The Gossamer Crown: Book One of The Gossamer Sphere

by Conway, Melissa

  Lizbeth took a steadying breath and said, “We have a little situation. Do either of you have anything sharp and thin on you like, say, a bobby pin?”

  She sat in frustrated silence as Kevin patted himself down and Zach began unzipping and checking inside all the myriad pockets of his backpack. He produced a pen, she shook her head; he held up a flash drive, she shook her head; he pulled a plastic comb out and she said, “Stop showing me things that are not sharp and thin!” The boat drifted past the end of the berth.

  “Someone’s coming,” Kevin said.

  Lizbeth glanced up. Two men had just stepped onto the dock. They appeared to be chatting and laughing as they walked, but they were headed their way. Through gritted teeth, she said, “I can’t start this thing without a key or a reasonable facsimile thereof.”

  Zach came forward and knelt between the front seats. He put his hand on the dashboard next to the steering wheel and closed his eyes. His face was so close she felt his breath on her cheek. “What are you doing?”

  “Caitlin started a truck just by putting her hand on the steering column,” he said.

  Kevin put his hand on the dash a couple of inches away from Zach’s. “Well if we’re going to do this, we’d better do it fast. Those guys are going to notice us any second now.”

  Lizbeth set her hand next to Zach’s, too, feeling like an idiot. She believed him when he said Caitlin started that truck, but none of them was Caitlin, despite the fact that she’d chosen them. In her whole life, Lizbeth had never done anything as impossible as start a vehicle with just her, what, mind? Her willpower? She’d learned how to mimic the impossible by perfecting her father’s magic tricks. Smoke and mirrors and prestidigitation did not cause motors to start without the cold hard reality of a key.

  She closed her eyes. In her mind, she heard her grandmother drumming a voodoo chant. It worked because Granma’s clients believed.

  I believe.

  She did believe. The evidence was all over the news. The earth was in very real jeopardy and she believed that Caitlin could stop it. But Caitlin wasn’t here.

  I believe in me. I believe in me! No matter how fiercely she thought it, it rang false in her mind. Her hand on the dash was cold.

  She heard the men’s footsteps now. One of them called out, “Do you need a hand there?”

  Lizbeth looked at her hand and had an epiphany. She lifted it from the dash and placed it across Kevin and Zach’s, creating a bridge. The engine roared to life.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Thames River

  In the back of the boat, Zach wasn’t protected by the narrow windshield and every time the hull hit a rough patch of water, he got a face full of spray. They were slowly gaining on The Gossamer, even though Lizbeth drove like an old granny. She’d pointed out that none of the other boats on the water were making much of a wake, which indicated there was a speed limit. The last thing he wanted was to attract the British version of the coast guard, so he swallowed his complaints about the slowness and sat back on the moist cushions. After a few calming breaths, the unhurried pace stopped bothering him.

  He thought about the ship they were chasing, about who might be piloting it. The original owners and half the crew had died years ago, presumably from having contact with the crown. His mind conjured an unbidden image of the sick blonde scientist in the ambulance with her blood-red eyes. Was she dead now, too? What about him and Kevin and Lizbeth – did they have enough of the “ancient blood” to protect them if they found the crown? He supposed so, or why else would Caitlin have picked them?

  Lizbeth had followed directly behind The Gossamer. As they neared, the motorboat bumped along in the bubbly wake. Zach coughed when a cloud of spent fuel from the old diesel-powered ship wafted across the motorboat’s bow. Over the rumble of the ship’s engines, he heard the motorboat’s rpm’s increase as Lizbeth changed course to come alongside.

  He knew she was going to say it even before she raised her voice to be heard over the noise. “Now what?”

  In the near dark, Zach saw Kevin offer a useless shrug. Zach looked at the side of the ship, at a complete loss as to how they were supposed to get aboard. Then a man appeared at the rail, and another. There was just enough light on deck that Zach could see the men wore some kind of uniform. He felt his stomach clench in apprehension.

  Lizbeth turned to him with a panic-stricken face. “Why are they dressed like that?”

  “Let’s hope it’s just a formal crew.”

  Zach heard a faint shout and a third man joined the first two, taller and older, with a cap on his head that gave him an air of authority.

  “This may not have been one of my best ideas,” Lizbeth said.

  “Can we make a run for it?” Kevin asked.

  “Not without stopping for gas first,” Lizbeth replied.

  Moments later, the ship’s engines wound down. Once the huge vessel slowed enough, someone on board extended a ladder. Lizbeth flipped the boat’s fenders over the side while Kevin tied the mooring rope to the ladder.

  Zach went first, emptying his mind of thoughts and emotions with every step. At the top, he swung his legs over the side and dropped lightly onto the deck, ready for anything. To his left stood two men who wore dark jackets and some sort of floatation device with the prominent label “Metropolitan Police.” Zach had no doubt they were part of a marine unit, but he didn’t give them more than an assessing glance. His full focus was for the older man in the cap, and not just because he was clearly in charge.

  Lizbeth and Kevin came aboard behind him and she placed her hand on his waist. “Do you feel it?” she asked softly.

  Zach was certain that the man in front of them had the crown on his person or had been in contact with it recently. He radiated the same sort of almost electrical energy as Caitlin. Zach nodded his head once to acknowledge Lizbeth’s question and gave her a quick warning look.

  The man ran his eyes over the three of them almost dismissively. In an accent that sounded just like Len’s, he said, “I’m Chief Inspector Griffey. What is your business with this ship?”

  The lights on the ship were reflected in Griffey’s eyes like spinning pinpoints.

  Zach’s plan had vaguely involved storming the ship and fighting his way to the crown, but that was before he knew it was crawling with cops. He didn’t have time to muster up a good lie, however, because the Chief Inspector’s face suddenly fell into a fierce frown and he stepped towards him threateningly.

  “What do you know about the-”

  He stopped and his eyes flicked to the officers. Zach noticed his chin came up slightly as he regained control. To his men, he said, “Bring them to the captain’s quarters.”

  If he’d been alone, Zach would have taken out the two officers and leapt overboard. He had no idea if Lizbeth and Kevin could swim, though. Besides, after that display, his interest in the Chief Inspector was piqued and he wanted to hear what the man had to say. His outburst made no sense at all.

  The Captain’s Quarters were not impressive. Paneled in a dark wood circa 1960, the room smelled like a cross between foreign cheese and a musty old cigar. The Chief Inspector sat at a scarred desk and after Zach and the others were seated in front of him, gestured to his men to leave.

  “Who are you?” he asked, looking at Zach.

  “Zach Wong.”

  The Chief Inspector placed his cap on the desk, revealing close-cropped black hair with traces of gray at the temples. His long fingers adjusted the cap just so in the center of the leather blotter, and he smiled, looking anything but amused. In the light of the desk lamp, his green eyes glittered.

  “How did you know about the crown?” he asked.

  Zach went cold. Either the Chief Inspector was jumping to a conclusion because they’d chased after this ship, or he’d read Zach’s mind. Which meant Zach hadn’t sensed the crown, he’d sensed Griffey.

  Zach said, “Chief Inspector Griffey, did you say? Brian Griffey?”

  “The cro
wn, Mr. Wong. Who told you about it?”

  Zach emptied his mind as the Chief Inspector stared him down. He thought of the lotus blossom painting in his mother’s parlor and how the light from the late afternoon sun highlighted the dust motes in his bedroom.

  “Very clever,” the Chief Inspector murmured. “I have to assume we have a mutual friend. An incarcerated friend.”

  Lizbeth spoke up for the first time. “She thought you died on the Titanic.”

  Brian Griffey produced a feral grin, and then his nose thinned, his lips plumped and his hair sprouted almost instantly into curls reaching down to narrow and newly feminine shoulders under Griffey’s uniform. In a husky falsetto, he said, “Women and children first.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Thames River

  Kevin had barely recovered from the shock of the three of them starting the boat without a key when he witnessed Griffey change into a woman. Griffey didn’t hold the change for long, and the reformation of his features was even weirder than the original change had been. Kevin shuddered when the shapeshifter’s long, black hair silently sucked back into his skull, like enthusiastically eaten spaghetti. The creepiest part was how attractive he’d been.

  Once Griffey transformed back to his normal, intimidating visage, he said, “Why don’t you tell me about your business dealings with Caitlin.”

  “We’re just friends,” Lizbeth said. “Better friends than you.”

  Kevin wasn’t sure what she hoped to accomplish by baiting Griffey. This was a man who’d just bragged about taking some doomed woman’s seat in a lifeboat. When Caitlin spoke of him, even though she’d shown little emotion, Kevin got the impression his supposed death had affected her deeply. And yet, here he was, not only very much alive, but a shapeshifter, too, something Caitlin had failed to mention. Plus, Griffey was now a high-ranking law enforcement officer. Did he have something to do with her arrest?

  Griffey narrowed his eyes at Lizbeth. “Caitlin doesn’t make friends. She has, however, clearly shared some – classified – information with you, and I’m at a loss as to why she would do that. I don’t like not knowing things.”

  There was an implied threat in the words, and Kevin sensed rather than saw Zach go on alert.

  “You mean about the crown? Why do you think she told us?” Lizbeth asked. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the earthquakes and volcanoes.”

  Griffey blinked, but otherwise didn’t react. That one blink and the blank stare that followed told Kevin that Griffey had no idea the crown had anything to do with the current state of the world. He confirmed it when he asked, “Are you saying whoever has the crown is causing it?”

  “Can it do that?” Kevin asked. Caitlin had never explained exactly why they needed the crown.

  Griffey laughed. “Typical Caitlin. Only tell them what they need to know.”

  Kevin suspected Caitlin told them what she thought they would believe, when they were ready to believe it, but he didn’t say as much.

  “The crown is going to stop what’s happening to the world,” Lizbeth said. “And it sounds to me like you know even less about it than we do.”

  “Well, why don’t we pool our information, then?” Griffey said. “First tell me what makes you three so special.”

  “And give away our advantage?” Zach asked. If Kevin didn’t know Zach was bluffing, he’d be convinced by the confidence in his voice.

  “Oh, you have no advantage,” Griffey began, but his cell phone rang. He flipped it open to look at the display before taking the call. The volume was up so loud Kevin heard the entire conversation.

  The tinny voice of the caller said, “Caitlin O’Connor has escaped.”

  Griffey’s lips thinned into a furious line and he hissed, “When?”

  “The guard was found in her cell, dressed in her clothes-”

  “I didn’t ask how. When?”

  “We don’t know. Hours probably.”

  Griffey snapped the phone shut and stood. “Consider yourselves under arrest.”

  He posted two officers to guard the door, and left without another word.

  Zach said, “Did you guys hear that? Caitlin’s out.”

  “I heard. I also hear that,” Kevin said, referring to the renewed sound of the ship’s engines. His stomach lurched a little in apprehension. “We’re moving again.”

  Lizbeth hurried over to a bank of wooden file cabinets against the wall behind the captain’s desk. “We probably don’t have much time then. Let’s see what we can find out.”

  The cabinets were locked, but the desk drawer had all sorts of junk in it, and it didn’t take long for Lizbeth to find a suitable tool. Kevin was impressed by how quickly she picked each of the locks. He and Zach began to look through the files. Kevin kept glancing over his shoulder, expecting someone to catch them at their clumsy snooping, especially after the ship stopped moving again. They’d been digging through what seemed like hundreds of files for over an hour when Zach said, “Here.”

  He placed a thick file on the desk and they huddled around it. It appeared to be a crew manifest dating from the ship’s maiden voyage to its last. Zach started to read the names out loud, but Kevin held up a hand.

  “Shh—what’s that?”

  The others lifted their heads and listened for a moment. With the cessation of their movements in the cabin, the sounds from the ship seemed hollow and ghostly.

  Zach looked back down at the file. “It’s just the guards.”

  Lizbeth went to the door and pressed her ear to it. After a moment she waved them over. Kevin put his head against the cold metal door on one side of Lizbeth and Zach on the other. It was faint, but he could hear the guards’ conversation.

  One officer was saying, “I don’t understand why we’re moving this bucket of rust. Ship feels haunted. They say seventeen people died on board.”

  The other officer replied, “Boat wasn’t secure where it was. Griffey thinks there’s evidence here someone might try to hide. And those people that died—he’s linked it to the new deaths on that drill ship.”

  “Marine command always jump when Griffey calls?”

  “Thames Counter-Terrorist Partnership is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? Thank Al-Qaeda.”

  An echo of footsteps from the corridor heralded someone’s arrival.

  Kevin straightened. “Someone’s coming.”

  Zach rushed to the desk, tore the top pages from the file and stuffed them in his pocket as Lizbeth tossed the file under the desk. They scrambled for their seats and acted nonchalant when the door opened.

  Griffey entered, followed by another man.

  “I suspect you’re all acquainted,” Griffey said.

  Bill Masters looked directly into Kevin’s eyes and nodded.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  The North Sea

  Lizbeth thought she’d been confused before, but when Bill Masters showed up, she became, as Granma liked to say, completely confuzzled.

  Bill looked around the Captain’s quarters and asked, “Where’s Caitlin?”

  Griffey gestured to the officer hovering in the corridor to take a position outside the door. He closed it and made a rueful face. “I apologize. I told you she was here, but she’s not. Until recently, we’ve had her tucked away in a high security cell.”

  “What? Why?” Bill asked.

  Griffey stepped back from Bill’s vehemence and moved to put the desk between them before answering. “We were holding her for questioning. There were no charges, except of course now her escape has racked up a whole slew of them.”

  Bill’s baffled expression deepened. “Escape…questioning for what?”

  “I’m not at liberty to divulge that. Ongoing investigation.”

  Lizbeth frowned. If Griffey was responsible for Caitlin’s arrest, why didn’t he know who Lizbeth, Kevin and Zach were? She thought about their panicked flight from the officers in London. If the police hadn’t pegged them as terrorist associates of Caitlin’s, then Lizbe
th’s pick-pocketing had gotten them in trouble after all. She felt a flush of shame work its way up her neck.

  “So why have you brought me here?” Bill asked. He looked down and ran his eyes over Lizbeth and the others.

  Griffey sucked air between his teeth. “As we speak, a dozen hazmat-suited officers are searching the drill ship.”

  Bill looked like he’d been slapped in the face. “Do you have a warrant?”

  “It’s been served on the captain, but you could save us all some time by telling me where it is.”

  “Where what is? The core sample?”

  Griffey snorted a humorless laugh. “The crown, Masters. I know it was on your ship. You may have convinced the health authorities that those people died from natural causes, but I’ve seen that illness before.”

  “The crown has never been on my ship.”

  “But you do know about it. Are you Guild?”

  “What?”

  Whatever “Guild” meant, Griffey seemed to take Bill’s response as a “no,” because he went on to ask, “What did Caitlin tell you about the crown?”

  “Enough.”

  Griffey sighed. “How do you know her?”

  Bill spread his hands. “Look. Caitlin hired me to salvage the crown from Titanic, but we were ordered to stop looking and someone else got to it first. I couldn’t even tell you what it looks like.”

  “Then what infected those scientists on board your ship?”

  Bill compressed his lips.

  Griffey stared at Bill with the same intensity he’d directed at Zach earlier. Lizbeth thought about how Caitlin had spoken to her mind-to-mind that first day, when her father’s incantation had echoed in her head. She suspected Griffey, too, had some level of mind-reading ability, and was exercising that skill now. Finally, he said, “Tell me about the core sample.”

  “You wouldn’t believe me.”

  Lizbeth felt the hair on the back of her neck stir. For a second, she thought Griffey was exuding some kind of energy, but then Zach stiffened in his chair like he was having an epileptic fit, and Kevin muttered, “Not again.” She looked at Griffey and saw him wince. It made sense that if they could feel it and Caitlin could feel it, Griffey would, too.