Partners In Crime (Ticciwork fanfic) [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 16: Kidnapped

"Clockwork, have you seen Toby?" Pepper asked. Clockwork shook her head.

"Um..." She thought for a moment. "Not since yesterday."

Pepper sighed with disappointment. "He's not in his room." She rolled her eyes and went back into the kitchen. "Probably on the roof again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, he goes up there all the time." Pepper looked thoughtful as she looked into the fridge. "Slenderman hates it."

"He sleeps up there?"

Pepper laughed and pulled out some orange juice. "I didn't say that." She sighed. "Toby isn't very good at the whole 'sleep' thing." Pepper paused. "OJ?" She offered. Clockwork shook her head and watched Pepper pour herself a glass.

"Why not?" Clockwork asked after a moment's silence.

"Hm?"

"Why doesn't Toby sleep?"

"He does sleep." Pepper said flatly. "Just very little." She winced. "He has terrible nightmares. He goes on the roof to calm himself down. He'd probably take a walk around the forest if there weren't hellhounds everywhere..." Pepper trailed off and stared into space.

"There haven't always been hellhounds here, have there?" Clockwork asked quietly. Pepper looked pained. She set her orange juice down even though she hadn't finished it. She stared at it for a while.

"Ask Jeff." She said finally. A shadow passed across her face. "He knows." And on that happy note she took her juice and left.

"Let me know if you see Toby." She said as her voice faded. Clockwork scowled.

"Be a little more cryptic, why don't you?" She muttered to herself. She sighed and sat there for a moment, the clocks ticking away like always. For an odd moment she wondered how long she'd actually been here. It'd been weeks, at least, but it almost felt like years. Like she'd always been here.

Clockwork focused on the gash in the table where Jeff had stabbed it the night before.

Like this was home.

Clockwork pushed her chair back with a rough scrape and hesitated. She thought maybe she'd go check the roof to see if Toby was up there, or if he'd been kidnapped or something.

What if he'd been kidnapped?

Clockwork smirked. They'd turn him back within an hour. No one would kidnap someone as annoying as Toby.

She went outside to look for him.

It was colder outside than she'd expected; the breeze was a little quicker, the air more crisp. It was nearing the end of the summer, things would start changing color soon. Clockwork kind of liked the Fall.

The back of the house was a different place in the daylight, and the climb up the roof was a whole lot easier, too. That probably had something to do with two operating arms, too.

When she reached the top of the roof someone was already up there, leaning against the chimney.

"Hey." Toby said listlessly. Clockwork sat down next to him.

"Hey."

The breeze pulled at the top of the trees and a blue jay fluttered off above them. Clockwork had been seeing a lot of those lately, she wondered if there was a nest.

"Pepper said you'd probably be up here." Clockwork said, trying to break the silence. "She was looking for you."

Toby sighed. He had that penny out again, twisting it between his fingers, the bronze coloring flashing in the weak sun. "Yeah."