Page 31 of Trapped By Clocks and Hearts

“Yes. I lure them from their lives and they return…a little less.”

“You said she extracts magic from them, the hearts. I bet if she stole your heart, she must have gotten so much power from it.”

“I told you I no longer remember ever having had a heart. Even if I did, an immortal heart would be useless,” I explained. “What makes Heartfire embers so magical is their limitations. It’s the brief spark of power such that mortality can give, knowing that life is fleeting, that no matter how much you have, no matter how well you live, eventually you will lose everyone you love.”

Her eyes seemed pinned to my mouth as I spoke. “But doesn’t love last forever?”

This encounter seemed different from when I cornered her at my clock tower. This time, her aura seemed…curious, instead of laced with fear.

“Perhaps that’s the trick.” I shrugged. “How love can be fleeting and yet eternal.” I cleared my throat after a moment. “But as I’ve mentioned, since I have neither a heart nor a plethora of loved ones, my Heartfire ember would have been useless.”

Allie’s gaze averted to one side again, as if to absorb my words to understand their full meaning.

I studied those hazel eyes in the dim light. It was beginning to fascinate me how well Allie kept her wits about her, managing to ask me thoughtful probing questions, all despite my close proximity. Such behavior was certainly unheard of.

Moving to one side, Allie pressed her ear to the door. “I think they might be gone.” She turned the knob and cracked the door open to peek outside and see if the coast was clear before swinging it open more fully. But as soon as I stepped out behind her, there was a yell.

“Oi, you there!”

Halting, Allie cringed.

I stopped in mid-stride before turning to see two of The Dodo’s men rounding the corner toward us.

The first mousy gentleman with a whiskery mustache stuck his little nose up in the air. “Were you just in that there closet eavesdropping on our private conversation?”

“N-No sir.” Allie shook her head instantly. “We were just…”

I finished her sentence with a clear, authoritative tone, “—trying to sneak in a moment of pleasure. We couldn’t be bothered to find our cabin.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Allie suck in her cheeks at my outrageous claim but she didn’t say anything to the contrary.

“Maybe we ought to report you to The Dodo, hey Bill?” Mr. Mouse elbowed his colleague, the other one with an elongated lizard-like mouth.

Bill looked from Allie to me in turn, his eyes narrowed. “They are acting mighty suspicious.”

I didn’t want to waste any more time with these duds. I hooked my arm around Allie’s neck to drag her away and she yelped out. “Hey—” I paused to think quickly. “Mary Ann, I think we’d better leave these gentlemen to their business and head to our cabin to continue our affairs.”

Allie shot me a sideways glare. I was probably choking her. But her expression shifted into a sickeningly sweet smile as she gave me a playful shove away. “Oh, of course. I would be only so happy to. Come on, Steven.”

I winced.

Steven?

Bill was craning his neck to peer at my face. “You know what, you look kind of familiar. Have we met before?”

Allie waved his claim away. “Oh, I’m sure a fine gentleman such as yourself has never met us lowly folk.”

Turning his attention to her, Bill leered before reaching for her arm. “Is that one of them birds from upstairs? I haven’t sampled this one yet. Let me see your pretty face, Miss—”

There was a sudden sting of displeasure in my chest. Eyebrows snapping together, I caught his hand to twist his arm behind him and slammed him face-first against the wall. My warning was a low growl in my throat, “Touch her and die.”

“H-Hey, what are you doing?” His nasty colleague backed up in wide-eyed dread. “I-I’m gonna call the boss!” he yelled out as he scrambled away before his friend could even yelp.

It seemed The Dodo’s dogs were all bark and no teeth.

“Let me go, you bastard.” Bill struggled against my grasp. “I’ll make sure you pay for this. You and your little girlfriend too.”

Allie heaved an exasperated sigh. “Jeez, let him go.”