Chapter 28 A Timely Tea Talk
A Snoopy Seer
Hamil glowered at the broken watch on the table before him. He crossed his arms stubbornly across his middle. His right knee bounced as he sat in the cellar of the brothel where he and the ragtag group from the boat had been staying while they sorted things out.
Tamlin Ashowan had instructed Hamil to see if there was anything of interest about the watch.
Hamil gently prodded a molar with the tip of his tongue in the dim lighting.
The room he sat in smelled damp and musty, but the rows and rows of wine and ale barrels suggested he might be able to enjoy the local variety at some point in the near future.
During the first week of their time on the mainland, the Ashowans had insisted they all stay sharp and not venture outside in order to avoid drawing attention. So the opportunity to sample some refreshments had been as dry as the Lobahlan desert.
Halfway through the second week, Tamlin, Eli, the children, and the duchess—whom Hamil thought was rather charming—had ventured off. Since their return, it had been a quiet remainder of the week, but Hamil and Bes had been promised a good meal and wine before they all parted ways.
Drawing himself back to the present, Hamil sighed, leaning his forearms against the edge of the table and eyeing the brass gears that gleamed in the torchlight.
Honestly, nothing seemed all that strange about the watch.
The only sign that this particular device was supposed to tamper with time was the compartment for the crystal.
“Do you even know how to put that back together?”
Hamil launched away from the table with a yelp of shock, only to find that Penelope had crept up silently near his right shoulder.
The little girl wore a lovely lilac-colored dress made of light chiffon, and her long, dark hair was partially pulled back. The duchess had ensured the child had had an impressive wardrobe in a short amount of time; she seemed to take great joy in styling Penelope’s hair every morning.
“Erm—yes. Yes! I think I— Yes, I remember how it goes back.” Hamil cleared his throat. “I’m just trying to see if I missed anything.”
Penelope tilted her head at the pieces on the table and took a quiet step forward. “And?”
Hamil barely stopped himself from laughing. The expectant, serious tone in the little girl’s voice sounded like that of a woman twenty years older.
“I can’t see anything.”
“Have you still not tried to put a crystal in?” she asked patiently.
Hamil cracked a half smile. “Ah. I do not believe putting in a crystal is a good idea. You see, if this watch does what I think it can, then it would do something that could be very bad for a lot of people. Not to mention it is quite difficult to get a crystal. I’m told the mages here in Daxaria guard them carefully. ”
Penelope’s dark-brown eyes studied his face, her hands clasped behind her back as she leaned over even more closely to the table’s surface and squinted. “If you already know what it does, why take it apart?”
Hamil cleared his throat again, a guilty flush climbing up his neck to warm his cheeks. Why was no one watching this child?
“Well, we aren’t exactly sure we know what it does. But we probably know.”
Penelope straightened with a disappointed downturn in her mouth that almost looked as though she were trying to imitate Lady Eli. “So you should put the crystal in to figure it out.”
“No. Remember how I said it could be very bad for a lot of people?”
“How?”
Hamil pressed his lips into a thin line and weighed his next words carefully. “It’s hard to say.”
The little girl made an irritated sound with her tongue that prompted Hamil to stand. “Shouldn’t you be back upstairs with Luca, Miss Penelope?”
Penelope didn’t budge from her spot beside the table. “If you had a crystal, could we try putting it into the watch?”
Hamil drew his shoulders straight as he stared skeptically at the child. “Why?”
Penelope’s eyes darted away as she shrugged innocently. “Would people die if the crystal was put in?” she ventured on without answering the previous question.
Hamil took his time answering. There was no way she had a crystal, right? Then again, hadn’t this family surprised him at every turn?
“I don’t believe they would die.”
An excited glint sparked in the child’s dark eyes. “Then why don’t we just check?” Penelope pulled one of her hands from behind her back and held up…
A crystal.
On a chain.
Like the one the engineers would wear back home in Lobahl.
Hamil swallowed. “Where did you get that?”
His mind raced. They were in a brothel… Was it possible that she had stolen it from one of the customers? Or had she taken it from one of the sailors? Or the captain of the ship? Or from someone back on the Isle of Quildon?
“Let’s try it.” Penelope turned her eager face to the watch pieces.
Hamil moved to grab the crystal from her hand, but despite her attention being elsewhere, she was still paying enough attention to him that her hand snaked away from his grasp and into a discreet pocket in her dress.
“If you’re too chicken to do it, I’ll just try it myself sometime,” Penelope announced matter-of-factly.
“Miss Penelope. Your family is oddly afraid of chickens, so I rather think being too chicken is a compliment. And just so you know—” Hamil bent down to be eye level with the child.
“—this watch will never be left unattended and should not be taken lightly. It could do something like stop time, and you might get stuck in a world where no one can move but yourself. Or you could accidentally move something. Like a vase. Then a maid might trip over the vase, bruising her shin, and so she is late serving wine to her master, and this makes him angry, so he punishes her. Then her husband is angry that she has been treated so poorly, so he comes and tries to confront the master, only he gets himself killed.” He took a breath. “Do you see what I mean now?”
Penelope’s expression didn’t budge. Instead, she said, “You didn’t even notice me walk up behind you in an empty room. I can steal that watch really easily.”
Hamil made an irritated noise in the back of his throat before grasping Penelope’s shoulders and turning her back toward the cellar stairs.
“I am bringing you to your mother, and I am telling her you stole a crystal from somewhere, and that you are going to try to tamper with something that could put you in danger.”
Penelope whirled back around on him, wrenching herself from his grasp.
“We’re already all in danger! Can’t you tell?
And—And something about that watch is really important!
I heard Tam and Eli talking about it! So we should know what it does, and we can figure that out!
Tam said you were supposed to, and now we can! ”
Hamil was about to give another speech on how the watch was dangerous, but Penelope was marching back over to the table.
She frowned at the pieces and then started to pick them up and fit them together. Only she was doing a terrible job. She could damage the gears with the force she was exerting; Hamil had to lunge for the pieces in her hands in an effort to save them.
“Enough! You might hurt yourself!”
Penelope’s emptied hands curled into fists. “Put it back together and let’s try the crystal. Or… Or else!”
Hamil’s shoulders drooped, his longing for that promised divine cup of wine deepening. “Or else what?”
Penelope’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll say you hurt me.”
Hamil blinked. “But I haven’t.”
The child then shocked him beyond reason by slapping herself across the face.
“Good Goddess!” Hamil snatched her arm to stop her from doing such an alarming thing again.
“I’ll say you hit me,” Penelope informed Hamil in low tones, her cheek already a bright pink.
Hamil nearly whimpered. “Tell the truth. This is an organized crime family, isn’t it? Your father calls himself the devil, your mother is a giant hybrid beast, and your brother… He generally seems lovely. But he got really intense that one time!”
Penelope’s mouth pursed. “Just put it together!”
“You know, I’d heard the occasional rumor about your family.
About how wholesome you all were.” Hamil lowered Penelope’s arm but didn’t let go.
“Now I’m even questioning if the Sun Queen is as impressive as rumors say, or if she just has a bad temper and a good sense of where to stand for optimal lighting. ”
“Are we doing this or not?” Penelope insisted, her voice nearly a whine.
Hamil lifted his gaze to stare blindly ahead of himself. “I don’t ever want children.”
Turning back to his worktable, he briefly recalled how once upon a time he had enjoyed Penelope’s company, and how frivolous those early days aboard the ship had been…
“What are you waiting for?”
Hamil plopped himself down in his chair before grumbling to himself, “Father always did say the real world would surprise me.”
Penelope frowned. “What are you? A baby? The world is awful. Now hurry up!”
Hamil reeled back. “You’re a beloved family member of one of the most influential families in multiple kingdoms. You of all people shouldn’t be saying that kind of thing.”
The little girl’s lips quivered.
She looked away.
Hamil turned back to the table. He knew it wasn’t the kindest thing to say with him being aware of her birth parents having died… But she was blackmailing him.
“I’m sorry I was mean. I don’t need to be mean to you. Thank you for finishing the watch,” she croaked. “I sometimes forget to be nice.”
Blinking, Hamil turned back to see Penelope’s face tilted toward the ground as she twisted awkwardly back and forth.
It took a moment, but eventually Hamil remembered he was technically the older one, and so he shouldn’t hold a grudge against an eight or nine-year-old. So he returned his attention to the watch. “Why do you even want this watch fixed so badly?”
“I think more bad stuff is going to happen and… and this might help us.”
Hamil carefully refitted the gears back together. “And why’s that?”
“Reasons.”