The Dead Gentleman by Matthew Cody

Author:Matthew Cody [Cody, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-375-89780-1
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

TOMMY

THE ENLIGHTENED HIDDEN CITY, 1900

In time, Bernard and I would become friends, but it took some doing. Our first real bit of trouble had to do with our positions aboard the Nautilus. As the more experienced apprentice, young Bernard still technically outranked me, and he wasn’t above taking advantage of it. After the first week of shining his shoes and making his bunk, I complained to the Captain, and when this didn’t help I resorted to a good old-fashioned street thumping (this being sort of a headlock wherein you bump the locked head into the dirtiest manure-laden patch of street you can find). As it turned out, one street thumping was all it took to even the scales, and Bernard never again ordered me to so much as pass the salt at dinner.

That over with, we settled into a routine of … wonder. Alongside the Captain and Bernard, I saw twin suns rise over the Sea of Glass while scaling the shoulder of a thousand-year-old petrified giant. I rescued Bernard from the leopard-men of the Obsidian Temple early one morning and nicked their holy Cat’s Eye Emerald later that afternoon. Those few months were the happiest of my life, bar none. And I only wish with all my heart that they could’ve lasted.

All was not perfect, though. The Captain still suffered his gray, faraway moods. He’d sometimes disappear into his cabin by himself for hours, even days at a time. He spent long evenings obsessing over his books or simply staring at Merlin, leaving Bernard and me to our own devices (hence the little detour with the leopard-men). But the Captain really wasn’t alone in this. I’d felt the same ominous fear since the moment I’d looked into the Gentleman’s black, soulless eyes. Something bad was coming.

So when the distress signal reached the Nautilus, I can’t say I was all that surprised. The message was garbled and hard to make out, and we didn’t even receive it until we’d returned to Earth for a bit of ship’s maintenance—twelve hours after its first transmission. The automated beacon was being rebroadcast from the London Chapterhouse on a protected ether-radio frequency in a continual loop. A single, desperate voice calling out:

The Hidden City has been invaded! Academy under attack! All Explorers are ordered to—

That’s all there was. Whether it was a call for help or a warning to stay away, we couldn’t be sure. It just ended in the middle. Cut off. Slammed shut like a closet door.

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