Clockwork Looking Glass (Heart of Bronze Book 1)

by Michael Rigg

  When Pandora saw the blood splattered inside the wagon, her eyes burned with sudden tears. There was no hope for the young red haired policeman, or the others splayed out on the grated street outside, but she climbed in and crawled her way to her father. "Daddy... Daddy," she whimpered as she edged closer and closer, knowing that the wet redness in her father's beard was not a hopeful sign.

  Why would someone do this? Even a ghoul. Her father was an innocent man who only cared for her and nothing else. Wilco was more than a father to her. He was her protector and provider as well as her co-pilot. “Why...?” she stammered.

  Pandora reached out to cradle her father, to ease him back onto the bench. She crossed her fingers quickly to snap the chain off the handcuff. Wilco's head lolled back, his flat eyes staring blankly at oblivion as his hand dropped free of the rail.

  "No!" Pandora cried. Her eyes blurred, obscuring the view of her father's lifeless face as she climbed onto the bench and knelt, holding him in her arms and rocking. She whined, "No... Why, daddy...? No...." as she dabbed at the blood speckling his face with her long black braid.

  As she held him tightly, her mind whirled with memories of the flashes and gunfire, the stink of magic and the tall ghoul stealing the other man away. If the monster wanted to take the man, he could have just taken him, there was no need to kill her father—or the policemen. Pandora wailed, her cries echoing inside the paddy wagon as she held Wilco in her arms. “Why!?”

  She wished she had seen the face of the beast who killed him so it would be easier to find. As she rocked her father gently on the bench, tears burned her cheeks and she gritted her teeth with a sudden fury. Pandora's blood turned from ice to lava as sweat formed under her pilot's cap. She would find who did this and make him pay, make him pay for taking her father away. She wondered if ghouls had fathers and if she'd be able to find the one who produced the one she'd seen tonight.

  “Oh, daddy.... I'm so sorry.... I'll make it right. I'll make it right.” But even as she wept the words, she didn't know how she could make it right. Avenging her father wouldn't bring him back. The only thing that would make her happy is the impossible. Well, unless....

  She crossed her trembling fingers and—

  In a room at the Drake Towers Apartments a few miles away, silvery light flashed and the paintings on the walls swayed on their hooks. A loose sheet of paper fluttered up from a desk.

  Pandora wept as she lay her father on the bed. She started to remove his leather flight cap, but the wet crackling sound beneath it made her wince and cry out as she realized it was all that was holding in what was left of his brain. "Daddy..." she whimpered as she curled herself onto the bed next to him and wrapped her arms around him, her fingers lacing between the fingers of his cold hand. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn'ta left you." Her sobs shook the bed. “I shoulda never have left you!”

  She lay like that for some time, crying and sobbing, wailing in anger, guilt and bottomless remorse. When her tears finally subsided into quiet moans and sniffles, she rose up and looked into her father's dead eyes. She pushed up and turned so that she knelt next to him. She ran her fingers lightly over his grizzled beard.

  A calm resolve overtook her as she realized she couldn't exist without him. It was beyond unfair that her daddy be collateral damage in a ghoul attack. It was unfair that she never got to say goodbye.

  "I'm sorry, daddy...” she whispered, “I know you said never to even think about it... That all things come to their time, and that... That the price is too high." she peeled off her jacket and wiped her nose on her gusseted shirt sleeve. Sniffing, she brushed back loose hair from her head and looked down at him.

  "But this ain't fair and you know it. It ain't fair that I didn't get to say bye to momma, and it sure as hell ain't fair now." She drew a deep breath, let it out, drew another.

  As the fresh tears burned, Pandora crossed her fingers, and did something she swore she would never do.

  CHAPTER 13, “Raymond Simcoe and the Lady”

  I collapsed, naked, on the cold reflective surface. As I tried to get up and run again a hand grabbed my hair and snapped my head back. I cried out and gasped as they surrounded me, their cold hands touching my flesh as they lifted me into the air, shouting angrily at my defiance in a language I didn't understand.

  I screamed and thrashed. I felt myself lifting higher, my arms and legs spreading out as I floated up. Hands worked at shackles around my wrists and ankles. They hung me from the ceiling and chained me to the floor, my arms stretching up and out, my legs down and wide. The chains felt like ice, the dark room echoed my breaths and their shouts from the stony interior of a cave-like room, dank and deep.

  Suspended, helpless like a pale human X in the dark room, I could only listen as they moved behind me. Shuffles of fabric and whispers found my ears. The air smelled of brine and oil.

  "Let me go!" I cried out, but the sound was muffled like screams under water.

  I tossed my hair out of my eyes so I could see what was happening over my shoulder behind me.

  The man was short and pale. He looked to be middle-aged. A strand of silver hair flashed from the shadow of his hooded black robe. He looked up at me with his dark, penetrating eyes and smiled with thin, white lips. My naked flesh seemed to warm in the dark cave as his eyes, and that cruel smile, scanned over me from head to toe.

  He held a tool of some kind, a wand with three points. Each glowed burned like a burning ember. His gaze leveled on the small of my back and he stepped closer. I lashed and screamed, but couldn't move more than an inch or even hear my own voice. As he pointed the wand at my back, he glanced up at me and said, "You wanted to be part of the solution." If he said anything else, it was drowned out by the fire of my own internal screams of agony, the pain searing through my back and into my bones.

  I sat up, soaked with sweat. "No!" and almost hit my head on the bunk over my head. Large hands grabbed my wrist and shoulder.

  "Alice! Alice!" Bryce adjusted his grip to my upper arms and held me down as I struggled against the nightmare still flaming through my mind. I don't know how long I'd been asleep, but his position at the end of my bunk hadn't changed. "You were havin' a nightmare. I'm here. You're all right."

  Lucien's head peered out over the edge of the upper bunk. Loose silver strands of hair hung down from his forehead. His groggy eyes blinked and tried to focus as he wrestled his spectacles on. Far off in the sleeper section, someone grumbled and someone else said, "Quiet!"

  Lucien spoke in a low voice, "Lord sakes, Bryce!"

  The Captain glanced up, "She had a nightmare."

  "Good Lord." To me, Lucien said, "What about? Do you remember something?"

  I started to re-focus as the present came into clarity. I calmed and lay back as Bryce relaxed his grip on my arms, his strong but tender grip. He looked up at the butler. "Go back to sleep, Lucien. She'll be fine."

  "It must be a memory, Bryce, a dire one by the sound of it."

  "Lucien, please."

  I looked out the portal next to my bed and saw a few lights streak by between breaks in the clouds far below. It was still dark but the sky above the clouds was starting to brighten to a deep violet color in the east. "How long—?"

  Bryce smiled. "You slept well for a couple of hours." He checked his pocket watch. "It's 3:15 a.m. We'll be home in slightly less than an hour." I blew out a long breath of air. "My God, Bryce it was horrible." I covered my eyes and winced at the memory of the men with the robed hoods, their cold pale skin and malevolent grins, and those forks.

  "Who is Raymond?"

  My blood ran cold and I lowered my hand. My eyes must have appeared as saucers in the gloomy light of the sleeper car. Bryce considered me thoughtfully. I said, "Who?"

  "A name you said in the midst of your nightmare. You said, 'Where is Raymond?'"

  I frowned. I had a very brief passing vision of a tall African American in some kind of black or dark blue police or SWAT uniform. It was nothing like Bryce's. The pat
ches on the vision's uniform included the name SIMCOE and the American flag as I now clearly remembered it, with stars and stripes.

  "A policeman... or soldier," I said, my voice raspy, “I think.”

  "An Imperial soldier?"

  I slightly shook my head. I was about to say "American," but caught myself. It was clear to me that I hadn't forgotten anything about the time and place I was in... because I'd never been here. This wasn't my reality. But the nightmare, the darkness, that wasn't my reality either.

  Bryce wouldn't understand what I saw if I described it to him. He'd take me for crazy, or brainwashed from the dream, no more clear than when he and Lucien found me. One thing was for certain. After that dream, I knew I wasn't some kind of sleeper agent for Thorne & Wolfe. I think I was something worse.

  I whispered, "I'm not sure."

  His eyelids looked heavy. He half-smiled. "Well, if anything, we have a line of inquiry as to who you are and where you're from. We find us a man named Raymond in the service somewhere and we might find your home."

  I blinked. The edges of my eyes burned as the terrible dream flashed behind them. I slowly shook my head. "Bryce.... I don't think I want to remember."

  Lucien peered over the edge again. "What'd she say?"

  Bryce shook his head at the butler. "Lucien." Then his deep brown eyes locked with mine. When he spoke, his voice was soothing, gentle, like the voice of some consoling Confederate angel. "Alice, whatever do you mean? Why would ya not want your memories back? I'm sure the nightmare, or whatever caused it, is long gone. You have our safety, our promise to protect you."

  Lucien huffed. "A Landry is a man of his word."

  I glanced between them, my jaw working but nothing coming out. I couldn't formulate my thoughts clearly. Something deep inside me said to shut up and ride this out, to see where they were taking me and to bide my time. If the nightmare was any indication, my memories would start flooding back in time whether I liked it or not. "Thank you,” I whispered, more to Bryce than to Lucien who continued to regard me with a level of suspicion. “I... I think I'd like to rest."

  I decided not to mention my back, the hooded man, and how he prodded me with the electronic fork like I was some kind of animal or slab of meat on a spit. I also didn't say what the voice said about me wanting to be the solution. Solution to what?

  Bryce touched my hand. "Fear not, dear Alice. You are safe with us. It was only a dream. I promise you that whatever haunts you, it'll subside or we'll chase it away." The offered smile helped to melt my fears away, but they still lingered, like a spying shadow. I nodded and looked at him for a long while before wiping my eyes and turning away. I rolled away from him onto my side, and took a deep breath, knowing I wouldn't fall back to sleep even if I could. A moment later, he touched my shoulder.

  "Alice," Bryce said softly. "I want you to have somethin'."

  I looked at him over my shoulder. I watched as he reached into a small pocket of his vest on the opposite side of his watch pocket. I turned back and propped myself up on my elbows and tried to smile for him. He dug out a twisted tangle of gold metal from the pocket, then pulled at it until a locket and chain slipped loose from his hand and dangled from his fingertips.

  The heart-shaped locket was beautiful and had an ornately-carved face like a paisley design of gold, silver and bronze. It swayed suspended on a thin chain with links that glinted in each of the precious metallic shades.

  "Oh, Bryce. It's beautiful."

  He blushed as he smiled. "I had been holding on to this for quite some time. I'd found it on a battlefield back in '91." He leaned close and turned the locket around to show me the back side of it. The back was plain except for a puckered dent and a scratch in the shape of a frown. "It's a totem of luck is all, a fragile beautiful thing that saved my life." he smirked shakily as though he were afraid he was being corny. "It's yours."

  "Bryce, I—"

  "I want you to have it, Alice." His thin smile was tender as he pointed to the dent. "Its beauty was marred by circumstance proving it to be a very potent charm, a representation of a strong will and faultless character... like yours." He opened the chain and turned it around so he could fasten it around my neck. "The small imperfection on the back is from an Imperial bullet that punctured my breastplate and would surely have killed me if not slowed by this tiny heart."

  Biting my lower lip, I sat up and pulled my hair up to the top of my head so he could clip the necklace around my neck. His hands slipped around me and I could feel his warmth, a gentle calming contrast to the clawing pale fingers of my nightmare. I let my eyes flick to his as he leaned close. "Bryce, you shouldn't. It's your good luck charm, and—"

  "And you need it more than I, dear Alice. If nothin' else, perhaps it will light your way through dark dreams."

  He leaned back and I looked down at it hanging from my neck, then I tucked it inside my shirt and blushed at him. "Thank you. It's very sweet." Without hesitation I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. He took my hand and brushed my knuckles with his warm lips. "I promise to return it to you when I no longer need luck," I said.

  His smiled matched mine. "Keep it as long as you need, Alice."

  Lucien reached down and tapped Bryce's shoulder for attention. Bryce stood up and ducked his head inside Lucien's curtain as the two men whispered, Bryce now only visible from his chest to his knees. I stared only for a moment, admiring the shining brass buttons on his uniform, the smart black leather belt, and the way his trousers hung on his hips before lighting with a blush. I turned back to my portal and the silently rushing clouds below us.

  Bryce peeked down at me and spoke in a low tone. "If you'll excuse me, dear lady, I'm goin' to attempt to capture some winks at the behest of my father's man here." He grinned. "Lucien will take my post, and if you're not still tired, I'm sure he'll bore you with tales from the U.K."

  "Not so, Bryce," Lucien's muffled voice grumbled above me. "Alice and I had a pleasant conversation at the sweet shop."

  "Pleasant," I whispered with a quiet smirk. I didn't mention that we only talked about the ghouls and witches, and Lucien's parents being killed. Any hope of sleep was gone. Lucien climbed down, pulling his jacket after him after popping his bowler on his head. He adjusted his bowler as Bryce pulled himself up into the top bunk. "Pleasant dreams, Captain." The butler asked if he could get me anything from the kitchen and I shook my head. He asked if he could "Nip off to the tables and fetch the newspaper.” I smiled wider, trying not to laugh at how Lucien could switch from murderously suspicious to quaint as an old grandad, and nodded again.

  "I shant be long."

  "I'm fine, Lucien. Really."

  "Very good." He touched the brim of his hat, smoothed out his jacket, and moved off.

  I was surprised when the next thing I knew I was shaken awake by Lucien. I had no idea how long I'd been asleep, but blinked in surprise that I fell back to sleep at all.

  "Wake up, my dear. We're landing."

  I nodded and worked my way out of my bunk. When I stood up I could see between the curtains into Bryce's bunk. He wasn't there. "Where's Bryce?"

  "The Captain has already scuttered off to the front. He asked me to fetch you presently and to join him for coffee."

  I stifled a yawn and stretched, then pulled my hair back into a ponytail. I smiled at Lucien and spoke in what I was sure was a ridiculous impression of a Southern Lady. "Of course. I would be delighted to join Captain Landry. Please nip off and inform him that I will be by presently."

  In perfect seriousness and without missing a beat, Lucien touched his bowler brim and snapped off a quick bow. "Of course, madam." Laughing, I grabbed his arm to stop him. "Lucien, I was kidding."

  He looked confused.

  "You don't serve me. I was just messing with you."

  The portly butler huffed. "Madam, my life is service. To the Landrys and those who extend beyond them." Then he winked. "But I'd like to start anew with you, dear lady.” He glanced up and down the car befo
re leaning close and lowering his voice. “Now that I know you're not a creature of the night meant to prey upon us in our slumber...” He touched his brim again. “Now come. Let us not keep the officer waiting."

  "Very well," I chuckled and let him take my arm. This had the air of a new day, filled with hope, and safety.

  The SkyTrain was abuzz with activity though it was still dark outside. There were still several sleeper compartments with "Do Not Disturb" chains across their curtains; travelers, Lucien said, who would be going on to Dallas or Houston. Though he had probably only managed an hour of sleep or less, Bryce was bright and freshly shaved, his uniform looked pressed and new. He smiled brightly as he got up from the booth and offered me his hand as I approached.

  "Why Captain Landry, always the charmer," I laughed lightly as I placed my fingers in his palm and he guided me to my seat. I just caught the exchange of glances between he and Lucien, and Lucien's shrug.

  "If I didn't know better," Bryce chuckled, sliding in next to me, "I'd have mistaken you for a lady of the South."

  "Why thank you, suh," I bowed my head and barely suppressed a chuckle as Bryce and Lucien joined me. I don't know why, but after a good extra couple of hours of sleep following the nightmare, I felt refreshed enough to face whatever came my way. My brain still had major holes in it, but at least now I felt alert and alive. I touched my hand to my shirt, felt the tiny heart-shaped bump at the end of the necklace chain and smiled.

  "I must say," Lucien said, "It is good to see you in pleasant spirits after your awful turn last night."

  "Lucien," Bryce chided.

  I touched his arm. "It's all right. I do feel better. Cleansed, in fact. I barely remember the nightmare, and after all, it was just a dream." It was a lie of convenience. I couldn't let my only benefactors in this reality lock me up for my own protection. Something inside me said I needed to stay alert and independent.