Clockwork Twist : Dreamer (30 page)

Myra told Twist that she had tried to walk out of the sea, or at least to some shallower part of it, but had gotten lost in the thick forests.  It was so dark after sunset that she could barely see at all.  A glimmering in the distance brought her to the open, sandy glen where she had been found.  The shiny little bits of metal were brought aboard and determined to be the lost Spanish gold and silver from a two-hundred-year-old galleon that had wrecked in a storm.

Twist, Jonas, and Myra stepped into the submersible's salon—a wide, open room with tall, thin windows along one side—which had been quickly converted into an archeological laboratory.  Piles of coral-crusted gold and greening silver lay heaped on tables, while full unopened chests were clustered in corners.  The ship's crew was wholly devoted to salvaging as much of the treasure as possible, and people hurried in and out of the room with load after load.  Even after two hundred years at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea, the gold coins glittered as brightly as ever.  Jonas picked up one of the loose coins and tossed it to flip in the air.  It flashed in the light and fell back into his hand.

“Spanish gold,” he said lusciously, grinning at the coin.  With a quick flick of his wrist, it disappeared up a sleeve.

“Jonas,” Twist toned softly, checking over the hurrying crew to see if anyone was watching them. “This is an archeological find.  Most of it will probably end up in a museum, somewhere.  You can't just steal some of it.”

“I can't help it,” Jonas said with a sigh. “It's in my blood.  My family has been stealing Spanish gold since the sixteenth century.”

“They have?” Myra asked, looking alarmed. “Is it some kind of a feud?”

Jonas laughed and shook his head. “My ancestors are an unbroken chain of English and French pirates right back to the beginning,” he said with pride. “Mum and Dad used to tell us all about their adventures when Ara and I were little.  Howell knows the stories too.  But the Spanish always had most of the gold in Caribbean, you see.”

Twist looked back to the treasure and wondered what it might be like to know his own family history.  Were there any pirates in his background that he didn't know about? “But wait, a minute,” he said suddenly. “I thought piracy was a pretty dangerous job back in the old days.  I didn't know pirates lived long enough to … well, have descendants.”

“A truly great pirate always makes it out alive,” Jonas said with a roguish smile. “I'm living proof that my ancestors were the best.”

“Apparently,” Twist muttered, intrigued by this sudden familial pride.

“No!  You can't make me!” Storm's voice echoed off the metal walls as it drew closer down the hallway.

He burst suddenly into the room and stopped, spotted Jonas and Twist, and then ran towards them.  Twist jumped out of his path out of reflex, but Storm caught Jonas around the waist with both arms and clung to him tightly.  Jonas froze, staring down at the top of the boy's head in shock.  Twist saw a tear escape Storm's brilliant pink eyes, while he buried the rest of his face in Jonas's shirt.  Jonas stood awkwardly, his arms out helplessly beside him.

“Storm, come back!” Kima's voice called from the hallway.

“I found you!” Storm said suddenly, his voice wobbling with emotion. ”We're finally together.  I won't just leave you now.”

Jonas looked to Twist in bewilderment.  Twist could only give him the same thing back.  Kima appeared at the door and came into the room, breathing hard.  She looked to Storm sadly and spoke softly to him in her language.

“No!” Storm snapped, cutting her off and holding Jonas a little tighter.

“So, what's up, Kima?” Jonas asked.  Aden now appeared behind her, coming closer too.

“Your friend wants to help us disappear,” she said heavily. “He can send us to a place where Loki can't find us.  Where we can be safe and happy,” she added, as if speaking directly to Storm. “But he...” She waved her hand at her son helplessly.

“Where are you sending them?” Twist asked Aden.

“Australia,” he said, watching Storm thoughtfully. “We have a research station there that's connected to a cattle ranch.  My agents are always coming and going so the place is always under guard.  They grow their own food.  It's on a big open plain.  It’s always sunny.  It's a lovely place.  I thought Kima and Storm would like it there because it's similar to the life they had before their land was stolen.  The culture is totally different, of course, but at least the lifestyle is close to what they knew.”

“Sounds great,” Jonas said.

“I don't want to be safe!” Storm snapped. “I want to be with you, Jon.  I'm supposed to be with you.”

“Why?” Jonas asked.  Storm looked up at him in painful shock.  Jonas tore his gaze away before Storm could catch it.

“Storm, please,” Kima tried, reaching for him. “Let's just talk about this—”

“No,” Storm said, determination hardening on his face. “If they aren't going, then neither am I.”

Jonas took a breath and pulled his goggles on over his eyes.  Then he reached down, pried Storm's arms off of him, and knelt down in front of him.  Storm watched uncertainly.  Jonas looked at him levelly, despite the black glass between them.

“Storm, you're ten, right?” Jonas asked, his voice suddenly gentle.

Storm frowned. “I'm not a little kid,” he muttered, wiping at his moist face with one hand.  The other clung to Jonas's arm tightly.

“You're acting like one,” Jonas said, somehow still gently.

“Shut up.”

Jonas smiled. “You're not going to be a little kid forever.  You're almost done with childhood, already.  But right now, you'd be more trouble to us than help.”

Storm shook his head. “No, I won't!“

Jonas cut him off and started counting on fingers. “You're short, you only speak English, you're not strong enough to be any real help in a fight, you cry when you don't get your way, you don't have any money, you don't have any contacts, and your mother would skin me alive if you got killed.”  As he spoke, Storm's face darkened slowly into palpable despair.  Twist wanted to stop Jonas from making the boy feel dreadful, but he couldn't fault any point, and so held his tongue.

“But,” Jonas continued, reaching out to lay a hand on Storm's sloping shoulder. “In a few years, that will all be different.  You've got an amazing Sight, and a sharp mind.  You can pick up everything else.  You just need to give yourself the time.”

As Storm looked back at him, he seemed to lighten somewhat.  Twist found a soft, grateful, smile on Kima's face.  Glancing past her, he saw that Arabel, Howell, and Zayle had also come to see what all the yelling was about.  They too watched Jonas with light but warm smiles.

“How much time?” Storm asked, still pouting heavily.

Jonas smiled. “When you're old enough to tell your mother that you're leaving, and she understands and wishes you well instead of trying to make you stay, then you'll be old enough to be of help to me and Twist.”

“In the meantime,” Twist added, drawing Storm's attention, “there's nothing stopping us from coming to visit you from time to time.”

“Oh yes!” Myra said brightly. “That's a lovely idea.  We'll have to go visit you,” she said to Storm. “I've never been to Austria.”

“Australia,” Jonas corrected her, fighting a smile. “You've been to Austria.”

“I have?”

“I'll show you on my globe, later,” Twist offered.  He couldn't help but feel a jolt of pride to already know the difference between the two, without having to check.

“You'll really come?” Storm asked hesitantly.

“Sure, you should know I love surfing,” Jonas said with a shrug. “It won't be every week or anything, but we can stop by sometime.  If it's all right with your mother, of course.”

Storm turned to his mother with pleading eyes.

“Of course, it's fine,” she said, relief visible on her face.

“I guess...” Storm muttered.

“Good man,” Jonas said, getting back to his feet.  He gave Storm a pat on the head. “Now, no more giving your poor mother all this grief.  You'll grow up soon enough.”

“You're already getting there, after all,” Twist added quickly. “If you hadn't told us about this submersible, Jonas and I might not have been able to escape from Loki's ship.  You really helped us today.”

“I did?” Storm asked, his face awash with wonder.

“Yep,” Jonas nodded. “So stop crying and
tearing
about, all right?  You're only going backwards if you do.”

“All right,” Storm said, pulling himself up a little taller.

Kima spoke to him gently in her language again, but this time Storm nodded and let her draw him away.  Storm looked back one last time, and Myra waved happily to him before he moved out of sight.  Arabel, Howell, and Zayle all followed, speaking supportively to Kima.  Aden said that he would meet her in a moment, and then turned to Twist and Jonas as Storm and the others all left the room.

“By the way,” Aden said quickly. “I'm leaving this ship here to collect the treasure and to salvage Loki's ship, but I need to get back to London myself.  I think you should accompany me.  If the Cyphers really are going to leave you alone, then I want to send you out on tour again as soon as possible.”  Myra gave a happy tone and clapped her hands.  Aden smiled at her and looked to Jonas. “I'm also trying to get your sister to agree to help us out.”

“What do you mean?” Jonas asked.  Twist felt a tightness at the buzz in his neck.

“She already refused to join the Rooks,” Aden said, keeping his voice low. “But her Sight is fantastic.  I want to at least get her to agree to sell her services to me.  I had my men free the
Vimana
from the wreck of Loki's ship and also paid your uncle double the charter rate to take me back to London, just to buy more time to speak with her.  If you came along on the journey, you might be able to help me.”

Jonas gave a mirthless laugh. “Arabel hasn't listened to me since we were both a foot shorter.”  Twist looked to him, surprised.

“There was a time when she
did
listen to you?”

“Up until that fateful day when she woke up with green hair,” Jonas said mournfully. “I really think that was the beginning of the end.  Never tell your sister that the plant food is shampoo,” he said earnestly to Aden. “Even if she can't read Arabic, and asks you innocently.”

“Is that what happened to Zayle?” Twist asked thoughtfully, while Aden tried to process this information.

“No, he's just strange,” Jonas said, shaking his head. “Zayle does it on purpose.”

“What about me?” Zayle asked, as he, Arabel, and Howell returned and came closer.

“Oh, I was just saying that you're strange,” Jonas supplied brightly.

“Is that all?” Zayle asked back, looking relieved.

“Heavens, you people are all odd,” Aden said, looking at them seriously.  Myra laughed while Twist and Jonas gave him twin scowls. “But, honestly now,” Aden said before Howell could speak—his mouth open and ready, “Twist, Jonas, Myra, would you like to come with me on the
Vimana
to London?”  Myra's face lit up instantly.

“Oh, that's a great idea!” Arabel said excitedly. “You really should come with us.”

“That's a long trip,” Jonas toned darkly.  Arabel's smile faded.  Myra looked at him unhappily and crossed her arms.  Twist reached into the buzz at his neck and found tension, but no real fear, anger, or dread.

“Storm isn't coming this time,” he offered softly to Jonas.

“Do you want to go with them?” Jonas asked him sharply.

Twist shrugged. “Myra does.”

Jonas looked to her just as sharply, to find her nodding with a wide smile.

“Please?  I like the
Vimana
.  And I want to go back on tour.”

“You're all against me,” Jonas grumbled.  Twist grinned at him and reached up to hang his arm casually on Jonas's shoulder.  Jonas's white fog wafted gently into his mind, bringing a hidden warmth that Twist had wholly expected to find.

“Let's get him some of that rum he likes before we leave the Caribbean,” he said to Arabel. “It'll help, I'm sure.”

“Bloody turncoat,” Jonas spat at him with an anger Twist knew he didn't feel.

“Diva,” he tossed back.  A flash of cold shock and admiration rushed through the fog in Twist's mind.  Jonas stared at him silently for too long to retort properly.