The Lostkind Read Online Free

didn't question it. It was the latest in a long list of impossible things that had happened to him since he got on the subway that night.
    ~oo00oo~
    Yasi started to lead him home, and he put a hand out. "Can we take the long way?" He asked meekly. A child asking to stay out longer to play.
    "We really shouldn't." Yasi said. "Keeper said we needed to be straight with you. That doesn't mean we have to tell you everything."
    "Did Keeper say that you should get me out of here the fastest possible way, before I see anything interesting?"
    "Yes."
    "Oh. That's disappointing." Vincent complained, and Archivist's deep bass chuckled echoed behind him.
    They had returned to the lowest level, back to where the water lapped gently. Vincent eyes had adapted, and he looked closer. He could see the water marks where the boats had risen and fallen. He boarded the boat, Yasi taking a seat in front of him, Archivist standing behind with the pole.
    They took a different route, moving away from the chamber down one of the omnipresent tunnels. There were hundreds of them on the lowest part of the chamber, and Vincent began to get an idea of how this world worked. The Twelfth Level Chamber was the heart of the Underground, with the lowest level filled with water. Artificial rivers leading through hundreds of pipes, each big enough to walk through without ducking.
    It was hard not to be intimidated by the scale of the place, made all the more awesome by being subterranean.
    Archivist had drawn something from his vest and passed it forward to Yasi. The small device looked like a small windup alarm clock, only made from polished brass, with a handle instead of alarm bells. Yasi wound the key several times, and Vincent could hear something winding up like a fan in response. A moment later the front of the device glowed, and Vincent laughed. It was a flashlight.
    They went into the pipe, slowly paddling along through still waters.
    "Don't touch the water." Yasi warned him as he tried to get a look at the water beneath the boat. "Dangerous."
    "Alligators in the sewers?" Vincent asked, stunned.
    "Alligators on higher levels. Down here... Riverfolk."
    "Who are they?" Vincent asked with interest.
    "Don't ask." Yasi said immediately with a voice that spoke of absolute doom.
    "Where are you taking me?"
    Archivist fielded that one. "We detoured you tonight. We can drop you off closer to home at least." There was a smile in his voice, and Vincent suddenly realized why he was being taken a different way. Archivist was quietly showing him more of the Secret City.
    ~oo00oo~
    "What is that music?" Vincent asked. "It's beautiful."
    "The Met." Archivist said. "There are steam pipes that still run through the whole city. All the old buildings. All the new buildings with old buildings within or beneath them. Plus a few where we added pipes ourselves when you weren't looking. When the city went electric, the pipes never got taken out, so we open and close them as we like. We can echo sounds through the whole underground. What you're hearing is the New York Philharmonic rehearsing for a concert tomorrow."
    Beats the hell out of elevator music. Vincent thought to himself; as the three of them walked down the Gothic underground path to the sound of echoing chamber music.
    "In an hour or two, we'll close those pipes, open another set that lead to an old movie theater on the West Side." Yasi added. "They're playing Planet of the Apes."
    Vincent's head jerked around to look at her, amused. She nodded blandly. "Yeah. We know all about New York. We know what movies are playing, what the Museums are showcasing, what the hottest restaurant is, where the best clubs are, and who's playing what game; and what's on TV."
    "This is our town too Vincent. Our city has its own spirit, its own soul." Archivist crooned. "We just live under Park Avenue instead of above it. Every inch of this city is our home. Places you don't even know about."
    Vincent watched her for a time, and followed.