her go!”

  “She would have killed us,” he said in those many voices. “She plans on killing more mechanics. I won’t let that happen.”

  “We won’t! I promise, we’ll stop them—but not like this!”

  Colton bared his teeth again, his eyes blazing with golden hatred. He no longer looked human. He’d transformed into a being like the spirit guarding the Prague clock, a monster born of twisted power. He was no longer Colton Bell, or even Colton—only the rage of Time.

  Danny had to stop him.

  He staggered forward and wrapped his arms around Colton’s torso. His body burned, the power driving into his skin like fire, but he held on. Colton felt rigid, distant, an entire universe away.

  “Colton, you have to stop this. You can’t allow this power to win you over. You have to control it.” Danny closed his eyes and tightened his hold. “You said you’d never leave me. I can’t find you anymore. Please come back. Please.”

  The room continued to shake, the whistle sharp in Danny’s ears. Then Colton loosened his grip on Archer’s throat and she gasped, her face a mottled red. The light eased inward, and the whistling gradually faded.

  Slowly, Colton turned his head toward Danny. His eyes were still glowing, but after a couple of blinks, even they returned to normal. Danny breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Danny,” Colton whispered, and his voice, thankfully, was once more that familiar crystalline chime.

  “Colton.” He dropped his head onto Colton’s shoulder. “Thank God.”

  Colton looked regretfully up at Archer, and the Builders who were regrouping behind her. Grabbing Danny around the waist, he turned and threw Archer against the wall. Dazed, she slid to the floor.

  “We have to run,” he said. “They’re here.”

  “Who?” Danny demanded.

  “The Prometheus. I felt the ship outside.”

  The other Builders rushed at them, but Colton pushed one back and kicked the other to the floor. His newfound strength buzzed across Danny’s skin.

  Colton put on his cog holder, and the power running wildly through the air was suddenly focused into a small sphere around him. “Hurry!”

  A Builder reached up and grabbed Danny’s calf. Before Colton could do anything, Danny swerved and kicked the man between the legs. He wheezed but refuse
d to release his grip, so Danny yanked the needle device from the man’s belt and drove it into his chest. The Builder jerked and screamed as Danny and Colton raced out the door. Outside, Colton knocked a third guard against the wall.

  “Where do we go?” Danny gasped, leaning into Colton. He could still hear screams behind them.

  “When my power expanded, I was able to get a sense of the ship’s layout.” He looked at Danny, ashamed. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t myself. Your blood, it … I can feel it. It’s giving me so much power. It just took over, and I was so angry …”

  “Let’s worry about that later,” Danny said as more Builders rounded the corner. “Right now, that anger could really come in handy.”

  Colton nodded and disappeared, reappearing in the midst of the Builders. The men and women barely knew what was happening before they were sailing through the air and into the walls, knocked out cold.

  Colton popped back to Danny’s side, a pained look on his face. “I don’t like this. I don’t want to hurt any more people.”

  “If we can just get to the Prometheus, we’ll be fine.”

  They took off down the opposite corridor, alert for more Builders. An alarm started blaring overhead and the lanterns along the corridor flickered. Danny had to stop to rest several times as his vision swam in and out of blackness; days without food and the loss of so much blood had taken their toll.

  “Let me carry you,” Colton pleaded.

  “No. Need to—have—hands free. In case.”

  Footsteps rang down the corridor and the two of them ducked into the nearest room, which contained a bunk and a set of drawers, but thankfully wasn’t occupied. They waited for the Builders to pass.

  When Danny reached for the handle, Colton took his hand.

  “Come here.” He drew Danny to the bunk, then tore the sheet into strips. “You’re still bleeding. Might leave a trail.”

  Danny watched Colton bandage his arm and shoulder. Although the look in his eyes was so familiar, there was still a troubling distance to him, as if he had to restrain himself with every motion.

  Danny hadn’t thought it was possible—a clock spirit receiving blood. Somehow, it made him feel as if he was within Colton’s body, and Colton was seeing through his eyes.

  He gently took Colton’s face between his hands. “I know that wasn’t you. I’ve seen what so much power can do to a clock spirit. You were just trying to protect us.”

  Colton ducked his head. “It was wrong of me. I hate her, but I … I didn’t want …”

  “I know.”

  “It hurts.” He put his hand on Danny’s chest, over the bruises. “I feel how much it hurts.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Danny said, taking Colton’s hand and kissing his palm. “We need to get going.”

  Later. Later.

  They stood up, ready to navigate the ship’s corridors again, when the door opened. Danny stepped back while Colton tensed, but they both made sounds of relief at the sight of Daphne, Meena, and Liddy.

  “I knew I felt you!” Daphne hooked an arm around each of their necks and held them fast for a few painful seconds. “What the hell happened to you?”

  “Not now,” Liddy growled, peering out the door, gun at the ready. “We have to move.”

  “Phoebe Archer’s still onboard,” Colton said. “We should take her and make sure she doesn’t harm anyone else.”

  “No. Zavier’s orders are to get you both out as soon as possible.”

  Meena noticed Danny’s wounds. “What evil people. Will you be able to run?”

  “He’ll have to.” Liddy took something from her belt and thrust it into Danny’s hands. “We’ll need to be fast if we want to get out of here alive.”

  Danny looked down at the gun, its weight cold and heavy in his hand.

  They had only been running—in Danny’s case, limping—for two minutes when they heard a shout behind them.

  “In here!” Liddy rushed through a doorway into a room large and cluttered enough to rival Dae’s workshop. Glancing around, Danny now knew the source of the many clocks he’d heard before.

  “What the—?” Danny turned, taking in the counters and shelves all filled with broken clocks, timepieces, gears, and cogs. There were even hourglasses, their glass shattered and their sand spilled across the floor that crunched under their boots, and a sundial cracked through the center. “What is all this?”

  Colton began to glow again, but thanks to the amplifiers, he had only to close his eyes and focus to dim the light. Still, Danny felt time shiver around him, caressing his skin and something deeper inside, as if briefly cradling his beating heart and toying with the idea of stopping it.

  “Less gawking, more moving,” Liddy barked. “There’s a hatch up ahead we need to get through before—”

  The door banged open behind them. Builders rushed inside, firing their guns as everyone ducked behind the nearest counter. A shot fired dangerously close to Meena’s head, and she growled before letting a random shot fly from her own gun. It bounced off a counter and into one of the broken clocks. Like a bomb going off, the clock whistled and glowed before it erupted into a lethal storm of gears and springs.

  Time warped around them, bringing the Builders closer within a blink. Colton concentrated on fixing the tiny rift as Daphne pulled him and Danny toward the opposite side of the workshop. Liddy and Meena still fired behind them, dodging bullets and throwing any available objects at the Builders to keep them at bay.

  “Hold on!” Danny grabbed the nearest timepiece and smashed it against the counter. Time warped again, a sudden current that slowed the Builders’ bullets, suspending them in the air. The Builders, surprised, tried firing again, but their bullets moved as fast as flies swimming through porridge.

  Abandoning their guns, the Builders charged instead. Colton lifted a hand and one of the women froze mid-motion, her eyes wide. She couldn’t move a muscle.

  Another Builder threw a coil from his belt. It wrapped around Daphne’s legs, yanking her to the ground. Meena threw another clock at the Builder’s head, bringing him down. The man struggled to his feet only to be struck with the clock again, and again. They watched in horror as the man entered a strange time loop, standing and being struck over and over.

  Danny unwound the coil from Daphne’s legs as Liddy sent an electric jolt through another Builder, sending him to the ground.

  Colton was shaking. “I can’t hold it for much longer,” he said, his voice strained. “And more are coming.”

  More Builders swarmed into the workshop but drew up short, gaping at their time-affected comrades. Daphne jumped to her feet and pushed Danny and Colton into the hallway. Meena and Liddy followed.

  “Now what?” Daphne panted.

  “You’re looking for a hatch?” Colton pointed to their right. “This way.”

  “How do you—?” Liddy waved her gun in agitation. “Never mind, let’s go.”

  They took off again, but Danny knew he couldn’t match their pace anymore. His body started to topple, and he stumbled into the nearest wall.

  Meena put a hand on his back. “Maybe Colton should carry you.”

  Danny shook his head, as much to deny the offer as to clear his vision. Her worried face swam back into focus. Danny was tired of that look. He was tired of everyone needing to take care of him.

  “I’m fine,” he rasped, pushing away from the wall.

  Colton frowned. “Danny, they—”

  “Shh!” Liddy held up a hand. Two sets of boots could be heard running toward them from the direction of the hatch. Liddy and Meena readied their guns, and Daphne raised her fists.

  Edmund and Astrid rounded the corner and skidded to a halt, out of breath and sweating.

  “Oh, good, you found them,” Edmund gasped.

  “Is the plane still waiting?” Liddy asked.

  “Still there. But we have to hurry.”

  “Not before we find ’er,” Astrid snapped.

  “Her?” Colton looked between
them. “Who? Archer?”

  “No, Sally,” Edmund said.

  Danny’s fingers twitched. “Zavier’s sister? I thought he never let her go on missions.”

  They all looked at him as if he’d sprouted a third eye. All except Colton, who looked just as confused.

  “You don’t know?” Daphne asked slowly. “They didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell us what?”

  “Sally was captured along with the pair of you,” Edmund said, worry tightening his eyes. “We found out too late that one of us has been working with the Builders. Ivor. He let their plane in for Archer to steal you three, but Jo stopped him from leaving with Archer. We’d hoped to find you lot together, but it seems they’ve locked Sally elsewhere.”

  Danny felt his legs buckle again, and leaned his shoulder against the wall. “We never saw her.”

  All this time, while they were being tortured and experimented on, Archer might have been doing the same to Sally, who shared her brother’s connection to time.

  “Leverage,” Danny muttered. “Archer said she needed leverage against Zavier.”

  “Well, she bloody has it,” Liddy snapped. “We can’t leave without Sally. Zavier will come charging in himself, and we can’t risk losing him. It was bad enough having to drug him.”

  “You drugged him?”

  “’E was ready to chew a door through the Builder’s ship otherwise,” Astrid said with a flip of her hair. “If we cannot find ’er, what do we do?”

  “Split up,” Edmund said. “Liddy, you take these two to the plane. Daphne or Meena should go with you—”

  “I’ll help you find Sally,” Meena said, reloading her gun. “Daphne, if Akash doesn’t see one of us soon, he’s going to come barging down here on Zavier’s heels.”

  “He should have been drugged,” Daphne grumbled. “Are you sure? I can go with you.”

  Edmund shook his head, patting her shoulder. “Help them to the plane.”

  A couple of Builders turned the corner. Without missing a beat, Astrid threw one of her knives, which found its target in a Builder’s chest. Edmund fired a shot that took out the other.