Clockwork Twist : Waking by Emily Thompson

point.
    “Who is he?” Twist asked.
    “A cut-throat pirate,” Aazzi said as if the words tasted bad.
    “And you're a nice sort of pirate?” Twist asked casually.
    “I don't cheat or steal against my own kind,” she said, her silver eyes electric and cold when they snapped onto his. “And at the moment, I'm protecting you, by the way.”
    “And right well that you do,” Twist said, crossing his arms. “If I were killed by cut-throat pirates, my mother would just about kill Uncle ...”
    “Philippe,” Aazzi said, bitterly.
    “Uncle Philippe, yes,” Twist said. “I'm drunk, not stupid, Aunt Aazzi.”
    “I think I like you better sober, after all,” Aazzi said.
    Before Twist could retort, Arabel and Zayle returned with Capt. Davis and Dr. Rodés.  They all boarded the ship quickly and Zayle disappeared instantly down the stairs to the engine room.  Arabel began to climb into the rigging the moment she was aboard.  Aazzi brought Twist to join the captain.
    “Well, what say we call it a night?” Capt. Davis said, looking over the edges of the ship.
    “I don't sense anyone near,” Aazzi said, keeping her voice low.
    “Better safe than sorry,” Capt. Davis said. “George, I think it's time you went to bed,” he said to Twist.
    “I'll see him to his room,” Dr. Rodés said. “Can't have him walking into things in his state,” he said, adjusting the fit of the five-shot revolver in his hand.
    “Thank you, Doctor,” Capt. Davis said.
    Dr. Rodés said nothing else to Twist until he had led him all the way back to his cabin, had shut the door behind him, and had looked out both windows.
    “Did you tell anyone that you were leaving London, or where you were going?” he asked Twist, stowing his pistol under his coat.
    “Who are you asking?” Twist asked. “George or Twist?”
    “Don't be a fool,” Dr. Rodés snapped. “Did you say anything about this trip to anyone in London?  Anything at all?”
    “No,” Twist answered, sitting heavily on the closed chest against the wall. “I didn't speak to anyone after Arabel came to see me.”
    “It might not even seem important,” Dr. Rodés said. “Did you say hello to anyone on the street, or tell the milkman that you weren't going to be round?”
    “I didn't speak to a human soul after Arabel came to see me,” Twist said. “I usually don't anyway.  Why?  Who is this pirate, Quay, and what makes him so dreadful?  You all seem terrified of him.”
    “We're concerned,” Dr. Rodés said. “We're not scared of that lowlife.  He's a thief and a scoundrel.  He's tried to steal finds from us before, and he's succeeded a few times, too.”
    “Aazzi said he and his crew would try to steal the clockwork princess if they found us.  Does that mean he already knows about her?”
    “I don't know,” Dr. Rodés said. “He might not know anything.  We're just being careful because this find is much bigger than our usual ones.  Arabel really outdid herself this time,” he added with a bitter touch to his words. “But if Quay finds out what we're up to, he'll definitely try to steal her from us,” he said. “That man's greed knows no bounds.”
    “That would be bad,” Twist said, his mind still too numb for anything more eloquent.
    “Yes, very,” Dr. Rodés agreed.
    “So, what do we do now?” Twist asked.  As if in answer, the soft rumble of the engines began to pulse through the wood of the ship.
    “We're going to try to slip away,” Dr. Rodés said. “If they haven't spotted the Vimana yet, then they'll never know we were here.”
    “And if they have spotted it?”
    “We'll keep a good watch, and blow holes in any ship we catch following us,” Dr. Rodés said with a smirk.
    “Right, because you're nice pirates,” Twist said, “now I remember.”
    “Who said we were pirates at all?” he asked back.
    “Whatever,” Twist said with a dismissive wave.
    Though he grumbled to himself a bit in what sounded to Twist like French, the