Read Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1: The Brimstone Key for Free Online

know… weird.”
    “Oh, honestly.” Natalia sighed. “This is ridiculous.”
    “Of course,” Ross began, turning his attention back to Max, “you’re going to run into a few problems, thanksto your dad. He might be one of the wealthiest men on planet, but he hasn’t done you any favors.”
    “Yeah,” agreed Todd. “You might want to look out for a kid named Angus McCutcheon. Rumor is that he has it in for you.”
    “You’re kidding, right?” Max asked, thinking the entire conversation was surreal.
    “A lot of good people died when your dad betrayed us,” Ross explained. “Some of these kids lost people in their families.”
    “Max is the one who stopped the Black Wolves,” Natalia protested. “He saved our lives.”
    “Sure,” Todd admitted, motioning toward a group of boys. They were tall and strong, and their faces were grim. “But you don’t have to convince
us
.”
    “Bullies don’t scare us,” Natalia retorted. “We’re monster hunters.”
    The Toad brothers’ eyes lit with wonder as they spoke in perfect unison. “You
are
monster hunters?”
    “Of course,” she replied. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
    “Well,” began Todd, “for one thing, you’re too young. Training isn’t supposed to start until you’re sixteen. You have to be handpicked by the THOR Division, and there hasn’t been a monster hunter our age since…”
    “Since my grandpa Caliburn,” Max answered.
    “What do you use?” Ross began, pulling out a notebook and a pencil. “Silver bullets? Holy water? Wooden stakes?”
    “Depends on the job,” Harley replied in feigned indifference.
    The elusive answer only set the Toad brothers into a flurry of questions until the platform started to vibrate and a whistle blared. A steady beam of light approached from the depths of the tunnel.
    A dark form shot out of the tunnel at such a high speed that Max didn’t think it would be able to stop in time to catch the platform. Yet like a bullet caught in midflight, it did. Before Max could get a good look, a rolling cloud of steam enveloped the bystanders. Umbrellas, parasols, and hat brims were lowered.
    The cloud soon faded, revealing the unmistakable form of a subway train. Max’s grey eyes swept over the lines of the mechanical beast. He’d never seen a slimier piece of junk in his life. It looked as if it had been freshly pulled from a swamp. Yet he could see hints of the subway’s glory days. The narrow passenger windows, now rippled with age, were constructed from leaded glass with filigree, and its doors were equally well crafted. More interesting, its corroded wheels hovered above the rail on a silvery light, which Todd referred to as a MERLIN sled.
    Max watched as another jet of steam issued from the subway’s underbelly and the silvery light faded. The subway lowered its wheels soundlessly onto the track.
    “I can’t believe they actually found the
Zephyr
,” Todd declared. “I mean, there were rumors, but…”
    A swirl of stories swept through the crowd, passingover Max like a wave. Some claimed the subway had been dismantled and sold for scrap. Others were just as certain that it had been sucked into a magical vortex before disappearing with all its screaming passengers aboard.
    “What is this hunk of junk?” Natalia asked.
    “The history books claim that the London Underground was the first subway rapid-transit system,” Ross stated. “But the Templar built the
Zephyr
way before that.”
    “Is it steam-powered?” asked Harley, as mist swirled about.
    “Mostly MERLIN Tech.”
    “As in the magician?” Ernie wondered aloud.
    Todd stopped and looked at Ernie sideways before correcting him. “As in
Lord Merlin Silverthorne
, the scientist.”
    “He harnessed energy that was a cross between electromagnetic radiation and what civilians like to call magic,” Ross said. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with hocus-pocus. It’s real science.”
    “So the train runs on some kind of