Young Writers Society

~1,450 words (probably the longest chapter I've ever written haha)

Ivy

The boy pulled a ring of mismatched keys from out of his cloak pocket, and sorted through them until he found a simple, rusty key. He turned back to the shadows, muttering about the dark. Something metal clicked, and the boy opened a heavy wooden door. Its hinges groaned like they hadn’t been used in years. He looked back at Ivy and Nikki and said, “Well c’mon! What’re you waiting for?”

That was all the invitation Nikki needed: she plunged into the shadows. Ivy looked at the forbidding darkness with unease.

The boy, still holding the door open, bowed and gestured toward the door in mock-politeness. “After you.”

Ivy took half a step back. “What’s in there?”

“Oh, are you scared? Nikki!” he called, “I think your friend is too fragile to join you. This is why you shouldn’t have invited her!”

Ivy folded her arms. “I am not scared.”

The boy gestured to the door again with a wicked grin.

“Come on, Ivy!” Nikki’s voice called back. “There’s nothing to be afraid of down here!”

“Except the pitch black unknown,” Ivy muttered, but trailed along after Nikki’s voice.

The boy followed after her, locking the door behind him. “That’s the spirit, Pansy,” he said.

“It’s Ivy,” she said through gritted teeth.

Nikki was right: there was nothing to be afraid of. Unless of course, you’re afraid of stairs. And how many stairs there were! They descended in a tight spiral, shoes clanking against the iron. They had been so high up, on the rooftops, and now it seemed as if they were drilling beneath the earth. Just imagining climbing back up the stairs made Ivy’s calves hurt. But eventually, the stairs came to a blissful stop. Ivy almost ran into Nikki, who was standing motionless at the base of the stairs.

“Can’t see anything,” said Nikki, a rare edge of fear creeping into her voice. “Don’t know what I might step on if I go farther than this.”

“Coming through! Make way, you ninnies,” the boy commanded as he squeezed past Ivy and Nikki.

“We must be miles below the city!” Ivy said.

“No way that was even a mile of stairs,” said Nikki. “You should come with me on some of my jaunts around the city sometime. That’ll show you what walking for miles is like.”

Ivy was going to give an excuse about needing to tend to her shop, but she was interrupted by a grumbling sound. It rumbled through what sounded like an enormous cavern, bouncing off of walls made of stone before fading away. Then it came again, and some dim lights flickered. Ivy saw the boy wrangling with some kind of cord, pulling it again and again. But the lights refused to stay on. The boy lit a lantern, wound a crank, and fiddled with some levers, before pulling on the cord again. The lights spluttered on and hummed. Ivy just barely had a chance to see how enormous the workshop filled with pieces of metal and monstrous machines was before the lights seemed to cough and die out once more.

The boy sighed and rubbed his neck. “Oh well. This lamp can light our way as well as the electrics. Come on.” He held the lantern aloft, and started crossing the room.

The lantern cast long shadows and lit up strange parts of even stranger machines whose purpose Ivy could only guess at. Some were as big as a small room. Others were as small as her thumb, but equally complex. Ivy drank it all in. “This is amazing!”

The boy glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled. “It kinda is, isn’t it?”

Nikki nodded vigorously. “What are they all for?”

“Oh don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to learn about that. If you make it past our… initiation.”

“Initiation?” Ivy asked, suddenly nervous all over again.

“Most people don’t make it,” the boy said breezily. “And I highly doubt you will, Daisy.”

“Ivy,” she grumbled.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Nikki said.

They reached the opposite wall, and stood outside another door. “Here we are,” the boy said. “Enter if you dare.” His eyes danced to the rhythm of the fire and glowed with mischief.

--

“There is a darkness that is threatening to overtake the city!” an old man with a singed gray beard shouted.

Ivy and Nikki glanced at each other, doubt written all over both of their faces. They were sitting in a small chamber room, on benches that seemed more fitting for a church than a workshop. There were around ten other people in the room, all alone, all of different ages and occupations. They all wore the same expressions of doubt. Three people had already left after the old man’s opening welcome. It was abundantly clear that the man had lost his mind.

“The cloud will consume! It will steal our breath, it will steal our children, it will steal the sky and the day will be cloaked in this darkness!” He pounded his hand on the podium.

He rambled on like this for what felt like eternity. More people tricked out slowly, shaking their heads. The only thing that kept Ivy from leaving with them was Nikki. She was listening, interested, if not quite believing a word. Every now and then, she’d look over at Ivy, grinning and chuckling at something particularly crazy. Ivy would smile back. Despite how insane this man obviously was, Ivy was having a good time.

The man continued to yell, as if he still had a room full of listeners. Ivy watched the spittle spray from his lips and was glad they weren’t sitting in the front row.

Then, all at once, it was over. The man gave a final, “We must use this inventions to fight that cloud of darkness!” and hit the podium once more for good measure. Then he stepped back from the podium and smoothed out his grease-stained shirt. He pulled a pair of round, golden spectacles from his pocket and blinked, as if seeing the audience for the first time. “What are you… did you really stay for the whole thing?” He asked, sounding bewildered.

Ivy looked around. The rest of the room was deserted except for a man dressed in a nice suit, snoozing on the back row.

“We did,” said Nikki. “Your organization sound intriguing! We’d like to join!”

“To… to Join?” The man’s eyes were big as shillings.

“That is allowed, isn’t it?” Nikki asked.

“Of course! Of course! We haven’t had any recruits for the cause since… We haven’t ever had recruits for the cause!” He whipped a cloth out from his back pocket, pulled the spectacles off his nose, and started polishing them.

There was a yawn from the back. The man in the nice suit stretched and blinked contented eyes at the trio in front of him. “Did you finally hook some, Thornton? About time!”

“I thought the day would never come, Jack,” Mr. Thornton said, shaking his head.

“Beats me why they’d want to stay,” said Jack.

“Excuse me,” Ivy said hesitantly. “But why are you here, then?”

Jack chuckled, stood, and pulled out a pocket watch. “Sure beats church, don’t it?” He snapped the watch closed, tipped his hat, and walked out.

Mr. Thornton watched him go before turning back to the girls. “I have absolutely no idea what to do with you two, but you are sorely needed in our cause. Thank you for joining.” He abruptly turned and marched through a door in the corner of the room. He pulled it shut, and the thud of a lock resounded through the now-silent room.

Nikki and Ivy looked at one another and shrugged before walking back to the door the boy had led them through. They opened it, and a beam of light fell on the boy’s face. He squinted up at them, his expression turning from confusion to surprise. He set down the little metal gadget he had been fiddling with and stood up. “You’re still here?” he asked.

“Why does everyone sound so surprised?” Nikki murmured to Ivy.

“Because it’s never happened before! And you want to join the cause?”

“I’m still not too sure about this whole initiation thing,” Ivy said.

“That was it!” the boy said. “You passed! No one ever listens to Mr. Thornton’s entire speech.”

“So does that mean…” Ivy started.

“Welcome aboard, Nikki and Daffodil” the boy said, shaking their hands in turn.

“Thanks, but the name’s Ivy.”

“Yeah, and speaking of which,” said Nikki, “we still don’t know yours.”

The boy grinned. “The name’s Lennox Greyson. Call me Grey.”