“Piper.” Gee’s voice broke through her thoughts. “We’ll get to the capital as soon as we can. With luck we’ll catch her in the city before Doloman finds her.”
Gee’s voice was flat. Piper knew he was just trying to make her feel better—Anna had been gone too long. An express train would have her in Noveen and at Doloman’s doorstep long before the 401 got near the city.
Burying her face in her hands, Piper took a shuddering breath. No, she couldn’t lose control now. She needed to think. If she was going to rescue Anna, she would have to be ready to face Doloman.
Piper looked up and met Gee’s tense expression. Her gaze swept his overalls, bare feet, and tangled hair. Looking at him now, at the soot smudge on his face, no one would ever guess what he was. A chamelin, so powerful, fierce, and beautiful. No one would ever guess he had wings under his skin.
Just like no one would ever guess that Anna had machine parts under hers, or that Piper had magic in her hands that only machines could feel. It made Piper realize how little she really knew about her world and the people who inhabited it.
But maybe Doloman was just as ignorant about certain things. An idea started to take shape in Piper’s mind, a vague notion that became clearer minute by minute. “I have to go to the house,” she said, “the one on top of the hill. That’s where Raenoll’s vision ended. That’s where Anna said she’s going.”
“Doloman will never let you get close,” Jeyne said. “Once he’s got Anna, he won’t risk letting her go again.”
“I have to try,” Piper said. “If I go alone, maybe he’ll let me in.” She saw Gee stiffen. He opened his mouth to speak, but Piper headed him off. “Don’t you see? He has to be curious, wondering how a scrapper managed to revive Anna when everything he tried failed. He doesn’t know what I can do. If I offer to show him my magic, it would at least keep me alive long enough to get to her.”
“That’s crazy.” Jeyne shook her head. “The last thing you want to do is tell the king’s chief machinist what kind of power you have. Bad enough he knows what Anna is. Goddess knows what he would try to do with the two of you together.”
“I’m not going to give Doloman anything,” Piper said. “I’m going to rescue Anna. Like I said”—she glanced at Gee as she spoke—“he doesn’t know what I can do. The raiders didn’t either. That’s our advantage.”
Gee met Piper’s gaze. The two of them stared at each other for a long time as a quiet understanding flickered in Gee’s eyes and his expression softened. Slowly, he nodded. “The key will be to take him by surprise,” he said. “We’ll only get one chance.”
“Then we’re going to have to make sure we come up with an amazing plan,” Piper said.
Just as Piper had imagined a hundred different ways in which she might burn down King Aron’s factory, she had, since she started the journey with Anna, imagined at least a hundred different ways she might arrive in the capital. The 401 steaming into town, its shrill whistle a herald of Piper’s presence—Look here, the whistle proclaimed, here’s someone new in town, and are you ready for her?
Those times when she’d really let her imagination run wild, she’d pictured herself striding into Anna’s house, pushing her way past guards and servants to announce to the grieving parents within that she’d brought their lost daughter home to them. Then the grateful parents would fall all over themselves to hug Piper and shake her hand, offering her anything and everything they owned as a reward for returning their precious daughter.
At more subdued moments, she’d just hoped the guards and servants wouldn’t throw her out on her backside before she could explain herself.
Recently, she’d been hoping and hoping that inside the house on the hill they’d find someone who cared about Anna and would have the power to keep her safe.
None of those daydreams was going to come true.
When Piper arrived in Noveen, she wasn’t even on the 401. Gee flew her away before the train reached the city outskirts in case Doloman had assigned guards to stop the train. Her first glimpse of the capital was from the edge of the ocean, looking up at the city that perched on a cliff.
In the distance, she heard the 401’s whistle as it pulled into the city. The sound had a mournful note to it, as if the big old engine were wishing them to be safe, or maybe that was just Piper’s imagination acting up because she was scared.
The city view distracted her. Noveen was bigger than Piper had ever dreamed. Redbrick and cream-colored stone houses covered the base of the cliff. Situated next to them were the factories. They grew out of the lower part of the city like a black, oozing sore, and the smoke spread even farther, carried on the wind to twine around the houses and cast a pall over dozens of neighborhoods. Gradually, as the land sloped upward, the smoke thinned and disappeared altogether. The royal palace with its fortified stone walls occupied the city center, and everything else had grown up around it, the buildings and streets taking root on the cliff like a thick blanket of multicolored moss. The houses, Piper noticed, also got bigger and newer farther up the cliff. It wasn’t hard to guess where the house she’d seen in Raenoll’s vision would be—right at the peak, with the best view of the ocean.
The cliff itself fascinated Piper almost as much as the factories repelled her. Some industrious souls had tunneled passages up and down the rock face, and Piper could see lights and movement coming from within.
Gee saw where she was looking and pointed. “Those tunnels come out at different points in the city,” he explained. “They’re all sarnun homes.”
Of course, Piper thought. Underground homes just like in Tevshal, but here the view was so much better. The sarnuns could step to the mouths of the caves and smell the salt water, just soak it up with their feelers. The briny scent tickled Piper’s nose. She’d never smelled anything quite like the ocean. The movement of the water and her boots sinking in the sand combined to put her off balance, but she didn’t mind the sensation. Under different circumstances, she thought she could sit for hours staring at the blue expanse that stretched to the horizon. She felt peaceful listening to the waves crashing against the shore.
“We should go,” Piper said, turning away from the view. “Anna’s waiting for us.”
“You’ll know the house when you see it?” Gee asked.
“I’ll know,” Piper said.
Gee stepped away until he was standing up to his ankles in the water. Piper watched his shadow lengthen and widen, the wings unfold from his back. She turned and looked up at him as the tips of his wings temporarily blocked the sun. He leaned toward her and stretched out his clawed hands to lift her into his arms. Not long ago, Piper had been frightened at the thought of what those claws could do, but now she felt comforted by Gee’s arms around her.
They took off. The ocean swirled away beneath Piper’s feet. The colors of the distant city got brighter, the buildings taller. Gee beat his wings, and Piper clutched his granite shoulders as the cliff face rushed past. They cleared it and soared high above the city. The houses slipped by beneath them so fast, Piper had trouble making out many details, but she knew what she was looking for: columns around the entrance, fountain, opulent gardens. And she hoped they would find it fast. Every minute they were in the air was a chance Gee would be seen by someone on the ground.
“There!” she cried excitedly after Gee had circled the city once. “The gardens—see them? That’s the house. Try to land in those trees over there.”
Gee inclined his head and dove until they were gliding between trees in what appeared to be a small park nestled amid the houses in a private neighborhood. They touched down near a small pond hidden from the main street. Gee set Piper down and crouched beside the drooping pika branches.
Piper lifted her silver watch and checked the time. “I think an hour ought to do it,” she said. “Don’t try to come onto the grounds until you see my signal. Stay near the cliffs.” Gee inclined his head again and reached out to touch her shoulder. Piper laid her hand over his claw, squ
eezed, and smiled. “Let’s see how much trouble I can get into.”
The mansion was some distance away from where they’d landed. Piper set out along the wide cobblestone avenue, forcing herself to walk at a leisurely pace, when all she really wanted to do was run full out up to the mansion’s front gate.
Doloman’s house was bigger than Raenoll’s vision had suggested. The manicured lawns and carefully sculpted gardens enclosed the lower stories, and the upper windows facing the ocean ran from floor to ceiling. As Piper neared, she saw that an imposing wrought-iron fence enclosed the whole property, complete with a guarded gate. Only one man on watch, Piper noticed. That was unexpected—and suspicious.
She walked up to the gate, where the guard stood, and she noticed that he carried a revolver at his belt. “Can I help you, miss?” he asked.
Piper was careful to keep her expression serious. “Yes. I have an appointment to see Master Doloman,” she announced irritably—as if it was ridiculous that she’d already been kept waiting half a minute.
“I’m sorry, miss, but if you did, that appointment’s been canceled,” the guard said. “Master Doloman left strict orders that he wasn’t to be disturbed today.”
“Oh, really?” Piper had to struggle to stay calm—this was Doloman’s house. She put her hands on her hips and prayed the guard couldn’t see how she trembled. “I guess it’s pretty important if he thinks he can ignore an appointment with someone who has the mark of the Dragonfly.” She pulled up her sleeve to give the guard a brief glimpse of the dragonfly tattoo on her left arm before quickly covering it. She had to admit, Trimble had done a fantastic job on the fake, but it was still a fake—one the guard would be able to spot if he demanded a closer look. Piper hoped he wouldn’t.
“Look, I’m sorry, but I have my orders. Master Doloman is entertaining a very important guest today.”
“An important guest?” Piper’s heart sped up. The guard had to be talking about Anna—she was here. She pressed her lips together and nodded solemnly. “Well, then I suppose you’re going to have to give Master Doloman my message,” she said. Piper reached into her pocket and pulled out a tightly rolled piece of paper tied with a ribbon. “I’ll need you to read it back to me so that I can be sure you understand the message correctly.”
Obediently, the guard removed the ribbon and unrolled the piece of paper. It was blank and covered with a fine film of green dust. Before the guard could react, Piper took a step back, drew a deep breath, and blew out as hard as she could.
The dust hit the guard in the face. He sneezed wildly, waving his hands in front of his nose, but it was too late. His eyes glazed over, and his arms dropped to his sides. The paper drifted to the ground.
Piper felt sick to her stomach at what she’d just done. “I’m really sorry about this,” she said. She reached through the wrought-iron bars and unlatched the gate. The guard watched her pass with a blank expression. “All right, now you and I are going to walk up to the house.”
Piper put her hand through the guard’s arm and towed him across the lawn. She kept a smile plastered on her face and pretended to chat with him. She felt silly as she told him how lovely the gardens were with the flowers blooming.
Trimble had told her the slaver’s dust would be strong, but even having seen its effects on Doloman, Piper was shocked at how completely helpless it made the guard. She hoped it would wear off soon. “I’m sorry,” she whispered again, knowing the man wouldn’t remember her words later but needing to say it just the same. “But I have to get inside. It’s a matter of life and death.”
As they made their way slowly across the lawn, Piper noticed a small door on the side of the house, half hidden behind a trellis of climbing roses. It might be a servants’ entrance, she thought. If so, that was probably her best way in, or the way that was least likely to get her noticed.
Piper slipped the guard’s revolver off his belt and held it awkwardly at her side. She knew how to shoot a gun—she’d practiced a little with her dad’s old rifle—but maybe just pointing it would be enough to get her past any more obstacles that presented themselves.
When they reached the door, she positioned the guard on the opposite side of it, facing the lawn. With any luck, she’d have a few minutes’ head start before someone noticed he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.
Gently, she tried the door and found it unlocked. Again, a tremor of suspicion gripped Piper. This was too easy. Doloman should have had everyone on alert for a break-in. And why weren’t there more guards?
It doesn’t matter, Piper told herself. Even if it’s a trap. As long as it gets me to Anna.
She slipped inside and found herself in the middle of a narrow hallway running the length of the rear of the house. Now all she had to do was find her friend. She stood quietly, listening for signs of other people in the house. A house this size probably had several servants. She turned left and moved slowly along the hall. A few feet ahead of her was an open doorway, and she heard faint voices and the clank of pots and pans echoing from within.
Piper froze, and her heartbeat picked up. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Probably the kitchen, she thought. Since she wasn’t eager to try to cross in front of the open doorway unseen, she decided to turn back and go right. Keeping close to the wall, she crept along the length of the hall in the opposite direction, hoping as she went that a servant didn’t decide to pop his head out of the kitchen and see her.
Thankfully, she made it to the end of the hall without encountering anyone. There, Piper found another door that was also unlocked. She eased it open and found herself in a larger hallway adjacent to the main foyer. There was no one in sight.
Quickly, Piper crossed the foyer, passing beneath a huge crystal chandelier, to the base of a grand winding staircase. Sunlight streamed in through the upper windows, pooling on the white marble floor. She started up the stairs, past three portraits of aging men, some of them with black beards similar to the machinist’s.
At the top of the stairs, a hallway curved off to either side. Before she could decide which direction to take, movement from the far end of the left hall caught Piper’s attention. She crouched down by the stair rail as a woman came out of one of the rooms, followed closely by a man. They were dressed in identical gray slacks and white shirts with work aprons tied around their waists. The woman was agitated, gesturing sharply with her hands. Piper shrank lower as they came near.
“If he doesn’t want to come out, that’s his business, but the least he could do is offer his guest some refreshment. It’s just good manners is all I’m saying.” The man replied in a low voice Piper couldn’t hear, and the woman sniffed. “Yes, I left the tray outside the door for him, but if he comes for it in an hour, the tea will be cold and the biscuits hard. What good is it then?”
The woman kept talking as the pair passed Piper’s hiding place, oblivious to her crouched against the rail, and continued down the opposite hall. Piper waited until they were far enough away, then darted down the left hall and slipped through the door they’d come through.
To her surprise, she found herself in another passage—very small, almost a closet, with two doors situated adjacent to the hall door. A silver tray rested in front of the door on the right.
Piper stepped over the tray of goodies. The revolver held carefully in one hand, she laid her other hand on the doorknob. For a moment, Piper felt a surge of fear at what she might find behind the door. But before she had time to let any doubts creep in, she gripped the knob and turned it.
The room beyond was lit by sunlight streaming in through the ocean-view windows. A crimson and mahogany rug covered the floor, and between the broad windows was a white marble fireplace. A bronze statue—an elephant fighting a dravisht raptor—stood at one end of the mantel, a clock at the other. In the center of the timepiece was a painting of a mechanical dragonfly.
Piper had expected some kind of lab—a metal room with examining tables, vials of chemicals, vats of strange mixtures
bubbling over a fire—but not this … sitting room? Her gaze took in a large desk against the right-hand wall. A sofa covered in gold and crimson brocade stood opposite it near the fireplace.
Lying on the sofa, covered to her chin by a red wool blanket, was Anna. And she appeared to be asleep. Time seemed to stop, and for a second Piper couldn’t move; she just stood frozen in the doorway. Then a door behind the desk opened with a soft creaking sound. Piper hadn’t noticed the door on her first sweeping glance of the room. She tensed, clutching the revolver, as Doloman stepped through.
He carried a stack of papers, which he laid on the desk. He stopped in the middle of arranging them and slowly raised his head to look at Piper.
“Well, hello, little scrapper,” Doloman said.
Jeyne stood in the engine room of the 401, letting her metal fingers trace the words written on the piece of paper the guard had given her. The king’s guards had boarded the train almost as soon as they’d pulled into the station—not that Jeyne was surprised. She said as much to the man in charge.
“What does surprise me,” she went on as she scanned the paper, “is that I’m not seeing King Aron’s signature on this request.”
The guard’s face reddened. “With respect, ma’am, this isn’t a request. The chief machinist orders you to turn over the girl who accompanied Miss Anna on her journey to the capital.”
“Well, that’s where we disagree, sir,” Jeyne said. “My ‘orders’ as regards this train come from King Aron. Notes from his chief lackey are ‘requests’ as far as I’m concerned. I’m not obliged to hand over anything to you.”
Jeyne knew she should just tell the guard that Piper wasn’t on the 401, but she didn’t like the way he and the others had stormed onto the train as if they owned it, bossing her and everyone else around. She was still in charge here, until the king himself told her differently.
“You’re defying the Dragonfly’s own advisor,” the guard sputtered. “I could haul your entire crew off this train and—”
The Mark of the Dragonfly Page 25