Clockwork Twist : Trick (14 page)

“Boggles the mind, doesn't it?” Jonas asked, smiling to Gregory. “He'd never even left London until my sister met him about three weeks ago.”

“Wait, what are we talking about?” Twist asked, looking to each of them in turn.

“Gregory just found out that you're wonderful,” Myra said brightly.

“So did I,” Niko said, looking at Twist.

“I don't know about 'wonderful',” Gregory muttered. “Fascinating, I'll grant you.”

“Wait, what?” Twist asked, starting to feel highly conspicuous.

“Do you realize that you jumped over some very difficult aspects of the technology I developed for this trick,” Niko asked him, “and guessed correctly on every point, all in the matter of a few seconds?”

“Oh, did I?”

“And more than that,” Gregory said, “your questions prove that you do understand.  If you didn't, you would have asked something else.”

“Yes, well...” Twist muttered, beginning to wish he'd never said anything at all. “But, where did the cards even come from?” he asked quickly, desperate to get himself out of scrutiny. “She wasn't holding them at first.”

“Ah, well that wasn't my doing,” Niko said, shaking his head. “Things like that are all due to Tasha's skill.  Illusion is more about what isn't seen, than what is.  Tasha's a true master of misdirection.”

“That she is,” Gregory agreed. “Even now, I'm certain that she appears to be fully engaged in whatever my master is speaking about.”

“I don't have a tenth of her skill in that,” Niko said with a sigh.

“So I'm not the only one having trouble,” Jonas said with relief.

“Goodness no,” Gregory said. “I would never say anything against my master's character, or his honor, but I will easily admit that if he had one fault it would be that words tumble from his mouth more profusely than water over Niagara Falls.”

“Ah, now if I could only harness the power of his continued breath,” Niko began wistfully, “then I'm sure I could power a whole town with electrical lighting throughout each and every night.”

Gregory laughed and shook his head while Niko smiled at him, leaving Twist and his companions to wonder about this private joke between them.  Through one mode of conversation or another, the five of them ended up spending a very pleasant time together, chatting about electrical engineering, steam power, clockwork, and each-other's various  ambitions and skills.  Having little to say on the scientific points, Myra simply supported Twist's opinion on everything.

After a pleasant dinner, there was a promenade around the porch in the deep, star-pricked blue of the twilight sky.  With the engine that powered the balloon buried under the house, and no other audible machinery working to keep her in the air, the
Gray Lady
drifted as silently as a ghost above the shifting and untold depths of the Mediterranean Sea.  Twist stood for a long time in the failing light, letting the gentle wind play on his open hands, and over the exposed skin at his face and neck.  With nothing living or mechanical to feel in the wind, the effect was deliciously soothing to his senses.

As true night crept in from the horizon to swallow them up, Twist rejoined his companions in the parlor.  Everyone was seated together before the fire, sipping at small glasses of brandy.  Jonas looked to be the most interested in what Hector was speaking of, but with his goggles over his eyes it was hard to know for sure.

Not a few moments after Twist had arrived—and been served a glass of brandy as well, by Gregory—Hector rose with a deep breath and stated his need to retire for the evening.  He said goodnight to Tasha and his other guests, and invited them to stay in the parlor for as long as they desired.  They all responded with thanks and waited for him to leave.  Tasha was the first one to speak, once Hector was well out of earshot.

“Niko, tell me honestly,” she said to him where he sat in the chair beside her own, and reached out to take his hand. “Am I nothing more than a pretty little dear who belongs on the arm of a rich man?  Is it selfish and vulgar of me to think that I could be more?”

Niko gave her a gentle smile and held her hand in both of his. “Tasha, you know how highly I think of myself, and my inventions.  Would I be here, would I give all my best creations to you, if you didn't deserve it?” Tasha's face washed over with true mirth as he spoke and she nodded solemnly.

“You're a good friend,” she said, almost laughing now. “You always help me keep perspective,” she added with a grin.

“I know,” Niko said, almost seriously. “You're welcome.”

“Oh, it is difficult to hold onto one's own reality when someone is speaking of a different one incessantly,” she said, letting out some of her built up tensions in a heavy breath.

“Don't let him distract you,” Niko said. “Hector means well, we both know that, but he doesn't have a clue who you really are.  If he did, he wouldn't presume to even have the right to court you.  He thinks you're just a pretty magician, for heaven’s sake.”

“Ah,” Jonas toned, sipping at his brandy. “So, you didn't tell him about storming into a Cypher's den and stealing age old secrets, then.”

“Goodness no!” Tasha said, covering her laugh with a hand. “He'd have a fit.  He'd be terrified for my safety.”

“But wasn't it your idea?” Twist asked. “Weren't you the one who led us?”

“Oh no...” Tasha said, shaking her head with a wicked gleam in the corner of her reproachful smile. “Women’s minds are unfit for such complicated things.  They're too soft.”

“Says who?” Myra snapped instantly.  Niko laughed quietly to himself.

“People like Hector,” Jonas said. “You know, people who make up opinions without looking closely enough at reality first.  And, of course, people who have never met my sister.”

“Or Aazzi,” Twist added. “Woman or man, she is the most capable and frightening person I've ever met.”

“She's a vampire,” Jonas said. “That helps.”  Twist nodded in agreement.

“You know a vampire?” Tasha asked curiously.

“Yeah,” Jonas muttered unhappily.

“They met a djinn once, too,” Myra added proudly.

Jonas gave a shudder. “That guy was weird.”

“He was nicer than that fox,” Twist muttered. “Or that American woman with her collection of huge guns.”

“I'm beginning to wonder if your life is actually more interesting than mine,” Tasha said.

“Yeah, 'interesting',” Jonas said with a sigh. “That's one word for it.”

“Be careful that Rooks don't find you,” Tasha mentioned idly.

Twist felt Jonas's heartbeat speed up with a striking, glowing tension that burned out of the buzz at the base of Twist's neck, but he didn't see any obvious change in Jonas's appearance as he seemed to look back at her through the opaque lenses of his goggles.  Myra fell silent beside him, staring at Tasha carefully.  Twist picked up his glass and swirled the amber brandy around idly to keep himself from looking nervous or suspicious.  It could have been nothing more than an innocent comment.  It didn't have to mean anything.  He silently prayed it didn't.

“You mean those people who collect strange things?” Jonas asked lightly, as if there was nothing frightening about the question. “What would they want with us?”

Tasha stared at him carefully for a moment before answering. “They are always looking for interesting things.  Why not interesting people?”  Her pause did more to concern Twist than Jonas's initial reaction had.

“We're really not that interesting,” Jonas said, his voice low but smooth despite the tension Twist could feel.

Again, Tasha paused before speaking. “Are you in some kind of trouble?” she asked gently, glancing now at Twist and Myra with the same carefulness.  Her gaze stuck on Myra, and Twist could almost see the thoughts running furiously behind her dark eyes.

“We're on our way to see one now,” Twist said softly.  Jonas's blinded eyes turned to him quickly and Twist felt the other man's tension rise sharply.  Twist rubbed at the vibration at the back of his neck to soothe it.

“I'm not one of them,” Tasha offered. “Neither is Niko.”  Myra appeared to let out a held breath in relief, even though she had no real breath to speak of. “But now that I think of it,” Tasha said, watching Myra, “I heard that they are looking for people made of metal.”

“Where did you hear that?” Jonas asked, his voice smooth and his form still.

“It’s one of the things they are always searching for,” Tasha said with a shrug. “That and obvious weapons, or anything that affects time.  Really, I'm not a Rook.  You can relax.”

“How do you know so much about what they're looking for?” Jonas asked.

“I'm a magician,” Tasha answered with an amiable smile. “They use people like me to ferry information, for surveillance, and occasionally for consultation.  They do the same thing with circuses.  Everyone knows that.  Well, everyone like us,” she added amiably. “Naturally, the general population has no idea.”

“People like us?” Twist asked.

“People who know vampires, invent things that look like magic, and travel across the world with people made of clockwork,” Tasha answered easily. “People with Sights and a connection to the world beyond the norm.  We always end up meeting each other.  It’s only natural to share rumors.”  Twist felt Jonas's tensions ease slightly.

“So, you're not one of them, but you work for them,” Jonas said, still sounding smooth and emotionless.

“Only on occasion,” Tasha said. “And only when it’s worth my while.  I have my own reasons to keep my distance from them.  Or have you forgotten that I went to Egypt to steal from Cyphers?  The Rooks would be rather cross with me if they knew everything I got up to.”

“And just about everything he creates could be weaponized,” Jonas added with a nod towards Niko, who sat listening intently.

“Why is that always the first thing anyone ever thinks of?” Niko snapped angrily.

“Perspective,” Tasha said, patting his arm soothingly. “I thought of magic tricks first, didn't I?”  Niko grumbled to himself in a different language but said nothing else in English. “So you see?” Tasha said to Jonas and Twist. “You have no reason to be so frightened of me.”

“Maybe not,” Jonas said, releasing some of his tension with a sigh. “They've been kind of chasing us for a while,” he said hesitantly. “I suppose we're a little on edge about it.”

“Are they after Myra?” Tasha asked gently.  Myra reached for Twist's hand.  He took it and her wave of nervous fear, and patted her hand comfortingly.

“They tried to steal her from us in Bombay,” Jonas answered. “We're on our way to Paris now to speak with an inventor who might be able to convince them that she couldn't possibly be a threat to anyone.  That way they'll have no excuse to take her from us.”

“That sounds like an awfully long way to go on chance,” Tasha said softly.

“Tell me about it,” Jonas said flatly.

“It was the best choice we had,” Twist added. “I won't have Myra living on the run forever if I don't have to.  And I'll not part with her either.”  As he spoke, he felt a warm wave of relief and quiet joy wash over Myra's troubled mind.

“Then I sincerely wish you good fortune,” Tasha said sweetly. “I've seen for myself just how far you two will go to protect her,” she said, looking to Myra. “If I can ever give you any help, please call on me.”

“Thank you,” Myra said, smiling back to her.

Twist looked out the window.  In the growing light of the dawn he saw a tight, clustered, medieval-looking city.  It sat on a peninsula that reached out into the deep sapphire waters of a new sea.  The flying house had passed over a dry and rocky land through the night, and now gliding to the edge of water once again.  Twist peered far down into the city and found a number of stone domes—many of them surrounded by tall, thin, pointed towers—nestled among the crowded buildings.

“So, Constantinople is a city after all?” Twist asked Jonas over his shoulder.

“Yes, it's the capital of Turkey,” Jonas said as he rummaged in his luggage.  Having gotten up first, Twist was already dressed and as ready as he could be for his day.  He pushed the window up and stuck his head out to see better.

“We just crossed the Mediterranean,” Twist continued, yelling back to Jonas, “and the Caspian Sea is green.  So, this one is the Black Sea, right?”

“Right again,” Jonas said, slipping on his shirt.

“So, that means that we're west of Baku,” Twist said, leaning back to kneel on the window seat as he thought. “But east of Venice, and north of Cairo.  Right?”

“You know, I really think you're getting better at this,” Jonas said, now lacing up his boots.

“It's about time,” Twist muttered, turning around to sit on the window seat. “I feel quite lost without a map.”

“Then remind me to buy you a map someday,” Jonas said, digging in his luggage again.

“No, no, I want to do it like you do,” Twist said, shaking his head. “Everyone else knows where things are without maps.  I can learn, too.”

Jonas paused in his search and looked at Twist with a slight smile. “Good for you.”

“Yes, well...” Twist muttered, unsure how else to respond to a direct compliment.

“I imagine most people in your position would be complaining by now, demanding to go home,” Jonas said, returning to his search. “But you're actually trying to learn and adapt.  That's admirable.  Now where the hell are my goggles?”

Twist grinned at him. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Jonas said, frowning back at him. “I never lose them...”

Twist glanced slightly above Jonas's eyes, then back down to them with the same grin.

“Damn it,” Jonas moaned, reaching up to find them sitting at the edge of his hair.

Twist laughed softly to himself.

“Shut up.”

Twist laughed a little harder until a knock at the door stole his attention.  He crossed the room and opened the door to find Myra on the other side of it, holding two cups of coffee.

“Good morning!” she said.

Twist greeted her in return and brought her into the small bedroom.  She offered him a cup, then paused and pulled it back.

“No, you don't like sugar,” she said, offering the other one instead.  She then turned to Jonas with the first cup. “Coffee?”

“You're an angel,” Jonas said, taking it with a smile.  Myra smiled at him happily.

“How was your sleep?” Twist asked her, sipping at his coffee—which was sugarless, but had just a touch of cream to smooth the harsher notes.

“Oh fine,” she said to Twist. “I dreamed about you.”

Jonas glanced at her.

“Did you?” Twist asked as lightly as he could.

Myra nodded. “You were made of clockwork in my dream, all silver and black.  It was quite handsome on you.  Then you and I sailed to the moon in a boat.  The stars were all reflected on the water, so it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the sea began.”

“What a lovely dream,” Twist said, silently trying to imagine himself made of silver clockwork.  Looking at Myra, it wasn't very difficult.

“I wish it was that easy to get to the moon,” Jonas said wistfully. “I'd never come back.”

Myra looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. “You must really like cheese.”

Twist laughed. “Who doesn't like cheese?”  He saw no reason in the world to explain Jonas's antisocial tendencies in the face of such innocence.

“The Japanese don't like cheese, actually,” Jonas added. “They don't seem to understand the concept.”

“You know the oddest things,” Myra said.

“Too much time in the world,” Jonas said, smiling through his words. “Shall we get ourselves back into it?”

On that note, they left in search of breakfast.  By the end of another lengthy and delightful meal, the airship landed softly on the platform that floated on a huge raft out in the waters of the Black Sea.  When Twist asked why the airship docks were on the water and not in the city, Jonas explained that there were too many mosques in the city—with their tall, thin, pointed spires—to make air travel through the interior of it feasible.  Airships could only pass over Constantinople at a safe distance, far above.

A ferry took them across the water and into the city.  Tasha walked with Hector through the stone city, along the larger boulevards which were lined on both sides by busy little shops that seemed to sell everything in the world.  Niko followed behind her like a chill shadow in the warm midday sunlight, while Twist, Jonas, and Myra trailed after him and feasted their eyes on the new sights.  It seemed like everyone they passed on the street was from a very different place—obvious Europeans in straight suites, Turks in robes and turbans, Arabs, Africans, and Asians.  To his mild surprise, Twist found he felt fairly comfortable in such a multicultural atmosphere.

It wasn't long before they had strolled to the huge, long facade of the train station building: filled with archways along the street, topped with a mosque-like dome, and painted vividly in red, gold, and green.  The crowds grew thicker near the station and Twist began to hear French and English in the voices around him.  Hector stopped before the main entrance archway in the center of the building, looked to the open blue sky, gave the sun an unhappy glance, and offered to hire a coach to take himself, Tasha, and Niko farther along their visit of the city.

Before Hector left to find a cab, Jonas offered to pay him for the trouble of carrying them from Cairo.  Hector, however, wouldn't hear of it and flatly refused to accept anything from them.  He then bid a pleasant farewell to Twist and Jonas.  Myra curtsied to him with a smile.  He gave her back a light smile and a wave before leaving to find a cab.

“I was hoping he would step away for a moment,” Tasha said softly to them once he was gone.  She pulled a small black card from her purse and handed it to Twist. “We all travel a great deal, but if you should ever find that I'm performing where you are, please do make yourself known.”  Twist looked at the card and found 'an honored friend' written in silver across the front with a signature at the bottom.

“Thank you,” Twist said to her with a smile. “I hope we do meet again,” he added, finding it delightful to actually mean it.

“It was a pleasure,” Jonas said, offering his hand.  When Tasha took it, he bent to place a kiss on her gloved fingers.

“Just remember,” Tasha added quickly to him, “if you watch my show, don't utter a word of what you see.”

“I promise,” Jonas said, laughing.

“And you, my dear,” Tasha said to Myra with a warm smile. “Treat these two well, and they will be yours forever.”

“I plan to,” Myra said, slipping her hands around Twist's arm.  He felt a pulse of bright happiness rush through her touch.

Niko shifted stiffly and nodded to each of them. “Well, that was an interesting trip,” he offered reluctantly.

“I still want that wonderful electric bow of yours,” Jonas said, pointing to his now innocently covered arm. “You ever get tired of it, let me know.”

“That's not going to happen,” Niko said, putting both hands behind his back, though he began to smile slightly.  A thought then seemed to occur to him and he reached into his trouser pocket to retrieve a small copper ball. “Oh, Twist, here.  I wanted to give you this.”

Niko held out the small copper ball and dropped it onto Twist's open palm.  The moment it touched his skin, Twist knew what it was.  He quickly took hold of it in both hands and turned one hemisphere against the other.  The sphere opened with the motion, growing in size until the tight surface of copper wire took on jagged shapes.  A whirring sound followed the motion, and in a moment a tiny mote of blue light burned to life on one point of the globe.  Looking at it now, it was obviously a copper map of the world, with all the detailed shapes of the continents and countries outlined in wire.  The mote of light sat steady at the lower left corner of the Black Sea.

“Yes, that's how you turn it on,” Niko said, pointing to the mote of light. “Now, if you just—“ he began.

Twist placed his thumbs against the sides of the tiny wires that outlined the Black Sea and pulled them gently apart.  As he did, the shape of the sea expanded on the surface of the globe without losing proportion, but gaining more and more detail as the layers of wires beneath moved into place automatically.  He could now easily see the shape of the peninsula that Constantinople filled, and the mote moved as the wires did until it sat in the center of the city, exactly where they were standing.

“Exactly,” Niko said with a sigh. “I don't really have to explain anything, do I?”

“This is wonderful!” Twist said as his Sight explained exactly how the intricate device worked and how the shapes had been fused into the metal itself with electricity and heat.  The mote of light was placed on the globe by magnetics, and acted like a very complicated compass.  Twist knew instantly that it would move as he did over the Earth, always pointing out exactly where he stood.  He looked up to Niko with a wide smile. “I'll never be lost again!”

“I don't need it anymore,” Niko said with a shrug. “I've been around enough to have a good map of the world in my mind.  I'm going to make a more detailed one with city maps, so I don't need that one.  I thought you might be able to get some use out of it.  I call it 'Niko Maps'.”

“That's really clever,” Jonas said, staring at it.

“Thank you,” Twist said to Niko, feeling the words rather inadequate for such an unexpected and perfect gift.

Niko shrugged again and glanced off as if looking for Hector.  Tasha only smiled broadly at him and then turned to curtsy to Twist, Jonas, and Myra one last time.  They all said goodbye and then Twist and his companions headed inside the station to buy their tickets.