Clockwork Dream

iv Palace of Thieves

"Here we are, home sweet home." Jinx announced proudly as they approached a shabby hovel far off from the main road.

She resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose in disgust. Shabby was an understatement for the decrepit pile of rubble. It didn't look like it could support its own weight, much less any form of life, criminal or otherwise."I'm very impressed."

"Hey, don't give me that look Dearie. I haven't shown you all our secrets yet. Don't want to give the ace up my sleeve to a girl I barely know, as much as I wish we were otherwise acquainted. Besides,give it a chance. This might not be our home base but it has it's charms."

"They're quite apparent." She gave him a long suffering sigh and his two companions started laughing, though she couldn't tell at what.

When they broke down the door to the building a swarm of dust particles puffed up in a mushroom cloud. The place had cobwebs sleeping in the corners. Aside from the fact that the floor was covered with boot prints, it looked less lived in than the ruts underneath the roadways. "What on earth," She whispered. "No ones lived here in ages."

"Well the Lady ain't daft" Little Al spoke up. It was the first time he'd said anything at all, though Travis had been annoyingly chatty on their way there. He gave an odd sort of half grin. Alice thought he might be a little on the daft side himself.

Jinx chuckled. "No She ain't Al. Like I said, never trust appearances."

"You never said that."

He contemplated that for a moment. "Well I was thinking it at the very least." Come on, lets show you the real secret lair shall we.

She turned with a "humph." Travis led the way, pulling a gas lamp out from behind a cabinet and lighting it swiftly. He walked farther back into the house, to the second and final room. It was bleak and bare. The only furniture left in it was too broken to be worth anything to looters and coated with lead paint that would let off noxious fumes if burned. The debris still littering the room made it's way into her lungs and she coughed, a wet sickly sound.

"I suppose it's been a while since the last time we were here, I'd say a few more spiders are nesting here now." Travis said, his nose twitching gleefully back and forth at her discomfort. She shot him her vilest glare but kept her mouth closed to avoid inhaling anymore of the thick smog.

"I promise we're not heathens, really Dearie." With that Jinx leaned against one decrepit wardrobe, the dust lubricating the boards so it slid easily across the floor. A wooden hatch was barely visible in the half-light but the empty patch of darkness beneath it didn't look any more inviting than the house above. "Contrary to popular belief, the best place to hide something isn't in plain site, it's where no one would think to look in the first place."

Jinx vanished down the creaking stairwell, the light of the lantern only reaching a few feet in any direction. The thought of entering that narrow passage made her sick. A palace for thieves indeed.

She followed the trio but couldn't stand to be close at their heels. The walls were closing in on her, crushing her peice by peice. Jinx was so small and far away. The air was viscous, a thick syrup that congealed in her throat and lungs. Her breaths were quick and shallow as her fingers brushed the earthen confinement. She was buried alive, eaten by some monstrous beast. She was-