Clockwork Twist : Missing (16 page)

After another highly social day, Twist lay in bed, unable to sleep. Somehow, spending time with people only made the dark and empty room around him seem colder. His mind wandered every time he tried to sleep, until he found himself staring at the ceiling again, working useless bits of thought into a tangled mess. He and Storm had only seen the spaceship and dragons in dreams—could they be nothing more than dreams? Would they work uselessly on that idea and so never find Jonas? What was Storm’s plan, and was it going to work at all?

He sat up and took his watch from the nightstand. His Sight instantly told him that the spring was beginning to run down, so he wound it absently. The subtle sound of the spring clicking tighter seemed much louder than usual in the silence. Twist rubbed at his itchy eyes and considered going to find out if Myra might be awake.

The sun had set many hours ago, and it was probably near to midnight in whatever time zone he was in now. His watch still read London time, so he couldn’t be sure. No matter the emptiness of his dark cabin or how soothing just speaking to her might be, the thought of waking her seemed like a solid barrier.

Twist sat for a long while in the quiet, listening to his watch tick out the wrong time. Then, suddenly, he heard a different sound. There was a very low, bone-deep rumble that only lasted a moment. At first, Twist thought it must be the engines growling. Then he remembered that the engines were on the other side of the massive ship, and it was impossible to hear them from his cabin. The sound came again, this time just a little louder. Twist covered his watch with his hands to deaden its sound as he struggled to listen for the rumble again.

The third time he heard it, it was significantly louder. He opened his eyes sharply as he realized that it was coming from below him. Not from the deck—it was far too deep and full for that—but from a clear distance below. He got up and peered out one of his porthole windows, looking for the source. The ground was totally obscured by thick gray clouds that sailed by a mere few yards below the ship, only gently lit by the thin crescent of the moon. As Twist watched, a brilliant, momentary, white light burst within the cloud, illuminating it like a sudden sun, with another throaty growl.

Twist jumped back from the window. The very first explanation that his sleep-deprived mind supplied was an epic battle between Norse or Greek gods. He shook his head, rejecting that possibility. As the rumble sounded again, Twist finally thought of a much more reasonable answer. It must be thunder. The ship was flying over a storm. Excitement gripped Twist’s heart, and he was moving in an instant. He threw on a pair of trousers as quickly as he could, slipped his feet into his boots, and grabbed his jacket as he ran out of his cabin door.

He ran past Arabel and Myra’s cabin and then paused, turning back to give their door a swift knock. He waited impatiently for a moment before knocking again. Myra opened the door and blinked against the stark lights of the hallway. She was dressed in her sari, just as she had been the day before.

“Twist?” she asked, seeming a little dazed. “What’s the matter?”

“Come with me,” he said, smiling widely now. “We’re flying over a thunderstorm. Come out and see it.”

“A thunderstorm?” Myra asked, her eyes seeming to clear quickly.

“It’s growling and flashing, and it looks brilliant. Come see it with me.”

“Arabel!” Myra called into the dark room behind her. “There’s something neat happening. Come see it!”

“Go away…” came a muffled but clearly angry voice from the shadows within.

“Her loss,” Twist said, offering a hand to Myra. “Come on!”

She took his hand and smiled brightly as she shut the door and hurried down the hallway with him. They came quickly to the promenade deck and ran to the railing at the side. The air was impossibly cold after the warmth of Twist’s heavy bed covers, but he paid his shivers no attention at all as he gazed down at the storm.

After a moment of silence, a series of three bright, explosive flashes filled the cloud below them with false daylight and deep, haunting roars. Myra shrieked happily, and Twist felt her excitement ripple over his own bright emotions as she held his hand tightly. After another second or two of stillness, a different patch of cloud—this one almost hidden from view under the hull of the ship—burst with light and sound. Twist felt the deep, primal vibration in his bones, and Myra’s emotions took on a thrilling hint of elated fear in his Sight.

“Oh, this is amazing!” she said as another peal of thunder filled the sky.

“I like being above the storm much more than inside it,” Twist said, remembering the thunderstorm that had attacked them once, over Utah. If Jonas hadn’t seen the storm in time, Twist might have died that night.

“Oh yes, this is much better,” Myra agreed with a nod.

Just then, a silent, blue-white ball of light erupted from the top of the cloud not far from the ship, streaking upward with blinding brilliance, into the clear air high above. Twist and Myra both gave a startled sound as they watched this fountain of light shoot into the stars and then instantly vanish, leaving a ghostly blue trail behind it for only a moment.

“What the devil was that?” Twist gasped.

“I don’t—” was all Myra managed to say before another bright light above the cloud stole her voice.

A new, impossibly brilliant point of light appeared and danced above the surface of the dark clouds for the merest instant before it launched itself into the stars. As it did, it burst like a firework into an enormous cloud of deep red-and-purple light—easily a hundred times larger than the airship—and filled the sky high above for only the briefest possible moment. Myra jumped into Twist’s arms in her fright, as a huge red halo rippled out across the sky from the top of the red cloud all the way to the horizon and then vanished. Twist held her as his own fright obscured her emotions from his mind.

“Are we in danger?” Myra asked quickly.

“I don’t…have any idea,” Twist muttered vaguely as his eyes slowly cleared from the bright, otherworldly image. “But it seems all right.”

“It didn’t make a sound…”

“I’m really glad you’re here right now,” Twist said, holding her just a little closer. “I would have thought I’d gone mad again if I was the only one seeing this.”

Myra laughed, her tension breaking, before another peal of thunder tingled its way up Twist’s spine. Jumping flashes of light filled the cloud all around them, matching the sound in perfect time. Twist saw another flash of blue light out of the corner of his eye and heard Myra’s happy gasp, but the tail of brilliant blue light was gone before he could turn to see it.

“I’ve been alive a long time,” Myra said, “but you show me the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh, I don’t think I have anything to do with it,” Twist said, shaking his head as he searched for the next spectacle. “My life was dull and gray before you came into it.”

He felt her smile, and her emotions warmed his Sight, but they both watched the sky intently as the thunder bellowed around them. Twist was distantly aware that a few other people were now coming out onto the deck, called out of their beds or their nightly duties just as Twist had been. The storm continued to flash and growl below, while occasional blue streaks of light leaped up into the stars. Twist heard gasps around him each time.

When another enormous red cloud of light filled the sky, Twist and Myra cheered to congratulate the storm. As Twist watched the ring of red light ripple out to the horizon, way up against the stars, he suddenly felt a tug at his neck. His eye caught the tiny star that sailed smoothly across the sky, and he focused all of his attention on the subtle, barely detectable feeling in his neck.

“What is it, dear?” Myra asked.

“I think Jonas can see me,” Twist said, not taking his eyes off the single, moving point while the thunder grumbled.

“Really?” Myra asked, looking into the stars too. “How can you tell?”

“I can feel it,” Twist said. He wanted to close his eyes to focus more on the feeling, but he knew that doing so would cut it instead. “When he looks into my eyes, sometimes I can feel it, like a tingle in my neck. I usually don’t notice when he’s close, but now…”

“Oh!” Myra said suddenly, almost drawing his eyes away. “He can probably see the storm, if he’s up there in the sky.”

Twist smiled at the idea that he and Myra could share the storm with Jonas, even with so much distance between them. Jonas, of course, would know instantly what the huge, strange flashes of colored light actually were, with just a single look.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Myra asked, moving out of Twist’s arms. She raised a hand to wave to the stars. “Hello Jonas!” she yelled happily. “We miss you!”

Twist laughed and joined her, waving at the sky. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before. If he could feel the connection, then Jonas would be able to see him as clearly as he could see the volcanoes on Io. He might even be able to see Twist well enough to guess at the shape of the words that left his mouth.

“We’re coming for you!” Twist yelled over the growl of the thunder. “Don’t give up on me. I’ll find you!”

Myra pulled closer to Twist again, smiling at the sky. Whether it was her happy feelings, his own, or something else, Twist felt a subtle change in the edges of his mind as he held Myra and listened to the thunder. Maybe, just maybe, everything could be all right after all.

Twist stopped at his cabin door, his fingers lingering on the silver handle. The hallway was already starting to show signs of heightened activity—the sound of luggage thumping about, people calling out to porters and friends—as the ship neared the Japanese capital. Some people would disembark for the day, like Twist and his companions, while others were leaving the ship entirely. Twist waited until he heard the door across from his close and lock, the passengers and porters moving away, before he ventured out.

He hurried through the momentarily empty hallway and out onto the deck to meet Myra, Arabel, and Skye at the bow, as they had agreed. The ship still had just over an hour to go before reaching the airship docks in Tokyo, but Twist agreed with Arabel that it would be best to take a place at the railing before the crowds grew too dense. Myra insisted on watching the approach. There were already many people out on the deck, looking over the new land that sailed by below them. Myra spotted Twist and waved to catch his attention.

Coming to meet her and Arabel in their small clearing against the silver railing, Twist was surprised to find that the skies below were clear of the storm that had thundered on through the night. He could see the jagged green mountains and wide, flat planes of the island nation below in perfect clarity. The sea—deep and very blue on this clear and sunny day—lapped gently at the long, textured, eastern coast of Japan as the ship continued its steady progress.

“So, where exactly does the sun live?” Myra asked, gazing over the side. Twist smiled at her, deeply enjoying her enchanting innocence.

“I’m pretty sure that’s just a story,” Arabel said gently.

Myra looked to her, obviously confused. “Well it’s got to live somewhere. If not here, then where?” Arabel looked to Twist for help.

“Maybe it lives in there,” Twist said, pointing to a remarkably smooth, wide, and enormous mountain that rose in the southern distance. The mountain looked like a perfect cone, with a small, circular plateau at its snowy peak.

“Mount Fuji?” Skye asked, stepping into the conversation beside Twist. Twist noticed that she was now wearing a tailed, silver men’s coat, and a matching bowler hat tipped up on the back of her head to let her fiery hair peek out in front. She straightened a thin strap across her chest to let her small bag hang at her side. She seemed to notice Twist’s attention and gave him a wink. “Yep. That’s where I heard the sun lives,” she said, smiling to Myra.

“Oh…” Myra mused, staring at the mountain in wonder. Twist gave Skye a grateful smile. “So it sits on the top, there?” Myra asked. “Is it ever dark in Japan?”

“No, no, it’s got to live inside the mountain, right?” Arabel asked quickly.

“Oh, I see now!” Myra said brightly. Skye gave Arabel a thumbs-up behind Myra’s back. Arabel sighed and shook her head.

The next hour passed quickly as they continued to chat at the railing. Other passengers began to fill the spaces around them, until they were totally surrounded. Twist drew closer and closer to Myra as he tried to avoid accidentally touching anyone else. When it got so crowded that he had to lean on the railing while Myra stood behind him—her chin on his shoulder to peer past—Twist once again thought of Jonas. It really took two to keep him safe in a thick crowd. More than just that, Jonas had said he had friends in Japan. He would have enjoyed this whole trip much more than Twist had so far. Twist shook his head to clear his thoughts.

They had a wonderful view of Tokyo bay as the ship came in to land. The city spread out through the vast, river-strewn valley beside the bay. Looking at it from the air, Twist realized that he’d never seen another city that looked anything like it. A single square structure stood at the center of the city, surrounded on all sides by wide, green patches and a surrounding wall. All of the other buildings looked tiny in comparison, and very few stood over two stories high. Even so, Tokyo appeared to be bustling with people.

As the ship drifted down over the winding streets and box-like buildings, Twist began to see train tracks as well. Looking at the homely appearance of some of the buildings and the fact that most streets were paved with nothing but dirt, he was a little surprised to see trains here at all. There also seemed to be a very busy river system in place. Twist saw countless barge-like, flat boats hurrying up and down the winding green river that the airship now seemed to follow.

Near the river, he saw another large, square wooden building that sat separate from the rest of the city. The area around it was fenced off, and a long corridor stretched out of the front. Coming closer, Twist saw a huge, bright-red wooden gate at the end of the fenced-off corridor, with a giant, red paper lantern hanging from the center of it.

“Is that a palace?” Myra asked happily.

“Oh no, that’s a shrine,” Arabel said. “We visited it last time we were here,” she added brightly. “If you go up to that main building, you can get a piece of paper with your fortune on it. I got a good one, but Zayle got a bad one and had to tie it to a tree to keep the bad luck from following him out. He sure got angry,” she said with a smile. Then she paused. “Wait, no, that wasn’t Zayle. Was that Philippe? I know it wasn’t Uncle Howell…”

“Maybe it was Jonas,” Twist offered as lightly as he could. “That sounds like him.”

Arabel looked to him carefully for a moment before looking away again. “Maybe.”

Not wanting to press her too far, Twist held his tongue. The airship continued to follow the river to a cluster of airships that seemed to float over the water itself. Coming closer, Twist saw that, stretching over the river, there were many long, arching bridges, which airships were attached to.

The
Aeolus
glided slowly in to join the others, coming to a bridge that was empty of other airships. People in colorful clothing stood all along its length, waving and calling to greet the ship. Twist thought of wading through that thick crowd and gave a shudder.

“What is it?” Myra asked, speaking to his ear as her chin stayed on his shoulder.

“Nothing, I’m fine…” Twist muttered. “I’m just not looking forward to getting through that crowd, is all.”

“Sugar, this is Tokyo,” Skye said sadly. “This is one of the most crowded cities in the world.” Twist looked to her with a pained expression. “Should we just knock you out and stuff you in a trunk?” Skye asked brightly. “Then we can carry you wherever we’re going.”

Arabel laughed but tried to stop when Twist shot her a glare.

“No, thank you,” Twist said firmly. He looked back to the crowds on the docks and gave a heavy sigh. “I just really wish Jonas was here.”

“Well, I’ve only been to Tokyo once before,” Arabel said, “but I think Skye is quite right. I’ve never been anywhere as crowded as this place. We should have an idea where we’re going before we leave the ship.”

“Well, where is this ‘Vane’ guy, Arabel?” Skye asked. “Storm said we should find him.”

Twist’s mood darkened considerably at the thought of meeting the irreverent fox again. He knew it was probably his imagination, but his right wrist began to itch. He refused to scratch at his scar, purely out of spite.

“He’s…” Arabel narrowed her eyes at the horizon. She paused, looking startled. “He’s underground. He’s surrounded by people—wait, no, not people. He’s surrounded by creatures. And it’s very loud…”

“Do you know where, exactly?” Skye asked her.

“Sure, it’s that way,” Arabel said, pointing across the city.

Skye gave her a tight smile. “How about a street name?”

“Oh,” Arabel said, frowning. “It sounds like ‘she’ something…wait…” She snapped her eyes closed tightly and paused. “Shibuya!” she said, opening her eyes again with a smile.

“She did what, now?” Skye asked quickly.

“No, no, the name of the area,” Arabel said with a light laugh. “It’s a district of Tokyo, and it’s called ‘
Shibuya
.’ It took me a second to find the name because it’s not English.”

Skye stared at her thoughtfully. “Damn it, now I want a super power too!” she declared angrily. “Twist’s got one. You’ve got one. Storm has one, and Myra’s magical, too. Hell, even Jonas has a Sight! I’m feeling left out.”

“You’ve got a magical tiger tattoo,” Twist pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah…” Skye said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “That’s not the same.”

Twist laughed quietly to himself while the airship crew tied off the last of the mooring ropes. Once the ship had fully docked, the porters cleared a path for the departing passengers, much to Twist’s relief. The passengers slowly spilled out onto the bridge, as it seemed that absolutely everyone wanted to get off at once. Twist and his companions waited until most of the crowd was already gone before they got in line.

After days in chilly, thin, high atmosphere, Twist noticed that the air off the river was not only warmer but slightly humid as well. Even after most of the crowds had dispersed, Twist was surprised by all of the busy activity around him. The flat barges traveled constantly up and down the river, people in colorful robes hurried across the bridges in every direction, and airships seemed to be in a constant state of motion as they arrived or departed. But as Twist peered through the thick foot traffic, he couldn’t find a single horse or cab in the fray.

Arabel called to him and Myra from one side of the bridge. Myra kept close to him as they hurried, along with Skye, to meet her. Arabel had found two small carriages that were ready to be hired, but Twist could only stare at the strange conveyances before him.

“Where are the horses?” Myra asked, looking at the two men that stood where the horses should be, holding the front of each of the two carriages like the handle of a cart.

“More to the point,” Twist said, averting his eyes upward, “where are these men’s trousers?” Although each of the two men wore a rather large-looking jacket, their legs were bare from the slim cloth sarong just visible under the edge of the jacket, down to the rope-and-wood sandals on their otherwise bare feet.

“Welcome to Japan,” Skye said with a smile to him. “At least they’ve got cute knees.”

“It’s just the fashion here,” Arabel said with a sigh. “Now come on. You and Myra take that rickshaw, and Skye and I will take this one.”

Twist and Myra did as they were told and climbed up onto the wide, padded seat in the back of one carriage, while Arabel and Skye took the other. Arabel spoke to the men as she climbed on, in a language that was wholly alien to Twist. The men each gave her a nod and a word of response. The moment the passengers were seated, the men took off at a swift trot, carrying them through the dusty streets.

Myra’s face was an image of pure excitement as they hurtled by shops and stalls that seemed to sell a wide array of things Twist couldn’t hope to identify. Simple cloth signs hung out from the wooden buildings like awnings, all written with characters that reminded Twist of Hong Kong. The vibrant crowds remained thick as they moved deeper into the city, and Twist saw a few other men without trousers among those he felt were more sensibly dressed. The women he saw all wore very colorful, patterned dresses that looked to him rather like extravagant dressing gowns.

Even after all of his recent travels to India, America, Africa, the Caribbean, the Himalayas, South Asia, and Eastern Europe, Japan struck his senses as the most startlingly foreign place he had ever been. But once the initial shock had worn off, the city of Tokyo began to charm him.

Every woman’s hair was the same shiny, straight black, and wound up in amazingly intricate shapes. Each face, while looking purely foreign to his eye, was constructed of perfectly clean lines and gentle angles. The simple structures of the buildings gave the city a rather pleasing and calm appearance, despite the amazing amount of activity. Every piece of cloth seemed to have its own unique design and color, although every dress and jacket was of the exact same shape.

“What a pretty little city,” Myra said, leaning closer to him.

“It is, isn’t it?” Twist said back, smiling now.