Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1: The Brimstone Key (31 page)

Word had come down that another changeling had gone missing. This time it was a geokinetic from Nova Scotia who could move the earth with his thoughts. He was supposed to have transferred to Iron Bridge for the second semester, but now it didn’t look as though that would happen.

“I know you’re upset,” Tejan Chandra said. “We all are. But what can we do? Von Strife is one of the leading military minds of the last century. Most of the
changelings in this room haven’t even graduated from grammar school.”

“Are you kidding?” Ernie argued. “You can wipe people’s memories with a touch of your hand. Annie can interface with anything that can be plugged in to an outlet or run on a battery, and I bet Denton can lift a Grimbot over his head. If we work together, we can do anything.”

“This isn’t some scenario in the SIM Chamber,” Denton pointed out. “If we go after Von Strife, people could die.”

“People are already dying,” Ernie reminded him.

“What about the THOR agents?” Tejan asked.

“They couldn’t find Robert until it was too late,” Ernie replied. “What makes you think they’ll find the others before Von Strife rips out their souls and stuffs them into a bunch of clockworks?”

“I don’t know…. Maybe Ernie is right,” Denton said. “I mean, going after Von Strife beats waiting around here for Smoke to pop in and pick us off one by one. I’m in.”

As Ernie looked around the room, he saw anxiety slowly give way to determination.

“Count me in,” Laini said, her pink hair bouncing as she joined the boys in the center of the room. “If we don’t look out for each other, nobody will.”

One at a time the others came forward, ready to join the fight for their survival. The changelings of Iron Bridge had been awakened.

W
ILL THE
C
LOCKWORK
K
ING

RETURN TO FINISH HIS

UNSPEAKABLE PLAN
?

C
AN THE CHANGELINGS LEARN

TO UNITE AND FIGHT BACK
?

W
ILL THE
G
REY
G
RIFFINS

SURVIVE THEIR FIRST SEMESTER

AT
I
RON
B
RIDGE
A
CADEMY
?

T
HE THRILLING ADVENTURE

CONTINUES IN
B
OOK 2 OF

COMING SPRING
2011.