Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1: The Brimstone Key (12 page)

Ernie found himself staring at her hypnotic violet eyes, but when she caught him, he turned away with a blush.

“Are you crazy?” Robert whispered, pulling Ernie away. “Don’t even look at her, okay? I told you what she could do.”

“No, you told me she knows everyone’s secrets. You never told me how.”

Robert shook his head. “Look, you need to forget about her. Besides, I’ve been thinking about what we talked about the other day… you know, about forming a superhero team. Even if Denton doesn’t want to join, I’m in.”

“Seriously?” Ernie asked, beaming. “That’s so
supersonic! Now all we need is an arch-villain…” Ernie pulled out a sketchbook that contained illustrations of superhero costumes that he had drawn.

“You’re kidding, right?” Smoke asked as he teleported into his desk. “Do you have a thing for leotards or something?”

“This is a private conversation,” Ernie announced, closing his sketchbook.

“Then don’t talk about it in public, dork,” Smoke replied, and pushed his goggles up on his forehead. “I bet you’ve got superhero underwear, too. Pathetic. You know, life isn’t like a comic book. In the real world, people die.”

“All I know is that we were given powers for a reason,” Ernie said. “We can make a difference!”

“So what are you going to do when you catch up to some guy with a gun? Run around in circles until he gets dizzy? Your power is worthless.”

“And yours is better?” Ernie glared.

Smoke disappeared in a burst of black vapor, only to reappear next to Ernie, who nearly fell out of his chair in surprise. “I can go anywhere I want, anytime I want. I could even teleport you a mile into the sky where all of the super speed in the universe wouldn’t do you much good. Nobody can stop me. They can’t even touch me, and that goes for the teachers, too.”

Smoke teleported back to his desk. The door opened and a round woman with a cheerful smile entered.

“Please, everyone, come sit on the pillows at the front of the room,” she invited warmly, motioning to a collection of overstuffed cushions that were arranged in a circle. She was the first to take a seat, right smack in the middle of the circle. The students soon took their seats in orbit around her. Without another word, she snapped her eyes shut. She took in a series of deep breaths, and a euphoric smile painted her face. Then, just as suddenly, her eyes shot open again.

“My name is Frances Burrows, though you can simply call me Fanny. I am going to be your Transformation Psychology coach. After the accident in the SIM Chamber, Dean Nipkin thought it would be a nice idea if we got to know one another.”

There was a smattering of uncomfortable laughs.

“Today we’re going to discuss some of the worries that a changeling can experience. It can be about anything: the day you first discovered you were different… what happened with Yi… or, if you like, we can just talk about the weather. We’re going to explore our thoughts as a group.”

“I don’t need a shrink,” Smoke grumbled.

A small-framed Finnish girl named Astrid was the first to speak. “Sometimes I can hear what people are thinking, and I can’t shut it off.”

“How does that make you feel?” the psychology coach coaxed.

Astrid looked around at her fellow students, who were
looking back at her with curiosity. “It’s not a very useful talent. And sometimes, when I’m around lots of people, it can hurt. I just wish I could shut it off.”

“You can hear what I’m thinking?” asked Ernie.

The girl nodded as Ernie’s eyes shot wide. “That’s why my parents sent me to Iron Bridge. I just want to be normal. At least for a while.”

Fanny nodded before turning to Denton. “How about you? Is there anything that you would like to share, Shannon?”

“Well, I don’t know if anyone has noticed,” he began with a wry smile as his tail swished back and forth on the ground, “but I seem to get better looking every day. I just feel bad for all the girls around here. It can’t be easy having a guy like me around.”

Most everyone laughed. Except Raven.

Robert raised a shaky hand. “I can’t control my power very well.”

“That’s the understatement of the year.” Smoke laughed. “Hothead Hernandez nearly fries us. And that’s all he has to say about it? How about ‘I’m sorry’?”

Robert’s lips began to shake. Whether it was in sadness or anger, Ernie couldn’t tell. He just hoped Robert wouldn’t do anything rash.

“That will be enough, Aidan,” Fanny instructed softly. “You don’t know what it’s like to be Robert. None of you do. Transmutation is one of the most difficult changeling powers to control.”

“There are other people like me?” Robert asked.

Fanny smiled. “I’ve worked with several, Robert. And I think you’ll be just fine. You just need a little practice, which is exactly why you are here. We want to protect you.”

“What about Stephen?” Becca Paulson, the changeling who could walk through walls, asked. “You guys didn’t do a very good job protecting
him
. What’s going to happen to us?”

Everyone grew quiet. Even Raven’s eyes were locked on Fanny.

“What I can tell you is that there is nothing for you to worry about,” the transformation psychology coach said after a deep breath. “We’ve found little evidence to form any conclusions. If anything, it is still very likely Stephen ran away. We can only hope that he will miss his friends and come back soon.”

“What friends?” Smoke snorted. “That kid was a freak.”

“Have you looked in the mirror much?” Raven said in a dark voice. Her eyes cut right through Smoke, and he shut his mouth. Then Raven looked around at the others. “We’re all freaks.”

With that, she stood up and left the room.

There was a long stretch of quiet before anyone dared to talk.

The final changeling to participate was Tejan Chandra, who came from the ruling class in Bengal. He was
intensely brilliant, with a hawkish nose and a playful smile, and his English was absolutely flawless. Every vowel. Every syllable. It was so perfect that Ernie had the sense Tejan hadn’t so much learned the language, as he had downloaded an English translation program into his head.

“…and I daresay it was a bit of a tricky situation for my family,” Tejan concluded. “Me, being a changeling with the ability to cause others to forget. My parents would constantly misplace me, or worse, forget that I was their son. That changed once I enrolled at Carthage Academy, of course. They trained me to control my abilities. In fact, I can even reverse the memory loss in others. It really is a gift, just as Ernest Tweeny believes so passionately. We were given this power to help others. I, for one, am looking forward to a wonderful future.”

“A future where the teachers keep us incarcerated like convicts?” Smoke mocked. “If you think there’s a happy ending for any of us, you’re deluding yourself. Have you ever seen an adult changeling?”

No one answered.

“It’s because we all die young. That’s what Sendak Hall is… a place where kids like us go to die.”

THE CLOCKWORK CONNECTION

The Spider’s Web was the only comic-book store in Avalon, Minnesota. After the Shoppe of Antiquities closed, it also became the local place where the Grey Griffins could buy Round Table cards. With Iron Bridge finally opening its doors, there was a whole new crop of customers waiting to buy Round Table expansion packs and custom knucklebones. The owner, Montifer McGuiness, had never been busier.

Like Olaf Iverson, Monti was more than a simple shop proprietor. He was also part of the secret Templar society. Though Max and the Grey Griffins knew Monti’s
role had something to do with technology, they weren’t exactly clear on his specific function.

Many of the Templar who lived among the civilian population had covers to hid their true identities. Since Monti had been a fan of comic books as long as he could remember, he decided to open his own shop. His personal favorites were the classics—Golden and Silver Age superhero comics. Behind his cash register hung an original Fantastic Four page drawn by Jack Kirby.

“Has Sprig turned up yet?” Harley asked as the boys waited for Natalia on the sidewalk outside the comic shop.

Max shook his head. “No, and after everything that Ernie told us about Stephen, I’m starting to worry that someone out there is collecting faeries, too. What if she got caught?”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Harley offered. “Besides, I’d rather face another werewolf than fight a shapeshifter like Sprig. She can take care of herself.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Hey, did you see this?” Ernie asked. He lifted his goggles to read a flier that had been posted in the front window. “Monti is going to host Round Table tournaments every Friday night. There’s going to be prizes for the winners and everything.”

“When do they start?” Harley asked, joining Ernie at the window.

“Next week,” Natalia said, as she walked up to join
the boys. “Don’t you check your mail? Monti sent us the flier a few days ago.”

“There’s going to be a blind tournament, where we have to play with cards from unopened packs,” Max added. “The winner gets a whole case of the Darkling Scourge expansion pack that comes out next month. And look at this, Ernie, there’s going to be a tournament where you can only use gargoyles.”

“You can count me out!” Ernie stated. “I don’t care what you say about gargoyles protecting people. Once you’ve nearly been eaten by one, you’ll change your mind, too.”

The door to the Spider’s Web opened, and the Toad brothers bounded out carrying bulging bags of new comics.

“Don’t tell me you two collect comic books, too,” Natalia complained, rolling her eyes.

“Of course we do,” Todd said.

“What do you have in the bag?” Ernie asked, already peeking inside Todd’s.

“Just part of a little project that we’re working on,” Ross replied proudly. “Our goal is to own every appearance of Benjamin J. Grimm that’s ever been printed. I created an application for my DE Tablet that tracks all the details. I’ll get you a copy if you want to use it for your collection.”

“Who in the world is Benjamin Grimm?” asked Natalia.

Ross and Todd frowned in unison. “Is she kidding?”

“Unfortunately not,” Ernie said, clearly embarrassed by Natalia’s ignorance.

“They call him The Thing,” Ross explained, as though Natalia had come to Earth from another planet. “You know, the big guy that looks like he’s made out of orange rocks.”

“He sounds ridiculous,” Natalia groused.

“So are unicorns, but you don’t hear us making fun of your hobbies,” Ernie retorted.

“Anyway, you’re looking at the owners of seventeen percent of that legendary collection, my friends,” Todd said proudly.

“Seriously?” asked Ernie. “That’s supersonic!”

Todd turned to Natalia and smiled like a fox in a henhouse. “Any more fights with Erica Harkness?”

“It wasn’t a fight,” Natalia objected.

“What made you pick her, anyway?” Ross asked. “Was it strategic or something? You know, knock off the most popular girl so you can take her spot? That was pretty risky, but you sure have the whole school talking.”

“Yeah,” agreed Todd. “You aren’t the only one who wants to knock Erica off her high horse, but she has some powerful allies, too.”

“Look, we just wanted a place to sit down and she started treating us like we were pond scum. What was I supposed to do? Let her walk all over us just because…”

The Toad brothers didn’t bother to listen to the rest of her explanation. Instead, they turned around and rushed into a limousine that looked more like a hearse than anything else.

“Can you believe that?” she asked, turning back to the other Griffins. “The entire school thinks that I started a fight?”

“Well, you
were
yelling at each other,” Ernie pointed out.

“We were
debating
,” Natalia clarified.

“Whatever,” Harley said, as he walked through the front door.

Inside, the Spider’s Web overflowed with stacks of comic books, walls of action figures, and wrinkled T-shirts on display.

“Look who’s here,” Monti greeted the Griffins as he polished a glass counter that held boxes of Round Table cards and a knucklebone display just like Iver used to have. “I was starting to think you had forgotten about me.”

Montifer McGuiness’s spiked hair stood on end as he gazed through a pair of glasses that looked just like the horn-rimmed pair that Ernie used to wear before he was a changeling. The only difference was that Monti’s glasses had a strange armature with a crystal lens that was attached to the frame, allowing him to see in different spectrums.

“I kind of forgot my wallet,” Ernie said. “Can I pick up the comics from my box later this week?”

“No worries.” Monti handed him the comic books anyway. “Just pay me for them next week.”

“Thanks!”

“By the way, what’s this I hear about the Harvest Festival? Are they really going to host a party on campus for the students?”

“Don’t remind me,” Ernie complained.

There was no record of when the Harvest Festival officially began. The local museum had a picture of the mayor leading the parade in 1905, but it was much older than that. Avalon started as a farming community, and each year the entire town would gather to celebrate the bounty of the harvest. It began as a small picnic, but it wasn’t long before party organizers got involved, and the celebration became a spectacle of parades, music, dancing, funnel cakes, and caramel apples.

So when Baron Lundgren announced that Iron Bridge was going to host a mandatory celebration the same night as the festival, it came as no surprise that the Griffins were upset. It was the most spectacular night of the year, and they feared that they were going to be stuck at school drinking stale punch and eating dry cupcakes with those sprinkles that tasted more like paste than anything else.

“You know why Cain is doing it, don’t you?” Monti asked.

“To keep us safe, blah, blah, blah,” Ernie said, throwing his hands in the air. “I think Dean Nipkin is the one behind it. She loves to torture us.”