The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(19)

“Absolutely,” Alex agreed.

“There’s nothing like clockwork to calm the mind,” Lintz went on. “What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be in a lesson of some sort?” The professor’s eyes were drawn to one of the many clocks ticking away on the far wall. Alex thought the question was a tad hypocritical, considering that Lintz hadn’t shown up to teach classes for weeks.

“We were supposed to have the morning with Professor Renmark, but he got called away,” Jari explained.

A dark look passed over Lintz’s face at the news. “Did he now?” he muttered.

“Yes, Professor,” Natalie said.

“I’m afraid I must be on my way,” Lintz said suddenly, a curious look on his face, his mind seemingly already elsewhere. “Clear up after yourselves,” he added as he disappeared into the hallway beyond. The three of them were left alone in the mechanics lab, with no sound but that of the endlessly ticking clocks for a long moment.

“That was weird,” Alex noted as he wandered over to the trunk in the corner, checking the lock with a quick tug.

Jari hopped up onto one of the stools lined neatly around the workbenches. “Lintz is weird.”

“That owl was beautiful, though, no?” Natalie smiled.

“It really was,” Alex admitted. He checked out some of the shelves, reading the labels on the boxes. The bottom shelves seemed to be reserved for clockwork projects. Alex dipped down onto his haunches, running a hand along some of the creations—a frog, the metal tinted green; a small hummingbird, the metalwork tempered to be multi-colored, like the surface of an oil spill, pink and blue and yellow and green. A few others, though none of them were nearly as impressive as Lintz’s owl.

At the back of one of the bottom shelves, hidden behind the bulk of a half-made cuckoo clock, Alex’s eye was drawn to a cluster of clockwork creatures, gathering dust. A series of mice, all identical—five of them, their intricate, glinting metallic bodies smothered in a thick blanket of fuzzy gray. Beside the last of them was a clean outline on the dirt of the shelf, where something had protected the wood from the dust. The sixth mouse was missing.

Alex reached into his pocket and brought out the sixth mouse. It was exactly the same as the other five, the same size, shape, color, and design. Someone had taken the mouse from here and sent it to him, with the message tied to its back leg.

“Natalie?” Alex called, diverting Natalie’s attention from a beautiful music box.

“Yes?”

“Could I borrow you for a second?” Alex asked. He wandered over to the workbench in the center of the room and set down the delicate mechanical mouse.

“Where did you get that?” Natalie asked as she drew herself up to the bench. Jari flanked Alex on the other side, peering over his shoulder to get a better look at the mouse.

“Over there.” Alex pointed to the missing spot on the shelf.

“It is beautiful.” Natalie ran her fingers across the fine metalwork.

“I was wondering if you could run your magic through it—see what happens. Like Lintz did with the owl,” Alex said, setting the mouse up onto its dainty feet.

“I will try,” Natalie said. She placed a hand against the top of the mouse, a glow appearing beneath her palm. Smoothly, the misty fluid rippled through the mouse’s clockwork, the cogs beginning to move as the mouse sprang into life, scuttling across the worktop. The ancient, dusty mechanisms creaked slightly as the creature ran the length of the bench. Natalie’s face was bright with delight while she watched the mouse dart this way and that.

“Can you control it?” Alex asked, watching closely.

“I can try.” Natalie moved her hand slowly, attempting to manipulate the magic inside the mouse. The mouse stopped, cocking its head at Natalie as it crept back across the workbench toward her, its golden tail whipping sideways as it moved. Natalie turned her index finger in a circular motion. The mouse followed, turning in a circle, lifting onto its hind legs. Natalie flicked her finger sharply, and the mouse went flying backward, only to come creeping back up to the young woman whose magic ran in its clockwork. It stood with its head cocked, awaiting instruction.

“I want to try something,” Alex muttered, standing to fetch one of the toolboxes from the shelf. He pulled out some tweezers and reached out a hand for the mouse, which rolled easily out of the way. It was then that Alex noticed the eyes—no longer the glittering black he’d seen the night it came to him, but a dark gold shade.

“Shall I take my magic out?” Natalie asked, though she seemed to be having far too much fun with the clockwork creature for it to end.

Alex nodded. “Please.”

Natalie beckoned the mouse toward her and placed a hand over the back of it, drawing the magic from the inner workings. The golden glow ebbed from within as the creature’s eyes turned back to a dulled shade of darkened silver, closer to that of iron ore, the life gone.

Natalie handed the mouse to Alex, who held it gently in his palm for a moment, eyeing the clockwork closely before setting it down on the table, tweezers poised. It took him a while, his shoulders hunched in concentration, as he removed the parts and reinserted them, inverting the clockwork as best as he could—hoping it would mean what he thought it would mean. Jari chimed in with suggestions as he watched Alex work, and Alex was grateful for the fresh pair of eyes. After a few minutes, he fit the last few pieces back together again.