Flashback by Shannon Messenger

Author:Shannon Messenger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

TWENTY-EIGHT

LET ME BE CLEAR,” MR. Forkle added, rushing over to Tinker, who was trembling so hard she looked ready to topple over. “I know how you feel about explosives, and I would never ask you to make them again. I’m only asking you to help design gadgets that will counteract some of the Neverseen’s abilities—and if there’s also a way to take out any ogres or dwarves working with them in the process, all the better. But you get to decide how you’ll approach that challenge. Mr. Dizznee can design the rest on his own.”

He helped Tinker lower herself onto the bench, and Sprocket hopped into her lap. She stroked the gremlin’s ears as she murmured, “He shouldn’t.”

The words were hushed and simple—but coming from someone who only spoke in questions, they hit with a thud.

Even Mr. Forkle looked shaken.

“Have you forgotten what happens when you bring that kind of ugliness into the world?” Tinker asked him.

“I know the risks,” he promised.

Her focus shifted to Dex as the lenses on her eyepiece rotated. “Do you?”

“I do,” Dex assured her.

“Then why would you be willing to create such things? Or have you already made them?”

“Mr. Dizznee has made some simple, targeted devices in order to protect himself and his friends,” Mr. Forkle answered for him, “and they’re part of the reason that Sophie survived this latest attack. But I can assure you, he’s not making anything that could cause damage on any sort of large scale—”

“How can you know that?” Tinker interrupted, slamming her fist against the table with a clang! that sent the tomples scattering and had Sprocket ducking under the bench. “Why would you think you can control the uncontrollable?”

“We don’t,” Mr. Forkle admitted. “But this is another reason I’d like you to work with Mr. Dizznee on this project, to offer him wisdom and guidance, and to challenge him to make sure the utmost caution is being taken. You can be the voice of reason.”

“Will he listen?” Tinker asked, tapping her metal-guarded finger on the table.

“I will,” Dex told her. “I know how messy this stuff can get. One of my gadgets got zapped by a Charger during a standoff in Exile. It was only supposed to set off a shock wave to knock over anyone threatening us, but once it absorbed all that extra energy, I knew it was going to explode—and one of my friends managed to hurl it away. But he got hurt in the process. And I think about that every time I make something new—how quickly everything became so much more dangerous than I wanted it to be, and how it felt to see my friend with this huge wound in his chest, knowing it was my fault, and that if he didn’t make it through . . .”

Sophie scooted closer, reaching for his hand.

“Afterward,” Dex added quietly, “I wondered if I shouldn’t ever make gadgets like that again. But . . . have you faced the Neverseen?”

Tinker shifted her weight. “No.”

Another answer that wasn’t a question—and it seemed to give Dex confidence.

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