Auction of Souls: Fantasy GameLit RPG Series (Pixel Dust Book 3)

by David Petrie

  “What the hell? Why would they bring something like this on an airship?” Piper complained, before relaying the instructions to hold the chest still to Aawil.

  “Yeah, I’ve already yelled at Larkin about this. He never explained how sensitive it was to his client, so they didn’t know. Fortunately, the timer can be stopped easily once you have the cover off. So get to it. Chop chop. We don’t have all night.”

  “Alright, alright. Jeez, Mom, give me a minute.” Piper lowered her house ring and reached again for the first pin, her hand shaking from the pressure.

  One wrong move and everything we’ve worked toward goes up in smoke. Her hand immediately slipped.

  “Oh god.” She winced for a second, half expecting to explode. “I don’t know if I can do this.” She wiped sweat from her hairline as her whole body started to run hot.

  “You don’t have a choice.” Aawil tightened her grip around the cylinder to keep it steady.

  “Shit, okay, I need a distraction.” Piper reached back to the metal pin she’d started on. “Say something to take my mind off what I’m doing.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t talk much.”

  “That’s perfect, tell me why.” Piper’s hand began to shake less as she worked the dagger under the head of the pin.

  “Why what?”

  “Why you don’t talk when you clearly can.”

  Aawil tilted her head to one side. “If you worked for Nix, you wouldn’t say much either. I’m not stupid, but with everything she has going on, it’s hard to keep track of what is sensitive information and what isn’t. Keeping my mouth shut stops me from saying anything I shouldn’t.”

  “That actually makes a lot of sense.” Piper pried the first pin out, dropping it to the floor with a metallic ping. “So why do you work for Nix?”

  “I’m not telling you that.”

  “Why not? I think it’s a reasonable question. How do you justify working for the bad guy?”

  “She’s not that bad–”

  “She killed one of my friends.” Piper hoped that Aawil might say something that would deny Kira’s death.

  “I…” Aawil went silent, falling back to her default.

  “Don’t clam up on me now, I need the distraction.” Piper wedged the dagger under another pin.

  “Nix does some bad things.” The Coin spoke slower, as if choosing her words carefully. “But she doesn’t enjoy them, and sometimes it’s necessary. Plus, I trust her.”

  “Why?”

  “She saved me.” Aawil looked her dead in the eyes. “When one of Nix’s men found me, I was in a bad place, being used by some bad people. I was a tool to hurt others with no say in my future. Nix got me out of that life.”

  “So, you, what? Just hurt people for her now?” Piper dropped another pin to the floor.

  “Sometimes.” Aawil deflated. “It’s what I’m good at.”

  “Okay, I’m not sure if I want to know more about that.” Piper decided to change the subject. “What’s with the accent?”

  “What?”

  “You British or something?”

  Aawil tilted her head back and forth. “No, I was born in America, I’m not sure what state though; I was too young then. I grew up in London, though. That’s where Nix’s people found me. I was twelve.”

  “You were twelve and working for bad people?”

  Aawil nodded. “There are a lot of uses for someone as strong as I am.”

  Piper’s hand froze halfway through prying up a pin. It was pretty obvious what those uses were. “So that isn’t a system glitch then, you’re actually that strong out there in the real?”

  “The world is a much stranger place than you think.” Aawil sighed and looked away. “You don’t know how lucky you are. The best thing for you would be to forget all about Nix and what she did to your friend. Just go back to your life before it’s too late.” Aawil shook her head. “Maybe you never had a chance to begin with. I have seen the file Nix has on you.”

  “There’s a file on me?”

  “There’s a file on everyone. Yours is… comprehensive.”

  Piper’s mouth went dry. She had never considered that she might have gotten in too deep. All she had ever done was help out occasionally; she didn’t think she was important enough to be on Nix’s radar.

  “What happens when it’s too late?” Piper’s voice cracked a little. “If I don’t get out of this?”

  Aawil frowned in a way that seemed sympathetic. “I think I’ve told you more than I should have, so you better be close to getting those pins out.”

  “Whatever.” She tried to make like the question wasn’t killing her. “I’m almost done now. How are we on time?”

  Aawil checked the window on the front of the cylinder. “Three minutes.”

  As soon as the last pin was out, Piper relayed the information to her mother.

  “You’re making great time.” Ginger’s voice sounded over the line. “Now you’re going to have to carefully lift the cover off the device.”

  Piper stood and signaled to Aawil to get ready. The wooden cylinder stuck for a moment but the Coin was able to twist it free. It slid up without much effort after that. They both let out a gasp at what was underneath.

  A second cylinder. This one made of glass with a domed top. A panel bearing the outline of a hand adorned the front, along with an elegant clockwork timer. Tabs of numbered paper flipped up and down, marking off the seconds with a construct of gears.

  A small marble sat inside the glass enclosure, precariously placed on a metal plate. Veins of glowing embers snaked across its surface. Beneath it, a bed of black powder waited. The function was clear; when the timer hit zero, the plate would drop the burning marble to ignite the chest full of powder.

  Piper held her breath, realizing why she had been told to be so careful when removing the cover. The marble seemed to rest in a tiny indent at the center of the plate, but even a slight bump would be enough to knock it off.

  “Wow,” Aawil breathed the word while looking over the device. “I’ve seen bombs before, but this is a work of art.”

  Piper took a second to appreciate the design, trying to ignore the fact that it could kill her. Then she raised her house ring and reported in.

  “Okay, Mom. We have the cover off, and two minutes to go. How do I disarm it?”

  “That’s where this gets a little… problematic,” her mother answered back, sending a wave of frustration tingling down Piper’s spine.

  “What does that mean?”

  “Technically, the device can’t be disarmed.”

  “What?” Piper nearly slapped her hand down on the chest, but refrained to keep from being, well, exploded.

  “Larkin designed the bomb to be almost impossible to move or disarm. But there is still a way to deal with it.”

  “And what would that be?” Piper spoke through gritted teeth.

  “It’s actually really simple. The timer can be paused, but first before I tell you how, I have to remind you that Aawil can’t hear what I say on the house line. So I have a question, and I need you to respond as if I’m not asking you anything.” Ginger paused as if giving her a chance to prepare a lie. “Is Aawil in front of the chest right now?”

  “Okay,” Piper glanced down at the back of the chest finding two sturdy handles. She looked to the Coin on the other side. “Is there a handle on the front where you are?” She made a point to keep her house ring near her mouth so her mother could hear too.

  Aawil nodded as Ginger responded. “Perfect, now all you have to do is get her to place her hand on the panel on the front. That will stop the timer.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it. Just make sure Aawil is the one to touch it, not you.”

  Piper leaned to the side and gave the faunus her most casual expression. “Apparently, all we have to do is place a hand on that plate on the front and the timer will stop.”

  Aawil furrowed her brow for a second then rais
ed her right hand and placed it against the outline traced on the plate.

  “You mean this one?” Her face fell a second later as a buzzer sounded and the numbers on the timer were replaced by a row of red skulls. “What just happened?”

  “Mom–” Piper stared to ask but was cut off before she could get another word out.

  “Don’t let Aawil move!”

  “Hold still!” Piper reached forward to keep the faunus from pulling her hand away.

  “Why?” The Coin’s voice wavered.

  “Yeah, Ma, what happened?” Piper asked.

  “You just activated a deadman’s trigger. The timer is no longer active so we have as much time as we need, but it will explode fifteen seconds after Aawil removes her hand. It cannot be stopped after that. It’s like I said, there’s no way to disarm it. This is the best we could do to buy time.”

  “Bad news, Aawil.” Piper let herself fall back onto her rear, and placed a hand on her forehead. “If you take your hand off, we’ll only have fifteen seconds to live. We just activated a deadman’s switch.

  The Coin let out a sigh. “And you expect me to keep my hand on here all night?”

  “That is a valid point.” Piper raised her ring. “What if Aawil’s hand slips?”

  “Don’t worry, Corvin and Kegan will be there in a few minutes, along with Seven. Just sit tight until then.”

  “And what are they going to do?”

  “They’re going to help you move the bomb.”

  “I thought that was impossible?”

  “No, I said it was near impossible.”

  “Oh, ‘cause that’s better.” Piper rolled her eyes.

  “It will be fine,” her mother assured her. “With all of you there, you should be able to hold it steady enough to keep the marble from falling off its plate. Then all we have to do is place the chest in one of the Night Queen’s lifeboats and drop it off the ship. It’ll explode out of range as it falls. Everything will be fine. Trust me.”

  “Awesome.” Piper dropped her hand to her side. “We have to wait a few minutes. The rest of my house will be here to help us throw this thing overboard.”

  “So this would be a bad time to have an itch on my nose?” Aawil aggressively scratched her face with her left hand. “It’s like it knows that I can’t move my other hand and just gets worse.”

  “Well, try to hold out.”

  “Right then, talk to me.” Aawil locked eyes with her. “It’s my turn to be distracted.”

  “Sure.” Piper waved a have in the air. “Tell me what you and Nix are planning.”

  “No, you had your time. Now you can answer my questions.”

  “Fine.” Piper sunk back against the pantry shelves. “What do you want to know?”

  Aawil leaned her head to the side. “What are you mad at the boy for?”

  “What?”

  “That Blade class, the handsome reynard with the black tail.”

  “Corvin?” Piper folded her arms and pinned her ears back. “I’m not mad at him. Why would you even care?”

  “I fought him on the roof of the palace in Reliqua. He was a good fighter.”

  “So?”

  “So, before we got into it, he was talking to that Leaf he hangs out with about a girl that fancied him. Someone underage.”

  “What the hell?” Piper grabbed a sack of crackers off a shelf and threw some into her mouth. “Even the bad guys know about me getting rejected. How has this become my life?”

  “So, I take it he wasn’t interested?”

  “No, the asshole called me a kid and tried to tell me he valued me too much as a friend. Like that’s going to make it better. Like he’s doing me a favor. Like I’m just some child with a crush.” Piper spat cracker crumbs from her mouth as she vented her frustrations to a stranger. “Am I wrong here?”

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Aawil crinkled her nose as if it still itched.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means, I get it.” Aawil blew out a long sigh. “You’re sixteen and that fox boy is cute. I was your age once and I was dealing with a bit more than boys. It’s hard to be the youngest person in the room and have everyone treat you like you don’t know anything.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “The worst part is that they’re right.”

  “Yeah…” Pipers face fell. “Wait, what?”

  “You’re sixteen.” Aawil’s shoulders sunk. “I certainly didn’t know anything when I was your age. I may have thought I did, but the harsh reality is that the world is very small when you’re that young. Your problems seem insurmountable, but they only get bigger and more complex the older you get.”

  “I’m not a child.” Piper narrowed her eyes at the Coin.

  “Yes, you are.” Aawil’s eyes softened. “And that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with being young and lacking experience. That’s life, you learn and grow over time. And as you do, you’ll gain a whole new set of problems. That doesn’t make you weak or daft. It just makes you normal. Don’t rush your life away.”

  “What do you know?” Piper leaned her head back to rest against the shelving. “You’re just a henchwoman who removes problems for criminals.”

  “True. But I’m a henchwoman that’s been where you are. You can listen to me or not.”

  “I’m going to go with not.”

  Just as she began to sulk, Corvin burst into the kitchen.

  “Piper, you in here?”

  She immediately rolled her eyes. “We’re in the pantry!”

  He skidded into the doorway with Kegan right behind him. They both froze as soon as they saw Aawil sitting there with her hand on the deadman’s switch.

  “Ahhhhh.” Corvin’s jaw hung slack like an idiot.

  “Did you find them?” That Venom mage from the Silver Tongues appeared behind them. “Oh.” Her face dropped at the scene as well.

  “Hello there, Aawil.” Kegan pushed to the front and approached. “Last time I saw you, I was falling off the roof of the palace in Reliqua.”

  The Coin nodded, apparently returning to her silent persona for the sake of anonymity. Piper couldn’t help but wonder why she had spoken so much to her. Probably because she knows that no one takes me seriously.

  “So how does this thing work?” Kegan tapped his foot against the chest, causing both Aawil and Piper to suck in a breath.

  “What the hell! This thing’s motion sensitive!” Piper stabbed a finger in the direction off the burning marble within the cylinder.

  “Oh, sorry.” The elf held up both hands in surrender.

  “Mom says we have to move it up to the ship’s deck and throw it overboard.”

  “And we’ll have to do it together so that the marble doesn’t fall.” Corvin crept past Aawil to reach the side of the chest.

  Piper simply tapped the tip of her nose in confirmation.

  “No sense staring at it.” Kegan slapped his hands together and crouched down, gesturing for Seven to help on Piper’s side.

  Aawil shifted her position so she could grab a hold of one of the handles without removing her hand from the trigger plate. Corvin got ready as well.

  “Okay,” Piper curled her hands around the handles. “Everyone ready?” A circle of nods answered. “We lift on three.”

  “Wait, wait, wait.” Kegan let go. “Lift on three, or lift just after three.”

  “Seriously?” Seven gave him a healthy dose of side-eye.

  “We lift on three.” Piper counted off on her fingers to demonstrate the timing. “So get ready, ‘cause this is happening.”

  Everyone in the pantry tensed up, and on three, hoisted the eighty-pound chest off the floor. Aawil was slightly faster than the rest, her inhuman strength having no problem with the weight, even with only one hand.

  The marble titled.

  “No no no.” Piper struggled to level out the chest while the rest of the group did the same, creating a wave of motion.

  The marble rolled ag
ainst the lip of the plate, rocking back and forth as it circled round and round. Each movement threatened to ruin everything. Everyone, including Aawil, blew out a sigh of relief when marble finally settled back to where it started.

  “Let’s not do that again.” Piper glanced around the group.

  Aawil mouthed the word ‘sorry,’ reminding Piper of Echo. She ignored the apology and signaled for them to get moving.

  The marble rocked a little, but remained in place as they inched their way out of the cramped space of the pantry. Piper glanced at Corvin as they made their way out of the kitchen and into the hall. He met her eyes for an instant.

  “Umm.” He immediately looked away. “There’s a lift just down here. It’s not too far.”

  For a moment she almost snapped at him, but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was an awkward, “Oh, okay.” She cringed at her response, catching Aawil shaking her head from across the chest.

  That was when Kegan cleared his throat and flicked his eyes to Piper as soon as Corvin looked his way. The annoyingly handsome boy’s face flushed and his ears drooped. Then Kegan cleared his throat again. This went on for a few more seconds, until Corvin opened his mouth.

  “I’m sorry, Piper.”

  “What?” Her face went blank as the words caught her off guard.

  “For calling you a kid earlier.”

  She blew out an annoyed sigh. “Yeah, that sucked.”

  He winced but continued regardless. “I’m not much of an adult either, so I shouldn’t have said that. I just panicked and didn’t know what to say when you asked me out.”

  “So we’re doing this now?” Piper raised an eyebrow. “Just talking about you rejecting me in front of a henchwoman, a stranger…” She gestured to Kegan with her head. “And this guy.”

  “Sorry.” Corvin lowered his head.

  “I think everyone knows already,” Kegan defended. “You haven’t really been subtle.”

  “I guess I deserve that.” Piper lowered her head for a moment before finally speaking again. “You weren’t wrong, Corv. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we’re not all the same age when everyone’s avatars are so young. I am technically still a kid in comparison. I probably shouldn’t have put you in that position. I was being unrealistic, so I’m sorry for being a jerk all night.”