Clockwork Twist : Missing (3 page)

It felt like forever, hanging weightless in total darkness, before Twist realized that he was aware. He wasn’t awake, exactly, and somehow he knew it. But he was, ever so gently, aware.

As he watched, tiny, shimmering stars began to appear one by one before his eyes until he found himself floating listlessly in the night sky. Then, just as inexplicably, he realized that he wasn’t floating, but lying on thick glass, so cold that he could feel the chill through the fabric on his back. He was surrounded on all sides by clear panes joined by riveted black iron, in a large, honeycombed sphere. There seemed to be a door of some sort to one side, and there also seemed to be a lot more metal and glass beyond the door.

Then, as he felt himself sit up, Twist realized that he wasn’t seeing through his own eyes. At first, he struggled to make sense of this strange sensation. Then, slowly, as he felt the body around him stand and turn to look around, he began to understand. The body his mind was now inhabiting wasn’t his own at all. It was wearing a simple suit of soft browns and white. The hands were tanned darkly from a life in sunlight, and the long, thin scar on Twist’s right wrist was now missing. As his vision swept slowly across the sky—without his calling it to do so—Twist saw that the stars had taken on a wide variety of gleaming colors, and a distant part of him recognized each one of them. The thought that he was somehow seeing through Jonas’s eyes instead of his own seemed absurd in the extreme. Nevertheless, Twist could find no other explanation.

When Jonas looked farther up above him, Twist saw his vision stick suddenly on a new image. An enormous, radiant, blue sphere hung in the stars above the glass bubble, stretching out to fill half of the visible world. As he watched, Twist saw patches of green, gray, gold, and brown appear beneath the slowly shifting, feathery, paper-thin swaths of white that covered the surface of the sphere.

The part of him that had known the names of stars now recognized the shape of northern Africa on the face of the blue globe. His eyes followed the coast of Spain up to France and Italy, and up to where the land disappeared behind a thick blanket of cloud. Jonas stared up at the Earth, hanging in space, and Twist felt a deep and profound wonder fill his heart. This glowing, perfect, singular blue world was so breathtakingly beautiful that all words seemed wholly inadequate to describe it.

As he stared, transfixed, Twist began to feel the world turn. The Earth dropped subtly before him, as if spinning around the glass room in amazing slowness. After a long pause, Jonas stared out through the glass at eye level, while the Earth filled the sky before him. A sudden sound stole his attention off of the planet. Jonas turned to see the single door open inward and a man step inside.

Twist felt his own fear rise violently, but Jonas’s eyes only glanced at the man before looking away. The single moment was all Twist needed to recognize the same strange man from the tea shop, now walking closer to Jonas on the thick glass floor.

“So, what’s going on, then?” Jonas’s voice asked, as Twist felt his mouth move. “Is this a dream? If so”—he paused to look over the Earth again—“why haven’t I ever had it before?”

“This is no dream,” the man said, now standing near Jonas. “I’ve brought you here to help us take this ship to Jupiter.”

“Jupiter?” Jonas asked, frowning. “Do you mean the planet Jupiter?”

“Yes, or rather, one of its moons,” the man said, sounding remarkably sane. “Your vision is better than ours. You can take us there safely.”

“Uh huh…” Jonas toned, nodding slowly. “And you are?”

“I’m not going to tell you my name,” the man said smoothly. “I don’t care if you have magical abilities or not.” Twist tried to speak, to ask what in the world that meant, but the only mouth he had awareness of wouldn’t respond to his plea.

“Fine, I’ll just call you Bob then,” Jonas said, crossing his arms. “So tell me, Bob, is this an illusion or are we really in orbit around the Earth?”

“Don’t you know the answer to that? I was told your vision couldn’t be fooled.”

Jonas paused silently for a moment, watching a bank of silvery clouds creep over the Atlantic. Twist could almost feel his friend’s mind working frantically, his fear and confusion fighting to break free. He felt Jonas hold it all back, showing none of it on his face.

“So, to sum up,” Jonas said, his voice growing tight, “you know who I am, you know about my Sight, you’ve kidnapped me and taken me into outer space, and now you want me to guide this ship to Jupiter for you?”

“In a nutshell.”

Jonas’s eyes found Greenland peeking out from under a bank of cloud. “What if I don’t want to go to Jupiter?”

“Did I make it sound like a request?” the man asked.

Twist felt Jonas’s jaw tighten and a chill run down his spine, but Jonas didn’t let himself shudder. Jonas’s thoughts become suddenly focused, but not on the conversation. He was working furiously on a mental task that Twist couldn’t follow.

“Are you sure this isn’t a dream, Bob? I mean, we’re talking about interplanetary travel. That’s impossible.”

“Impossible…” Bob echoed, giving a light laugh. “It’s adorable when you humans use that word.”

Twist felt Jonas ready himself silently, before his body moved. Jonas sprang into a run so quickly that Bob’s motion to stop him missed by inches. Jonas had opened the door and was halfway along the long, tight, metal tunnel outside before he heard Bob’s heavy footsteps hurrying to follow him. To Twist’s surprise, the footsteps nearly caught up with Jonas by the time he reached the other end of the tunnel and forced the door open.

Jonas tumbled into a wide, open space that was filled with light. He got to his feet again quickly, only to be grabbed by the back of his collar and lifted up off of his feet. Jonas struggled to free himself to no avail, as his vision showed him many other faces in the wide-open space. He was turned as he hung limp and helpless, until his vision filled with one enormous, scale-covered, silver face. Twist saw a glimpse of a long, pointed snout, sharp teeth as long as his arm, wildly curling whiskers, and two giant golden eyes with cat-like slit pupils before Jonas snapped his eyes closed. He felt hot, moist breath wash over him with a subtle scent of sulfur. Jonas’s body fell still, his heart pounding with terror.

“Now, now,” Bob’s voice said, now much deeper, and loud enough to echo off of Jonas’s bones. “If you insist on causing trouble, we’ll have to find a different navigator and toss you in with the rest of the in-flight snacks.”

Twist heard a few other voices laugh lightly. There seemed to be a lot of them around him. Hanging helpless in the iron grip, too frightened of catching stray eyes to open his own, Twist felt Jonas’s fear threaten to overwhelm him. Jonas swallowed it all, pushing it down until he could feel his face fall calm and quiet. When he spoke again, Jonas’s voice was steady.

“What kind of payment scheme and benefits are we talking about, then?”

Again, laughter bubbled around him. “How about we promise not to eat you, little one?” Bob asked brightly. “You should know that Englishmen are my favorite.”

Jonas remained quiet as he sensed the huge, angular, scaly face drift closer, and heard a distinct sniffing sound. Some of the other voices muttered about grilling Englishmen as compared to making them into meat pies, but Twist couldn’t follow much of it. As Jonas refused to speak further, he felt himself carried back to the door and then tossed roughly into the long tunnel. The door was slammed and locked behind him, cutting off the grotesque culinary conversations beyond.

Jonas sat still for a long time, staring into the shadows around him. This time, Twist was certain that he could feel Jonas’s mind working furiously, searching for any kind of escape. Suddenly, and entirely against Twist’s expectations, Jonas’s frantic mind smoothed and calmed. He felt Jonas take a deep, steadying breath, and noticed that his pounding heart was calming as well. Confused by this, Twist searched for a cause in the thoughts around him, but they were all obscured to him.

“I haven’t helped you yet,” Jonas’s voice muttered softly in the silence. “So, I’m not dead yet. I’ll get back to you somehow, Kima.”

Twist was so startled to hear the name of a mild acquaintance in Jonas’s voice, in a time of such desperation, that his attention began to shift away from Jonas entirely as he struggled to understand. As his focus shifted, however, the darkness seemed to grow thicker and fuller around him, swiftly, until Twist couldn’t see anything at all through Jonas’s eyes. The feeling of his other senses dimmed along with his vision, until Twist’s attention was swallowed up in the empty black.

Twist felt a cool rag pressed to his forehead, and the gentle sway of the sky around him. It took him a little while to figure out how to open his eyes, while he listened to the quiet sound of the wind whispering at windows. His vision came to him in a dim, amber blur.

“There you are,” Myra’s voice purred sweetly, close beside him.

Twist blinked his vision clear to find himself lying in his hammock, in his cabin aboard the
Vimana
. Myra was sitting beside him on the hammock, swaying them lightly with her toes planted on the floor. She was still wearing the pink-and-gray dress, with her hat and gloves now gone. Her hair was already losing its curls, falling forgotten to her shoulders, as she smiled down to him gently.

“How long was I out?” Twist asked, surprised to find his voice rough and his throat dry. As he moved to look around his cabin, a pounding pain pulsed to life behind his eyes, forcing him to put his head back down.

“It’s almost morning,” Myra said, her voice brimming with thinly veiled concern. “How do you feel, darling?”

Twist let out a groan, unable to be any more eloquent as the throbbing in his head grew. Myra gave a sympathetic tone, brushing the edge of his face with her cool fingertips. His Sight stung against her gentle emotions, but numbness wandered in to cloak the feeling. He reached up to rub at his closed eyes and saw flashing stars behind his eyelids.

“Jonas!” he said suddenly, sitting upright far too quickly.

“Be careful!” Myra yelped, steadying him as he began to sway a bit.

“No, I saw him,” Twist said, fighting to hold on to his thoughts through the innumerable pains that were suddenly clamoring for his attention. “He’s gone, but he’s still alive. I was with him. In outer space. I have to find him before the monsters take him to Jupiter.”

“All right, all right, just calm down,” Myra pleaded. “You must have had a bad dream, darling.” Twist found her blue jewel eyes in his swimming vision and held her gaze.

“You really don’t remember him?”

The shining metal plates of her face shifted into a truly sorrowful expression. “You need to rest,” she offered softly, reaching up to tuck a few wayward curls behind his ear. “You’ve been through far too much.” Her soft touch now calmed him somewhat, forcing him to cling desperately to his resolve.

“No, I have to find him,” he muttered as strongly as he was able. “I have to get him back. I can’t rest until I do.”

“Twist, please…” Myra almost whispered.

Twist put a hand on the back of his neck and pushed at his Sight, reaching for Jonas. Instantly, the pain behind his eyes burst into fire, and his vision flared with blindingly bright licks of lightning. He screamed in shock and curled up against Myra.

“Stop! Twist, please stop!” Myra yelled, holding him while she tore his hand away from his neck, and his body started to shake.

“W-what’s wrong with me?” Twist gasped, clinging to her. Ripples of her terror and concern sparked at his awareness like stinging bees, emphasizing his own, but he was more frightened that he would feel worse without her gentle touch.

“What’s going on?” another voice called, from outside in the hall. An instant later, Arabel burst into the room and hurried to Myra and Twist. In the gaslight, the color of her sunny skin and golden hair both looked dull, leaving her sea-green eyes to shine even brighter. “Twist, are you all right?” she asked. Twist looked away and hid his face on Myra’s shoulder. Arabel’s eyes looked so much like his.

“He touched his neck and screamed,” Myra said, her voice trembling.

“I’ll go get Philippe,” Arabel said gently, already turning to leave the room.

Twist took a breath and tried to calm himself, but the stillness only made him more nervous. “Oh, Myra, what’s happening?” he asked softly.

“Maybe there was something wrong with the tea…” she offered hopefully.

“The tea shop?” Twist asked carefully. “Where Jonas and the rest of us had tea, before the world went mad?”

Myra gave a quiet sigh and patted gently at Twist’s back. Twist closed his eyes again and rested his head on Myra’s shoulder. When Dr. Rodés arrived, Myra pulled away from Twist just long enough for the doctor to make a cursory examination before she returned instantly to Twist’s side. Thankfully, the doctor was especially careful to not actually touch his patient and kept well back as he considered his findings.

“Most people stop using their Sight if it begins to hurt,” he said calmly, surveying Twist objectively. “You, apparently, didn’t. You should avoid using it at all for a few days at least, possibly as long as a week. If you don’t, you could damage it.”

“Oh dear,” Myra toned, pulling her hands away from Twist. Twist watched her, feeling the cold, aching, emptiness in his mind swell larger. It was only a moment before he took her hand back, fitting his fingers through hers.

“That’s not going to happen,” he said to Dr. Rodés, pushing the dull pains of her emotions to the back of his mind when his Sight complained again. “I can’t wait that long.”

The doctor muttered something to himself in French, shaking his head. “Fine, don’t listen to your doctor. I’ll go get you something for the pain,” he said, walking out of the room.

“Why don’t you ever listen to what’s good for you?” Arabel asked Twist coldly, crossing her arms as she watched from the side of the room.

“I told you, I don’t have the time,” Twist said with a heavy sigh.

“What’s the hurry?” Arabel asked.

Twist looked up to her and tried to form an answer.
Because Jonas will be leaving orbit any moment, at the hands of strange, inhuman creatures
.
Thinking again of what he’d seen, Twist realized exactly how strange it truly was. Even explaining that he could see through Jonas’s eyes would be difficult. A tiny part of him wondered if it had all just been a dream, no matter how real it had felt. He shook his head and looked away from her. No matter where he was, in outer space or simply kidnapped, Jonas was certainly in danger for the simple fact that everyone had suddenly forgotten him. Twist had to find him, no matter where he was.

“Arabel, I need to see Aden,” he said, looking back to her. “Can you tell me where he is?”

“Aden? Why?”

“Because he might just be able to help me,” Twist said.

Arabel looked off into the middle distance for a moment, frowning in thought. Then, she looked back to Twist. “Aden is asleep, in a hotel. The Elizabethan, near Buckingham Palace.”

“Thank you,” Twist said, already moving to stand. “I have to see him straight away.” The effort of standing made his head ache all the more, but Myra stayed very close and steadied him.

“Dear, shouldn’t you rest just now?” she asked him pleadingly.

“I told you,” he said heavily while he waited for the pain in his head to dull. “I can’t rest. If I sit still, I’m only going to think about what’s happening. I’ll go mad within the day.”

“You’re acting mad right now,” Dr. Rodés mentioned flatly as he returned with a packet of powder and a cup of steaming liquid.

Twist looked at him sharply, but only found the light of annoyance on his face. Arabel, on the other hand, was watching Twist with a new level of concern. Twist could almost see the doubt in her, the suspicion that he had truly lost his mind. Twist expected to feel disgusted by her lack of understanding, but fear was all he felt.