The Inventor's Secret (4 page)

Despite her protests, Ash unceremoniously shoved her
into the passage. When she whirled around to shout at
him for his rudeness, he shut the door in her face. Charlotte considered banging on the solid wood until Ash lost
patience and opened the door again, but she knew that
wouldn’t get her what she wanted. The only thing left for
her to do was figure out how she would discover whatever
Ash and Jack were scheming. That she should just leave
it alone never crossed Charlotte’s mind. Charlotte wasn’t
one to leave things alone, and Ashley would just have to
accept that.

“Morning!” Jack offered her a leather-wrapped steel flask.
“Ugh.” She waved him off. “It’s a bit early.”
“It’s tea.” He smiled.
“Oh.” She laughed. “Then yes, please.”
He kept a cautious watch over her while she sipped
the hot tea. Charlotte knew he was waiting for her to ask
about last night and the homingbird, but she wasn’t going
to. If she’d learned anything about her brother and Jack
it was that being obstinate about the issue would get her
nowhere. The more she acted as though she didn’t care
about the incident, the better her chances at getting what
she wanted.

When she handed back his flask with a benign smile,
Jack relaxed.
“Who’s piloting today?” Charlotte asked.
“I am!” The shout came from above. Scoff’s lavender
hair was in its usual state of disarray. Though the purple
hue was something new. Forgoing the last few stairs, he
hopped over the iron rail and landed on the dock with the
grace of a cat.
Jack frowned at Scoff. “Weren’t you at the wheelhouse
all night?”
Scoff bobbed his head. “I was, but I promise I’m perfectly alert. I am currently under the miraculous sway of
my Perpetuation tonic. Keeps you going as long as you
need.”
He leaned toward Jack, whispering, “Plus, it enhances
virility.”
“And turns your hair purple?” Jack asked.
“A harmless side effect that wears off once you’ve
stopped dosing yourself.”
“Any other harmless consequences of this tonic?” Jack
sidled away from Scoff.
“The smell,” Scoff said.
Jack took another step away.
“I don’t smell anything,” Charlotte said.
“Sniff my hair.” Scoff pointed to his head.
Though Jack drew a finger across his throat, Charlotte
took a whiff of Scoff’s purple tresses.
“Oh, that’s lovely.” Charlotte laughed. “It smells of lilac.”
“Lilac being an essential component of Perpetuation
tonic,” Scoff pronounced.
“I don’t want to look or smell like a lilac,” Jack said.
“No matter the benefits.”
“Charlotte?” Scoff turned hopeful eyes on her when he
produced a stoppered glass bottle from inside his long gray
coat. “Purple hair would suit you. I would even go so far
to say it would highlight those lovely green eyes of yours.”
“Maybe later.” This time Charlotte took a step back.
“I’m quite awake. Thank you.”
“It’s too bad Pip isn’t coming,” Scoff mused. “I’m sure
she’d try it.”
“You’ve already turned her hair the color of Charlotte’s
eyes,” Jack said. “Leave the poor girl be.”
Scoff returned the bottle to his coat pocket. “She’s perfectly happy with her green hair. And she no longer gets
headaches.”
“Good for her,” Jack muttered.
The smart rap of a cane on the iron railing drew their
attention. Ash paused on the last step of the spiral staircase, looking down at them.
“Are we ready to board?”
“Yes, sir.” Scoff bowed.
“New hair, Scoff?” Ash raised a brow.
Reaching for his coat pocket, Scoff began, “As a matter
of fact, perhaps I could interest you—”
“He’s not interested.” Jack pushed Scoff to the end of
the dock.
Ash started along the dock, pausing beside his sister.
“I trust you slept well?”
Like Jack, he waited for her to lay into him about tossing her out of his room. Charlotte offered him a serene
smile instead, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Shall we away, dear brother?” she asked, taking his
arm.
“Whatever you please, sweet sister,” Ash said with a
shake of his head. “I don’t know what you’re planning. But
it won’t work.”
“Planning?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Me?”
Ash grimaced, but didn’t press her as they approached
the gangplank.
The
Pisces
was half submerged to allow for boarding;
only the curve of her back and the arc of her dorsal fin
were visible. The rest of the ship’s body was cloaked by
dark water, but below the surface, her belly swelled, giving them plenty of room for cargo or passengers. Charlotte
knew that Scoff had reached the bridge when a golden luminescence glimmered beneath the lake’s gently rippling
surface. She could just make out the shape of the
Pisces
’s
smaller side fins and massive tail. The entire submersible
was covered in hammered metal scales that shifted from
bright gold to onyx as they opened and closed, channeling
water that would help power the vessel.
With only his head and shoulders sticking out of the
hatch, Jack called to Ash and Charlotte, “Are you having
a family moment? Should I tell Scoff to shut her down?”
Charlotte said to Ash, “I expect you to hit him with
your cane once we’re aboard.”
“Who am I to deny the wishes of my only sister?” Ashley winked at her.
Charlotte climbed the steep ramp to the hatch. The
folds of her leather skirt beat against her ankles as she
moved. The skirt was heavy but the best choice for a scavenging run as it offered better protection against cuts and
burns than cloth.
She descended the ladder into the ship’s belly, smiling at
Jack as she passed him, and headed to the passenger seats
at the rear of the bridge.
“What is that smile about?” Jack asked, watching her
go by.
She didn’t answer, but laughed a moment later when
she heard the thwack of Ash’s cane and Jack’s shout.
Charlotte ducked her way through the narrow tube
connecting the hatch to the bridge. She took her place in
the row of seats behind Scoff and buckled herself into the
leather harness.
“We all set?” Scoff asked without turning around.
Ash dropped into the seat beside Charlotte and pulled
the harness over his shoulders. “In a minute. Jack’s heading to the dorsal cannon.”
“You think we’ll need the cannon?” Charlotte asked.
“Not likely,” Ash told her. “But he insisted. I think he’s
sore I hit him with my cane.”
“Poor Jack.” Charlotte grinned at her brother, and he
winked.
Scoff pulled the navigator’s helm down. Brass and
leather covered his head and shoulders, and he adjusted
the fit so the
Pisces
’s telescoping eyes matched up with his
vision.
Jack’s voice came piping into the bridge. “I’m strapped
into the cannon.”
Ash pulled a tube that dangled from the ceiling toward
his face. “Thanks, Jack. We’ll be off, then.”
Scoff’s hands began flying over the cranks and gears
that formed a half circle around him. With a soft rumble,
the
Pisces
came to life. Bubbles floated up around them.
“Here we go!” Scoff pushed two levers forward, and
the
Pisces
knifed through the water. They dove down, and
soon Charlotte’s ears popped. With the crank of a wheel,
two bright beams shot out from below the glass sphere at
the front of the ship. The lights shone against rock as they
descended, leveling out when they reached a gaping black
hole in the wall.
The
Pisces
shot forward, and Charlotte gripped the
sides of her chair. As much as she looked forward to any
outings, she always hated this part. Fins all aflutter, the
submersible raced through the underwater channel, which
twisted, suddenly narrowed, opened up, and then narrowed again. Though she’d taken this trip more times than
she could count, Charlotte always flinched and gasped
along the way, certain that they wouldn’t make a particularly sharp turn or that the ship was too large to fit through
a particularly narrow gap.
When Scoff dipped below a cluster of stalactites at the
last possible second, Charlotte gave a little shriek.
Jack’s voice crackled in the air. “Holy Hephaestus,
Miss Charlotte! I heard you all the way back here. Ash,
why don’t you put that cane to good use and knock her
out?”
Charlotte released her grip on the chair to snatch the
speaking end of the voice horn as its tubing swung from
the ceiling.
“Shut up, Jack!”
His tinny laugh came through the tube. “How many
times have you done this? You always scream at the same
place. But I think you’re getting louder.”
“Do you want me to come back there and knock you
out?”
Ash grabbed the tube. “Ease off you two. We’re coming
out of the tunnel.”
Scoff hauled back on a lever, and the vessel pitched up,
jetting toward the surface. He leveled the ship off so they
were little more than a meter down in the river.
“Smooth sailing from here,” Scoff announced.
Charlotte threw a sour look at her brother and then
struggled out of her harness. “I’m going to get Pocky
ready.”
“Just don’t shoot Jack.”
“I make no promises,” she muttered.
Ducking beneath metal tubes and air shafts, Charlotte
progressed toward the rear of the hull. The weapons cache
was housed below the cannon box at the end of the dorsal
fin. She opened the metal cabinet and found Pocky waiting
for her on the top shelf.
Taking the gun down, she began attaching the hooks
on her vest to metal loops on the gun so its weight was
evenly distributed across her body. She pulled a key from
one of her vest pockets and inserted it into a lock on the
gun’s central chamber. When she turned the key, Charlotte
was rewarded with a high-pitched hum that reverberated
along the length of the weapon and made her skin tingle.
“Hey there, girl.”
“You know that’s a gun right?” Jack’s head poked down
from the cannon box. “Not a sentient being?”
“Don’t make her angry.” Charlotte said, patting the
wide double barrels of the gun. “You won’t like her temper.”
Jack climbed down the ladder. “This is why I keep telling Ash to get you a cat or a bird. Guns aren’t proper pets.”
“Says you,” Charlotte told him. “Pocky has never let
me down.”
Jack looked admiringly at her weapon. “Polar Oppositional Carbine. One of a kind as far I know. I’ve never
gotten to try it out.” He leaned close and whispered, “Will
you let me hold it?”
Charlotte stepped back. “It is a she, and no you can’t.”
“Why not?” Jack sulked. “I won’t hurt it  .  .  . I mean
her.”
“You can’t because Pocky is the only gun I’m carrying,
whereas you have—” Charlotte examined Jack’s double
layered belts and leather chest straps. “Six?”
He shrugged. “I never know what I’ll be in the mood
to use.”
Charlotte groaned, turning away. The
Pisces
abruptly
lurched to a stop, sending Jack sprawling onto the floor
and Charlotte on top of him.
“Ouch!” Charlotte rubbed her elbow, which had
banged against a metal grating. “Scoff could have given
us a little warning. Pocky, are you okay?” She began to
inspect the gun for damage.
“Pocky?” Jack grunted from beneath her. “What about
me?”
“What about you?”
“You landed on me,” he said. “Don’t you care if I’m
hurt?”
“Not particularly.” Charlotte half turned to flash a
wicked smile at him.
“Heartless,” he said, but his eyes were laughing.
Despite Jack’s accusation, Charlotte was suddenly too
aware of her heart, which felt like it had taken on a stronger charge than the one powering her gun.
Jack seemed to notice the change too. The teasing light
in his gaze faded, overtaken by something darker. Turbulent, but intriguing.
Charlotte felt his hand on her shoulder. He pulled her
toward him.
“I could just take your gun,” he said quietly.
“You could try,” she whispered, because she couldn’t
find her breath. She didn’t want to move away from him,
but the strange push and pull of her body was unsettling.
And she couldn’t break her gaze from the shifting colors of
Jack’s hazel eyes.
He smiled slightly. “Trying would be the fun part.”
Charlotte wasn’t sure what he meant, but she had several ideas of what he might be suggesting, and she
was
certain that she wanted to know. She was about to suggest that he
should
try when Ash came barreling down the
steps.
He stopped when he saw their tangle of limbs and guns.
“What are you doing?”
Charlotte cried out in indignation as Jack dumped her
out of his lap and stood up.
“Scoff didn’t exactly pull off a smooth arrival,” he told
Ash. “We took a spill.”
Ash offered Charlotte a hand, helping her up. “Are you
all right?”
“Fine,” she huffed, refusing to look at Jack. “So is
Pocky.”
Ash glanced at the gun. “Well, that’s a relief. We’re going to need her.”
Jack was already making his way toward the front of
the ship. “I’m going on ahead.”
“Let me know what you find,” Ash called after him.
“Will do!”
Charlotte frowned at her brother. “He’s going without
us?”
“He’ll find us later, and Scoff’s on lookout,” Ash said
quickly. “He sent out the decoy, so time starts working
against us now. Grab a sack, and let’s go.”
She did as Ash asked, but the wheels of her mind were
spinning. They never scavenged alone. Not ever. Why let
Jack go off by himself now?
Charlotte forced the question away, knowing she
couldn’t afford distraction during this run. With a sack
slung over her shoulder and Pocky resting against her
waist, she followed Ash up and out of the hatch.
Scoff landed the
Pisces
close enough to the riverbank
that Charlotte and Ash could jump into the shallows and
wade to shore. Though she took a moment to search the
river’s edge, Charlotte didn’t catch sight of Jack.
“The rats should be after the decoy,” Ash said. “Let’s
head in.”
The trees that lined the riverbank offered a thin barrier
of nature before the Heap made its presence known. The
smell of corroding metal made Charlotte’s nose crinkle up
as hills of industrial waste rose before them.
Since the Heap was a tinker’s dream, Charlotte had always thought it a shame that Birch never came along on
their scavenging runs. Of course, he sent wish lists with
them and specific diagrams for the parts he needed, but he
was too valuable to risk.
Ash held up his hand, and Charlotte stopped. They
both went very still and listened for the telltale squeak and
scrabble of rats.
“Clear,” Ash said, dropping his hand. “Find what you
can.”
They ran side by side into the mounds of scrap metal
and discarded machinery. Ash had Birch’s list and began to
search carefully through the rubble for specific items while
Charlotte threw every piece of metal she could find into
her sack. They worked quickly and without speaking for a
quarter of an hour.
“Ready to drop?” Charlotte called to Ash and pointed
to her bulging sack.
“Close enough,” he answered.
They dragged their loot over the rough ground. The
small wheels in casters that had been sewn over the surface
of one half of the sack eased their burden, but they were
still breathing hard by the time they reached the ship.
Several of the
Pisces
’s back scales flipped up, and a moment later, Scoff appeared standing in a lift. They shoved
their full sacks into the elevator, and Scoff handed them
two empty sacks in return.
“Ten minutes.” Scoff tapped the watch face set in the
leather cuff on his wrist. “No longer.”
Ash nodded. He and Charlotte bolted back to the Heap.
This time Ash took less care in his choices, filling his sack
at a fevered pace like Charlotte.