A Clockwork Heart (24 page)

CHAPTER 33

The doors of Battersea Monastery were not locked when Elle and Loisa tried them. The heavy oak panels embellished with brass creaked open, sending a groaning echo deep into the building. Above them, in the eaves, Elle spotted five magpies. They sat perched high up, their beady eyes turned toward her. The sight of these birds—the very embodiment of shadow and light—made the hair on Elle's arms prickle with apprehension.

“They are waiting for us,” Loisa said under her breath, looking up at the magpies.

Elle pulled her Colt out of its holster and cocked it. “Well, let them send out the welcoming party then. I very much look forward to meeting them,” she said.

“I don't like this. It's too quiet,” the professor murmured behind her.

“Quiet, maybe. But we are not alone.” Loisa pointed off into the shadows.

A row of undead dressed in strange-looking metal armor stood perfectly still in the shadows of the turbine hall as if they were awaiting a command. Each one was wearing a brass muzzle just like the one fitted to Marsh. Not one moved a hair as they passed.

“Outnumbered many to one,” Loisa murmured.

“We don't have a lot of time,” Elle said. “We need to divide into groups.”

“Agreed,” Loisa said.

Elle turned to the professor and the doctor. “Papa, Loisa and I are going to draw these undead away. You and Dr. Miller stay out of sight and keep to the shadows. Find the heart. That's the most important thing. The rest we can deal with later.”

“Whoever runs this place must have some sort of workroom or laboratory. We'll try there,” the professor whispered. The professor and the doctor were walking very close to one another as they slipped away.

“What do you think?” Loisa whispered. “Those are people underneath those muzzles. I am not sure I want to kill any of them.”

None of the undead had moved even a hair since they walked into the massive hall. “Just look at that thing.” Elle glanced up at the enormous machine with its metal and copper tubes that reached all the way up to the glass-covered roof. The configuration of the machine looked very much like the organ pipes of some terrible cathedral organ.

“Never mind the undead. There are two of us and one of her. If we take out the head, the rest of the body will be powerless,” Elle said.

“Well, then. Let's go find the head of this monster,” Loisa said.

Elle stepped into the middle of the hall and looked up at the glass-fronted mezzanine level that looked like some sort of control room. It sat in the first floor before her.

“
La
Dame
Blanche!
We know that you are in here somewhere and that you can see us. I demand that you show yourself immediately!” she called out. Her voice echoed in the silence. A few of the undead rustled slightly as if an invisible wind had moved them.

“I said, show yourself, you evil coward!” Elle shouted.

There was a soft ripple of light and a white apparition stepped forth on the balcony before them.

“My Lady Greychester and the baroness, I presume?” the woman's voice echoed through the hall. She spoke in a soft French accent. It was definitely the woman she had encountered at the opera house, Elle realized.

“You presume too much, err … what did you say your name was?”

The woman smiled. “I didn't. But you may call me Clothilde, for it is the name I favor in this realm.”

“I want my husband's heart back. You have exactly one minute to produce it,” Elle said, cutting to the chase.

Clothilde laughed. It was a high-pitched sound that tinkled through the open space. “Now it is you who presumes too much. What makes you think I would do that?”

“I have no time for silly games,” Elle warned.

“And neither do I.” Clothilde's expression hardened. She raised her arms and clapped twice. The undead beside them drew to attention. “And what exactly will you do if I don't comply?” She smiled at Elle. “It seems to me, my dear Lady Greychester, that I have the upper hand here.” She motioned with her hand and the undead obeyed, raising the long knives they carried. “And you have nothing.”

“Run for it. I will keep them back,” Loisa whispered indicating the stairs that led to the mezzanine level.

Elle inclined her head ever so slightly in agreement.

“Go,” Loisa said.

Elle took off toward the stairs as fast as she could run. Loisa was close behind her, matching her pace.

“Get her!” Loisa said as she stopped halfway up the stairs. She turned to face the undead who were closing in on the staircase with menacing silence. Elle took the remainder of the stairs two at a time. Glancing over her shoulder, she glimpsed Loisa take a stand, fangs bared. “I'll hold these off as long as I can. Hurry!” she said.

In the last few steps before she bounded into the control room, she pulled her Colt out of its holster. “Don't move or I'll blow your head off,” she said as she pointed the gun at Clothilde. “Now alter your will so I can put my husband's heart back where it belongs. Let him go. I am not going to ask you again.”

Downstairs, Elle could hear Loisa making most vicious fighting noises punctuated by the groans and dull thud of undead tumbling down the stairs and hitting the floor below.

Clothilde laughed. “Do you honestly think that silly thing could hurt me?” She waved a hand and Elle felt a sharp tug of power as the Colt was wrenched from her hand. The revolver fell to the floor, discharging a bullet with deafening force. The glass panes to one side of the mezzanine shattered in a million pieces.

Elle felt tendrils of power snake around her arms and legs, restraining her as she made to retrieve the gun. Clothilde's hold on her tightened painfully as she was lifted into the air.

“Ah, always so stubborn, you oracles.” Clothilde said. “I am looking forward to killing you.” She paused to sneer at Elle.

“I'd like to see you try!” Elle said, struggling against the power that held her.

“See, you can do nothing against me, you frivolous little fool. And now I am going to do to you what I did to your husband.”

“Over my dead body,” Elle growled.

“
Exactement!
” Clothilde said. “Your silly little heart is going to end up in a jar in my laboratory right next to his where you can be separated by fluids and glass for eternity. But before we proceed, you are going to tell me where he is. You see, I am quite taken by your husband. Such a handsome man.” She gave Elle a little shake. “He is mine now, do you understand?”

“Oh no he is not,” Elle said.

Clothilde laughed. “A woman like you does not deserve a man like that.” She tightened her grip on Elle's throat. “Now tell me where he is, or I will kill you and that ridiculous little Nightwalker who came here with you.”

Elle turned her head to see Loisa land on the stone floor by two surly undead. Loisa's face was covered in blood and she was breathing heavily.

“Thank you, boys,” Clothilde said to the undead barring the entranceway. “Now I have both of you in my grasp.” Elle felt the tendrils of power move as Clothilde grabbed hold of Loisa. The Nightwalker put her hands to her throat gasping. She looked up at Elle from under her beautiful curls and shook her head to signal defeat. Loisa had fought bravely, but there were too many of them for her to handle.

“Wait!” Elle said.

Clothilde paused and looked at Elle.

“He is here, close by. If you let us go I will tell you where he is.”

“Elle, no!” Loisa said.

Elle felt the tendrils loosen and she fell to the ground. “I'm listening,” Clothilde said.

Elle stood up and dusted herself off. She kept her face impassive. Jack had said that the Shadow was hers to command. She closed her eyes and focused on the energy that was swirling around her. She felt the dark fog rise. It was the same fog she had seen in the Shadow Realm. In that moment, Shadow and Light seemed to merge into one. It was as if she could see the two dimensions at the same time. The blurry double vision was nauseating and extremely disconcerting, but she gritted her teeth and grabbed hold of the fog, that could only be Clothilde's power.

“I am Pythia!” she said in her strange booming Oracle voice. “You will heed my command, Shadow creature!”

Clothilde gasped as Elle grabbed hold of her, but she managed to slip through Elle's fingers.

“So you do know a trick or two?” she said. “But your grasp of your power is rather clumsy. Ineffectual, despite all the booming commands.”

“Unwill my husband's heart. I command you!” Elle said as she grabbed hold tightened her grip on Clothilde's power.

Elle noticed the witch flinch slightly.

“Very well then,” Clothilde said sweetly. “But we will have to go to my laboratory. I cannot do it from here.”

“Take us there then,” Elle said.

“First you must let me go.”

“I will not,” Elle boomed.

“Well, then, we will simply stand here staring at one another until you loose that incredibly clumsy grip you have on my power,” Clothilde said. “And by the looks of things, that won't take too long.” She flicked her wrist and Elle felt her grip on the woman slip again. She hated to admit it, but the woman was right. She could not hold on to her for much longer.

“I will let you go for now. But know that I will not hesitate to take action if you try to trick us,” Elle said with as much bravado as she could muster. She let go of Clothilde.

“Oh, I don't doubt that,” Clothilde said shaking herself free from Elle. “In fact, I”m always extremely happy to show people my work. There are so few who truly appreciate the intricacy of it.” She sashayed toward the door and the undead parted to allow her to pass. “This way, if you please,” she motioned for them to stand. “I believe the two gentlemen in your company are already waiting for us there.”

Loisa gave Elle a look, warning her to keep silent and follow the lady.

The narrow halls and winding staircases of the spark monastery were all dark as they passed through them. The only light seemed to radiate from Clothilde herself.

“Where are the monks?” Elle said.

“Oh, here and there,” Clothilde said noncommittally.

“But the city needs them to make spark. Without the electromancers we have no means to drive our machines.”

Clothilde smiled at her. “Most inconvenient, isn't it? That the Realm of Light has to rely on the electromancers so. It is an irony that is not lost on many of us who dwell on the other side.”

They had reached another set of doors, which Clothilde pushed open with her palms pointed outward. “Inside!” She stood aside so the undead could shove Elle and Loisa through the entrance. Elle stumbled into the room.

“In the cage!” Clothilde commanded as she opened the gate of what looked to be a large metal construction of bars that made up a cell. The professor and the doctor were both inside.

“Papa, doctor, are you hurt?” Elle said as soon as they were shoved inside.

“We're fine,” the professor whispered. He gave Elle a little wink. “We have a plan.”

Loisa rolled her eyes and set about cleaning her face with the fine silk handkerchief she had produced from one of her pockets.

“Behold, my laboratory!” Clothilde swept her arms through the air and the row of spark lights that hung from the roof lit up in sequence.

Elle and Loisa stared open-mouthed. Clothilde's laboratory was huge. It was a long narrow room that spanned almost the entire length of the building. The roof was a network of wood and metal beams. From them, an array of tubes and pipes led down into vast rows of glass jars lined up neatly on shelves that lined the walls. The glass jars, which were all in turn interconnected by various copper and rubber tubes, glowed with an eerie blue light.

All the tubes led into a console of dials and gauges that seemed to regulate the flow of whatever was in the pipes.

“My goodness, that is quite something,” was all Elle could say. There was enough spark in the laboratory to power a hundred airships for a very long time.

“Necromancy,” Loisa whispered. “I can smell it.”

“Welcome to my chamber of hearts, I'm so pleased you like it,” Clothilde said as she gestured at the rows of jars.

Elle repressed a surge of revulsion as she looked closer at the jars on the shelves. A lot of them were empty, but many were not, and their gory contents made bitter bile rise up into the back of her throat.

“
Mon
Dieu,
” Loisa said as her gaze followed Elle's around the room.

Inside each jar, suspended in the blue glowing liquid, was what appeared to be a pulsating human heart. And they all seemed to be beating in unison.

“There must be thousands of jars,” the professor said.

“There are,” Clothilde said “But sadly we have not quite managed to be up to full capacity just yet. But we are making progress.”

“Why are you doing all this?” Elle said.

Clothilde laughed. “Oh, don't be so stupid.”

“I want to hear you say it.” Elle steadily met her gaze, challenging Clothilde to continue.

“Well, if you must know, we are building an army of soldiers that feel no fear or pain. An army that requires no supplies. Made up of soldiers who can fight night and day and who obey every command fearlessly and without question.”

“But this is madness,” Elle said as Clothilde's words sank in.

“Only for those who are on the receiving side,” Clothilde said. “And with my unlimited spark production upstairs, soon no one will be able to stop me.”

“Who are your masters?” Elle said, grabbing on to the only piece of information that made any sense to her.

“The Consortium. That is all you need to know. That and the fact that they have a most skilled clockmaker in their ranks. He is the one who designed the beautiful mechanical hearts.”