Read Online Ticker by Lisa Mantchev - Free Book Online

disappeared around the far corner, the space seemed to echo just a bit more. The stone walls and floors exuded a bit more dark and dank. The Beetles hovered overhead, ready to summon the Unseen back from their unknown lair. I shuddered and turned to the others, who looked as troubled as I felt.
    “We needed those cards,” Nic said, careful to keep his voice low. “What will happen to Mama and Papa if we can’t track down the thieves?”
    My brain performed a Knight’s Maneuver. One square on the chessboard to:
The Great Mister Kingsley doesn’t think the burglars had much time to escape.
    Another square to:
Perhaps they
didn’t
have time to escape.
    And a final sidestep to:
That might mean they’re still in the building somewhere!
    “I think the Legatus might have been right,” I said.
    “About us going home at once?” Nic’s tone indicated he didn’t harbor a single hope that would actually be the plan. Just as he always did when nervous, he pulled his glasses off and checked them for nonexistent spots.
    “Hardly,” I retorted. “You heard what Marcus said. The alarm went off, and the Ferrum Viriae arrived on the scene within minutes. The thieves have to be hiding somewhere nearby.”
    “With the stolen property,” Sebastian said. An accomplished cardsharp, he had no tells that we’d ever discovered, and thus betrayed neither reticence nor enthusiasm when he asked, “But where could they have gone that Marcus’s soldiers would have missed?”
    “That is indeed the question.”
    An unexpected noise that strongly reminded me of a falcon’s cry echoed off the stones. The Beetles overhead twitched in response. My Ticker thudded oddly in my chest as I stepped closer to Violet.
    “What was that?” she whispered.
    “I don’t know.” When I turned to Nic and Sebastian, both shook their heads with matching bewilderment. The mystery noise came a second time, causing my Ticker to skip a beat. The Beetles began their agitated dance; with the third and loudest of the bird cries, they seized up and began dropping down upon our heads. We ran for the nearest archway to take shelter from the unusual rain, clockwork corpses twitching all around us. To our right, circular stone stairs twisted down into the darkness. Once a repository for the bones of leaders and dignitaries, the area under the Bibliothèca now contained the dead tree files rendered obsolete by the invention of the Eidolachometer. Less interested in paper than my pulse, I wondered if that was where the Unseen cloistered. “We need to go into the catacombs.”
    “That isn’t funny, Penny,” Nic said, dislodging brass carapaces from his jacket with an impatient hitch of his shoulders.
    Even Sebastian looked disconcerted by the idea of venturing downstairs. “Wasn’t that enough dead things to satisfy you?”
    “I’ve no intention of joining them.” Reaching into my messenger bag, I pulled out a Watt’s Handheld Incandescent Lamp and the Pixii. “I’ll go first.”
    “I’ll be right behind you,” Violet said.
    Sebastian swung his walking stick so that it whistled slightly, then pulled a previously concealed short sword from its wooden sheath. “Old Reliable didn’t realize she might get to come out and play today. I really ought to spend more time with the three of you. It’s been quite the adventure thus far.”
    Another bird cry traveled up from the bottom of the stairwell and echoed in my chest.
    “Down we go,” I told the others.
    “Remember what I said about teatime?” Nic said to Sebastian.
    “Up to our eyeballs in trouble, didn’t you say?”
    “Indeed.”

FIVE
    In Which Our Heroine Seizes an Opportunity and Is Left Holding the Bag

    Wall sconces lit the way down the stone stairs and along another cold corridor. Once we reached a twisted iron staircase, modern blue phosphorescence yielded to vintage oil lamps. I could feel Nic’s wary gaze shift from our surroundings to me every so often, though he didn’t give further