Clockwork Alchemist (The Thief's Apprentice Book 1)

by Sara C. Roethle

  Liliana crept forward, as if she might follow the masked man through the window, but Arhyen grabbed her arm. Realization of the danger she’d put them in flashed through her suddenly worried gaze. “I’m sorry!” she whispered, glancing frantically around the yard. “I can’t believe I just ran off like that.”

  Arhyen calmly followed her gaze around the property. The perfectly manicured lawn and ornate shrubbery surrounding them were utterly still. A fountain larger than Arhyen’s kitchen burbled happily nearby, but there were no signs of life. Normally there would be someone walking around such a large estate, especially in White Heights were everyone hired security, but perhaps Clayton had lost more of his men than Arhyen had realized. He was obviously understaffed. Still, it would not take long for someone to happen by and notice them.

  “We should get out of here,” he whispered, still holding onto Liliana’s arm.

  “I can’t let you do that,” a voice said from behind them.

  They both whipped around to face the owner of the voice, beholding a woman in a maid’s uniform. Arhyen recognized her as the female automaton who’d answered the door upon his last visit, when he was trying to buy more time with Blackwood. The automaton eyed them blankly from beneath blonde bangs.

  “We were just leaving,” Arhyen explained to her. When she just continued to stare, he added, “We got lost.”

  Their conversation was interrupted as the masked man hopped back out of the large, open window, so near them Arhyen could have grabbed him had he not been completely taken aback. The man took off at a run, faster than anyone should be able to travel on foot, toward the back end of the property. He’d held some sort of parcel in his arm, though Arhyen hadn’t the chance to make out what it might be.

  The automaton maid turned her head, her gaze strong on the masked man, but made no move to follow.

  Shouting echoed from within the house, followed by thundering footsteps hurrying down an interior staircase.

  “That’s our cue to leave,” Arhyen announced quickly.

  He tugged Liliana’s arm and took off in the direction the masked man had gone, betting he had a well planned escape route. The automaton did not follow, but the shouts and footfalls of others did. Liliana pulled out of his grasp and quickly began to outpace him, following the path the masked man had taken.

  Another wall came into sight, composed of solid stone and much taller than the wall that had lined the front.

  “We’ll never make it!” he shouted.

  “Yes we will!” Liliana shouted in reply.

  “There's no way!” he yelled back, huffing with exertion. The wall was twice his height. Perhaps he could boost Liliana on over, but he’d then have to find another way out.

  “Trust me!” she called.

  Well he had told her that he trusted her. He couldn't very well go back on the statement so soon. They closed the final distance to the wall, with Liliana a bit ahead, as their pursuers gained ground behind them. The masked man was nowhere in sight. He must have found some way over the wall, unless he was still hiding somewhere on the property.

  Liliana stopped in front of the wall. “Step into my hands,” she uninstructed hastily, bending her knees and linking her hands together, providing a foothold to boost him up.

  “Absolutely not,” he blurted. “I'll boost you over, then I'll find another way out.”

  Arhyen glanced over his shoulder as Clayton came into sight in his white suit, followed by Viola and several other men.

  “Trust me,” Liliana rasped, panic clear in her voice as her blue eyes bore into him.

  Oh hell, he thought. He placed his foot in her waiting hands and before he knew it, he was thrust upward toward the top of the wall. He barely managed to catch hold of it, then pulled himself up to straddle the top. He turned back, prepared to reach down and pull Liliana up, but there was no need. She had moved to get a running start just as Clayton neared, then flung herself upward like a small agile cat. Suddenly she was atop the wall with him, and continued down the other side as he watched in awe.

  With Clayton's angry shouts spurring him on, Arhyen lowered himself down on the other side of the wall to join Liliana. They each nodded to each other, then continued to run, leaving behind the sound of Clayton and Viola arguing over who would be boosted over the wall first.

  Liliana sprinted beside Arhyen down the narrow, residential street, laughing gleefully.

  “Are you actually enjoying this?” he panted in surprise. Perhaps she had lost her mind.

  “It's exciting!” she giggled back.

  He shook his head and pressed himself to run faster. The first raindrops began to fall, stinging his eyes from his momentum. Liliana was grinning with one hand raised to keep her hat on her head. She didn’t seem to mind the rain, nor the near-death experience. Perhaps she'd make a good thief after all.

  They ran until Arhyen's legs could no longer carry him, though Liliana seemed no worse for wear. They’d made it all the way back to the industrial district, near the outskirts of where the busy shops and cafes began. Not wanting to remain out in the open, but also unable to run any further, Arhyen turned into what was once a nice park, but had been long since left to disrepair. The grass was overgrown, and the trees scraggly and half dead, but it was bordered by buildings on two sides, so Arhyen would at least be able to see someone coming with only having to keep his eyes on two streets.

  He made his way across the grassy lot, then slumped down onto a rusted iron bench. Liliana watched him curiously, not seeming fatigued in the slightest. Feeling somehow inadequate, he patted the damp bench beside him, inviting her to sit.

  She joined him, then turned to look him up and down. “Are you well?” she questioned.

  He removed his hat as the rain began to drizzle again. “It seems I can't quite keep up with your physical prowess,” he joked wearily.

  She gasped. “I hadn't even thought about it, I'm sorry. I don't tend to tire like normal people.”

  “You can also jump much higher than normal people,” he chuckled, thinking back to the image of her leaping to the top of the wall.

  She looked down at her lap, seeming embarrassed.

  He tilted his head, attempting to put himself in the line of her vision. “It's a good thing,” he comforted. He leaned back and looked up at the gray sky. “Let's recap what we've learned today.”

  She glanced over at him curiously. The rain was beginning to soak through her coat and the cap on her head. Arhyen knew they should soon seek shelter, but the rain felt good on his over-exerted body, and Liliana didn’t seem to mind.

  He cleared his throat. “First, if you would have given me a chance to explain before running off after the masked man, that mansion was the home of Clayton Blackwood. He's the man who hired those thugs to abduct you,” he explained. “Viola had claimed that she was the one responsible for the murder of Clayton’s men, yet she's obviously working with him. So either she is secretly planning to cross him, or someone else is responsible for the murders.”

  “But who?” she questioned. The rain had now dampened her face, and glinted on her skin as her cheek caught a small ray of sunlight peeking through the clouds.

  Arhyen lost his train of thought for a second. “Um,” he began, then lifted a finger into the air, “oh yes. My bet is on the masked man.”

  She nodded. “What do we do now?”

  “We find out what Clayton and Viola are up to,” he replied. “The masked man is obviously interested in them, so if we find out their plans, perhaps we will find out his. I didn’t tell you this before, but I encountered Viola once, wearing the same mask as our mysterious friend. She, at the very least, knows about him, and maybe is even involved with him in some way. Perhaps she truly is planning to cross Blackwood, and is working with the masked man to do so. But-” he cut himself off as he fully wrapped his thoughts around the situation.

  “But?” Liliana questioned.

  Arhyen frowned. “That doesn’t explain why the masked man
wanted to lead us to Victor Ashdown, or why Viola is still after the journal, when the masked man already has it, unless it’s a triple cross. Viola is working with Clayton with the intention of crossing him, while the masked man is working with Viola, fully intending to cross her. The masked man started us on a search for Victor Ashdown, likely already knowing that he was missing. Viola is claiming credit for Victor Ashdown’s disappearance too. We can confidently state what both Viola and Clayton are after, and so, can predict their moves to some extent, but what is the masked man after?”

  Seeming to catch on, Liliana pursed her lips in thought. “He already has the journal, and seems to have no desire to capture me.”

  He nodded. The rain began to collect in his hair to drip down his nose. He wiped at it absentmindedly. “So the most logical step toward finding out just what he’s after, is to find out just what those formulae will create.”

  Liliana frowned. “We’ll need a skilled alchemist for that. I understand the formulae in theory, as in, I know which compounds are needed, but I don’t think I have the skill to actually create each recipe. Even if I could, we’d still just have an unknown compound. We’d have to use it on someone or something to know just what it does.”

  “But would a skilled alchemist be able to decipher what the formulae will create just by looking at them?” he pressed.

  She sighed and tilted her head, dripping water from her cap. “No, probably not. Most of alchemy is comprehended by doing it. Once you know what formulae will lead to a certain compound, you can replicate it. But when creating an unknown formula, you simply have to test the results.”

  Arhyen nodded. “So we test them.”

  Liliana shook her head. “But these formulae allegedly created my soul. It doesn’t seem wise to test them without knowing the possible consequences.”

  He shrugged. “Well the only other possibility is to ask Clayton or Viola, but I don’t think we’ll gain any answers that way. All we’ll gain is a short trip to the grave.”

  Liliana slouched against the bench with a sigh. He really should have gotten her out of the rain much sooner. She was absolutely soaked.

  “Come on,” he instructed, returning his cap to his head. “Let’s find some place to lie low until the rain dies down.”

  She nodded, and he stood to offer her a hand up. Her gloved hand felt so small and fragile in his, though he was beginning to realize that she was twenty times tougher than he’d ever be, both physically and emotionally. He paused to wipe a damp strand of wet hair off her cheek. She looked up at him, her blue eyes wide. Yes, she was strong, but she was also lost, just like him.

  Chapter 13

  Not long after Liliana and Arhyen began walking away from the park, the sky seemed to open up entirely, and they were caught in a torrential downpour. They ran, hand in hand, as water began to flood through the streets. The streets were void of life, all of London’s citizens having retreated from the rain. Liliana couldn’t help her grin. Her father had never allowed her to go out in the rain. Now she was running through the streets of London, splashing through the gathering water, hand in hand with someone who treated her not only like a person, but like an equal. It was exhilarating.

  Arhyen took a sudden turn, pulling her along, then stopped in front of a familiar building.

  Liliana looked up at the tall, gray brick home in surprise, lifting her hand to shield her eyes from moisture. “What are we doing here!” she called over the thunderous sound of the rain. They were standing directly in front Victor Ashdown’s home.

  With his free hand, Arhyen dug through his satchel and produced a key. “This is probably one of the last places Viola or Clayton would look for us,” he explained loudly. “I swiped the key from Ephraim’s office.”

  Liliana stared at him wide eyed. “Isn’t going in there against the law?” she questioned.

  Arhyen chuckled. “Says the girl who wants to become a thief.”

  She bit her lip, supposing he had a point.

  They hurried up the steps and unlocked the door, then retreated from the rain.

  Liliana breathed a sigh of relief as Arhyen locked the door behind them. The home was just as empty as the first time they’d visited. It appeared that nothing in the space had been moved since then. They should be safe, at least for a time.

  Standing in the entryway beside her, Arhyen extended a dripping-wet arm and removed the cap from her head, placing it on a coat rack near the door where he had placed his own. He then helped her out of her coat, hanging it beneath the hats. She plucked out the pins that now barely held her hair into a bun, then pushed the stray damp strands back from her face, glancing around warily.

  Arhyen stopped near the door to light the furnace, then moved to sit on the plush green sofa against the far wall, keeping his satchel with him. The man truly never went without the belonging.

  “You’re getting it all wet,” she chided, approaching him to gesture at the sofa.

  He smirked. “Well short of taking off my clothes, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

  Liliana found herself suddenly staring down at her feet in embarrassment. Her dress dripped a steady stream of water onto the ornately patterned carpet. She gasped and stepped away onto the bare wood floor.

  She caught Arhyen’s eye as he smiled and shook his head at her. “It’s just water. It will dry.”

  She frowned, forcing her chin up. Perhaps the water would dry, but she’d feel oddly guilty if anything got ruined. Wanting to draw attention away from the fact that she was still standing, she questioned, “What do we do now?”

  He shrugged and slouched down against the couch, making himself comfortable, though his wet shirt likely lessened the efficacy. “We wait out the rain, then we seek Ephraim.”

  Liliana fiddled with the wet sleeves of her dress, feeling suddenly nervous. She tried to tell herself it was because they were in Victor Ashdown’s home, but she felt it probably had more to do with the fact that she was soaking wet and alone with Arhyen, and there was only one sofa to sit on.

  He patted the sofa beside him. “It will dry,” he assured at her hesitant look.

  She really would have liked to shuck the wet clothing. Her dress was thoroughly soaked despite the shelter of her coat, but there was no way she was doing that with Arhyen in the room. She approached the sofa and sat down uncomfortably, spreading her soggy skirts beneath her.

  Arhyen visibly relaxed now that she was sitting, though underneath his easy expression he seemed utterly exhausted. Dark purple bags lined the bottom of his honey-colored eyes, and he was a little paler than usual. His hair dripped a slow stream of water down onto his face that he didn’t seem to notice.

  He pushed his hair back, flinging water aside, startling her with his sudden movement. “We really should find a way to dry off,” he commented. “Perhaps Ashdown’s daughter left some of her dresses here. You could wear one.”

  “I can’t steal one of her dresses!” she squealed, surprised by the suggestion.

  Arhyen’s eyes widened, then he laughed. “Really, you must tell me, what is it that you think thieves do?”

  She shrugged, then nestled a little more comfortably against the sofa. The furnace was beginning to warm the building, and would hopefully help to dry her clothes. “They steal alchemical journals, and ancient artifacts from hidden temples.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m guessing your father had some adventure novels to go along with the mysteries?”

  She looked down, embarrassed.

  He touched her cheek, bringing her gaze up to meet his. He seemed about to say something, then suddenly averted his gaze. “I’ll make us some tea,” he said quickly, then withdrew his hand. He stood and strode away from the sofa into the kitchen, leaving Liliana confused and still a bit embarrassed.

  Victor Ashdown’s kitchen, open to the rest of the room, was a little more replete than Arhyen’s, with a full-sized stove, ice box, wide porcelain sink, and thrice the number of storage cabinets.
She watched from the couch as he filled a copper kettle with water, then placed it on the stove. Not glancing in her direction, he began searching through the nearby cupboards, presumably for tea.

  Feeling anxious, she rose and journeyed into the kitchen area to aid him. She had only opened her first cupboard when Arhyen let out a low whistle. She looked to him curiously.

  He glanced at her, then back to the cupboard. “Come here a minute?” he asked.

  She joined him and peered into the cupboard to find neatly stacked plates on the lower shelf, and tea cups, turned upside down to keep out the dust, on the upper shelf. Confused, she looked back to him.

  She watched as he reached in and lifted one of the cups. Underneath it was a large gemstone, almost too large for the cup to have covered it. Its deep green facets reflected the light as Arhyen set the cup aside and lifted the gem into his hand. He held it up to the light and peered through it.

  “Now what do you suppose that was doing in there?” he questioned distantly.

  Liliana stared up at the gem in awe. It was lovely to look at, but difficult to identify. Her father had possessed numerous volumes on geology and the study of minerals, since many could be used in alchemy, but she could not recall any gemstones with such an odd and lustrous hue. Deciding to focus on more pertinent questions, she asked, “What should we do with it?”

  Arhyen continued to gaze at the gem. “Rule number four of becoming a thief,” he muttered. “Never leave behind a giant gemstone, if you can help it.”

  Liliana cleared her throat and glared at him.

  “What?” he asked, as if she were being absurd.

  She continued to glare. It wasn’t right to steal Victor Ashdown’s gemstone, even if the man himself was missing.

  Arhyen sighed and lowered the stone. “We at least should figure out what type of stone it is, and why it was hidden in his cupboard. It may help us to piece together the rest of this mystery.”

  She nodded curtly. “Then we’ll hand it over to Ephraim.”