Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #2: The Relic Hunters

by Derek Benz; J. S. Lewis

  Ernie stared at the gift before bouncing them in his hand. “They’re amazing.”

  Max noticed that Ernie was wearing a black armband with the letters RH written in white. Max smiled, though the expression was laced with sadness. He was certain the band was in homage to their fallen friend, Robert Hernandez. “Where did you get that?” he asked.

  Ernie looked down at the armband. “My mom made it.”

  “Anyway.” Max didn’t know what else to say.

  “Yeah, I better get back in line.” Ernie hesitated before walking back to stand next to Hale.

  Max turned around to watch Xander hand Ms. Butama his goggles.

  “These are beautiful,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Xander said. “My dad had them custom-made in Milan. I think they’ve turned out pretty okay.”

  “I would say so.”

  When it was his turn in line, Max opened the drawstrings of his pouch and dumped his new knucklebones into Ms. Merical’s palm.

  “You look exhausted,” she said.

  “I was up kind of late last night.”

  “Yes, I heard about Monti. That’s terrible.”

  “The doctors want to run some more tests, but I guess he’s up and walking around,” Max said.

  “I’m glad to hear it.” Ms. Merical retrieved the knucklebones from the measuring scale and handed them back to Max. “They run that poor man ragged. What he needs is a nice vacation somewhere warm.”

  Max placed the knucklebones back into his pouch. Ms. Merical reached out and took him by the wrist. “Your grandfather would have been so proud of the young man that you’ve become,” she said. Then she let go before patting him on the top of his hand. “You go on now, and good luck.”

  Ms. Butama, the Bounder Care teacher, was seated next to Ms. Merical. Though she was born in Nairobi, she’d spent most of her youth in London, where she picked up her accent. “So this is it,” she said as Max handed her his Kinematic goggles. “What will you do if you win?”

  Max shrugged. “My mom thinks we should invite everyone over for pizza or something, but I don’t know.”

  “Team building is a very good thing.” She smiled. “Now let me take a look at these.” Ms. Butama pulled his goggles over her eyes before flipping the switch to turn them on. Then she lifted a series of cards in front of the lenses. “Everything appears to be in order.”

  Next, Dr. Archimedes Thistlebrow logged the cards that Max had selected for his battle deck. “Now you’re sure about this one, are you?” the Arithmetick teacher said as he held up a Blight Spider card.

  The creature wasn’t much bigger than a spriggan. It stood on two legs and had six arms, each ending in a clawed hand. The Blight Spider also had eight large eyes and a snub nose, and its body was covered in grey bristles.

  “Not really,” Max said.

  “Pardon the pun, but Blights are a bit of a wild card,” Dr. Thistlebrow said. “They can surprise you in more ways than one, if you catch my meaning, so be careful.”

  “I will,” Max said. The Toad brothers hadn’t told him any of that when they suggested he add the card to his battle deck. Unfortunately, once a card was logged, it couldn’t be replaced, so Max was stuck.

  When Dr. Thistlebrow finished, Max was directed to join Catalina at a table near the back wall. She refused to look at him as she sat down, which wasn’t a good sign. Catalina had always been friendly, but Max understood why she hadn’t been speaking to him. Even if it was a misunderstanding.

  “Hey, Sumner.”

  Max turned around to see that Hale had left her place in line. “How’s it going?” he asked.

  “I’m good. So are you going to keep that temper of yours in check today?”

  Max let a half smile cross his lips. “I’ll try.”

  “Watch out,” Hale said, nodding toward Catalina. “I hear she’s out to get you.”

  “Thanks to Harley’s big mouth.”

  “Just remember, there’s no such thing as luck. Stay focused and you’ll make the team.” With that, Hale walked to her table.

  “Hi,” Max said as he approached Catalina at their table.

  Catalina already had her cards and knucklebones out. She rolled her eyes.

  “Look, I kind of heard that you were upset with me, and—”

  “If you’re trying to distract me, it’s not going to work,” Catalina said as Max sat down. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips were pursed.

  “I didn’t say anything about Scuttlebutt. That was Harley.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Catalina said. “You were laughing with everyone else. Besides, he’s your friend.”

  “I didn’t laugh. I mean, maybe I could have told him to knock it off or something, but I would never make fun of your Bounder. Trust me, Natalia does it to me all the time. She hates Sprig, and I know how it feels when people say stuff like that.”

  Catalina’s eyes softened for a moment, but then the scowl returned. “Nice try.”

  Max wanted to defend himself, but he thought better of it. Catalina was upset, and nothing he could say would change her mind. Instead, Max slipped his Kinematic goggles over his eyes and waited for the duel to begin.

  “If I could have your attention,” Dr. Thistlebrow said as he walked to the center of the dining hall. “I won’t bother with the rules. If you don’t know them by now, then you shouldn’t be in the room. However, I do want to congratulate you for making it this far.”

  There was an obligatory round of applause, but Dr. Thistlebrow was quick to raise his hand to wave them off. “Now I know we all recall the events of last December with heavy hearts. The staff very nearly canceled this tournament, but Robert’s parents asked that we move forward with our heads held high in his honor.”

  The applause grew louder.

  “The winners of today’s duels will be awarded one of the coveted spots on the varsity team. From there we will select two additional alternates based on an array of criteria. The attitude you display in defeat counts as much as your skill. Now then, please begin.”

  ROUND THREE

  Max turned his goggles on. As they came into focus, he saw Catalina standing in a field with clear skies overhead. Max could smell lilacs in the wind, the sunshine was warm on his face, and he could taste the salt from the ocean air as waves crashed in the distance. It was a welcome break after the long Minnesota winter, but he knew the relaxed feeling wasn’t going to last.

  They had already cast knucklebones to determine who would go first. Catalina won, and she planned to take full advantage of her opening move. Max barely had time to blink before she released a kite that looked like a dragon. It rose into the sky and bounced in the wind as she held the strings in her hand.

  Catalina cast her knucklebones. Once they settled, the artificial dragon opened its mouth to reveal a length of metal tubing. It roared, and a ball of fire erupted from the tubing to fly at Max.

  He didn’t have much time to react. Quick as he could, Max scanned his cards. He tossed one into the air, and, with a pop, it turned into a doorway. Max could feel the heat of the fireball as it raged toward him. He shook his knucklebones, hoping to block the dragon.

  Max smiled after a great roll. The door opened in time to let the fireball pass through. It slammed shut before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

  “Sorry,” Max said.

  “I bet you are.”

  For his opening attack, Max summoned a Templar THOR unit. Ten men dressed in camouflaged body armor appeared in the middle of the field. They were almost invisible as they crept toward Catalina with weapons drawn.

  She rolled her eyes, as though to say his play was either obvious or weak. Her contempt angered Max, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he watched as she made, at least from his vantage point, a bizarre play. Catalina had countered with an Inferno imp.

  It was a tiny creature covered in a red hide, with leathery wings and a hawkish nose. The imp looked sad, if that were possible. Max cast his knucklebones. It wa
sn’t a very good roll, but it was enough to eliminate the imp.

  As the THOR agents closed in, Catalina bit her lower lip. Then she released her knucklebones. Double sixes! She may have lost her imp for the duration of the duel, but the perfect roll meant that she’d eliminated Max’s THOR unit as well.

  Max watched as the imp’s skin erupted in flames. The THOR commander called for a retreat, but it was too late. The Inferno imp exploded. The force from the blast spread through the field, enveloping the THOR agents. In a flash of light, they all disappeared.

  Part of Max’s strategy was to get an early lead, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen. Apparently, Catalina had the same thought. She didn’t waste time before she sent a massive man with the head of a boar charging after Max.

  According to legend, the giant’s name was Jimmy Squarefoot, and he smelled as terrible as he looked. Saliva dripped from curved tusks that sprouted from his jaw, his oddly shaped feet were wrapped in calico bands, and his tiny eyes were filled with rage.

  Max countered with Water Leapers. As he threw his card into play, there was a pop. The air became thick with winged frogs that had tails with stingers instead of hind feet. They swarmed over Jimmy, who tried to swat at them with his long arms. There were too many, though. Leapers lashed out with their tails while others sank hooked fangs into his flesh. Jimmy fell and then disappeared.

  Max sent the Water Leapers after Catalina. Her eyes grew wide as the hideous flying frogs closed in. She reached to play a card, but it slipped out of her hand. She fell to her knees, her hands reaching blindly for the card.

  The first frog was about to strike when she threw her card into play. It was a spriggan. After a flash of light, the tiny creature simply sat on its haunches, licking its front paw. “Do something!” Catalina shouted.

  The spriggan looked at her, as though agitated. Then it turned to see a Water Leaper bearing down at them. Before the Leaper had a chance to sting it, the spriggan morphed into an undead horse called a Kelpie.

  Its nostrils flared; then it opened its mouth to swallow the Water Leaper whole. The other winged frogs tried to flee, but the hungry Kelpie was too quick. It ate at least a dozen before the others disappeared.

  The game went back and forth. Max would take the lead, but Catalina would storm right back and tie the game. For one move, she used a plasma tank to obliterate one of the watchtowers Max had built. He destroyed her tank with a catapult, but Catalina tied the game with a flying warship called Winged Victory.

  Max had been hoping to save the card, but he decided to put a squadron of griffins into play. Some of the griffins tore at the warship’s sails, while others swooped down to pluck members of the crew from their stations.

  Catalina watched helplessly as Winged Victory fell from the sky. The warship rammed into the earth, shaking the ground and sending dirt into the air.

  Once everything settled, Winged Victory was little more than a massive pile of scrap. The wreckage shimmered before disappearing back into Catalina’s card.

  “This is your ten-minute warning,” Dr. Thistlebrow’s voice boomed.

  Though he was starting to feel desperate, Max could hear Hale’s voice telling him to control his emotions. That was easier said than done. The game was tied, and even if he scored on this turn, with the way things were going, he wasn’t sure that it was going to be enough.

  Max tossed a card into the air. It turned into a dozen iron spheres the size of basketballs. Griffins pinned their wings against their bodies before diving for the plasma bombs. They caught the bombs in their talons and then snapped their wings to fly toward Catalina.

  The griffins released them as Catalina put a two-headed giant that wielded an oak tree as a club into play. Its left head shouted at the griffins as the right head spit on the ground, leaving enough saliva to fill a swimming pool.

  The giant raised its club and swung. It knocked the first bomb over a line of trees and into the ocean, where it exploded with a splash, but there were too many griffins with too many plasma bombs. The giant tried to bat them away, but he couldn’t. Plasma bombs erupted, forming craters in the ground. Moments later the giant was eliminated, and Max had scored another point.

  With time winding down, Max wasn’t sure if he was going to get another opportunity to go on the offensive. He needed to keep Catalina from scoring, or the game was going to end in a tie. If that happened, the duel would go into sudden death.

  Max watched as Catalina studied her cards. There was no room for mistakes, and she knew it. She started to pull one but put it back into her deck. Then she reached for another but thought better of it. Finally, she tossed a card into play. The air shimmered before a wingless dragon stood on the scorched earth where the Inferno imp had combusted.

  “Have you ever seen a Sonoran Whiptail?” she asked.

  Max shook his head.

  “They get two attacks per turn,” Catalina said. “I just thought you should know.”

  Max didn’t need to be a math wizard to understand why Catalina was acting smug. If she broke through and scored with both attacks, she was going to win.

  The best defensive card he had left was the Blight Spider, but after Dr. Thistlebrow’s warning, Max wasn’t in a hurry to put it into play. But his Stone Golem was too slow, and the Fireball Pixie swarm wouldn’t hold up. Max looked at the clock. There was a little over three minutes left. His hands were sweating.

  “I’m counting on you,” he said. He tossed the Blight Spider into play. The air shimmered and the Blight Spider appeared, but the bizarre creature just yawned as the wind blew through its spiny coat.

  Catalina looked confident as her dragon charged, its claws ripping at the dirt. Max watched, horrified, as the Blight Spider’s body started to stretch before tearing in two. Light flashed. Now, instead of one Blight Spider, there were two. Both repeated the process, as did the next batch, until there were sixteen bristling Blights spread across the field.

  Before the dragon could reach Max, one of the Blight Spiders opened its mouth, releasing a sticky white substance that looked like spiderweb silk. It latched around the Whiptail’s front leg just as a second Blight Spider spit a web of its own. Soon all sixteen Blights had vomited streams of webbing until the dragon was caught in a network of sticky goop.

  The Whiptail fell, and, as the dragon tossed its head from side to side, the ground shook. The webbing stretched, but it didn’t break until Max and Catalina collected their knucklebones for the second attack.

  Finally free, the dragon stamped its feet and slashed its tail, but the Blight Spiders didn’t budge. Catalina looked over at the clock. There was less than a minute. The dragon threw its head back and roared before leaping at Max with jaws spread wide.

  Max was certain that the Whiptail was going to swallow him whole. He could see down the dragon’s throat as it rose over him. Its breath was hot, and its teeth were deadly. Then, at the last possible moment, one of the Blight Spiders shot webbing that latched around the dragon’s snout. The webbing looped under its jaw, cinching its mouth shut. The other Blights joined in the attack. Moments later the dragon was lying on the ground in a cocoon.

  Catalina threw her remaining cards on the table. She ripped off her Kinematic goggles, knocked her chair down, and then stormed out the door.

  “Congratulations, Mr. Sumner,” Dr. Thistlebrow said. “You’ve made the team.”

  As Max took off his goggles, he could hear everyone in the room cheering.

  “Welcome to the big leagues, Sumner,” Hale said as she threw her arm around his shoulder. Considering the tension between the Grey Griffins and the changelings, it was quite a gesture.

  “Thanks,” Max said. He was scanning the room, trying to determine who else had made the team. It wasn’t difficult to spot them. Ms. Merical had given each a sash to wear for the rest of the day.

  Predictably, Xander was wearing one. So was Hale, along with four other eighth graders. That’s when he saw Ernie with an enormous smile p
lastered across his face. More important, he was wearing one of the sashes.

  “You made it?” Max asked.

  Ernie nodded.

  Despite the distance that had grown between them, Max wanted to high-five him, or shake his hand, or something, but Ms. Merical stepped between them.

  “I can’t wait to call your grandmother,” she said as she slipped the sash over Max’s head.

  PUSHING THEIR LUCK

  Max was back on the front page of the New Victoria Chronicle the next morning, but this time he was joined by the other members of the Iron Bridge varsity Round Table team.

  Everyone was talking about the results, and the Toad brothers were ready to capitalize. They boarded the Zephyr with oversized duffel bags stuffed with T-shirts, pennants, buttons, and just about anything else that would hold the Iron Bridge Academy team logo. They were sold out of merchandise before they reached the second subway car, but they continued to take orders throughout the day.

  Teachers had a difficult time maintaining control in their classrooms. They were all thankful that seventh period had been canceled in favor of a school assembly.

  Once the last class filed into the auditorium, Dr. Thistlebrow led the team to the stage as the band played the school fight song. The students in the audience cheered as each member of the varsity team was introduced.

  The changelings were sequestered in the balcony with Dean Nipkin, yet they were no less enthusiastic. When Ernie’s name was called, they started calling out, “Thunderbolt!” The other students joined in the chant as Ernie took a bow. He was about to take another when he felt Dr. Thistlebrow’s hand on his shoulder.

  “Very good, Mr. Tweeny,” he said. “Now let’s move along.”

  Ernie was reluctant to give up the spotlight, but he did—though not before blowing a kiss to the audience. Max, on the other hand, didn’t want to be introduced at all. He hesitated when Dr. Thistlebrow called his name, and he might not have gone forward at all if Hale hadn’t pushed him.

  “Now,” Dr. Thistlebrow said, “though it’s a bit unusual, I’ve decided that we shall have two team captains this year, Xander Swift and Stephanie Hale!”