Bound to Sanctum

Chapter 3 Part 3

        Veronica took another bite of the meal Lucian prepared for her as she walked through the steel arches of Scotcher’s workshop and into an extension of the Mountain’s base. The tight hallway was walled with high metal plates and rigged with dangling, flickering lights. Every so often, she passed one of Scotcher pictures. They were simple flat pieces of scrap metal with images burned or etched into them.  One depicted Scotcher’s prediction the world outside the abyss – it looked a lot like Havana Hill in Veronica’s option. Another showed a girl that looked like a witch from a story that floated around the hills, except this girl was on fire. Scotcher didn’t need to explain this one. He loathed the Headmaster; he knew she was the source of their suffering. The last was an airship dropping a load of explosives on the same witch-like figure.

        Eventually, the metal plates ended and tall shelves cluttered with mismatched mechanical pieces took their place. Long, dark passages existed in between the end of one shelve and the beginning of another. Veronica had little knowledge of where most of them led.

          From somewhere in the labyrinth, she heard the fifteen year old mumbling to himself. She slowed her pace, peeking and peering through the graveyard of dismembered machine parts. “Scotcher!” She pulled back a curtain of tangled wires to continue through the hall. “Scotcher!” Ducking under a large cylinder blocking the path, she noticed his voice had disappeared. The cave was silent, minus the occasional creak from activity in the Mountain above. She started to heavily consider every step. “Scotcher?”

        “Vera!”

        She gasped and spun on her heels. Instinctively she took a step back seeing the boy in a welding mask with a hammer in hand.

        Seeing her reaction, he burst out in laughter. Realizing that it was only him, she put a hand on her chest and exhaled. “You can’t scare people like that,” Veronica shot at him, but not in a mean way.  She reached down and flipped the welding hood up, revealing his shocking blue eyes and wiry blonde hair.

        “Didn’t mean to frighten you, Vera,” he said, still trying to control his giggles. “What is it this time?”

        Pulling together the best smile she could, she said, “Lucian told me about your latest plan. An airship, is it?”

        “Indeed, it is,” he said and flipped the welding hood back over his face. When he spoke again, his voice was muffled. “Follow me.”

        He led her through the maze of passageways to the place where he slept. Against the far wall was a little bed made for one and on the opposite wall was a shelf with delicate little figurines lined up in an order only Scotcher knew. The rest of the space was cluttered with boxes of tiny, miscellaneous metal pieces he used to build his models for future projects.

        Vera glanced around the room at his past projects, taking a few more bites of her food while Scotcher crossed the room to his bed and exchanged the hammer for a little figurine by his pillow. He returned to Vera and held it up for her to see. “This is it. It’s my latest invention and my best if I might add,” he pronounced with a gratified grin. He pushed a little lever on the side of it, making the wings flap. “An airship built for two. What do you think?”

        Vera set down her cup and gingerly took the miniature airship in her hands to examine it. “Brilliant as always but for two?”

        “For two,” he repeated. “Maybe for me and you? Hmm?”

        Just two… What about everyone else? Her smile faltered. “I suppose…”

        He sighed and took the figurine from her. “I can dream, right?” He replaced it where he found it and walked past Vera, out of his room. “If Kat were here, she would be up for it.” He was right. Scotcher favored Kat because she was never afraid to try his experiments, no matter how dangerous or irrational they seemed.