by Peter Bunzl
“Well,” Rails said, when they were finally finished, “I don’t like to hear of kids in trouble, and your pal Dane sounds like he’s in real deep. What d’you need us to do?”
“Someone needs to take us to Battery Park first thing in the morning when this weather has cleared,” Lily said.
“The hotel would be better,” Malkin said. “John and Selena will be up in room ninety-nine, waiting out the storm, worried sick about us and wondering where we’ve got to.”
“I know that, Malkin,” Lily said. “But this is more important. We need to find this Shadowsea Warehouse and the Diving Belle as soon as possible. The rest of you can go to the hotel and tell my papa and Robert’s ma, and the police that we’re safe…”
“For the moment,” Malkin grumbled.
“And where we intend to go,” Lily continued, ignoring him.
“When you see the police,” Robert added, “ask for Inspector Tedesko.”
“What’ll you do at the warehouse?” Curly asked.
“Rescue Dane and get the diamond back,” Lily said.
“We have to destroy the machine too,” Caddy said.
“Good idea,” Kid Wink said. “How?”
“We haven’t really thought that far ahead,” Robert admitted.
“Lily never does,” Malkin added, from his seat beside the stove. “She’s not a natural planner. Likes to live life by the seat of her pants, you might say.”
“Details are for grown-ups,” Lily said. “We’ll work something out. The most important thing is to stop Dane from waking the dead, free him and hand everything else over to the police.”
“Along with all the information about Matilda Milksop,” Robert said. “She committed a crime down on the Shadowsea Base, and once the police speak with Dane he can prove it.”
“Well, that seems like a plan to me,” Kid Wink said. “Whatever way we can help, we will. But tonight, you should rest up and recover in readiness for it. Now, I was thinking…how about some dinner?”
Dinner did sound good to Robert. As Kid Wink showed them to the dining cabin, the amazing smells wafting along the length of the passage made his stomach rumble.
The train appeared to be an old sleeper carriage with fold-down bunks in each room. The rest of the carriage was pleasantly decorated, the walls painted in bright colours. It felt snug and warm, just like a proper home. And, just like a proper home, each of the compartments had been decorated differently. The first compartment was obviously Kid Wink’s room, for it was filled with inventions similar to her Wonderlite. The following five looked like they each belonged to a different Cloudscraper kid. Only the seventh was a spare compartment, still laid out as it originally would’ve been on the sleeper train, with three fold-down berths made up with sheets, blankets and pillows.
“You can sleep here tonight,” Kid Wink said.
“Where did you get all these?” Lily asked, fingering the thick woollen blanket.
“The hotel throws them out when they get a few holes in,” Kid Wink explained. “They’re still good, so we liberate them from the garbage. That’s how we got most of the things for the Cloudscraper Express.”
The final compartment in the carriage contained the promised meal. The space had been converted into a dining room with a table placed down the middle between the two rows of seats, and Parsons and Maze were busily laying out dinner. There was roast turkey, cranberry sauce, boiled ham, turnips, beets, winter squash and mince pies – a second Christmas dinner in the most unlikely of places!
As they ate, Robert, Lily and Caddy took it in turns to tell the kids about their lives back in Britain; even Malkin piped in every now and then from his spot under the table. Lily was shocked to realize that some of the kids knew who she was. They had read about her story in the New York Daily Cog, and though they had questions for her, somehow she didn’t seem to mind them asking.
When she had finished speaking, the kids told them all about their own lives in New York and what it had been like growing up on the Lower East Side.
“We were all living in tenements or on the streets, in stairwells and hallways,” Rails said, “before we found this unwanted rail carriage.”
“And made it our home,” Curly added.
“Ain’t no one gonna take it from us now,” Parsons said. “Not even the IRT.”
“Squatter’s rights,” Spoons said.
“Besides, it’s the best for us,” Maze admitted. “There’s more light and air up here than in them tenement apartments and a clank of a lot less cold than down on the streets.”
“They’re right,” Kid Wink said. “And, what’s more, we don’t have to stump up rent for no landlord. We have a home of our own and we can invest every spare dime we get hold of saving for our futures.” She flipped the Wonderlite around in her hand. It glistened in the light.
After they had eaten, it was time for bed. The other Cloudscrapers returned to their rooms and Kid Wink showed Robert, Lily, Caddy and Malkin back to the spare cabin.
“Goodnight,” she said, before she shut the door. “I promise I’ll wake you in the morning, first thing.”
They each picked a bunk bed. Robert took the top bunk, Caddy the middle and Lily the bottom, by the door. Malkin lay over her feet like a furry hot water bottle.
“If we get out of this adventure in one piece,” Lily told him, “I shall give you the honorary foot-warmer award, Malkin.”
Caddy must’ve been tired from all the running, for she dropped off straight away with Spook beside her on the pillow. Her deep breathing carried through the darkness and felt soothing to Robert and Lily.
Outside the window, the snowstorm howled, rocking the carriage on its rails. The wind pawed with its cold fingers through the cracks in the carriage, fiddled angrily with the fixtures and fittings and rattled at the windows.
Tomorrow was New Year’s Eve. Lily, Robert and Caddy (and probably Malkin as well, if Lily could sneak him along) were supposed to go out and celebrate with Papa and Selena. They had planned to watch the fireworks from the viewing platform at the Croton Reservoir. It was supposed to be a spectacular display to celebrate the joining of the five boroughs… Robert hoped they would be back in time to see it.
He curled up and pulled the blankets and sheets up around him. The last thing he thought about before he fell asleep was Dane locked up again somewhere, while Miss Buckle and whoever else made plans to use him to work the professor’s machine: the Ouroboros Engine. If that happened, and Caddy’s prophecy was correct, then, instead of a celebration, tomorrow would be the day when Dane woke the dead. That was a terrifying prospect, and whether it was at midday or midnight, they now had less than a day to stop it…
Lily woke with a start. Grey light filtered through the snow-coated window of the railway carriage, illuminating the cabin and the rucked woollen blanket on her bed. Outside, the wind howled a gale and threw snow around in great white sheets, but inside the carriage was toasty and warm, the room listing like a gently rocking boat.
She sat up and looked at her watch.
It was ten in the morning. They had overslept.
Lily imagined Papa and Selena hadn’t slept at all. They’d probably been up all night wondering where they were and worrying about them, lost in New York. At least they were safe, unlike Dane. The spirits in Caddy’s vision hadn’t been specific about whether the prophecy that Dane would wake the dead was to come true at midday or midnight, but if it was midday, then that meant they now had less than two hours to stop it. They had to find the Shadowsea Warehouse as soon as possible.
Lily set the alarm on her pocket watch to twelve, so it would ring out and alert them when time ran out. Then she shook Caddy and Robert awake and sat on the edge of her bed and wound Malkin with his winding key.
“Morning, all!” Malkin chirruped, as the cogs and springs inside him began to tick. “Look at this weather!” he said, as soon as he had shaken himself awake. “We should return to the hotel and John and Selena as soon as possib
le.”
“You’d be better off waiting out this blizzard,” said Kid Wink, who’d just arrived at the door. “It don’t look like it’s gonna stop anytime soon.”
Lily shook her head and stared around at each of them. “No,” she said. “I told you all last night, we have to rescue Dane. We need to stop the prophecy before the stroke of twelve. Kid Wink, you mentioned you knew how to get to the Shadowsea Warehouse. Do you?” she asked, as she, Robert and Caddy dressed and put on their shoes, and Caddy settled Spook comfortably once again in her pocket.
“I do,” Kid Wink said. “I mean, not to the warehouse itself…but I know the rough area where it is.”
“Then we should go right away,” Lily said, grabbing her scarf and blouson from the rack and throwing them on.
Malkin gave her a disapproving look as he climbed into his own jacket, pulling it on with his teeth. He didn’t like the fact that Lily was once again ignoring his advice, intent on running towards danger; but he didn’t say anything more on the matter. She’d made her decision, though he’d tried twice to change her mind. Now there was too much at stake and too little time for him to argue any more with her about it.
The rest of the Cloudscrapers gathered round as Robert and Caddy put on their coats. “We’re coming too,” they chorused, putting on their own woolly hats and patched winter wear.
“You can’t leave us behind,” Maze said.
“Especially if you’re going on an adventure,” Spoons added.
“No.” Kid Wink shook her head. “I’ll take them alone. We’ll move quicker the fewer we are. The rest of you, get to the downtown Telephone Exchange and put a call through to the Murray Hill Hotel and tell these kids’ parents what’s going on – they’re in room ninety-nine. Then call the New York City Police Department and tell the cops what’s happening. Tell ’em they need to get to the Shadowsea Warehouse in Battery Park as quick as possible, before the Ouroboros Engine’s activated and causes death and chaos. Tell ’em we’ll meet ’em there and explain everything. And if you can’t get through on the lines, split up and walk to both those places.” She nodded at Robert, Lily, Caddy and Malkin. “Right. Let’s go!”
The snow was falling heavily as Lily, Robert, Caddy, Malkin, Kid Wink and the rest of the Cloudscrapers climbed out of the run-down railroad carriage on the old abandoned IRT siding and headed along the line to a maintenance stairwell where they could descend. Beneath them, rows of houses and railings and low-rise buildings, signs and storefronts peeped out from beneath cold white blankets – an inclement arctic landscape peppered with elements of the city.
Down at street level, the road crackled with ice. It was empty of steam-hansoms and cabs, nor were there any trolley cars or overhead trains on the frozen rails. New York was a ghost town.
The rest of the Cloudscrapers headed for the Telephone Exchange, while Kid Wink set off leading Lily, Caddy, Malkin and Robert in the direction of Battery Park and the Shadowsea Warehouse.
The wind raged, pulling at snow-covered signs and power lines, throwing stinging snowflakes into their eyes and making them shiver beneath their scarves.
“You sure you still want to take this path?” Kid Wink asked Lily as they walked.
Lily checked her watch again. Ten-thirty. They might only have an hour and a half left. If Dane was forced to use the Ouroboros Engine, they had no idea what it might do – they had to stop it before it got that far.
“We have to keep going,” she said. “We have no choice.”
“I’ll take you the quickest route I can,” Kid Wink said, a determined look on her face.
They walked on southwards across town. Malkin jittered in the cold. Beneath the green wool and his fur, his joints were starting to seize up. Caddy’s feet kept disappearing beneath her, her boots crunching through snow already six inches deep. Spook peeked occasionally out from her pocket. Robert’s lungs were freezing and when he exhaled each breath came out as thick as fog. He wondered nervously what they would find when they got to their destination.
Finally, after forty-five minutes, they caught a glimpse of Battery Park in the distance.
Robert pushed back his cap. Taking up his binoculars, he searched the park’s vicinity, staring carefully at the various warehouses that clustered round the dockside behind it. They must be getting close because the view was similar to the photograph in the newspaper article.
Then, he spotted the furthest warehouse, partly hidden from view behind frosted trees and a high fence plastered with damp and discoloured posters. Where the fence met the sidewalk, great white dunes gathered.
Robert focused his binoculars in on the building itself. Weeds grew twiggily from the cloud of snow sat on its roof and its front wall was painted with two words. With a shiver, Robert read what they said:
“This is it,” he said.
“Let me have a look,” Lily said.
He handed the lenses to her.
“Are you sure they’re in there?” Caddy asked, with a shiver.
“They have to be…” Lily stared at the building’s dark windows through the lenses. They seemed to glare at the frozen river. For a brief second, she fancied she saw a face behind one. She focused in, and the figure’s eyes flickered in the light and the face became familiar. “Oh, there’s someone in there all right,” she whispered grimly to the others.
“Who?” Kid Wink whispered.
“Miss Buckle.” Lily ducked down out of view, pulling the others with her. When she peered through the binoculars again, the figure was gone. She didn’t think the mechanical had seen her.
“If Miss Buckle’s in there,” Malkin said, “then her accomplices must be, as well as Dane and the device.”
“Are there enough of us to take down the kidnappers on our own?” Kid Wink asked. “We don’t even know how many there are?”
“Eleven twenty,” Lily said, checking her pocket watch. “We’ve got just over half an hour until they might force Dane to use the Ouroboros Engine. And if he does, we’ll be in danger too. So I don’t think we have much choice.”
“We should’ve brought my gang along,” Kid Wink said.
Robert stared at her. “Where are the police?” he asked. “They should be here by now. Your friends were supposed to call them urgently.”
“Perhaps they have other emergencies?” Malkin suggested.
“Or the lines are down,” Kid Wink said. “If my Cloudscrapers have to walk to the police station and the hotel it’ll take them a lot longer to get your message through.”
“So what do we do now?” Caddy asked.
“Cut our losses and retreat?” Kid Wink suggested.
“No,” Lily said. “We have to get closer. Perhaps fewer of us will be an advantage. We can hide more easily that way and we’ll have stealth on our side.”
Robert glanced at his sister. He was having second thoughts about bringing her along at all, especially if they went into the warehouse alone and things got risky. “I don’t think you should come, Caddy,” he said at last. “Kid Wink should take you back to the hotel. You’ll be safer there, and Ma’ll be so worried.”
“Absolutely not,” Caddy said. “Dane’s my friend too. He’s in real peril. I want to help you rescue him and see this through. I saw the vision, and I need to help stop it.”
“I agree with Robert.” Lily put a hand on Caddy’s shoulder. “It’s too dangerous. The best way you can help Dane is to get back to the hotel with Kid Wink and make sure the police are on their way.”
“I suppose,” Caddy said.
“What about you?” Kid Wink asked Lily and Robert.
“We’ll keep an eye on the place until the police arrive,” Robert said.
“I’ll make sure they don’t do anything stupid while you’re gone,” Malkin told Caddy.
“In that case,” Kid Wink told them, “I’d be glad to take your sister back to the hotel. But promise you won’t take any unnecessary risks.”
“I can’t,” Lily said. “Not if Dane’s
in trouble and not if the kidnappers try to use the Ouroboros Engine. Who knows what it might do. It could kill Dane again – or, worse, hurt even more people.”
“Then, here…” Kid Wink pressed something into Lily’s palm. “Take this. You might need it.”
“Thanks,” Lily said, staring down at the Wonderlite in surprise.
“No problem,” Kid Wink said.
“Good luck!” Caddy said.
Kid Wink took her hand and the pair of them set off in the other direction.
Robert, Lily and Malkin watched them disappear around the corner.
“It’s just us again,” Robert said when they were gone.
“The three musketeers,” Malkin said.
They were careful as they approached the building, keeping beneath the cover of the trees.
As they got closer, Malkin snorted and sniffed at the air. “I think I’m picking up Dane’s scent,” he growled softly. “And Miss Buckle’s, but I can’t smell anyone else.”
“Maybe there isn’t anyone else?” Lily suggested, with a twinge of hope. “Maybe it’s just Miss Buckle, holed up in there with Dane on her own?”
“In which case,” Malkin said, “with a little planning, we might be able to take her.”
“Maybe.” Robert stared nervously up at the warehouse window where Miss Buckle had been. He half-expected one of the other kidnappers they’d imagined to appear in the glass like a conjuring trick, but they did not.
Lily checked her pocket watch again. Eleven thirty.
“We should climb the fence,” she said, stealing over to it and jumping up to try and reach its top. It was too high. The spaces between the slats had been wedged with shards of broken glass to stop precisely that.
She tried to get a foothold on the fence, but the ice was too slippery and she slid back to the sidewalk. Malkin jerked out of her way and Robert grabbed her arm to stop her from falling over.
“Clanking clockwork!” she muttered, pulling the ends of her striped scarf out of the snow. “It’s no use.”