Depth

by Emily Thompson

  “When were you to planning to let us know that people are being randomly snatched up?” Jonas asked in horror.

  “I wasn’t,” Aden answered. “A ship-wide panic isn’t going to help anything. I’ve been calling in trusted experts among the Sighted to help my crew hunt for clues as to what’s happening. I’ve also sent my Rooks out to look for the Vimana and your sister,” he added to Jonas. “With her Sight, she could easily tell us at least where our people are disappearing to.”

  “Good idea,” Myra said earnestly. “Have they found her?”

  “Not yet,” Aden said with a shake of his head. “None of you would happen to know where I might send them to look, would you?”

  Twist looked to Jonas. They both knew that the Vimana had headed north toward the pole after leaving the gypsy camp in France. Hearing that Twist and the others were headed to Atlantis with a ship full of Rooks, they’d known that there would be no treasure left for them there. They had instead decided to search the frozen wastes for derelict ships to scavenge. Jonas’s jaw remained tight as he failed to share this information with Aden.

  “They’re headed to the North Pole,” Twist said to Aden, earning a glare from Jonas. “You said it yourself, Jonas. Arabel can help. But we don’t have the means to reach her ourselves. The Rooks do. They can hand her one of their talking pocket watches and let us speak directly to her.”

  Jonas gave a sigh and looked away, belligerent and cross.

  “Thank you, Twist,” Aden said politely. “I’ll alert my agents immediately.”

  The ship’s powerful lights brushed the bottom of the ocean, showing sand, rock, and strange, scurrying, blind creatures that daylight had never seen. It took no more than a few moments of searching for the ship lights to find something unique in the seabed: a vast dome of glass, as smooth as a bubble and filled with the soft glow of the city inside. Twist glanced out of a porthole at the ancient city for a moment as he and the others finally followed Aden through one of the doors marked “authorized personnel only.” At the moment, there were more pressing issues on his mind than Atlantis.

  There was a hallway behind the door, one wall of it bearing closed doors every ten feet. A porter stood on the threshold of the only open door Twist could see, and he gestured Aden closer.

  “This way, sir,” he said, ushering Aden and the others inside. “We’re initializing the connection now.”

  “You’ve found the Vimana already?” Twist asked as he, Jonas, Myra, Niko, and Kima all entered the dark little room. “It’s only been, what? A half hour since you told your people where to look for them?”

  “I marked the order urgent,” Aden answered. “My Rooks are the best at what they do.”

  A pair of porters followed Aden inside the room as well, making the black little room feel even more cramped. Just as Twist had expected, he found a large mirror filling the back wall. A shallow table stood before the mirror, with a pair of tall burning candles standing on each end of it, and a few chairs were scattered around in the room. The reflection in the mirror showed the table, the candles, the chairs, and the black shadows out of the candlelight, but none of the people who were now standing in the room.

  Aden stepped up to the mirror and drew his silver watch out of his pocket. He opened the face cover, touched the switch to flip the face and reveal the soft blue glow that emanated from the back, and then pressed the glowing face to the glass. The instant he did, the image of a man in a heavy fur coat appeared in the mirror, seeming to stand in the empty room on the other side of the glass. He was looking away to the left and started when he glanced at the mirror. He rushed closer and held up a glowing blue pocket watch of his own to the glass from his side of it.

  “Aden, it’s nice to see you,” the man said, his voice echoing slightly off of the mirror glass. “Agent Felix Holmstrom, at your service, sir.”

  “Thank you for responding so quickly, Agent Holmstrom,” Aden replied. “I assume you’re found the airship?”

  “Yes indeedie, sir,” Felix responded proudly. “She was entering the airspace over the frozen sea, just as you said she’d be. The captain is bringing the crew as we speak.”

  “Wonderful,” Aden said, nodding.

  Jonas shook his head, his disdain souring the buzzing at Twist’s neck. “You really do have your troops stationed all over the world, don’t you?” he sneered at Aden. Felix shot Jonas an affronted look.

  “They’re not troops,” Aden said over his shoulder to Jonas. “We’re not military.”

  “Whatever you say, sir.”

  Twist marveled at how disrespectful Jonas managed to make those usually respectful words sound. Aden ignored his tone, clearly not seeing any advantage in fighting just now. Not a moment later, Twist saw figures step out of the darkness beyond the mirror. Arabel was dressed in a thick jacket lined with fluffy gray fur; her long golden braid peeked out from under her hood over her shoulder. She gasped in surprise the moment her gaze fell on the mirror glass.

  “Jon?” she asked in astonishment, peering at Jonas. She turned quickly, looking behind her, and then back through the mirror in obvious confusion.

  “Hi,” Jonas muttered unhappily, waving to her. “I didn’t tell them where you were, by the way. You can thank Twist for that.”

  “Hello, Miss Davis,” Aden said politely, drawing her attention. “I hope this isn’t too much of an inconvenience to you and your crew, but I need to speak with you urgently.”

  “Yes, that’s what they said,” Arabel responded, her expression growing somber. “They said people’s lives were at stake, but they didn’t say why or how I can help.”

  “In the interest of time,” Aden began, “I’ll be brief. People aboard this ship are vanishing into thin air, being taken away, alive, by some unknown force.”

  “This ship?” Arabel asked, pointing to the floor beneath her feet.

  “No, no,” Aden said with a half laugh. He gestured to Twist and the others in the room with him. “We are aboard the Phorcys, just docking at Atlantis now. This mirror is only a communication method. And it’s the people here who are in danger.”

  “Right, I see,” Arabel said, nodding. Twist noticed her glance over Myra, Jonas, and himself as if checking that they were all present.

  “Now, the trouble is that we have no idea who is taking our people,” Aden continued. “We don’t know why they are being taken, how, or where to. But we know they are still alive. Perhaps, with your help, we can at least discover where our missing friends have gone.”

  “Oh, so you want to use my Sight,” Arabel said, frowning.

  “Again,” Jonas said suddenly. “Twist’s fault.”

  “We need her help!” Twist snapped back at him.

  “Well…” Arabel said, drawing everyone’s attention back. “There’s a little problem with that. You see, I can only find things or people that I can visualize clearly. I can’t find people I’ve never met unless I need to find them to solve a problem that I completely understand. And it sounds to me like none of you even know what’s going on.”

  “Natasha Samara has been taken,” Niko said with grim bitterness.

  Arabel’s eyes shot to Jonas in shock. “Your magician friend?”

  Jonas nodded, not letting her catch his gaze.

  “Oh, well, that’s lucky,” Arabel said brightly.

  Niko stared at her, aghast.

  “No, I mean, I can actually find her,” she added quickly. “I mean, I’ve seen her face in posters and read about her in newspapers, and things like that. I think I know enough about her to try to find her.”

  “That’s wonderful news,” Aden said.

  “All right, just give me a second,” Arabel said, pulling back the hood of her jacket.

  She closed her eyes tightly and placed her hands on her brow, her head bent. Everyone waited silently as she stood perfectly still, in deep concentration. A confused frown flashed across her face, and she seemed to double her efforts.

  “Oh, that is weird
,” Arabel said, opening her eyes with an amazed expression.

  “Did you find her?” Niko asked.

  “Well, sort of,” Arabel muttered. She shook her head as if to clear it. “It’s nowhere like any place I’ve ever seen. The trees look like they’re made of silver. I mean, they’re shiny.”

  “What trees?” Aden asked.

  “I got a glimpse of the place where Natasha Samara is right now,” Arabel explained. “Usually, I know the place the moment I see it, with my Sight. But this time, I don’t have a clue where is it.”

  “Could you describe it?” Aden asked.

  “Well, there’s lots of snow, and it seems like it’s outside, in the middle of a forest. But even with the snow, there are lots of little white flowers all over the place, and these weird metal, silver trees with glowing blue leaves. And the whole place feels really strange, like something out of a dream.”

  The room listened to her description and then remained quiet when she was done. Some of the others glanced to each other, but clearly no one had any answers.

  Aden looked to the porter who still stood at the door. “Would you fetch Frederick Higgins, please?”

  “Right away, sir,” the porter responded, hurrying away.

  “Who’s that?” Myra asked Aden.

  “A Sighted man,” Aden answered. “He can give map coordinates to any place one describes to him from visual memory. I wanted him on this mission in case Atlantis wasn’t exactly where we thought it was or if we found evidence of any other colonies. Miss Davis,” he said, turning to the mirror, “would you be able to wait a few minutes?”

  “Sure,” Arabel said with a shrug.

  Everyone stood in a somewhat awkward silence. Eventually, Myra spoke up to break it. “Arabel, have you found any nice treasure yet?”

  “Oh, well, we only just got into the ice,” Arabel answered, clearly relieved to have something to talk about instead of waiting silently.

  She and Myra continued to chat pleasantly together until the porter returned with a very well-dressed man. Twist noticed immediately that the man’s burgundy suit with its warm, cream-colored accents appeared freshly tailored, fitting his form elegantly and complementing his dark complexion with a decadent perfection. He gave the room a pleasant smile in greeting, tipping his hat to the ladies.

  “Thank you for coming, Mr. Higgins,” Aden said to him.

  “It’s no trouble at all, Aden,” Frederick responded with a crisp, upper-class British accent. “How can I help you?”

  “Miss Davis,” Aden said, turning to Arabel, “would you please describe that location to us again? And Mr. Higgins, please try to tell us where it is.”

  “Certainly,” Frederick replied before turning to Arabel.

  Arabel seemed distracted, her eyes roving over Frederick with obvious approval until he looked at her. “Right!” Arabel said quickly, pulling herself together. Frederick’s smile deepened.

  Arabel then went about describing the snowy forest of silver trees once again, this time mentioning a sort of tall cage of silver that encircled Tasha and a few other people who she couldn’t identify.

  “Any idea where that is, Mr. Higgins?” Aden asked once Arabel had finished.

  Frederick now appeared unnerved. “Aden, I…” he began softly.

  “You can’t find the location?” Aden asked, surprised.

  “Well, I can tell you where it isn’t,” Frederick said. “It’s not anywhere on the Earth.”

  “How is that possible?” Niko asked coldly.

  “I have no idea,” Frederick answered. “But I can assure you, without question, that the location of that place is not on this planet.”

  “Which planet is it on, then?” Jonas asked. The others looked to him worriedly. “Well, if it’s not on this planet, it’s got to be another, hasn’t it? Maybe Zéphyrin could help us get word to the dragons or something. They’re already out there.”

  “What dragons?” Niko asked.

  “If you’re inferring,” Frederick began, “that the location she’s described is among the stars, I can tell you that it isn’t there either.”

  “Well he said Tasha’s alive,” Jonas said, pointing to Aden. “She’s got to be somewhere.”

  “I honestly believe,” Frederick said, pausing to take a deep breath, “that the location this lady has described might be on another level of existence.”

  Everyone stared at him with silent but intense alarm.

  “Now, I know what it sounds like,” Frederick went on, raising a hand calmingly. “It sounds like something from the tale of the split soul. And usually, I’d agree with you. But I’m not saying this because I don’t know where it is. My Sight is responding as clearly as it ever has. That place could well be somewhere in Nevernever Land, or Fairy, or beyond the vale—whatever you want to call it. But it’s not in this physical universe.”

  The room fell into perfect silence for a long moment, while Twist’s mind refused utterly to take the information in. Surely, the man was mad—a mad person with impeccable fashion sense, but mad all the same. He couldn’t be anything else.

  Jonas spoke to Frederick, his voice impressively impassive. “You’re saying that evil fairies took Tasha away to their world?”

  “Say that again as a statement,” Aden said to Jonas, closing his eyes and bending his ear toward him in anticipation.

  Jonas looked to Twist with yellow eyes. The moment Twist met his gaze, he suddenly recalled what they and Tasha had been discussing in the moments before she’d disappeared. They had been talking about the infernal legend of the split soul and the witch’s son. Twist could almost hear his memory of her saying, “The two of you would indeed be a perfect fit to the legend of the split soul.” Twist shuddered and looked away from Jonas.

  Jonas looked to Aden with ironclad defiance. “Tasha has been taken by evil fairies to their world.”

  Aden’s eyes flew open in shock, his face paling. “That’s not a lie.”

  “None of it?” Niko asked, incredulous.

  “Not a word,” Aden answered, shaking his head slowly.

  Aden hurried away to the bridge, thanking everyone swiftly as he did but leaving them all behind. At Niko’s request, he’d left his watch behind to maintain the connection to Arabel. Niko continued to question her and Frederick, desperate for any other explanation. Jonas took Twist’s hand without a word and dragged him out of the room and back outside into the atrium of the ship.

  “What the bloody hell, Twist?” Jonas whispered savagely to him the moment they were alone. “All of this shit is real?”

  “Aden said so,” Twist responded, barely containing his panic at the idea.

  “There is no reason for him to lie about it, either,” Jonas said, his gaze distant and the color of his eyes edging toward orange. The base of Twist’s neck felt like it was crowded with anxious bees. “I mean, if he was lying,” Jonas went on, “they would all have to be in on it. Arabel wouldn’t lie about any of this, and there would have been no time to get that dandy in on it.”

  “It just doesn’t make any sense,” Twist said, rubbing at his neck to soothe the uncomfortable sensation of Jonas’s confusion and fear.

  “Damn straight, it doesn’t.”

  “No, I mean—why take Tasha?”

  Jonas’s gaze locked on to his, its orange shifting to pure, frightened yellow. “You mean, why not take us?”

  “Exactly,” Twist answered. “If these damn evil fairies want you and I dead, then why take her? Why take any of the others? Why leave us here?”

  “Maybe the charms are working,” Jonas said, his right hand moving to the tattoo hidden under his sleeve. “Maybe they really can’t see us.”

  “But they can see anyone around us and hear whatever they say,” Twist said with growing dread. “Maybe they are taking anyone who they think might be talking to us.”

  “Do you think they can hear us too? I mean, sure, if they can’t see us, then maybe they can’t grab us. But should we even be ta
lking about this right now?”

  Twist shook his head, feeling his barely contained panic bubble up and threaten to drown him. “Wait, no. Storm couldn’t see or hear me so long as I had my watch. He couldn’t hear you either, once you got that tattoo. You were able to walk right up to him in Atlantis, and he never knew you were there until you touched him.”

  “So we’re going to assume that the charms work the same on fairies as they do on a satyr? That’s a big assumption.”

  “What else do we have to go on?” Twist asked back.

  “All right, all right,” Jonas said, rubbing at his brow and pausing for a moment. “So why is this happening now? The dragons were talking about all of this at the South Pole. Others have mentioned it before. Hell, the bloody legend is supposedly well known by every Sighted person but us! Why are people being taken now?”

  “I don’t have any idea,” Twist said with a sigh.

  “Well, maybe,” Myra said, stepping closer. Twist jumped in surprise to find her there. But then, of course she had followed him and Jonas. Why wouldn’t she? “Oh, sorry, dear,” she cooed gently to him, reaching out to pet at his shoulder.

  “What’s your theory, Myra?” Jonas asked. “Since you’ve been eavesdropping and all.”

  “If you want to talk to my Twist without me,” she said primly, “you’ll have to do more than just walk out of a room.”

  “Fair enough,” Jonas conceded.

  “Well, maybe,” Myra went on, looking gently to Twist, “people are being taken this time because one of them said your name. Mama said they were listening for it.”

  “Oh, that’s a very good point,” Twist said, thinking it through. “What was that man’s name? Ranjit? Didn’t his friend say that he was missing, as well? Why, Ranjit might have been the very first one to be taken.”

  “Mama also said,” Myra went on, crossing her arms as she considered her logic, “that no one has spoken your name for most of your life. Not since you were a baby. No one knew it but your parents and the bad fairies.”