Clockwork Twist : Dreamer (15 page)

“Just give it a second,” Loki said, standing up again.

Storm started to blink slowly, and the color of his eyes darkened with each blink.  In a moment, he reached up to his head and let out a low moan.

“Storm?” Myra cooed again, her hands holding him steady as his body slipped towards the floor. “Are you all right?”

“Myra?” he muttered, trying to focus on her face with fully pink eyes.

“Yes, it's me, honey,” she said sweetly, pulling him into her arms. “It's all over.”

“Yes, it is,” Niko said.

To everyone's surprise, Niko had stepped close behind Loki while everyone had been focused on Storm.  Loki had only an instant to turn halfway around before Niko grabbed the back of his neck with his wire-covered hand and sent arcing waves of blue lightning flashing over him.  Loki screamed and convulsed while the lightning sparked off the metal, burned holes in his clothes, and scorched his skin.  He suddenly turned and threw his left arm at Niko's chest, knocking him back and breaking the connection.  He fell to one knee, took a breath, and rose again, turning quickly on Niko with bared teeth and a raised metal fist.

Before Twist realized what he was doing, he had rushed forward, dug the electric tip of his cane into Loki's back, and hit the switch.  There was no visible lightning this time, but Loki screamed again anyway.  Niko lunged forward, grabbing Loki's throat this time.  A moment later Loki's scream died and he fell, smoking, to the glass floor.  All Twist heard in the following silence was his own quickly beating heart.

“Holy hell,” Jonas said, breaking the stunned pause first.  He stood before Myra and Storm, a large book still held in his hands, ready to bludgeon if needed. “Did you kill him?”

Tasha leaned down over Loki and switched her knife she'd drawn to her other hand as she pressed her fingers to the flesh side of his neck. “There's a pulse, but it's very weak.”

“Got it,” Niko said, reaching down.

“No,” Tasha said, grabbing his hand.  Twist now saw that his skin had been blackened, and he was holding his chest with his other hand, protectively.  Niko shot her a glare.

“If he wakes up, he won't hesitate to kill us.”

“Do you really want another death in your life, Niko?” Tasha asked him coolly.

His brilliant blue eyes went icy in a moment. “Don't go there.”

“Don't kill him,” Tasha said, letting go of his hand and looking down to Loki. “You don't have to.  Not like this. Not even if he is a monster.  It certainly won't stop anyone else from wanting revenge on us.”

Twist looked down to find Myra and Storm holding each other tightly, with matching expressions of horror.  He put his cane into the holster on his back, under his jacket, and knelt down to them.

“Myra?” he asked gently.

She seemed to snap out of a trance when her eyes fell on him, and her face warmed into an amazed but subtle smile.  She held Storm a little more closely with one hand, and reached out to Twist with the other.

“Oh darling,” she toned, squeezing his hand. “Thank you,” she breathed, splashing terror, relief, and shock over his Sight in total chaos. “Don't ever do that again.”

“Wait, did Twist do that?” Storm asked her, aghast. “Damn!  I wish I could see him!”

“Um,” Ted toned uncertainly, looking at Niko with wide eyes. “Young man?  I'm sorry for everything I ever said to you.  I didn't mean any of it,” he added earnestly while Steve nodded beside him.  Niko rolled his eyes and rubbed at his chest, wincing slightly.

“So, we saved the boy and almost killed the bad guy,” Jonas said. “Now what?”

“We have to get out of here,” Twist said, watching the smoke drift up off of Loki.

“Good, we're moving forward on a plan,” Jonas said, nodding. “How?”

Everyone fell into silent contemplation for a moment.  Twist, for his part, couldn't imagine a single way to even leave the room without being seen, let alone how to get away entirely.  They were hanging in space, nearly a mile in the sky, and the only solid ground nearby was populated with people who didn't know to trust them.  His thoughts jumbled themselves up with fear and confusion the more he tried to calm them down.  He was starting to feel a bit dizzy.

Twist took his watch in his hand instantly, like reaching out to stop a fall.  The moment the cool, brushed brass touched his fingers, Twist felt a grounding, solid, and comforting swell of relief in his heart.  He closed his eyes and listened to the tiny clockwork tick steadily through his Sight: emotionless, constant, and totally secure.  His chaotic thoughts fell into order slowly.

“Oh heavens, what am I doing?” Myra gasped suddenly. “Idris!” she called into the empty air. “Idris, I wish you were here!”  Storm looked to her in sudden but silent dismay.

“Always a nice thing to hear,” a deep, happy-sounding voice said from behind Myra.

Everyone turned to see the djinn standing in the center of the glass floor as if he'd been there all along.  The crawling tattoos on his face and bare scalp glowed softly for a moment before falling back into their normal black, against his pure-white skin.  The coat of his cream-colored suit was slung casually over his shoulder by a single finger, while his shirt hung open over his chest, under a long wreath of white, tropical flowers.  His feet were bare, glasses with dark blue lenses covered his eyes, and in one hand held half of a coconut, with a small paper umbrella sticking out of the top of it at an angle.

Jeffrey Simian, the genteel baboon that Idris had once transfigured out of a coffee pot, stood beside him on his hand-like feet, now wearing a straw hat instead of his bowler, and a tan-colored suit with a very bright green waistcoat.  He straightened his monocle and smiled at them all as he continued eating the banana he was holding.

“How can I help you, my favorite clockwork princess?” Idris asked brightly.

“Where were you, a minute ago?” Jonas asked, staring at their attire.

“Aruba,” Jeffrey said, over-enunciating as if he enjoyed saying the word.

“Oh dear,” Idris said, nudging his dark glasses down his nose to peer at Loki on the floor. “Is he all right?”

“He did it,” Jonas said, pointing at Twist.

Idris laughed. “Yeah, right.”  Twist glared at him, affronted.

“Idris, thank you for coming,” Myra said, getting to her feet.

Twist noticed that while Storm stayed close to Myra even after she let him go, the boy was staring at Idris with a cold and silent energy that stuck Twist distinctly as silent hatred and rage.  Twist frowned, startled by the boy's severe reaction to the djinn, and couldn't fathom any sort of reason for it.  Not noticing any of this, Myra continued to speak to Idris.

“I desperately need your help.”

“Help?” Idris asked. “You mean you haven't thought of an interesting and original wish?”

“Well, no...  I need help,” she said slowly. “You said you'd do anything for me.”

“That's because you have wonderful wishes,” Idris said.

“I also saved you from the Rooks,” Myra pointed out.

“True,” Idris said with a sigh. “Well, what sort of help do you need?”

“You said you can make people forget things,” Myra said.

“Brilliant!” Jonas said, smiling at her. “Myra, sweetheart, I really do love you.”  Startled but clearly pleased by this unexpected declaration, Myra smiled at him bashfully.

“Well,” Idris toned, watching Jonas carefully, “I can make
a person
forget one thing...”

“Can you make him forget the last, oh, twenty minutes?” Myra asked, pointing to Loki.

“I could,” Idris said, a smile spreading over his face. “Who is he, anyway?”

“Lord Loki of the Cyphers,” Myra said quickly.  Jeffrey choked on his banana, and Idris and he both looked at her as if she'd suddenly caught on fire.  Idris shot Twist a glare.

“Myra, my pet,” Idris said, laying both hands gently on her arms, “you need better friends,” he said earnestly.  Twist would have been more offended if he hadn't been distracted by the fact that both the coconut and Idris's jacket had vanished without a trace somewhere.

“You should come with us to Aruba,” Jeffrey said.

“Yes!” Idris said happily. “Sand, surf, sun, and little paper umbrellas in every drink.”

“All those things would make me rust,” Myra said softly.

“Damn,” Idris said, frowning. “How about a pony, then?  Girls like ponies.”

“Please, I wish you could just make this man forget the last twenty minutes or so.”

“And they call
Loki
the trickster,” Idris muttered, looking at her through narrowed eyes. “Very well, if that's your wish, then it's my command, I suppose.”  He took a deep breath and walked over to where Loki lay, still smoking slightly. “You know, he's going to wonder why he's a bit … well,
crispy
, once he wakes up.”

“That'll be his problem,” Jonas said flatly.

Idris shrugged and then leaned down over Loki.  He pointed one white finger at Loki's ear, and held it there until a tiny, shimmering, purple wisp of smoke reached out of his ear and wrapped itself around Idris's finger.  Idris then pulled his finger out and waved it about until the smoke vanished into the air.

“Now, can I do anything else for you, my pet?” he asked, smiling at Myra.

“Where should we go?” she asked Twist.  Twist looked back at her, painfully aware once again that he didn't know all that much about geography.

“We were headed to New York, to begin with,” he offered.  The day before felt like years away now.

“Can you take us all to New York?  All but him of course,” she added with a point to Loki, “And can you do it before he wakes up and orders us all killed?” she asked, ending in a bright smile.

“That's no fun at all!” Idris snapped, crossing his arms. “Where's the imaginative, inventive, and crazy-as-a-box-of-frogs Myra that I remember?”

“Well, I'm scared right now,” she said, pouting at him. “I'm not in the mood to be crazy.  I'm trying to save the people I care about from being killed!”

“Wait, scared?” Idris said, his voice softer.

“Yes, scared,” she said, nodding. “That man on the floor is a monster, and there are more monsters all over this ship.  I don't like it here, and I'm scared.”

Twist wanted instantly to go to her, to do anything to make her feel safe once again, but then he realized that she wasn't looking at him as she spoke.  She wasn't even standing near him.  She always went to him when she was afraid.  He never had to go to her.

“Well, I can't have that,” Idris said sternly. “Come on, everyone join hands in a circle.  You two,” he said, pointing to Myra and Jonas, “take care of him,” he said, pointing now to Twist.

Myra and Jonas each took a hand from Twist while everyone else—including Jeffrey—joined hands in a circle on the glass floor.  The calm nonchalance of white fog that Jonas's touch brought helped Twist not to worry too much about the glass.  Myra's touch, however, showed no signs of real fear whatsoever.  He looked to her curiously, wondering why he couldn't feel what she had expressed a moment ago.  She smiled at him softly and gave him a wink, before washing the smile from her face to look at Idris nervously.

“New York City, right?” Idris asked unhappily. “Are you sure you wouldn't rather go to the moon?”

“I wish you would take us all to New York,” Myra said certainly.

“All right, all right,” Idris said with a sigh. “Now, everyone...” he said, before he blinked his eyes.  When he opened them again, they were all standing in the sunlight, in a wide grass field surrounded by trees and tall buildings on all sides.  A winding path cut through the meadow they stood in, with wooden benches and iron streetlights placed to the side of all the little turns.  “...we're here,” Idris said, letting go of Jeffrey's and Tasha's hands.

“Oh!  Thank you, Idris!” Myra said, freeing her hands to clap them happily.

Idris looked at her seriously and walked up to her, while everyone else looked around at their new surroundings in differing levels of shock and amazement.  Idris stopped before her and studied her face carefully.

“Say, 'I wish I had a puppy',” he told her.

Myra complied, speaking flatly.  Idris held out his hands and a Labrador puppy with soft golden curls and a huge pink bow appeared sudden in his hands, wreathed in a wisp of purple smoke.  Myra let out a yelp of joy at the sight of the animal, her smile brighter than the sun.  Idris handed her the puppy and continued to watch her seriously as Myra cooed over the puppy and nuzzled its soft fur with her shiny copper nose.

“Do you still feel scared, now?” he asked her.

“What?” she asked through a giggle as the puppy licked her face. “No, not at all!”

“That's good,” Idris said, nodding with satisfaction.

Twist watched this entire display silently.  Somehow, he felt deeply inadequate for not being able to produce anything Myra asked for by merely snapping his fingers.