Hello, friends! :)
I want to quickly point out that the forest/jungle is supposed to be something called a cloud forest, but it's really just like a jungle. Look them up sometime; they're really pretty. I realize I've been switching back between the two words, so I think I'm going to stick to "jungle" to prevent any confusion! :)
Barking Lizards: Thank you for your thoughts! I'm not going to say anything specific, but I promise all will be revealed! As far as chapters go… Originally, I was aiming to keep it under twenty, so I'm going to try for that. I plan on wrapping this up once I'm at that point, and continuing the story in a separate entry. It will be the same story, just under a different name, since it will take place in a different location! The final ending and such will be in that one. I hope all of that makes sense. Thanks again for your review! :)
Jett: Thank you so much for pointing out my embarrassing mistake! I appreciate it. And thanks for reviewing! That is so funny you mention the scene from Moulin Rouge!, because that's what I was thinking of when I wrote it. I toyed with the idea of including that, but decided against it because of another idea I have. That's all I'm going to say for now. ;)
Jibblitmuffins3675: You're awesome! Thank you so much!
SecretKeeper1095: Yay! Thank you for reviewing! :D I love hearing from you!
All original characters and storyline belong to Scott Westerfeld; I own nothing.
That evening, Alek had managed to sneak away just before dinner, while Captain Dakkar unknowingly provided the perfect distraction.
The man was apparently mortally afraid of ice cubes (he had a crippling fear of choking on them), so when he was given a glass of water that had a few innocently floating in it, he complained loudly and created quite the scene. Several people had rushed by his side to try to calm him while Alek slipped away unnoticed. He had explained to Bauer and Klopp where he was going, in the event that something went awry, but other than that, (hopefully) no one else knew.
He thought of his argument with Deryn while he was waiting by his window. He shouldn't have been so unkind to her, but he certainly deserved an explanation. But this wasn't about him; he needed to stay focused on his reason for coming here: her mother. Deryn was acting strange; she seemed almost alleviated when he told her Ma was sick and dying. He was puzzled by her behavior. It was a terrible thing to think, that she would be glad her mother was on her deathbed; there simply had to be another explanation.
The sky was just starting to turn deep orange when he opened his window to see if she was there yet. He dropped to the ground close below noiselessly, waiting for Deryn. There was a handful of men that did not look Mayan standing at the bottom of the temple steps. They were equipped each with a shield and spear, apparently guards of some sort.
A small figure, crouched down by the edge of the jungle approached him stealthily. It was wearing a great white furry sort of hood that went down to its back with a red clay mask blocking the person's face. It looked like one of the people Alek had seen fighting when the Gondolin was landing, but the pale arms and legs showed that it was clearly Deryn.
"Get down, you ninny!" came her voice from behind the clay mask as she motioned him to come to her.
He obediently crouched down and scooted towards her.
"Nice disguise," he whispered once he'd reached the jungle. "What exactly are you supposed to be?"
"Stole this from a rebel a few weeks ago. They're here all the time sneaking about, trying to avenge themselves; better to have them guards think that than to wonder what one of the doctors is doing out after-hours," she said in a low voice as she led him deeper into the forest.
Alek was confused by this statement, but ran to keep up with Deryn as she led him quickly into the jungle and up the steps to the Skywalk.
She leapt up onto a platform effortlessly, onto one Alek had seen her and Cocijo running on earlier that day, and extended her hand down to Alek.
He hesitated at first, wondering if she could really lift him.
"Oh, come on! I've been doing this for ages! I can lift you fine."
And she was right. He landed on the platform with a soft thud, and stood up. They were even higher now, practically in the tops of the trees. It was dizzying.
"Just take a moment to get your bearings!" she whispered. "I don't want you to fall."
She removed the disguise, hair ruffled underneath.
"Right," she said, sitting down crossed-legged. "So, perhaps you ought to sit back down. It's a long story."
Deryn sat before Alek, twiddling her thumbs.
"Deryn…" Alek said softly, trying to take a kinder approach than before. "Just tell me."
"Right," she said. "My ma, though, is she… all right?"
"I don't know, to be honest. She didn't look well when I last saw her-"
"Saw her? When did you see her?"
Alek had forgotten how Deryn had forbid him from contacting her family. But lying about it wasn't going to do any good.
"Jaspert wrote to me.."
"He did? Why?" she asked as she beckoned for Bovril, who had just emerged out of Alek's coat.
At least she didn't seem bothered by it.
"The drawing you sent him, he and your mother thought it was a sign that you were in trouble."
"Oh, I didn't send him that. Cocijo did."
"That's the boy you were with earlier, when I first saw you?"
He must have looked at her skeptically, because she nodded and answered with, "It's nothing like that. He and I started… working here at the same time. He's sort of my assistant, I guess you could say. Do you remember the night you and I went out, right before I'd be done at Oxford?"
Alek nodded. They had walked around the old city hand in hand, talking about anything and dreaming about the future. He remembered that night very fondly; it had been wonderful.
"Well, that day a man had come to visit the lab, but it wasn't anything unusual because people did that all the time, to look for interns. So anyways, this man introduced himself to me as Dmitri Shchavelsky, and asked if he could speak with me privately. I was in a rush because I wanted to see you, so I told him to meet me the next day."
She paused, letting Alek absorb the information.
"I know it was stupid, but I really wasn't thinking. I was tired and I wanted to see you; if I could go back and change it... Anyways, he came the next day and we went to that cafe, the one near the pub you and I like. I thought I saw Doctor Barlow there, and when she came towards us, he dragged me out the door. I don't remember what happened after that, but I woke up in a room with Dmitri and he told me that if I didn't come with him, my whole family would be gone."
"But you believed him? How did you know he wasn't just lying?" Alek asked.
"I did think he was full of clart at first, but then he brought Cocijo in and made him tell me what had happened to his family. Dmitri made him watch everything while he slaughtered Cocijo's sisters, then his mother and father. Even if Cocijo hadn't said anything, I could see it on his face. He wasn't lying."
She waited for Alek to nod as confirmation for her to continue.
"So anyways, he originally said I'd have a week to explain everything to you and my family, but he changed his mind and said we'd be leaving the next morning, which is the reason for my …sudden departure."
Alek blinked at her and looked away. It was a painful memory for him, too.
But Deryn continued, determined to say the things she'd been wishing to say for two years.
"For which I am so, so sorry, Alek. Please, forgive me. I was foolish, I was completely rotten. And I understand that you're here for Ma, that you probably don't want anything to do with me-"
He cut her off. "I never said that."
A howler monkey cried in the distance.
She wasn't sure what to say, but carried on nervously.
"I'm not tryin' to excuse meself for what I did, but I want you to know I did it because I didn't want him to hurt ye." Her voice was shaky now, trying not to break.
Alek smiled at her. He had such a lovely smile, but really, this wasn't the time.
Her temper flared oh-so-slightly. "What are ye smilin' about? I'm tryin' to apologize!"
His smirk didn't leave. "I appreciate that; it's just that you sound so perfectly Scottish when you're nervous. I'm sorry."
Bovril took the opportunity to mock her exaggerated accent in the space between she and Alek.
She looked away, feeling silly and now unable to hold back a smile herself. She was glad for the interruption; she now felt more relaxed. She met his eyes, and then looked away. The kind, green orbs only made her feel guiltier.
"The point is, Alek, I've been terrible to you, and I'm sorry, and I know it's a lot to ask, but if you can, please forgive me."
He thought for a moment, and then said, "Deryn, I know what happened to you wasn't an easy thing to go through, and I'm sorry it happened. I accept your apology and forgive you."
She breathed a sigh of relief. That must have been hard for him.
"Thank you."
He nodded at her.
She fiddled with her hands again. "So… How are things back at home?"
"In Austria or Scotland?"
"Both, I guess."
Well, Scotland is cold, as usual. Jaspert's doing well, Ma says he's got himself a sweetheart at the library."
Deryn brightened. "Ooh! Who is it?"
"I can't quite remember, but it was a Gaelic name.. The girl he's liked for quite a while now."
"I bet it's the Lennox girl. He's had it for her for years now. It's about time he got the backbone to talk to her. What else?"
"In Austria?" She nodded. "Austria hasn't been doing so well, I'm afraid."
She frowned. "Why not?"
"The people, they don't really like me," he admitted, looking down.
"And why ever not?" she said, with a disapproving tone.
"They think I'm foolish, fleeting, and young. There's been talk of a revolution, too."
Her eyes widened. "A revolution?"
Alek nodded.
"Volger was the one who encouraged me to come here, actually, to get away for a little while, until things calmed down a bit."
Deryn gave him a puzzled look. "That's a bit odd."
"What is?"
"Volger. He doesn't usually encourage such things. Why isn't he here?"
Alek shrugged. "I'm not sure. He hasn't been coming along with me on a lot of trips lately. He's been staying behind and taking care of the empire in my stead, which I appreciate highly."
"Being an emperor's not all it's cracked up to be, eh?" she said, scooting next to him.
He smiled a little. "No, not exactly." Without thinking, he added, "If I had had it my way, we would have been married and I would live the life of a commoner."
She looked away, guiltily. "Again, I'm sorry about that," she whispered softly.
"It's all right," he whispered back, placing his hand gently over hers. She looked up to meet his eyes. "I'm a firm believer in second chances."
His face moved closer to hers, the angle adjusting ever so slightly. She followed suit, eagerly anticipating the forthcoming kiss when they were interrupted.
Cocijo pounced onto the platform with a thud!. He looked at them both, the position they were in, and quickly looked away sheepishly.
"Sorry," he blurted out. "Deryn, I didn't know we were meeting so early. I've just been out collecting more samples."
She moved back from Alek reluctantly, slightly irritated at the boy's bad timing. "It's all right. Did you get any?"
The boy nodded. He turned to Alek and said, "Hello. I am Cocijo, Deryn's assistant."
Alek nodded in acknowledgement, equally reluctant to move away from Deryn. "Hello, Cocijo. I am Aleksandar."
"Yes, I've heard all about you," he said shyly.
"Oh?"
He nodded. "Yes, only good things of course," he said, giving him a playful smile as he bent down to reach into his bag. He handed two small vials to Deryn.
Alek had never seen anyone quite like Cocijo before. He was tan and had dark eyes, sharp features. What Alek found particularly interesting was the slender black horsehoe ring through the bottom of his nose. Though Mexico was close, he wasn't like the people he'd met there when he and Deryn had been aboard the Leviathan. He sort of reminded him of the people from Istanbul, but not quite. He looked slightly more.. Wild. His black hair was longer than Alek's but shorter than Deryn's; it had hung loosely above his shoulders. The way he spoke was distinct, too. He enunciated his words very slowly, as if he was thinking very clearly of what he was going to say. He was very eloquent and deliberate, his English exceptionally good. Still, though, he seemed very pleasant.
"We've been collecting samples from the rare and mysterious black orchid," Cocijo explained to Alek as Deryn held the vials up to study them.
"What for, if I may ask?"
"I don't understand it entirely myself, but a friend of ours from Africa uses them to make something he calls Life Essence Serum. If you can cook the sample down to a certain temperature, it becomes some sort of serum that can bring people back from the dead."
"Aye," Deryn said, wrapping the vials up and tucking them into her bag. "Nothing unholy, though. But only people that have been dead just for a little while; no more than half an hour, I think. It fills you with pure life essence, restarting everything that's stopped. Themba's only heard about it; they don't have the black orchid in Africa, so he asked us to collect some for him while we were here."
Bovril slithered out from Alek's lap into the middle of the platform and began reciting, "Themba," over and over.
Cocijo bent down beside the loris. "This is quite a curious creature you have here, Alek! It reminds me of a creature I saw in the London Zoo once. A slow loris, I think it was called."
Alek cleared his throat. Though he wouldn't admit it, he didn't know other lorises had existed at all. "It's a perspicacious loris, actually. We call it Bovril."
"Bovril, then?" Cocijo reached down to pet the loris who responded by lifting its head up and humming happily. Cocijo picked it up and held it close to his face, and appeared to say something into its ear. Bovril made its way around his neck and back down his arm. It ran back to Alek after a moment and crawled into his lap.
Cocijo chuckled a bit. "Bovril seems to like you quite a bit, Alek. And rightfully so, I should say. You have a very gentle spirit."
The boy stood up, then looked down at Deryn's bag, frowning.
"Why do you have so much with you?"
She looked fidgety, but he didn't need her to answer to guess what she was doing.
"Deryn, you were the one telling me to wait! What has changed your mind?" He looked at her for a moment.
"He hit you again, didn't he?"
Alek had to interrupt. "What?"
She didn't answer.
"Yes, he did. Your left eye betrays you."
"Who?" Alek growled.
"Dmitri," Cocijo answered. "He's taken to beating us whenever we've done something he doesn't like. Deryn, when did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?"
Alek got up and placed a hand to the bruised spot. How he didn't notice it before when he'd almost kissed her he did not know. Indeed, Cocijo was right. Just at the corner of her eye was a small bruise that had started to turn purple and swell.
Alek cursed in German.
She brushed his hand away. "I'm all right. It's just a little bruise."
This confirmed Alek's suspicions about Dmitri. He did not like him, not a bit.
"I'll be fine," she continued. "Cocijo, I have all my things with me because I'm not going back. We're going to Africa to give Themba the samples and stop Dmitri."
Cocijo did not protest. "Deryn, I do agree that we should leave, but not yet. I left something at the temple I have to take with me."
She rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you bring it with you?"
"Because you didn't tell me that it was happening tonight," Cocijo said, meeting her glare. "We must go back."
"And just how will we manage that? Dmitri will have guards posted at every square inch by now."
Cocijo thought for a moment. "If we wait until after the Gondolin has left we can sneak back in. Dmitri wasn't expecting us to ride with them anyways, so we'll just leave after they do!"
"And I've told my men where I am, so they can cover for me," Alek offered.
Deryn looked between the two of them. "All right. But we shouldn't wait long; the place is likely to be overrun with vengeful rebels not long after they leave. Whatever you need, I hope it helps us stop Dmitri."
Cocijo nodded. "I've thought about it for a while, and I think I know what his plans for the Project are."
Deryn looked at him and asked, "What?" She knew he was evil and heinous, but the exact purpose of the Project was still unclear to her.
"Something more evil than I care to say. I don't know for sure, and I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I know he needs to be stopped."