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Clockwork Heart Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

The date for the clockworks fair was drawing nearer. Millie sat on the edge of her bed, and stared at the door. She blinked, pulled out the watch she had bought before the murder had thrown her life into turmoil, and checked the time. Her gaze strayed back to the door.  

Two minutes later, after steadfast staring, there was a sharp rap on the door. Millie counted each rap before shucking off her rope and hurrying over to the door. Her heart was beating fast as she turned the key in the lock and pulled open the door to reveal Percy standing on the other side. He grinned down at the young woman and glanced behind her at the bed, raising a brow while lights danced within his eyes.

“I had to put something there in case someone checked in on me. I just thank Granny Margaret for her horrid dolls that she always insists on buying me.” Millie grinned before reached out and grabbing Percy’s hand. “Come on, let’s go before someone catches us and I get put back on house arrest.”

Percy tilted his head back. A laugh escaped his lips as he allowed the woman to pull him down the corridor. They stopped before a fairly unobtrusive stretch of wall. Reaching out his practiced hands, Percy caught the gap that ran along the seams of the wood panelled wall. Giving a sharp tug, he opened up one of the lesser used passageways. They ran through the entire interior of the property as they had once been the main servant passages and escape routes for the family during the early days of Clancy Manor.

The pair stepped inside and closed the door behind them with a soft thud. Surrounded by blackness, the pair used the walls as a guide and weaved through the  walls of the manor, murmuring coming through the walls as they passed by the more populated parts of the house. Eventually, as they got closer to the outer wall, the passageway turned sharply. Millie closed her eyes, using her memory as she swiped her foot forwards in an arch before putting her full weight on it. After a few sweeps she felt the absence of floor.

“Are you ready?” She whispered, her voice echoing back on her.

A hand placed itself on her shoulder giving it a squeeze. Thus with cautious steps forwards, she tiptoed down the stairs, one by one. The echo of their steps changed as they passed down under the surface, down into the tunnel that was built into the very foundations of the house.

It took nearly twenty minutes to get from the bottom of the steps to the exit of the tunnel. It let out onto drury lane which was one of the roads that bisected the two halves of Portside. This one just so happened to empty out a few short streets over from where Millie, Percy and Stretch had set up shop. It was one of the reasons they had decided to use that as a way for Millie to work and appear to never leave the house. It kept her father happy and it made the Clancy heir happy as she was able to continue with her design.

Madame Mo had done as promised and the ordered had been delivered the very same say it had been ordered. Stretch, never one to wait around, had already made all of the original castings for the exoskeleton. Now they would simply have to complete the internal mechanisms and assemble the clockwork ready for the fair.

Millie immediately approached her desk and groaned at the mess that was now sat on top of it. As well as the material she had ordered from Mo, Stretch and her lovely Percy had taken the initiative to create the cogs and shafts for miniscule clockworks that would form the duel thought centre for their entry into the fair.

She spent many minutes clearing things away before she even thought about assembling anything. As she followed her design, using silver wire and coils of copper, her mind ran over the intricacies of her design and how they would work with  the exoskeleton that Stretch was currently making. Her first protocol was to insert the failsafe, one that would trigger if the clockwork went haywire and started causing trouble.