Gaslit Revolution

by Jason Gilbert

  “Where the hell did you bring us?” Kane asked. “What is this place?”

  The door burst open, startled him. Kane’s reflexes went into high gear, a fireball in his hand in an instant as he braced for attack. A revolver was aimed at his face, the shooter’s finger on the trigger.

  And adorned with tacky rings and a painted fingernail.

  Kane looked past the gun and at the person aiming it at him, the reflection in the large horn-rimmed glasses indicating that the hammer was back. The frizzy red hair was still in the same shape it’d been when Kane had last eaten there.

  Bette blinked in surprise and lowered the revolver, setting the hammer back into place gently.

  “Kane? What the hell are you doing in my apartment?”

  Kane extinguished the fireball and looked at Tabitha. She turned away from the mirror and shrugged, her eyes wide and her expression innocent.

  “I wanted pancakes.”

  Chapter Six

  Kane couldn’t deny how much he’d missed his French toast plate at Ralphie’s. The perfectly browned, sweetened bread was only made better by the syrup Ralphie used, the stuff rich and amber colored, complimented by his housemade butter. Kane ate hungrily. Tabitha sat across from him eating the pancakes she’d just drowned in syrup.

  “You don’t know how much I needed this,” she said, her mouth full.

  Kane looked at her.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  Bette walked up to the table and refilled their coffees. Kane nodded to her, glancing at the windows. Bette had pulled all of the blinds and put up the sign indicating that the place was closed. There was no way someone on the outside could see in. Still, Kane felt uneasy. It was normal hours for Ralphie’s place, yet the door being locked wouldn’t stop someone from knocking.

  “You need to relax, hon,” Bette said, eyeing him. “You’ve been looking around like a paranoid squirrel since you got down here.”

  Kane swallowed his food and looked up at her.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Little nervous.”

  “I don’t blame you, hon,” Bette said, smiling at him the way a mother would smile at her son. “Things are a little different here since you left. Haven’t seen any cops come in here, but business ain’t been great. Especially on Thursdays, though I think you probably know why by now.”

  Kane nodded. Thursdays was the one day every week when Ralphie offered his business to the homeless on a “Pay What You Can” special. Nothing free, but if they could at least come up with a nickel, then they could eat a meal. Hidden Valley was a community, so getting a nickel from someone for a meal wasn’t a difficult task.

  “Yeah, I heard. And saw. And fought with the guy.”

  “Yeah, I think it’s safe to say everyone knows we’re here, now,” Tabitha said.

  Bette smiled at her.

  “How are you holding up, sweetie?”

  Tabitha gave a thumbs up.

  “I have pancakes. I’m good!”

  “You said business has been slow,” Kane said, trying to move the conversation forward. “I get Thursdays. But what about the rest of the week?”

  “We’re under a curfew,” Bette said. “That, and people aren’t going out like they used to. The police are all over the place, and we’ve had Special Forces troops on patrol here and there. No one wants to deal with the confrontation. A few people have been hauled off for even looking at an officer funny.”

  Kane wiped his mouth and put his napkin down by his plate.

  “Know anything about the Templars?”

  “You mean from the Crusades?” Bette said, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know how that fits into all of this. With things being so quiet around here, I don’t hear much anymore.”

  Kane nodded.

  “I get it,” he said. “Bette, I need to ask you something.”

  “Go ahead, hon.”

  “We’ve been down here maybe half an hour since you found us upstairs, and you haven’t said a word about seeing me with a fireball in my hand.”

  Bette sat the coffee pot down on the table and collected herself.

  “I’m not going to lie, Kane,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting that. But I told you once before: Magicians are people just like us. Their money spends the same. The newsies and the people running the country tell me I should be terrified of you.” Her mouth broke into a smile. “But I know you. I know your heart. The Revolution could use you.”

  Kane sighed.

  “The Revolution is done,” he said. “They went South, and the Special Forces wiped them out.”

  Bette chuckled.

  “No, honey, that wasn’t the whole thing. Just the beginning.”

  Kane looked up at her just as a sound came from outside. It made his stomach sink, his muscles tensing up as he looked at the door. Someone shouted, and the clockwork horses came to a halt. Someone got out of the carriage. Heavy breathing. Grunting.

  Danwood’s voice.

  “You two with me. You two, stay here and keep people the hell away from this place.”

  “Shit,” Kane said, getting to his feet. “Danwood.”

  “Damn,” Bette said, her tone urgent as she turned to the kitchen window. “Ralphie! We got company!”

  The kitchen door opened as Ralphie came out into the dining room. He was easily seven feet tall, muscular, his bald head shiny under the lighting. His face looked as if it had been chiseled from granite, his skin almost black and his apron far too small for his large frame. He looked at the front door, his eyes narrowed and his mouth a scowl, his expression looking as if he might snatch Danwood up and break the fat man like a twig. He looked back at Kane and Tabitha and spoke, his effeminate, high-pitched voice as startling as his appearance.

  Kane blinked. The last time he’d spoken to Ralphie, the man had sounded like he could chew bricks of iron and spit the nails out.

  I guess everyone has their secrets, he thought.

  “Kitchen. Now, bitches.”

  Kane jumped up from the booth, motioned to Tabitha to do the same. He saw her grab the satchel. He to her hand and led her to the kitchen. Ralphie had turned out the lights, cut the grill and oven off. The place was quiet.

  “Kane,” Tabitha whispered. “Let’s teleport.”

  “No,” Kane said. “Too risky. They see a flash, Bette and Ralphie could end up taking a fall for us.”

  Kane ducked down behind the prep counter at the order window, activated his amulet, and cast his Ethereal Sight spell as well as let his hearing out. His vision moved through the wall, the world black and white except for Ralphie and Bette. Bette scraped Kane and Tabitha’s table into a bus bin and ran to the kitchen as Ralphie waited at the door. Kane didn’t look away from Ralphie as Bette put the bin of dirty dishes in the walk-in cooler and closed the door.

  “You two stay down and stay quiet,” he heard her say as she headed back up to the front.

  “Open up, Ralphie,” Danwood barked from the outside. “I know you’re in there. Christ, you and your damned waitress live in that place.”

  Bette nodded to Ralphie, who nodded back and opened the door. He towered over Danwood, who looked disheveled and dirty from his earlier entanglement with Kane outside Tabitha’s apartment building.

  Ralphie crossed his arms in front of him, looking at down his nose at Danwood as he clicked his tongue.

  “I’m closed,” he said. “And you ain’t lookin’ fit to be nowhere anyways. The hell do you want?”

  “Bullshit, Ralphie,” Danwood said, glaring right back up at the cook. “I know good and goddamned well you’re supposed to be open for at least another hour.”

  “Been closing early,” Ralphie said, glaring at Danwood. “Some donut-eatin’ flat-foot masquerading as a hot air balloon keeps bringing his playground friends into my community and harassing my customers. No one wants to be out. Might get hassled. Or shot. Ain’t you people supposed to be looking for a killer around here?”

  Danwood pulled his cigar out of his mouth
and motioned to Ralphie with it.

  “You tellin’ me how to do my job?” he said. “Got a lot of nerve, Ralphie. That mouth of yours is gonna get you in trouble.”

  Ralphie fanned his fingers in Danwood’s face as he spoke.

  “Already has. On plenty of occasions.”

  “You won’t mind if we take a look around, will you?” Danwood said, stepping closer to him. He lowered his voice, winked at him. “Hell, if you cooperate, I might forget that we even came by here.

  Kane pushed his voice forward, keeping his tone low enough to stay barely a mumble. He faintly heard Tabitha whisper to him. He ignored her, kept his attention on Ralphie as he spoke in a low tone.

  “Go ahead, Ralphie. We’re ready.”

  Bette’s eyes widened as Ralphie stepped aside and motioned to Danwood to come in. Danwood nodded to his two officers, and the three entered the diner. Kane wiped his amulet clean and looked at Tabitha.

  “Get us out of here,” he whispered. “Quietly.”

  “Outside,” she said. “They’ll feel the cold if we do it in here.”

  Kane heard something fall and break. He peered over the ticket counter and saw one of the cops looking down at a smashed salt shaker.

  “Look what the NCPD will be buying me for Christmas,” Ralphie said, rolling his eyes. “Might want to take a note on it. I’m particular about my salt shakers.”

  “Get over it,” Danwood grunted. He turned and called out through the open front door. Two more cops came in. “You two split up. Check the apartments upstairs.” He looked at the other two officers. “Kitchen. And one of you go around back. Make sure no one leaves out that back door without a high velocity parting gift.”

  “I thought Commissioner Gentry wanted them alive, sir?” one of the officers said.

  Danwood shrugged.

  “Shit happens. Move it.”

  “Damn it,” Kane muttered. He motioned to Tabitha to follow him as he crouched down and made his way toward the walk-in cooler. He reached the door, opened it quickly, pulled Tabitha with him as he pulled it just shy of shut, peering out as the kitchen door swung open. An officer entered, his revolver aimed as he looked around. Kane looked at Tabitha, put his finger to his mouth, then pointed to the back of the cooler. She nodded and moved away. Kane looked back out through the door, watched the cop search the kitchen. He stopped at the prep table and order station and looked around.

  “Smells good in here,” he mumbled. “God, I’m hungry.” He leaned down and opened the small cooler, searching through Ralphie’s stock. He stood back up as another cop walked up to the order window from the diner side.

  “Eggs over easy!” the other cop barked, startling the officer in the kitchen.

  “Goddammit, Biggers,” the man said, rounding on him. “You got nothin’ better to do?”

  The cop in the window laughed.

  “Jumpy, Billy?”

  “Fuck you.” Billy turned and glanced around the kitchen. “This place is clean. They ain’t here.”

  “Well hurry up,” said Biggers, lowering his voice a little. “Danwood’s ready, and Chesterfield’ll throw a gear if we come home empty-handed after what just happened earlier.”

  Chestefield? Kane thought. Great.

  Danwood’s voice called from the front of the diner.

  “If you two lovebirds are done playing grabass, we’re heading out,” he barked.

  Kane heard footsteps from above, boots on the staircase.

  “Nothing upstairs, Lieutenant,” an officer said.

  “I tried to tell you that,” Ralphie said. “But no, let’s not listen to the negro running the place.”

  “Shut up, Ralphie,” Danwood said, his tone hard and bitter. “And don’t think you’ve seen the end of this. We see you so much as blink in a way that makes us think Shepherd and Drake are here, it’ll be the Special Forces knocking on your door. I’m sure Captain Chesterfield would love to talk about the future of this place.”

  Kane looked over his shoulder, motioned to Tabitha. She nodded, pulled her amulet out, and activated it. Kane moved to her, grabbed her hand as he spoke.

  “Antonia’s. We need to find that bullet.”

  And have a word with Krieg, Kane thought as Tabitha uttered her spell.

  They landed in Antonia’s back yard, the place dark except for the full moon that hung high in the clear sky. Kane and Tabitha moved to the covered back porch, hiding in the shadows as a police patrol ship moved slowly overhead, two large spotlights shining down on the yard. Kane heard another on the other side of the house moving away and down the street.

  They’re looking for us, he thought. This just keeps getting better.

  “We need to lay low,” he said to Tabitha as the airship moved on. “Antonia doesn’t need to know we’re here. I don’t want her to have to answer any questions.”

  Antonia’s voice carried over the yard. Kane groaned, put his hand to his face as she spoke.

  “Ain’t got no questions. But I do have that bullet you two are lookin’ for.”

  Tabitha grinned, waving cheerily.

  “Hi, Antonia!”

  Kane turned from her and looked at the other end of the dark back porch. Antonia sat in a rocker, scowling at them as she rocked gently, her arms crossed.

  “You done wrestled with the shooter, burnt up a building, caused a racket with the cops, and had pancakes on top of it. In one night.” She sucked her teeth and shook her head. “Ain’t no doubt now: Kane Shepherd is back in Hidden Valley.”

  Kane blinked.

  “How?”

  Antonia set her jaw tersely.

  “This is Hidden Valley, remember?” she said. “Word travels. And Krieg sent word to me that you’d be looking for the bullet. Guess he knew you were too busy advertising your grand return.”

  Kane sighed.

  “Guess I blew the whole secret thing,” he said. “Oops.”

  “Oops?” Antonia said with a grunt. “Oops. You done added fuel to a damned fire, and all you can say for yourself is ‘oops?’” She grumbled as she stood and went to the back door. “Get in this house right now, and get cleaned up for bed.”

  “We need to get that bullet to Krieg,” Kane said.

  Antonia looked over her shoulder.

  “And you can do that tomorrow when he’s in his office, young man. Now you and that girl get in this house, or so help me Lord.” She went inside, letting the screen door bang shut behind her.

  Kane turned to Tabitha.

  “We don’t have time for this,” he said.

  She stepped close to him, reached up, kissed him gently on the cheek.

  “You looked like you just went swimming with Fenris’s Twin,” she said. “You need to rest. You can’t keep going like this.”

  The fatigue hit him instantly. He looked down at his filthy clothes, the soot from the building fire hours before mixed with the dried blood on his shirt. His body began to ache, his eyes suddenly sore from being awake for so long. He nodded reluctantly, put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah.”

  The sound of turbines filled the air. Kane looked up as another airship lumbered towards them, the searchlights dragging over the ground as it moved. It was close to the yard. Kane heard the screen door open again as Antonia shouted at them.

  “You two get in here! I ain’t gonna have no trouble at my place! And it ain’t no trouble for me to get my wooden spoon after you!”

  Sleep was fleeting for Kane, the dreams making him drift in and out, some of them so intense that he’d startled awake at least three times. They didn’t fill him with the same dread that he’d carried when he’d been under the curse of the Wendigo, but they were still horrible and violent. One dream had put him in Hidden Valley after a direct attack from the Special Forces. Everyone was either dead or dying, the streets littered with debris and carnage. He stood surrounded by bodies as Chesterfield walked through the streets, his polished brass armor reflecting the light of the fires
as he drew from the corpses around him, the red mist swirling and writhing as it flowed into him. Rivers of blood ran through the gutters in the streets, vaporizing as he walked by, balls of red energy toiling in his hands as he focused his stare on Kane, the goggles in his breathing mask black and soulless.

  Another dream showed Kane on an airship, kicked to his knees, his hands cuffed behind his back as Hidden Valley burned below. Someone held his Grimoire out in front of him.

  Not his Grimoire. Tabitha’s.

  Kane followed the arm up to the owner, the silver hair orange in the glow from the blazes below.

  Gentry smiled at him.

  “Miss Drake would like this back, I’m sure,” he said, his British purr causing Kane’s skin to go to gooseflesh. “Let’s not keep her waiting.” Kane screamed as Gentry threw the book over the edge and down into the burning streets below.

  Kane sat straight up in bed, his body drenched in sweat, his breathing quick, his heart racing. He looked around the room, took a moment to remember where he was. He felt the bed shake as Tabitha stirred, sitting up.

  “Kane?” she said, her voice still thick with sleep. She blinked, shook her head slightly as she woke herself a little more. “Kane? Are you okay?” She touched his face, turning his head gently to face her.

  “I’m…yeah,” he said, catching his breath. “Yeah. Stupid dreams. It’s nothing.”

  “You have nightmares when you’re stressed,” Tabitha said, raising an eyebrow at him. “I’ve been sharing a bed with you for weeks. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.” She smacked him. “And another round would be nice, you know. Actually act like you like me?”

  He looked at her.

  “Really? We’ve been running for our lives. Been a little preoccupied.”

  She snuggled into him, putting her arms around him and resting her head on his chest.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I still like you pretty well. Even if you’re a prude.”

  Kane nodded, looking away.

  “Right,” he said. “You got me.”

  “We’re safe for now,” Tabitha said, looking up at him. “Relax. What time is it?”