“Yeah. I want to take a look at that plasma gun.”
The clockwork pushed a second set of steps to the passenger side. Max scrambled up and sat next to Logan. There was a steering wheel in front of Logan and a throttle between the seats.
“Put this on,” Logan said, handing Max a wireless headset. Then he placed the key in the ignition, and the instrument panel lit up. “Everybody clear out there?”
“You’re good to go!” Monti shouted.
“What about you?” Logan said as the hatch closed.
Max gave him a thumbs-up as the garage door on the exterior wall opened. Rain and wind swept across as clouds swirled overhead.
“Hold on.” Logan turned the ignition. Silver flames leaped from the exhaust pipes as the aerocar started to shake. When he pushed on the throttle, the Jaguar shot out the door and into the open air. The thrust from the takeoff was so powerful that it pinned Max to the back of his seat.
Logan pulled back on the steering wheel, and the nose of the Jaguar lifted. He accelerated and the aerocar burst forward, rising into the sky as rain pelted the windshield. Logan flicked a switch, turning on the wipers. Then he sent the Jaguar into a roll. It spun like a corkscrew as it continued to climb. Max felt his stomach flip, just like it did whenever he rode a roller coaster.
“Not bad,” Logan said as the aerocar shot into a bank of clouds, where there was no visibility. When they broke free of the clouds, Logan leveled out.
“What happens if we crash?” Max asked. They were going so fast that everything outside was a blur.
Logan laughed. He pulled back on the steering wheel. The aerocar rose higher, spinning again. Max closed his eyes as he felt his lunch climb up his throat. Then Logan banked hard to the left. The Jaguar rolled. If it weren’t for the seat belt, Max would have been thrown into the hatch.
“You look a little green,” Logan said. Then he smiled.
Max kept his eyes straight ahead.
“What do you say we head back into the city for a bit?” Logan said. “I told the chief constable that we’d help him with patrols until he can get a lead or two.”
“Do you really think it’s changelings from our school?”
“It’s hard to say,” Logan said as he turned the aerocar back toward New Victoria. “They’d have to get past Nipkin first, and we both know that’s no easy task.”
“It might be easier than you think.”
“Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Max wouldn’t look Logan in the eyes. Of course, thanks to Natalia, he knew that one of the tells of being guilty was the avoidance of eye contact, so he concentrated on his shoes and didn’t say anything.
“Listen to me,” Logan said with furrowed brows. “If those kids are wandering the streets of Bludgeon Town looking for trouble, they’ll find all they want and more. They’re either going to end up in a slaver’s net or dead. Do you want that on your head?”
The last thing that Max wanted was to get Ernie angrier with him, but it was better than Ernie getting kidnapped, or worse. Max sighed and his shoulders slumped, but he still didn’t look at Logan. “They found a way to turn their inhibitors off,” he finally said.
Logan clenched his jaws before he pushed the throttle to maximum speed. The engine roared as they tore through the rain, heading straight to Bludgeon Town.
PART TWO
HUNTED
PATROL DUTY
“Are you going to tell Nipkin?” Max asked.
“What do you think?”
“We don���t have any proof.”
“What about common sense?” Logan said. “Ernie is upset. He rallied the changelings to make a preemptive strike before any more changelings get kidnapped. Sound about right?”
“If you say something, he’s going to hate me.”
Logan took a deep breath.
“Please,” Max said.
“I’m not making any promises,” Logan said. He could see that Max was torn between keeping his friend’s secret and possibly saving him from danger. “Look, why don’t you take the controls for a bit?”
Max looked out the window. The world was a blur.
“I don’t know.”
“It’s either that or we crash,” Logan said. As the dash unfolded, revealing a second steering wheel, he folded his hands behind his head.
“What are you doing?” Max asked before grabbing the steering wheel. The nose dipped. All Max could see through the windshield was water.
“You might want to pull back a touch,” Logan said.
Max overcompensated. This time the nose shot straight up. His stomach lurched.
“Take a deep breath,” Logan said. “Then level her out nice and slow. She’ll do whatever you tell her. And you might want to open your eyes. We’re closing in on the docks.”
Max could see an armada of boats moored in the bay. Wooden buildings dotted the shoreline beyond. Overhead, a zeppelin was anchored to a loading tower. Moments later the aerocar buzzed over a cluster of streets where peddlers were selling their wares to sailors and fishermen.
“Head toward those chimneys,” Logan said.
Max nudged the steering wheel to the left.
“You might want to steer clear of that bell tower,” Logan said.
This time, Max jerked the controls to the right, sending the aerocar into a corkscrew. The wing clipped a brick wall, and the aerocar ricocheted.
Logan grabbed his steering wheel before pulling them out of the roll.
“Thanks,” Max said. His heart was pounding, and his palms itched.
Logan gave the controls back to Max, who managed to avoid a network of clotheslines loaded with dingy laundry. Then he maneuvered around smokestacks and a seagull.
“I don’t see any activity down there. Maybe we should head back so Harley can have a turn,” Max said.
“Hold on,” Logan said. He took out a pair of binoculars.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think we found the Agents of Justice.”
Logan grabbed the steering wheel before pushing the throttle forward. The engine roared as the aerocar shot toward Bludgeon Town. Max took the binoculars. He could see a man in a skullcap surrounded by six children in masks.
“Can you see Tweeny?”
“I don’t think so,” Max said. He adjusted the settings to get a wider view. There was movement in a window. Someone was holding a rifle. Max pushed the binoculars at Logan.
“What’s wrong?” Logan asked through clenched teeth.
“A sniper.”
“You’re going to have to bring us in,” Logan said. He let go of the steering wheel before reaching back to grab a duffel bag.
“What?”
The aerocar dipped to the right. Max grabbed the steering wheel, and they leveled off. Logan pulled out a dart gun. He attached the barrel before loading the chamber. Then he flipped another switch, and the hatch opened up. Wind tore through the cab, blowing Max’s hair like a wheat field in a storm.
“Time to go to sleep,” Logan said as he looked through the scope. He squeezed the trigger. With a pop, a tranquilizer dart shot from the barrel. It hit the man in the window.
Twenty slavers rushed out from the shadows and into the alley. One pulled out a net. It spun through the air before latching around one of the masked vigilantes.
More nets flew. One of the children raised a hand. Blue liquid sprayed from her palm. It encased one of the nets in ice, stopping the net in midair before it fell to the ground and shattered.
“We have to help them!” Max yelled as the slavers closed in.
“Listen to me,” Logan said. “I’m going down there, and you’re heading back to the lab.”
Max watched as two of the children were trying to free a third who had been caught in a net.
Logan grabbed Max by the arm. “Did you hear me?”
Max nodded.
“Look out!”
They were headed toward an apartment building when Max pulled back
on the steering wheel, narrowly dodging it. Silver flames shot out from the exhaust as they broke into the open sky. Max could feel his heart pounding. His palms were sweating, and he worried about holding on to the steering wheel.
“Head back around,” Logan said.
Max pulled back on the throttle to cut their speed and then banked hard to the left.
“Lower,” Logan said.
Max pushed forward on the steering wheel. The aerocar dropped below the roofline and into a patch of fog. The only light was from the gas lamps. Logan put his dart gun behind the seat and removed his seat belt before standing up.
“What are you doing?” Max asked. His eyes were wide.
“Keep her steady.”
“Logan!”
The aerocar passed over the slavers. Logan jumped with his arms and legs stretched wide. He landed on one of the slavers and knocked him unconscious.
As Max brought the aerocar out of the streets and into the sky, he could hear Logan breathing heavily through the communication link. The hatch clicked shut.
“Head back to Monti’s,” Logan said.
Max was already heading back to the street. “But—”
“It’s not open for discussion.”
Max looked for a radio to call for backup, but he couldn’t find one. There were too many controls, and he couldn’t focus long enough without risking a wreck. Then something crashed down from above. A clockwork landed on the wing, and the aerocar dipped to the right. There was another thud. The nose dipped. A second clockwork was standing on the hood.
Max pulled back on the steering wheel before he slammed the throttle to full, but the aerocar flew in reverse. It slammed into a wall, shuddering as loose bricks fell across the trunk. Both clockworks lost their balance and fell over the side.
“Get out of here before more of those things show up,” Logan said through the headset.
“How do you go forward?”
“Green switch on the left.”
Max flipped it. He pushed the throttle while pulling back on the steering wheel and shot into the sky. “Sorry,” Max said, “but I’m not leaving you down there.”
Max turned around, and the quick motion made his stomach jump into his throat. He headed back to the alley.
“Let’s see what else this thing can do,” he muttered as he randomly flipped switches and pressed buttons.
A monitor lowered from the ceiling. It gave Max a view of the two clockworks that were chasing him on a flying hybrid of a motorcycle and a snowmobile. Bolts of energy exploded from guns mounted to the vehicles.
Max banked hard right, then left. He wove through chimneys and skirted past steeples. So did the clockworks. They opened fire, peppering the aerocar with plasma bolts. One hit the left wing. Max could see smoke billowing from the engine.
He jammed the throttle forward. The streets below blurred. He was closing in on an abandoned warehouse, but Max didn’t change course. He could feel his sweat dripping down his cheeks.
“This better work.”
He closed his eyes. Then, at the last possible moment, he pulled back on the throttle. At the same time, he yanked the steering wheel until the nose of the aerocar pointed straight up. Max pushed the throttle to full thrust. The aerocar shot into the sky. He could feel the hull scrape against brick. Sparks flew, and the aerocar rattled.
Max glanced at the screen. The clockworks couldn’t pull away, and they crashed into the wall. There was an explosion. Fire. Metal. Brick. Max headed back to the alley. By the time he got there, constables were swarming everywhere. Some held slavers in handcuffs. Others searched behind trash bins.
“I thought I told you to head back,” Logan said through his headset.
“I ran into some trouble.”
“I can see that.”
“Do you want a ride?”
Max could hear Logan sighing. “That was a nice bit of flying.”
“Thanks.”
“You know, I’m starting to think you don’t need me.”
“Yeah, right.”
“That day is coming sooner than you think.”
THE PRICE OF FAME
After the incident, Max had to endure two hours of monotonous questioning from Chief Constable Oxley. When it was over, Max wasn’t sure if he was a suspect or if he was going to get the key to the city. Either way, it was better than what he had to deal with the next morning. A picture of Max flying the aerocar had made the front page of the Chronicle.
From the moment he stepped foot into the subway depot, Max was the center of attention. He was peppered with an endless string of questions, most notably from the Toad brothers.
At school, people pointed and whispered as he walked down the halls. Then, in class, a boy named Winston Ainsworth asked Max for an autograph.
“Go on,” Harley said. “You’re a celebrity now.”
“You don’t have to make it out to anybody,” Winston said, holding out a piece of paper. “Just sign your name.”
Max was blushing as he signed his name. Then Winston went back to his desk and folded it carefully before sliding the autograph into a protective sheet of plastic.
When Max went to grab his DE Tablet from under his desk, he caught Ernie glowering at him. They locked eyes for a moment, but Max turned away, wondering what he’d done this time.
Max felt anger starting to rise in him. He wanted to ask Ernie what his problem was. After all, Max thought, he’d risked his life to help save Ernie’s friends. He didn’t ask for the attention. If anything, Max hated it.
By lunch, Max had signed more than twenty autographs. One of the maintenance clockworks had even asked for a signature, so Max decided to eat lunch in the courtyard to avoid further embarrassment.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Harley said as Max walked down the hallway with his tray. Sprig was padding next to him as a white tiger.
“Out.”
“If you want to be a hero, you’re going to have to get used to the fans.”
“I never wanted to be a hero.”
“Stop being so sensitive,” Harley said.
Sprig growled as they walked out the door and into the courtyard.
“Save it,” Harley said.
“Why aren’t you sitting with Natalia?” Max asked.
Harley shrugged. “A bunch of girls took over our table.”
“Was Brooke there?”
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Brooke was there.”
“I figured.”
Harley sat down on the ledge of a fountain filled with sparkling fish. Max took the stone bench across from him. The seat was damp from the morning rain. It was chilly out, but the sky had cleared up enough to make it tolerable.
“So Logan isn’t going to tell Nipkin about the inhibitors?” Harley asked before taking a bite of his turkey sandwich.
“Not yet.”
“Did you recognize any of the kids in the masks?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What did you tell Oxley?”
“He had a book filled with pictures of all the changelings, but I couldn’t identify anybody. I told him they were all wearing masks.”
“Do you think he believed you?”
“It’s hard to say,” Max said as he poked at the noodles in his chicken soup.
“The article in the Chronicle mentioned they’d caught seven of the slavers, but none of them are talking. They wouldn’t even tell the constables their names.”
“They’re probably scared of Von Strife.”
“I can’t blame ’em,” Harley said. “By the way, we fixed the jam in that plasma gun. Monti let me shoot a few rounds. You should see what it did to that mannequin.”
“I bet,” Max said, not hiding his sullen tone.
“What’s wrong?” Harley said. “You just saved the lives of six changelings. You should be on top of the world.”
�
��Tell that to Ernie.”
“You can’t do anything about the way he’s acting, so you might as well get over it.”
“I guess.” Max slurped down a few spoonfuls of soup before pushing his tray aside. The wind picked up, shaking the shrubs as spray from the fountain splashed against his cheek.
Natalia and Brooke were already at their desk by the time Max walked into Obadiah Strange’s class with Sprig in tow. They didn’t notice Max as he slid into his desk, but Honeysuckle did. She had been tending to a plant that hung next to the window. When she saw Max, she zipped down to whisper something in Brooke’s ear.
“When did you get here?” Natalia asked.
“A couple of minutes ago.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“We missed you at lunch.”
Max felt his eyes roam to Brooke before turning back to Natalia. “I ate in the courtyard.”
“In this weather?”
Max shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad.”
Water was dripping from Harley’s long bangs as he took a seat next to Max. Then Ernie and the Toad brothers walked in, but Obadiah Strange and the other changelings were nowhere to be found.
“I don’t know if it’s such a good idea,” Todd said.
“Yeah, you guys really messed up.”
Ernie shot his hand over Ross’s mouth. “Not here,” Ernie said as his eyes darted across the room.
“Are you three talking about the Agents of Justice?” Natalia asked.
“No,” Ernie said.
“Oh, really, then what were you talking about?”
“That’s confidential,” Todd said.
“Yeah,” Ross said. “Confidential.”
“It’s kind of hard to keep a secret when you’re on the front page every morning.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Ernie said. “Maybe you should talk to Max about that. Or has he been too busy signing autographs?”
“Why are you acting like such a brat?” Natalia asked.
Obadiah Strange walked through the door with three of the missing changelings.
“Sorry we’re late,” he said. “We had a little matter to clear up.”
Hale, Yi, and Raven took their seats as Strange placed his briefcase on his desk.
Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #2: The Relic Hunters Page 8