Ultimate Nyssa Glass by H. Burke (ebook reader browser txt) 📗

then zapped, and another something squeaked. Ellis peeked around a box. A group of young boys, most smaller than Theo, stood around a smoking gray rat. The creature twitched. The biggest of the boys held Ellis’s bug-zapper.

“How did they get that?” Ellis hissed.

“Nyssa, obviously.” Theo rolled his eyes.

Ellis opened his mouth then closed it. There would be plenty of time to teach him not to sass later. “So what now?”

“You got any more money?” Theo put out his hand.

“I won’t by the end of the day at this rate.” Ellis handed him two small coins.

Theo approached the boys.

The big one squared his shoulders. “What are you doing here, fancy pants?”

Theo shrugged. “Where’d you get that toy?”

“None of your beeswax.”

“I’ll give you some money if you tell me.” Theo flashed a coin but just as quickly stuffed it back in a pocket.

The kids exchanged a glance. Then their leader grinned. “How about I just take it?”

He lunged for Theo, but Theo stepped aside, kicked the boy in the rump, then planted his foot firmly on his back. The zapper skittered out of the attacker’s grasp. He squealed. Theo snatched up the zapper and prodded the boy between the shoulders with it. One of the other boys stalked forward, but Ellis shouted, “That’s enough.”

The boys scattered with the exception of the one Theo kept pinned.

“Really, Theo?” Ellis raised an eyebrow.

Theo grinned. “That’s how we did it in my old haunt.”

Ellis laughed. “Let him up. Don’t run, kid. We just want to talk, and you can have the coin, fair and square.”

The boy picked himself up and rubbed his nose.

“What’s your name?” Ellis asked.

“Jem … what do you want?”

“That toy you were playing with, I think it belongs to a friend of mine. Have you seen her? Brown hair, pretty, usually wearing a peacoat and trousers.”

Jem shrugged. “Ain’t many girls down here. I found it under some crates. No one was using it.”

“All right. Can you show us where, then?”

“Sure. It ain’t far. You said I could have some coin. Can I keep the lightning gun?”

Well, I can always make another. Plus I’m going to want some more significant fire power if things continue the way they have been.

“Yes, you can. Now show me where you got it.”

They followed Jem past two more warehouses to one of the hangars. Men worked in the distance, loading crates onto a zeppelin with a crane, but the immediate area was empty.

Jem pointed to the corner of the hangar. “There was a stack of boxes there this morning. When they moved them, the lightning gun fell out from between them. My da’s a teamster so I bring the boys down here sometimes. You know, to see what’s happening.”

“Were they loading a zeppelin?” Ellis rubbed his hands against his thighs.

“Yeah, theOpheller.”

“Ophelia, I’m guessing. New Taured liners have a Shakespearean theme.” His stomach clenched. Nyss wouldn’t drop her weapon willingly. Oh, Nyss, what happened to you?

“I didn’t see any spears … you said I could have the money? And the lightning gun?”

Ellis nodded. “Give him his reward, Theo. I need to find out when the next zeppelin leaves.”

Chapter Six

Hot … cold … thoughts like static … voices fading in and out … Am I dead?

Nyssa woke.

Darkness surrounded her. She reached up and hit rough wood. Clawing at her prison, she kicked and shrieked. Something with a sweet smell misted around her. Her head became too heavy to hold up, and more fuzzy, blurry dreams.

***

A chiming bell called Nyssa back to consciousness. She sat up with a gasp. For the length of five more chimes, the room spun, then her vision cleared. A grandfather clock stared back at her from a wall lined with bookshelves. Two wingback chairs, upholstered in red velvet, sat on either side of a small table holding a pitcher of water and two glasses.

Where am I?

She rose from the velvet settee but immediately sank again, head between her knees. It took several deep breaths to prepare herself to stand. Her mouth tasted of iron and her lips stung from the cracks. She eyed the pitcher. I was obviously drugged. Probably shouldn’t go swallowing anything around here.

Bracing herself in case she hit the floor, she stood again. Her legs wobbled, but she managed to cross the room to a set of tall curtains. She drew them away from the window.

An orange sky silhouetted a forest of chimneys. In the distance, a familiar tower jutted above the shorter buildings.

The clock tower of the New Taured National Bank? I’m back in New Taured? How long was I out? Oh Ellis, Theo, and Mrs. H must be going mad.

Nyssa tried the window and found it painted shut. There was a single door across the room. An attempt proved it locked. She didn’t have her lockpicks, or any of her belongings for that matter, but there wasn’t a lock she couldn’t master with time. Perhaps a nail from the furniture or a pin from her hair would work.

Running her fingers swiftly through her locks, she found more grease than she would’ve liked, but no pins.

Nyssa bit her bottom lip.Shock me, the whole reason I started wearing hairpins was for such an occasion … oh sparks and shocks, whoever put me here must’ve gone through my hair and taken them out. That’s so creepy.

She ran her fingers over the furniture, looking for something.

The door creaked behind her, and she whirled, fists up.

“I thought I heard you.” A short, slender man with slick black hair, a thin mustache, and brown eyes smiled at her. He wore a dark suit and moved like a dancer, crossing the room in elegant strides.

“Who are you?” she snapped. “Why have you brought me here?”

“Plenty of time for that, but the short version is, I’m simply a delivery man. My employer asks me to fetch, I fetch. This time the package happened to be you.” He took the pitcher and poured a glass. The clear liquid called to her dry mouth.

The door behind