Inquest Read online

  “You’re not allowed!” one of the goblins shrieked at Kali.

  “You spy!” another spat, lunging at her with a large wrench.

  “Please, please, hold on a moment!” Twist gasped, holding his hands up to still their attack. Kali gave a sorrowful moan, cowering behind him with her head hanging low. “What’s this all about?”

  “Your overgrown tabby was spying on us!” one of the goblins growled.

  “It was in the engine room,” another sneered, “sneaking around and watching us.”

  “Tried to steal our secrets, the nasty thing…”

  “Did you send it to spy for you?” another goblin asked, stepping closer to Twist and holding a wrench up threateningly. Twist’s blood chilled, looking back at the creature’s glowering suspicion.

  “Stop that!” Myra snapped, stepping between Twist and the goblin as she pushed the end of the wrench away from him. “Twist has done nothing to you.”

  “We’re here because your captain wants us here,” Jonas added firmly, already beside her. His goggles were on again, allowing him to seem to glare disapprovingly at the goblins. “I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate you threatening us.”

  “He wouldn’t like you spying on us, either,” the advanced goblin sneered.

  “We aren’t spying on you!” Myra yelled, her tone perfectly offended.

  “The tiger was just wandering around,” Jonas added. “She didn’t mean any harm.”

  “She can’t even talk!” Myra added. “How can she spy on you when she can’t tell anyone else whatever she saw?”

  “Exactly!” Jonas said earnestly. “It’s absurd to think that a tiger could be a spy.”

  Twist watched as the rage melted slowly out of the goblins’ faces, only to be replaced with bewilderment and anxiety. Kali watched as well from behind him.

  “You probably don’t even have anything worth spying on,” Jonas said. “You’re just being ridiculous.”

  “But we do!” one of the goblins said plaintively. “We’ve got the—”

  “Shut up!” another snapped at him, slapping at him with a bony hand.

  “I shall tell the captain about this,” Myra added coldly.

  “Threatening his guests over nothing…” Jonas toned, shaking his head.

  “He shall be very cross with you,” Myra warned with a raised finger. Some of the goblins gave frightened sounds.

  “No, no, please!” one of the goblins said. The others looked to him desperately. “We…we must have made a mistake,” he said nervously.

  “Yes, it was a mistake!” another agreed instantly. The others muttered eager agreement, nodding emphatically.

  “A mistake, you say?” Jonas asked slowly, sounding unconvinced.

  “Yes, I’m sure it was!” one of them said.

  “I think it was me,” said another, raising a hand.

  “Yes! It was him!” another yelped. “I saw it all!”

  “You fool!” another spat at him. The accused goblin hung his head mournfully.

  Jonas turned as if to look at Myra. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

  “Well…” she toned slowly, “if he were to apologize…”

  “I’m sorry!” the accused goblin yelled instantly.

  “He’s dreadfully sorry,” another added.

  “We’re all sorry for him,” another said, bowing to Myra and Jonas. The others instantly followed suit, bowing deeply.

  “Well, if you’re really very sorry,” Myra said, her tone turning sweet, “then we have no choice but to forgive you.” Hope flashed across all of the goblins’ faces as they looked up to her.

  “But this sort of thing won’t be tolerated again,” Jonas added sternly.

  “No, no, it won’t happen again,” a goblin said instantly. All of the others shook their heads with grave expressions.

  “See that it doesn’t,” Myra said primly. “You may go back to your work now.”

  The goblins moved hurriedly for the doorway, each one echoing thanks and declarations on the depth of her benevolence. Everyone waited until the goblins had moved off, far down the hallway, before they said another word. Vane, who had been leaning out into the hallway to watch the goblins disappear around the bend, turned to look at Jonas and Myra with an astonished expression.

  “That actually worked?”

  “I can’t believe it either,” Jonas said, taking his goggles off to reveal a look of delighted amazement.

  Myra giggled softly behind a hand. “Goblins are silly things,” she said. “One alone can be dangerous, of course, but in a group they can be tricked very easily.”

  “Have you met goblins before, my dear?” Twist asked, astonished.

  “Oh, only a few of them,” she said with a shrug.

  “You become valuable at the most unforeseeable moments,” Jonas said, looking at her thoughtfully.

  “Thank you, I think…” she said hesitantly.

  “You are always invaluable to me,” Twist added sweetly to her. Myra turned to him, clearly pleased.

  “But what I really want to know,” Jonas said, looking down to Kali, “is what the devil you were doing.” Kali looked back at him silently, her posture at ease and her tail swinging casually.

  “Were you truly spying on them?” Twist asked Kali suspiciously.

  Kali glanced away slyly.

  “Did Skye tell you to do it?” Jonas asked knowingly.

  “Skye?” another voice asked from the other side of the room. Twist and the others spun quickly to find Hala standing nearby. Twist was certain that he hadn’t heard her approach. How long had she been there? “Is that your master’s name?” she asked Kali.

  Kali backed away from her until she was pressed up against Twist’s side, her deep brown eyes locked onto Hala.

  “Well, we can’t have a spy acting freely among us,” Hala stated, setting Twist’s heart beating faster.

  “She’s not a spy,” Jonas declared, his conviction flawless.

  “Kali just likes to wander about,” Myra added with a smile. “She’s a free spirit.”

  Hala didn’t seem to pay them any attention at all. She held one open hand out toward Kali—who watched the motion apprehensively—and then closed her fist and pulled it sharply back. Kali burst into a cloud of glittering, luminous orange smoke and then Skye stumbled out of it. Myra gasped, while Twist and Jonas both froze in surprise. The smoke vanished into the air, leaving Skye staring at Hala in shock.

  “How the hell did you do that?” Skye demanded an instant later, pulling herself into a fight-ready posture. Hala looked over Skye’s usual masculine attire, short but brilliant red hair, and fiery blue eyes, as if appraising her.

  “You smell like a magpie,” Hala commented.

  “It’s pronounced Rook, thank you,” Skye snapped back.

  “So this is the circus clown you spoke of?” Hala asked Twist, not sparing Skye any more attention. “The one who was worried for you? You thought you could rely on a magpie for some kind of rescue?”

  Skye gave a noisy sigh at the slight.

  “Steady on, love,” Jonas muttered softly to Skye. His goggles were now hanging around his neck by the strap, his naked gaze held low, but his intent and warning expression were as plain as day. When Skye looked back at him, she seemed to force herself to relax somewhat. Twist’s own worries for her began to grow in light of Jonas’s warning. Skye appeared unarmed—at least, her pockets were likely devoid of the magical bombs that she liked to toss at offending dragons—and would clearly be helpless against any more of the djinn’s magic, should Hala become annoyed.

  “And, this whole time,” Hala asked, looking to Skye again, “have you been relaying everything your familiar witnessed to your superiors?”

  “I’ve been keeping an eye on my friends,” Skye answered, her tempestuous tone somewhat cooler now.

  “Your friends weren’t in the engine room a moment ago,” Hala said with clearly waning patience.

  Myra took Twist’s hand, h
olding it tightly while her anxiety burned over his thoughts. Twist’s mind raced into action, stumbling over inadequate notions to protect Skye should Hala send her away or try to turn her into a toad. Nothing viable sprang to mind.

  “So I got bored!” Skye scoffed at the djinn, tossing her hands in the air. “You gonna shoot me for being curious now?”

  Hala gave a soft sigh and shook her head. “I don’t want you spying on us anymore.”

  Before Skye could retort, Hala held out a hand with her pale-purple palm up. Skye’s form burst suddenly into glittering copper and golden smoke and streaked toward Hala’s palm at an amazing speed. In an instant, the smoke took the shape of a small perfume bottle—a blossomed bottom under a narrow neck—made of clear glass, sitting on the djinn’s open hand.

  Twist stared at the bottle in confusion for a moment before he recognized a very small figure moving inside it. A tiny version of Skye was bound inside the faceted glass, beating against the inside with minute fists and silent fury. Hala held the bottle up to examine it with a satisfied smile. “There,” Hala said lightly. “That should keep you well contained.”

  “All right, you’ve made your point,” Jonas growled. “Lovely trick. Now let her out of there!”

  “Would you like to join her?” Hala asked, giving Jonas a chilly smile.

  Myra let out a purely distressed sound, her hand shaking slightly over her open mouth as she stared at the little bottle in horror. Twist stood still in shock and dismay, utterly unsure what to do or even what to think. Vane peered at the bottle in obvious curiosity but with no discernible fear for Skye. Jonas fell silent and took a slow breath, his gaze moving quickly over Hala without touching her eyes.

  “Please, let her go,” he asked in a tight voice. “She doesn’t mean you any harm. She was only following orders, I’m sure.”

  Twist watched Hala as her cold expression began to soften before Jonas’s calmer plea, and he tried once again to come up with something to do. If Jonas could distract her, maybe one of them would be able to snatch the bottle away. If only he could count on Vane’s usual chaos!

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Hala said gently to Jonas. Twist noticed an orange shape inside the bottle with Skye now. An equally tiny Kali was clawing at the glass from the inside, but her infinitesimal claws didn’t seem to have any effect on the glass. “But,” Hala said to Jonas on a sigh, “now that I see your friend is a spy for the magpies, I can’t have her running around the ship unattended.”

  Twist heart sank. After all Skye had done to help him, after she had brought Jonas back from outer space and been nothing but kind and understanding to Myra, Jonas, and himself, Twist couldn’t imagine leaving her in such a predicament. She deserved so much better.

  “Can she even breathe in there?” Jonas asked, glancing at the cork that fit snugly into the top of the fluted neck.

  “She can remain in there indefinitely,” Hala said with a shrug. “She won’t be hungry or need any more air than she has, no matter how long she stays inside. I’m not cruel,” she added, as if speaking to a child.

  “How long will you keep her in there?” Twist asked, struggling to keep the dismay from his voice.

  “Until she can no longer spy on us,” Hala answered. “If you don’t trouble me about this any longer, I will let you keep the bottle,” she said, holding it out to Jonas.

  He reached out without a moment’s hesitation, gingerly lifting the little glass bottle from her open hand. He clutched it carefully in both hands and examined the cork with violet eyes.

  “You won’t be able to open it,” Hala mentioned. “Nor will you be able to break it. Your friend will remain where she is until I wish to free her.”

  “Oh, poor Skye…” Myra breathed, looking mournfully at the bottle.

  “She should have been more careful,” Hala said understandingly to Myra. “I didn’t realize that the tiger was connected to a magpie; I never would have, had she not drawn so much attention.”

  “Skye’s simply fantastic at drawing attention,” Vane remarked lightly. Twist shot him a glare while Myra appeared personally offended by his callous attitude.

  “But she will be all right?” Jonas asked, holding the bottle tightly now.

  “I don’t owe you anything, you know,” Hala mentioned. “I told you that she would be fine. You can choose to believe me or not, but I will make you no promises.”

  Jonas nodded his bitter understanding but said no more. Twist felt his fears whisper at the buzz in his neck, mirroring his own. Whether Hala did release Skye or not, Twist knew that both he and Jonas would scour the world for some way to save her. As hard as it was to believe at that moment, Twist simply had to cling to that hope.

  Twist and Jonas picked idly over another spicy and flavorful dinner with Hala and Zéphyrin, while the little perfume bottle sat on the table beside Jonas’s plate. Myra seemed lost in thought as she watched the soft light of the ocean beyond the glass dome above their heads began to dim. This far under the waves, the effect of the sun seemed nearly undetectable to Twist even in the middle of the day. It was only when his eyes failed to pick out shapes and colors that he realized that it had grown dark.

  Zéphyrin put down his fork and held out an empty, long-fingered hand. He then blew gently over the surface of his palm as tiny flashes of brilliant, yellow-green light tumbled off of his fingertips. The tiny lights took on the shapes of fireflies that danced languidly over the table, lighting the meal like flickering candlelight. Twist and the others watched this marvel with silent awe, while Hala offered a simple word of thanks and Zéphyrin casually took his fork again.

  One of the fireflies landed on Myra’s outstretched finger, lighting her amazed smile with a gentle blush of green, while Twist watched, transfixed by the subtle and flawless magic. A moment later, Bill the goblin entered the dining room and gave Zéphyrin a bow.

  “Sir, we will be arriving in a few minutes,” Bill announced. Twist noticed the goblin glance at the bottle that contained Skye with a slight smirk on its wretched face.

  “Thank you,” Zéphyrin said, reaching into his pocket to pull out his newly mended watch. “Take the ship to the side entrance,” he said as he checked the time. “I’ll be along shortly.”

  “Yes, sir,” Bill said with another bow before he scurried out of the room.

  Twist put his fork down as his appetite deserted him completely. After so long of trying not to think about where they were headed, they had finally arrived. The banished knowledge that he would soon be on trial for murder fell on Twist like a cold and heavy shroud. Was there any point in hoping for a positive resolution? Would the monsters even want to hear whatever he might have to say? More than that, what could he possibly say to save himself from whatever unknown horror awaited him?

  “Myra,” Jonas said from his seat across the table, “would you please take Twist’s hand and tell him that everything will be all right?”

  Twist looked up to him with a frown, but Myra stole his attention fully away as she took his hand in hers. Twist’s thoughts brightened instantly as her emotions fell golden and warm on his Sight, like a breaking dawn. Myra gave him a confident, calm, and beautiful smile when he turned to look at her.

  “Everything is going to be all right, darling,” she said with an unshakable faith that reverberated through his heart.

  “Of course,” Twist muttered, finding himself smiling back lightly.

  “Thanks, love,” Jonas said, sounding relieved as he rubbed at his neck.

  “Any time,” Myra said happily. “You really don’t need to be worried, you know,” she added gently to Twist. “You are the most honorable man there’s ever been. There’s no chance that the creatures we’re about to meet will find any fault with you.”

  Twist felt his cheeks grow warm as the complete belief behind her words struck him fully. He glanced away from her as he muttered an awkward thanks, grateful for the dim light that might hide his embarrassment at such open flattery. Hala let out an ador
ing tone and covered her mouth with a purple hand, while Vane stared at Myra in astonishment. Jonas’s mirth tickled at Twist’s neck, but he held his lips steady and closed.

  “Have I said something strange?” Myra asked hesitantly, looking at the others’ reactions.

  “Not at all,” Zéphyrin said, smiling fondly. “But your faith in him is a telling sign. I’m sure you’re absolutely right.” Twist glanced up to find the dragon smiling at him with glistening red eyes in the flickering light of the fireflies.

  “Perhaps we should tell them what to expect,” Hala mentioned lightly. “Otherwise they will only be more anxious.”

  “Good point,” Zéphyrin said with a nod. Twist’s full attention moved to the dragon. “As soon as we dock, you will be brought before the oldest and wisest of my brothers, along with some of those whom you have offended.”

  “You mean the ones from the spaceship?” Jonas asked, his eyes still aimed harmlessly to one side but his attention clearly locked tightly onto Zéphyrin.

  “And some who knew the two who were slain,” Zéphyrin said, nodding.

  “Two?” Twist asked, startled. He only remembered killing one dragon, the blue snake, Kazan.

  “Bob died on the space ship,” Jonas said in answer.

  Twist's memory of what he'd seen through Jonas's eyes on board the space ship came quickly back to him. Kali had taken a magical bomb and leaped into the huge silver dragon's maw, obliterating Bob in the same way that Kazan had been slain. Of course, that meant that Kali was the true murderer of Bob, but Jonas clearly wasn't planning on mentioning this fact. After all, the entire episode had been in effort to rescue him from the dragons in the first place.

  “Bob?” Zéphyrin echoed Jonas, startled.

  Jonas shrugged. “He wouldn't tell me his name, so I made one up.”

  “And you chose Bob?” Hala asked, amused.

  Jonas didn't answer, but Zéphyrin also seemed to find humor in giving a massive magical beast such a simple and friendly-sounding human name. “Yes, well,” he went on, returning to the topic at hand. “You will face your accusers, and then we will all discuss what should be done about you. There is a very real chance that we might come up with something that wouldn’t involve your deaths, by the way.”