“This is hardly necessary,” Jonas said as Vane finished re-cuffing Jonas's wrist to one arm of the chair he was now sitting in, in Twist's room.

  “You've just proved that it is,” Quay said.

  “Did you not see Twist snap these open?” Jonas asked with a sigh. “It's pointless to try to lock me up.”

  “No, it's pointless to lock him up,” Quay said, pointing to Twist, who now sat in the chair beside Jonas with his heavy head in his hands. The flight to find Jonas had taken up the bright moment of energy that had come from his long rest. Now, Twist began to feel the weight of his fatigue again.

  “If one of you is tied up, it will slow you both down, at least,” Quay explained coolly.

  “Then, if you do get away, I can pounce on you again,” Vane said with a happy grin.

  “You enjoy that too much,” Jonas said, looking concerned.

  “Do I nag at you about your nature?” Vane snapped back.

  “Do you think we could get back to the point of this meeting?” Quay asked the room.

  “Seriously, you're not talking about an animal, right?” Twist said, looking up to Jonas. “When you say he's a 'fox,' you mean it metaphorically.”

  “No, I mean it literally,” Jonas said instantly. “He. Is. A. Fox,” he added, taking extra time for each word. “Well, a kitsune, anyway.” Vane grinned at Twist.

  “Now, Mr. Twist,” Quay began.

  “But he looks like a person,” Twist said to Jonas.

  “Because he likes to,” Jonas said. “Foxes are shape-shifting spirits.”

  “All of them?”

  “Can I just ask—“ Quay began again.

  “Why is this so hard for you to understand?” Jonas asked Twist.

  “I'm sorry,” Twist said, his voice sharp. “I didn't live in a world of magical weirdness until your bloody sister came into my home and handed me a tangible piece of my favorite fairytale. I've never left London in my life, and now I'm sitting in Hong Kong with a pirate who's hardly even dressed,”—Quay looked down at his own attire quickly but didn't seem to find anything amiss—“a fox that looks like a person, and a man whose eyes I can't look into without exploding!” The others waited quietly for Twist to get his breath back.

  “Feel better?” Jonas asked.

  “Marginally,” Twist muttered, holding his head in his hands again.

  “So, tell me, Mr. Twist,” Quay said, his voice still smooth and calm as he sat patiently across the small table from Twist. “What is it that you really want?”

  “A bloody quiet day,” he said flatly, not moving.

  “Jonas wants something like that,” he said, looking to Jonas. “Don't you?”

  “At the moment, I'd really like my goggles back, actually,” Jonas said, staring pointedly at his own feet. Vane smiled silently, pulling the black-lensed goggles off his brow and over his own eyes. He then waved his hand in front of the opaque lenses with an amazed expression. Quay rolled his eyes and looked away from Vane.

  “Win back my trust, and I'll give them to you, gladly,” Quay said pleasantly.

  “Where's my pocket watch?” Twist asked, looking up suddenly.

  “Your what?” Quay asked.

  “I had a watch with me,” Twist said. “Where is it?”

  “I assume it’s with your things,” Quay said, gesturing to the wardrobe. Twist got to his feet instantly, heading for it. “But honestly, you and I need to have an undisturbed conversation,” Quay said imploringly.

  Twist opened the wardrobe and found a small collection of clothes that he'd never seen before hanging neatly inside. A small shelf held the key to his home which had been in his pocket, along with his small brass watch. The instant his fingers touched the watch, the gentle echo of London rain whispered to his ears. He took hold of it tightly as he turned back.

  Vane was sitting on the end of the long couch, his feet folded under him, as he continued to entertain himself by trying to see through Jonas's goggles. Twist walked up to him and reached out quickly, plucking the goggles off his eyes and over his head without touching him. Vane blinked in the sudden light just long enough for Twist to jump out of reach.

  “Now, come on,” Quay said to him, grinning imploringly. “Just let me—”

  Twist sat down beside Jonas again and held the goggles out to him while Quay bit his lip with obvious effort not to let his anger overrun him.

  “Sweet heavens above!” Jonas gasped in sudden joy. He took the goggles and instantly placed them over his eyes as he took in a deep, relaxing breath. “You're a good man, Twist.” Vane glared at Twist darkly, while Quay rubbed at his temple and sighed.

  “Vane was playing with them,” Twist said as he wrapped the chain of his pocket watch around his hand.

  “I'm going to skin you alive and use your pelt for a throw rug!” Jonas said savagely in Vane's direction.

  When Twist glanced at Vane, he was wholly astonished to see a second Jonas sitting exactly where Vane had been. He was wearing the same clothes that Jonas wore now, though without the goggles, and was otherwise a perfect copy in every aspect save one: this new Jonas had a fluffy black fox tail curled up on the couch beside him.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “I'm gonna kill you dead,” the new Jonas said in Jonas's voice, but with a childish, over exaggerated sneer. “You’re such an angry person,” he sighed, in Jonas's normal voice.

  “Knock that off!” Jonas yelled at himself from behind his goggles.

  The new Jonas laughed back at him with Jonas's laugh, but through a grin that looked somehow predatory and very alien on his face.

  “What the blazes is going on?” Twist asked in a hollow voice as he looked quickly between the identical twins.

  “I've surrounded myself with silly fools, apparently,” Quay muttered.

  “This is exactly why you never say your own name in front of a fox,” Jonas said, looking toward Twist from behind his goggles. “If they hear your name from your mouth, they can put on your face. Disturbing as hell, if you ask me,” Jonas added with a shiver. “Just knowing your name will let them track you down, too.”

  Vane smiled wickedly at Twist with Jonas's face. Twist twitched his vision off of Vane's eyes, but Vane didn't flinch at all. Twist looked back and, for the first time, saw Jonas's full face, unobscured. His eyes were bright and green, round and keen, set in his sun-kissed features like gleaming, precious jewels. In his wonder at this forbidden image, Twist stared for a moment too long.

  “Do you see something you like?” Vane asked in Jonas's voice, with a wicked smile and a playful wink.

  “Vane, will you stop it?” Quay sighed.

  Vane clicked his tongue disapprovingly, but then gave his body a shake. For an instant, his form blurred into a shadow, but then just as quickly returned to the form he had worn before. Twist watched the transformation, not believing an instant of it.

  “Now, please, can I have your attention for a little longer than the merest moment?” Quay asked Twist.

  “So that you can get me to agree to sell you something I can't afford to lose?” Twist asked him back instantly. Jonas and Vane both looked to Quay silently.

  “Whatever do you mean?” Quay asked, looking honestly astonished.

  “You have her, you've made that clear,” Twist said. “But she isn't yet finished. You want me to complete the repairs.”

  “Well, yes,” Quay said, watching him carefully. Twist pulled himself still once again, staring at Quay with all the unnerving energy that he could muster beaming out of his steel-blue eyes. This time, Quay didn't look away, but held his gaze steadily, albeit uncomfortably.

  “To what end?” Twist asked coolly. “Why would you go to any trouble for some strange old clockwork toy, left forgotten for so long?” To Twist's amazement, he managed to make it sound like he might have actually believed a word of it.

  “A walking, talking, self-aware mechanical woman would be amazing to anyone,” Quay answered. “Amazing things are always worth something.”

  “So you would sell her?” Twist asked, holding his voice even.

  “Of course,” Quay said. “Royals tend to like toys like this one. I'm sure I could find a prince somewhere who might want it. And royals are never careful with their money. Then there are the Rooks, of course. I could offer you a large percentage of the takings if—”

  “No,” Twist said, as solidly as any other undeniable fact.

  “But—”

  “No amount of money is worth that girl's soul,” Twist said before Quay could say anything else. “You forget, she is still very much alive. You can't expect to sell a human being for money.”

  “I think you forget,” Quay said quickly, leaning forward, “people have been selling each other as slaves since the beginning of time. My own father was born a slave in Kingston.”

  “Then you should know better!” Twist cut in quickly. “Do you now honestly mean to sell an immortal princess into slavery?”

  “I mean to make a living,” Quay said flatly. “We do what we have to do to survive.”

  “You could always get a normal job, you know,” Twist said. “I have a nice little clock-fixing business back in London and I never want for money.”

  “You are squandering your talent!” Quay snapped, his anger showing on his face now.

  “I'm using it as I see fit,” Twist answered evenly.

  “With the Sight you have, you could be one of the most powerful men in this world,” Quay said, his words biting. “But instead, you lock yourself up in a tiny little shop, never even touching anything but ruddy clocks! Touch the right people, learn the right secrets, and your Sight could be used to rule nations!”

  “Is it just me, or does he sound jealous to you?” Twist asked Jonas lightly.

  “Don't get me into this,” Jonas said back quickly. “I've never seen him actually show anger before.” Vane was also watching Quay with an alarmed expression.

  Quay sat back in his seat, taking a moment to breathe slowly and calm himself. “I'm sorry,” he said, his voice smooth once again. “I just hate to see something so valuable wasted.”

  “I'm happy, thank you,” Twist said. “I wouldn't want to rule anything.”

  “Everyone wants power,” Quay said, shaking his head.

  “I don't.”

  “Of course you do,” Quay protested. “You just don't see it that way.”

  “All I want is to spend the rest of my life tending to the needs of the clockwork princess,” Twist said, silently amazed by the ease by with which the words flew from his lips. “She is a beautiful and impossible myth become real. Nothing in this world could ever be more valuable to me than she is. And I'll never give her up to something like you.”

  Quay stared back at Twist with frustration smoldering in his eyes. “The Vimana is in pieces, hanging off the side of a mountain top more than two days flights from here,” he said, his voice smooth as silk, curling into the vowels on the gentle Caribbean-colored accent. “You are now halfway around the world from anyone else you might know, and last I checked, your pockets were empty except for one old, and an uninteresting watch that isn't even telling the right time. If you leave me now, you'll be lost, alone, and destitute. Instantly.

  “Now,” he said, smiling slightly, “I, on the other hand, have a ship, a crew, and most of my not-inconsiderable wealth stockpiled in banks here in Hong Kong. I also have your precious clockwork toy and her crystal heart. If you agree to work with me, I'm willing to not only make sure that you are fed well, paid for your work, and made very comfortable, but I'm also ready to make sure that you are able to finish repairing that toy. You're a clever boy,” Quay said, his dark eyes gleaming above his wicked grin, “so you tell me, Mr. Twist. Which path suits you better?”

  Twist's eyes slid away, into the reality of the situation. His watch ticked softly in his hand, echoing the silence, simplicity, and comfort of the life he'd left behind in London. It hadn't felt final when he'd shut the door to his shop. It hadn't felt like an ending when the Vimana had carried him up out of the London rain, and into the painfully bright sunlight. For the first time in his life, Twist truly didn't know if he would ever see his home again.

  The ground seemed to dissolve under his feet, falling away to leave him hanging by the tiniest possible thread: the fickle whim of a man he didn't trust. All he could do now was try to buy himself some time.

  “Do I have to sign anything in blood?” Twist asked softly, still looking away. Though he said nothing, Twist felt Jonas take a heavy sigh beside him.

  “Not at all,” Quay said gently. “You can stay with me for as long as you need to. All I ask is that you don't run away,” he added, glancing at Jonas, “and that you help me when your skills are needed.”

  “That sounds quite reasonable,” Twist said, finding the words heavy on his breath.

  “Wonderful,” Quay said with a reptilian smile.

  “You're awfully good at getting what you want,” Jonas said suddenly to Quay. “Are you sure you don't have a Sight of your own?”

  “I'm just a business man,” Quay said lightly.

  Dread tickled up Twist's spine, sending a shiver through him.