The Owl

1: A Strange Occurrence

                                         2232

     I jolted awake in the darkness. The room silent besides the sound of the club below and the street outside. Both somewhat quiet compared to usual. Like they were slow tonight. The heat couldn't help. It was hard for anyone to want to move with this heat in the air. The very space around us felt heavy and sticky with humidity. With the windows wide open, it did nothing to alleviate the heat. It was all too still. Confusion washed over me. "Logan?" I looked to his space across the room where his curtain was already open, in the darkness my eyes were used to I could only make out his figure already sitting up. His stiffness. It almost felt like he wasn't breathing.
     Loud thuds echoed through the small room. And that answered the previous question. Someone was here.
     No one ever showed up like this. Not at this hour. If I wasn't soaked in sweat I feel like the hairs on my skin would be standing up as we sat in silence again.
    Neither of us spoke.
    I could feel him looking at me while I was looking at him. When the thudding came again against the door I watched the silhouette of his shoulders jump.
     I swung my legs over the side of my cot, not making a sound with the lack of covers. While I didn't make a sound, Logan did. Barely a whisper "Don't."
     I freeze while he stands slowly, trying to be quiet. But it was never his strong suit, he stumbles slightly, catching himself on the wall as he tenses and goes still. But he jumps into movement as the thuds resume with a vengeance.
Light spills into the room through the doorway as he opens to multiple uniformed officers in the hall.
     I stay still on my cot as I watch them speak quietly, which was odd in and of itself. Officers that made house calls like this were never quiet. They kicked down door and shouted orders. This was almost secretive besides them beating on the door earlier.
    They speak quietly for a few moments before I watch Logan nod and mutter something to them before gently closing the door and lighting the lamp over head. He speaks quietly in a serious voice as his pale face comes to view as he shifts his glasses up the bridge of his button nose, to magnify his wide blue eyes "We've got a job."

                                         ~

There is absolutely no reason this clock should not be working. That was the conclusion I came to as I leaned back and rolled my shoulders a little, a bit sore from a full morning of practically shoving myself into every nook and cranny of this massive monster of a clock that boasted being unstoppable. It sure looked like it wasn't moving to me.
      The harness creaked but held firm as I peered down at the square below. Speculum was oddly quiet this morning. The square was usually a bustling market. The expanse of white cobblestone was usually covered with stands, crowds, street performers, and patrols. But today it was just a few nearly empty stands and late people bustling through to work.
       Looking out at the glittering city that was kept nearly spotless, it looked like a glowing beacon with harsh sunlight glaring off of the whole city. Glass spear like buildings piercing the sky. In the day it looked more peaceful. There was no hologram billboards flashing up nearly everywhere. And today it was even quiet, which was rare. But with the night would come all the noise. Like a racing heartbeat that seemed to belong to the ground under the city.
     But like every other day, it was hot as hell.
     And that glare coming off those buildings was cooking me in this harness.
     "Ana?" Logan called from the observation platform far below. Looking down at him I could see his silver and sand hair was spiking in every direction around his pale face, that looked much paler than usual might I say. He was holding onto his harness looking up at me from the platform below. He didn't even need a harness but his fear of heights was unbearable without one.
       Technically I'm Logan's apprentice. It's just when heights were involved I take the lead. He didn't have the same tolerance for it I did. It also didn't help this morning that he didn't sleep well, though he never really does.
        I'd been Logan's apprentice for the past eight years, since I had showed up in his neighborhood as a kid, looking for work, food, and a safe place to stay. He didn't really have money for wages, but he offered those things, when we took on more jobs than usual he'd divvy the money up fairly. It was nice, it was also nice not being alone like I'd been before. Now I had family. And he had some to handle heights. I cracked a smile down at him.
      Even though we stayed in a dangerous district called Veil. A name that the people who frequented the area liked, because it was a name that made people think no matter what they did there no one would know or see, hence "Veil".
      We stayed in the apartments above Apollo's a bar beside the Neon Crow, the club directly to the right of Apollo's. The club didn't entirely hide its dealings. Nothing good happened in the district we lived in, and it was terribly loud at all hours, but rent was cheap and if we used lamps the bills were low. So we had earplugs and kept our heads and eyes down. We mind our business, no matter what was heard. That was the first lesson Logan taught me very young, when he had saved my life because I didn't follow the rules. It had cost him. He was out of money and in a bed for a week. So in the veil we mind our business.
       "Yah?" I shouted in response to him calling for me. "Take a break!" He called back, voice wobbling a little. "Right!" He was right. I'd been up here in the heat too long. It was just that I had already looked inside the clock, and nothing seemed to be wrong. So the thought had been that maybe something was simply jammed out here. Maybe a really big bird was having a bad day. But no. Nothing. Everything out here was well oiled and functional. It was frustrating. And heat stroke wasn't going to get me any closer to the answer.
This wasn't a typical job for us, honestly Logan's probably still just as baffled by this morning as I am. We usually fix machines, trinkets, sometimes an artifact or two will need maintenance, but honestly just the usual appliances. Sometimes the occasional solar panel, which is really our only other jobs that we deal with heights. They probably should've called a clock specialist for a job this important. I guess we were the only ones available. But that doesn't feel right either.
The story didn't sound right. The city needed someone bright and early because during routine daily maintenance something was discovered to be wrong with the clock. It wasn't some new person on the job, we were informed it was the same person it had been for years. And that they were unavailable to help us. That was strange to me.
Just mind your business. Logan's words rang through my head like they do everyday in this city. Even when something about that rule didn't sit right with me. The same response was given to the questions on the inside. Mind your business. Stay alive.
The heat bouncing off all the glass and solar panels was really getting to me. They definitely didn't mention how hot it gets up here.
Carefully I lowered myself down to the observation deck where he kneeled, practically covering his eyes as he grabbed onto the wall of the tower. He really wasn't built for this kind of job.
The moment my feet touched the platform I said with a voice as soothing as I could make  "Hey. I'm down, Logan." He nodded and slowly tried to straighten up and look like he wasn't essentially a cornered animal. He held out a lunch box with shaking hands and said "Right. How are you feeling, kid? It's getting hot out here" I huddled a little closer as I grabbed it. "Yeah, I'll be better when I find whatever is the problem so we can go get a pint. Doesn't that sound good?" He gave me a look, knowing full well I'm trying to get his mind to focus on something else. I've never been good at that particular task. He smiled nervously though, and after a moment he let me have a little success with a soft "Yeah."
I chugged some water in silence before I began to eat the rice cake and chicken he'd made for dinner last night. I sat, dangling a leg over the edge and swinging it a little as I looked out at the city. "How are you okay with this height?" He said, looking at me, purposefully trying to not see beyond me from the same spot he was a moment earlier. He hadn't budged and was stiffer than the brick he was sitting on. "I don't know. It just doesn't feel so bad to me." He chuckled and whispered "You remind me of her." "Who?" I perked up, intrigued. I was always by his side. For the past eight years I had been his shadow. If there was a woman in his life this was news to me. He wiped his sheet white face with a trembling hand and said "Hm?" "Who do I remind you of?" "A girl" "Yes... who?" "From a very long time ago. Practically another life." His face was usually pretty well pulled together, but I think his discomfort was making him more vulnerable, because for just a millisecond his bright blue eyes rimmed with dark circles and round spectacles looked sad.
         It was rare but not entirely unusual.
         For being his shadow I didn't know an awful lot about him. We work, we eat, and we go to sleep. Questions are nearly never answered and if they are it is so cryptic I simply leave the conversation with more questions than I had before.
But I didn't need to know everything, just that he'd come back when he goes out.
         I stood to full height and looked down at him and smiled as he kneeled quaking "We'll get this done and head home soon. Hang in there boss." Logan looked up at me with saucer wide eyes and panic on his face. He called to me as I began to enter the clock tower again, visibly flinching as I unlatched my harness "Be careful!"