Hickory dickory dock,
The three climbed up the clock.
The clock struck one,
Away they run,
Hickory dickory dock.
It was late when they finally arrived at the House of Never. The city sprawled around them in ripples of buildings and alleys, which Vulcan navigated with familiar ease until they began to slowly ascend, the streets swirling upward toward a hill in the center. The buildings here were quiet, no evening lamps lit inside, and at their center a huge brick-and-glass monstrosity loomed over it all. The core of it reminded Wren of a monument, with smooth sides that stretched up to a tapered point, but wooden turrets and outcroppings bulged from the sides, interspersed with large glass-paned additions. The largest of these additions, a big circular window, was constructed of familiar-looking black-and-white glass.
Wren recognized it immediately from her dreams. She remembered how Boggen had looked silhouetted by the black-and-white glass, how angry his face had been when he discovered that she had traveled through the dream. “That’s it, isn’t it?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“The House of Never,” Vulcan said. “Boggen’s headquarters.” He ducked through a crumbling portion of the brick wall that surrounded the House of Never. He swung himself up to a bridge as if they were in a playground rather than a prison. Vulcan paused at the foot of a spiral staircase. “This will take you to the upper levels, where they keep the prisoners.” He shifted from one foot to the other. “Do you need an extra crew member for your mission?”
“Shh,” Simon said. He seemed to be listening for something off in the distance.
Wren exchanged an alarmed glance with Jack. The last thing they needed was someone from Nod tagging along to discover that they were, in fact, Alchemists. However nice Vulcan seemed, he was still a stranger.
“No,” Wren said quickly. “I think we can take it from here.”
“She’s right,” Jack said. “We’ve got our . . . um . . . Outsider plans. Top secret, you know. Can’t tell anyone. Nope.” Jack was rambling now, and Wren stomped on his toe to get him to stop. “But thanks for the offer,” Jack finished with a pained grimace. His words sounded fake-cheerful, and Wren could tell by the look on Vulcan’s face that they might have made things worse.
“O-kay,” Vulcan said slowly, turning away from Jack and giving Wren a crooked salute. “Good luck. And you know you can always find me at the Nest.”
Wren watched Vulcan disappear into the shadows with a fleeting sense of regret and some other emotion she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“Oh, come on,” Jack said. “Stop staring at him and let’s go.” Wren blushed, and then quickly scaled the ladder with Jack and Simon following quietly behind. They hurried along a catwalk that skirted a wooden turret. If they could cross over to that bridge there, and then swing up to the parapet outside it, they’d be almost on the upper level. Ducking under the cover of one of the many roofs, she waited for the boys to join her.
“We should put on the invisibility tincture,” Simon said, and pulled out a little bottle from one of his many pockets. Jack and Wren stood shoulder to shoulder with him, forming a little circle that would hide the glistening stardust from sight as Simon worked the rhyme and showed them how to apply it. Soon, they were as unnoticeable as the shadows, darting upward as quietly as possible. After Wren climbed up the final ladder, she leaned against the wall at the top to catch her breath.
“Jack?” she asked, when she heard the sound of someone bumping into a wall, followed by a muffled groan. She recognized the sound of Simon flipping a page in his notebook, which meant that he was somewhere nearby as well.
“Hey,” Jack said. “Did you see that twisty little staircase?” He paused, out of breath. “There’s a door there. I think maybe we can get in that way.”
“Excellent!” Wren said, listening carefully to Jack’s instructions. It was difficult to follow someone you couldn’t see.
Jack’s discovery turned out to be a stroke of luck. The rooftop below them was shabby and untended. It looked like it had once been a main part of the building, but in the intervening years someone had built two bulging turrets to either side, leaving a sliver of a path between them that led up to a forgotten door. But that was where their good fortune ended. The door was shut tight, and there wasn’t even a lock to try to pick. Jack claimed he could have easily done so if there was one.
Wren peered through the smudged window but couldn’t make out anything. “I guess we can try the rooftop,” she suggested. Back at the Nest it had seemed like a good idea to go to the House of Never and then figure out a way in, but now it seemed like they might have made a wasted trip.
“Why don’t we just break the window?” Simon asked.
“And announce to Boggen’s soldiers that we’ve arrived?” Wren said. “I don’t think so.”
“What else is being invisible for?” Simon asked, and Wren could almost hear the smile in his voice. Before she could say anything else, there was a crashing sound of tinkling glass.
“Simon!” she gasped. “We didn’t even—”
“It wasn’t Simon.” Jack’s voice held an unmistakable grin. “He’s right. We’re freaking invisible!”
“Shh!” That was Simon. “Someone’s coming.”
Wren crouched up against one of the turrets, instinctively hiding even though the henchman peering out the window couldn’t see them.
“No one’s here,” he said in a voice with a heavy accent. “The exterior is empty.”
“Are you positive?” A woman’s voice this time. The first man jerked aside, and another face peered out. The woman had a bright red scarf tied smoothly over her scalp. Wren had seen one of those red scarves before, back at the airship. Whoever wore it seemed to be the leader among the soldiers. The woman moved toward a pipe fixed to the wall near the window and spoke into it. “Glass exterior broken on floor twenty-seven, witnessed by Delta and Omega. No evidence of nefarious activity.” She flicked a switch next to the tube, and another voice filled the air, with the tinny sound of a radio.
“Report accepted,” the voice at the other end of the pipe said. “Delta and Omega: confirm status of prisoners and report back, please.”
“Right away, sir,” the woman with the red scarf said. The two guards swiveled and moved away from the window. Wren inched forward, glass crunching under her boot. It sounded excruciatingly loud in the quiet night air, but they didn’t have much choice. Those soldiers were going to check on the prisoners, and if they moved fast, they might be able to follow them.
The others must have had the same idea, because just in front of the window she bumped into someone.
“Ow,” Jack moaned, as his scalp met her chin.
Wren groaned.
“Wait,” Simon whispered from somewhere behind them. “I heard something.”
“Of course you heard something,” Wren said. “This is a bad idea. All of us bumbling about like this.” Apparently, invisibility had its drawbacks. They needed a plan.
“No,” Simon said, his tone uncharacteristically forceful. “I heard it earlier, too. I think the falcons found us.”
Wren scanned the silent, dark sky. She didn’t know what Simon was hearing, but they were losing time.
“Okay, listen to me. Jack and I are going to catch up to those guards and follow them to the prisoners. Simon, you do what you need to with the falcons and keep an eye on the exit. Everybody, be smart, and we’ll be back here in—” She faltered halfway through the window. It wasn’t like they had a way of keeping track of time. “Well, whenever we’re done, I guess. Be careful, Simon.” But Simon was already gone, his footsteps climbing higher up one of the ladders, toward where the falcons might be.
Once she was through the window, Wren saw that the pipes against the wall indeed seemed to be some kind of messaging system, with a callboard and a flashing little flame that showed somebody on floor thirteen was using it. But she hurried on. They might already have lost the guards.
“Wren?” Jack’s hand smacked into her ear. “Oh, sorry.”
“We’ve got to figure out a better way of doing this,” Wren said. “Here, give me your hand.”
“What?” Jack sounded confused.
“Hold my hand,” Wren said flatly. This was not how she had imagined her first hand-holding experience with a boy would go, but there was nothing she could do about that. Finding Cole and Mary was too important.
Jack grabbed her wrist, but Wren shifted and slipped her hand into his. “This way we can stay together without being loud enough for the guards to hear.” She tugged Jack toward the doorway. “Or getting smacked in the head.”
“I said I was sorry!” Jack said as they stumbled out into a well-lit hallway.
“Shut up,” Wren said. She had been wrong. The guards hadn’t gone far. In fact, they were patrolling the hall right in front of them.
Wren watched the guards make a circuit. They walked the hall, turned a corner, and then returned within two minutes, paying special attention to each door along the way. A few more minutes passed, and then they returned, completing the same route like clockwork.
“Mary and Cole have to be somewhere back there,” she whispered to Jack.
“They sure aren’t leaving that area alone,” Jack said. He must have been scratching his skin, because little flakes of stardust were sparking in the air, and if Wren looked at just the right angle, she could see a flicker of his outline.
“Stop.”
“Stop what?” Jack sounded annoyed.
“Stop whatever it is you’re doing.” Wren reached over and grabbed what was becoming a clearly visible sleeve. “The invisibility mixture is coming off you.” She waited until the guards completed another circuit and then told Jack: “Now.”
They made their way to the crossroads, which was lit by lamps that glowed bright blue from behind arched glass ceiling panels—so bright, in fact, that Jack’s halfway-there arm floated along noticeably beside her. Wren was grateful the lamps weren’t candles or torches, or else they would both have been entirely visible.
“Let’s split up,” Jack whispered when the guards had rounded the corner again. “You go that way. I’ll try the other.”
“Be careful,” Wren said reluctantly. “They might not be able to see you, but they’ll still feel you if you bump into them.”
Wren made her way alone to a wide wood-paneled door and tried the handle. Locked. Of course Jack was nowhere to be found, now that she could have used his lock-picking skills. She lifted the flap near the top of the door and peered through the tiny window in the center, but to no avail. Either the room was empty or the guards liked to keep their prisoners in complete darkness.
The next door was much the same. They weren’t going to make any progress looking into dark rooms. Just then Wren heard the sound of metal on metal—keys jingling toward her. She pressed back against the wall. It wasn’t time for the guards to come this way! But no guards appeared.
The jingling drew nearer and nearer.
“You find them?” Jack asked, the black shadow of his sleeve waving in front of her face and producing a ring of keys out of midair.
“Where did you get those?” Wren gasped.
“I don’t only pick locks,” Jack said mischievously. “I pick pockets as well. Believe me, it’s a lot easier when your target can’t see you.”
“Jack!” Wren said in mock disapproval, but she was really only disappointed she hadn’t thought of it first.
“All those rooms are dark,” she said, pointing behind her. “Let’s try these.” Now that she was closer she could see a flicker of light coming from the crack under one of the doors. She grabbed the keys from the air and hurried toward it. The low sound of music drifted out. When she stood up on tiptoe to peek in, she saw not the dour prison she had expected, but a finely furnished room and a long table set with china and goblets. Seated at the head of it was none other than Cole. And next to him, Mary.
“What’s in there?” Jack asked, and Wren could feel him squeezing in close to get a look.
“Well, isn’t that nice? There they are feasting, while we’re barely making do.”
Wren didn’t bother to point out that Jack hadn’t exactly been starving back at the Nest.
“Hold on,” she said, feeling him tug at the keys. Mary looked older somehow, and the lines around her mouth were stark in the lamplight. Cole was sitting stiffly in his seat, his food untouched before him. They were alone. William and the soldiers who had captured them on the ship were nowhere to be seen.
“Well?” Jack prompted. “What are you waiting for?”
“Nothing,” Wren said.
The third key Wren tried fit into the old-fashioned lock, and she gave it a hard twist, hearing the tumblers engage. The sound was loud in her own ears, and the two figures at the table swiveled their heads toward the door like hawks hunting prey.
Wren stepped inside, tucking the keys in her fist to hide them.
“Who’s there?” Mary said, half rising to her feet. “William? Enough of your games.” Mary’s voice sounded strong, but lines around her eyes deepened.
“Let’s be done with this,” Cole said, putting an arm protectively around Mary’s shoulder. “We have not changed our minds, William. I’d sooner die than help you with your twisted research.”
Wren saw Mary reach for her stardust, could see a tiny flare of light when she began to work it in a rhyme, but then the dust sparked a dangerous-looking orange color and burst into flame.
“Ow!” Mary hissed, sucking on her finger.
“The shield is impenetrable,” Cole said. “Attempting to work the stardust will only further injure you.”
Wren moved closer. From the look of Cole’s skin, he hadn’t exactly stopped trying to use magic. His hands were covered with burn marks that matched the one Mary was nursing.
Cole and Mary were still barred from using stardust, and they were defiant toward William. That was all the confirmation Wren needed. Fancy dinner or not, Cole and Mary were indeed prisoners.
“Cole,” Wren said in a low voice. “It’s Wren. And Jack’s with me.” Behind her, the door swung shut.
“We’ve got to be kind of quick, though,” Jack said. “The guards are bound to notice that their keys are gone soon.”
“Wren!” Mary’s face broke into a smile. “We thought you were lost!” And then surprise: “Jack? What are you doing here?”
“We’re here to rescue you,” Jack said impatiently. “But we’ve got to hurry.”
Cole and Mary exchanged glances. “I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Cole said in a grave voice.
“If only we could leave,” Mary said in a weary voice. “But many lives depend on our remaining here. If we come with you, William and Boggen will kill them.”
Wren and Jack sat on the floor near the table, and even though Mary and Cole couldn’t see them, they had circled their chairs to face them. In case any guards peeked in, it would look like Cole and Mary were merely having a quiet conversation. Cole told them how William had immediately offered to help Boggen in return for unlimited access to Nod’s research logs. With his newly granted authority, William had imprisoned Cole and Mary and demanded that they begin helping him run Boggen’s experiments. “As we suspected, what’s left of the stardust on Nod is now tainted. Boggen is exploring whether it can be used without extreme side effects.”
Mary frowned. “A Magician first tainted the stardust long ago. It seems she thought to create living stardust from the creatures here. It did not go well. I knew her as Svana, though she went by many names over the ages. Here, she is called Mother Goose.”
“Mother Goose!” Wren thought of all the nursery rhymes she had read in preschool. “You mean she’s real?”
“I assure you she was. Poor Svana,” Mary said. “Her curiosity and intellect were unparalleled, but without limits they led her to dark places.” She shook her head sadly. “Her intentions may have been good—I don’t know—but William’s certainly aren’t. Boggen’s wells of stardust have been emptying, and now he’s appointed William to experiment with the tainted stardust.” The more Cole and Mary talked, the more it became clear that things were bad on Nod. The little remaining untainted stardust was rapidly disappearing from the wells, and with the gateway open, Cole and Mary feared what the taint would do as it grew.
Wren heard the shuffling sound of Jack shifting next to her, and Mary turned toward him.
“Did Boggen ever talk about any of this, Jack?”
“Why are you asking me?” Jack said in a hard voice. “Do you think he told me the truth about anything?” Wren was surprised at how bitter he sounded. Mary didn’t follow it up with a question, just let his words fall in the still room.
“Who knows what Boggen intended?” Cole said after some time. “But this new method of research—experimenting on kidnapped human subjects—is evil.”
Mary’s face grew drawn. “Magicians from the poorest parts of the city have been disappearing. Imprisoned until they are needed as human tests for William’s research.”
“Disappearing?” Wren echoed. She felt strange prickles up and down her spine.
Mary shook her head. “I don’t know where the prisoners are taken,” she said. “But the man in the cell next door is hunting for news of them. He’s one of a group of Magicians who want to overthrow Boggen. They call themselves Outsiders.”
Wren nodded slowly. “They have some kind of spies here in Nod.” She explained what little Vulcan had said about the Outsiders. Jack cleared his throat next to her. “What do you intend to do, Cole?”
“Me?” Cole shifted back in his seat. “Not much from here, I’m afraid. What you two have done to reach us is admirable and very brave, but we can’t go with you. William has us trapped here as surely as any prisoner.” He gave a halfhearted smile. “You saw how trying to work the stardust burned us? It would incinerate us if we were to try to escape.”
“So he’s just going to keep you locked up here forever?” Wren got to her feet. “That’s stupid. We’ll figure out a way to get you out of here. Rescue the others. Defeat the shield. Hide you in the city somewhere. Come back with more Alchemists. I don’t know.” Wren’s voice grew frantic as she realized the grown-ups actually intended to stay locked up in their little prison. In that moment she understood that she had been counting on the fact that once they found Cole and Mary, everything would be okay. Once they found Cole and Mary, she wouldn’t have to figure everything out on her own. Once they found Cole and Mary, somebody would be able to help her before it was too late and she lost her ability to work the stardust. Now she knew better. There wasn’t anyone else. She had to figure this out herself.
“As wonderful as rescue would be,” Cole said in a soft voice, “there are more important things at stake. Boggen’s, and now William’s, research no doubt centers around extracting living stardust. Their prisoners face an awful fate, and the repercussions of that kind of twisted magic could destroy the entire planet.” He shook his head. “There isn’t time to wait for help from Earth. The Crooked House has its own set of problems to deal with now that they know the gateway was destroyed.” He nodded, forestalling Wren’s questions. “I’ve been communicating with Astrid through dreams, and we’ll find no help from there anytime soon, I’m afraid. No. It isn’t the Alchemists who can help us now. It’s the Magicians.”