"Not now," Hopper said. "I'll tell you once we reach Stonebarrow."

"I refuse to put up with your lies." Hammer stood up from the bench. "I know you are going to take me back to my family estate for whatever reward they are offering."

"You are quite perceptive, aren't you?" Smokewell said.

"I'm not playing along anymore, Hopper," Hammer said. "Either you give me some answers right now..."

I raised an eyebrow. "Or else?"

Hammer clenched his fists and said, "Or else I'll jump off the boat."

"I'll just dive after you and pull you back out," Lily said, shrugging. "It's not a good enough threat here, Mr. Hammer. But it doesn't matter. Tell us why are you throwing a tantrum right now? Don't you want to go back home to your mum?"

Hammer glared at the girl. "There's a reason why I wasn't living under my family's last name. It's because I'd abandoned that damned place myself and I didn't want anything to do with it now."

"Why not?" Smokewell asked.

"It's none of your damn business." Hammer turned back to Hopper. "Are you going to spill now or not?"

Hopper remained quiet for a while before looking up. "I wouldn't risk talking about it now when someone might hear us," he said, gesturing at the other passengers on the boat.

Hammer's face was obdurate. He wasn't going to back off.

Hopper somehow remained unfazed. And then he said, "The lives you were trying to save are in danger."

Hammer's mask of anger and defiance slipped. "You don't mean--"

"Yes, Dr. Hammer, I mean just that."

Hammer's eyes twitched with uncertainty. "How close to danger are we talking about?"

"If you don't come to Stonebarrow with us right now we'll lose them all," Hopper said.

That's when Hammer's face strained with conflict. It was visible that he didn't want to believe a word that Hopper said. But he also cared too much about whatever it was that Hopper was hinting at. As for the faces of my companions, I could tell their intrigue had turned into a a wretched curiosity to know the answers.

Hammer finally gave up his resistance and sank down to the bench again. "When do we reach Stonebarrow?" he asked.

"Three more hours," Hopper said after glancing at his pocket watch.

Hammer sighed and leaned his head down until his chin was resting on his chest. He closed his eyes but the strain of his thoughts was still visible on his face. I could tell he wasn't going to be getting any sleep. I didn't blame him. And my curiosity got the better of me.

I finally stood up from the bench and tugged at Hopper's sleeve. I pulled him towards the big glass chamber within which the blue steam whirled. The noise that came from the box made our voices inaudible to anyone who intended to eavesdrop. I leaned closer to the man and said, "What lives were you talking about?"

"Hammer knows," he said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I know that you are lying. What beats me is that I can't tell exactly whom are you lying to."

"I've lied to all of you," Hopper said. "But not with my words."

There he was talking in riddles again. I was ready to punch him in that smug face of his. He started to walk away when I grabbed onto his sleeve again.

"This better not be a trap, Hopper," I said. "That thing I did at your apartment might've been an illusion. But I'm completely capable of doing much more drastic things."

"I don't doubt." Hopper nodded. "That's why I'm going to keep the promise I made. You'll be paid once we reach Stonebarrow. Then you can head your own way."

"But isn't it Hammer's family who is going to pay us?" I said. "If Hammer keeps refusing to go home--"

"He won't," Hopper said, freeing his sleeve from my grip and readjusted his top hat. "That's a fact. He won't refuse once we get to Stonebarrow." And with that said, Hopper walked back to the bench.

****

I didn't know when I fell asleep. But I woke up when the large exhaust pipe blew a shrill, hot whistle. We arrived at the Stonebarrow dock a few minutes later. And it took us a few more minutes to get off the boat. The dock wasn't as crowded as the dock at Pallport but the reason for that might've been the fact that it was too early in the morning. One thing that I noticed, however, were the large cargo ships that left the dock. And the workers that diligently loaded those ships. And the carriages that brought the cargo.

Stolen story; please report.

If Pallport was the ‘manufacturer’, Stonebarrow was certainly the ‘producer’.

We didn't waste too much time sightseeing. Hopper hailed the first carriage he saw and we hit the streets. But it would be a lie if I said the ride into the city wasn't picturesque. Less than a mile from the docks were the farms. Wheat and barley swayed in the gently humming wind. There was a scent of wet soil in the air. We rode while birds sang in the trees like they never had in my previous life.

Stonebarrow wasn't quite a city. Coming from Pallport, this place felt more like a suburb. The buildings were much shorter and built more to look like places where people worked and lived rather than something trying to eclipse the skies. The sidewalks also had more room to breathe as you walked. We got off on a street named Piper's stretch. As I looked at the slowly opening businesses, I got an odd sense of nostalgia.

Me and my companions followed Hopper down the road while the city around us gave a yawn, rubbed its eyes and got out of bed to start its day. For some reason, walking down the half empty streets with my friends made me feel like a little girl.

I didn't mind the feeling (even welcomed it) but I had to remind myself of the situation we were in right now. I looked at Hopper. “Are you finally going to tell us what's going on?” I said. “Or are you waiting for a better time to open your mouth?”

Hopper looked up and around us. Only a few other people were out and about, probably local businessmen on their way to open their shops and dust off the shelves. Then Hopper looked at Hammer. “Why don't you begin?” he said.

“Why me?” Hammer said.

“You are the reason they came to the prison to help me rescue you.”

Hammer let out a tired sigh. He looked at us and said, “I'll begin by thanking you since I didn't do it earlier. As for the explanations, well I know from Hopper when I'd left my family and came to Pallport to carry out my research to disprove the green blood theory.”

“Why were you bothering with it?” Smokewell said as she leaped up to Lily's shoulder.

“Because I've studied natural biology and my research involves understanding the human blood and how it functions,” he said. “And while I did that I was a doctor in this very city. Since my family was wealthy and owned several farms here, I was able to pursue such education. When I learned about Hopper and his theory about how witches had green blood, I found it an insult of everything that I'd toiled away to understand and a disregard for humanity itself.”

“You just felt…insulted?” Lily said. “You didn't care for the executions they carried out?”

“I was a lot more baffled by the utter stupidity on display,” he said. “But yes, even though it was a joke on human intelligence, there was barely any humor in it. People died for no reason. It was nothing but sad.” He glared at Hopper again. “You really think you can redeem yourself by just coming to free me?”

“My redemption will come, doctor. Soon,” Hopper said. “But don't let me interrupt your story. Do keep going.”

“When those executions happened, I became a lot more vocal about my studies on the subject of blood to disprove the knife test and the green blood theory,” Hammer said, picking up where he'd left off. “But my family didn't like me speaking up against the Internal Police. We had an ugly fight over it before I left them in a rage and picked up a different identity to keep raising my voice.”

“How exactly did you plan to prove the green blood theory false?” Smokewell asked, “I just thought it was a stupid thing the government made up to show the commoners that they were doing their job.”

“It can be proven wrong quite easily,” Hammer said. “It's a condition that I’ve termed as chloro-sanguia. It happens when a sulfur containing compound interacts with human blood, it turns the color of the blood green." Then with a scornful voice he said, "It isn't because of something dumb like the spirit of darkness biting someone and cursing them."

"Finally," Smokewell said. "A man with intelligence. If I was still a human, you could certainly have it."

Hammer gave a bewildered look. "Okay, it's about time I address this. How is that cat talking? I don't think it is something even I can explain."

"We gave her bread," Lily said.

Hammer gave a thoughtful frown, probably wondering if bread was a code for some elaborate drug that graced the felines with the ability of speech. Poor man, his rational, scientific mind wouldn't have believed us even if we actually explained what we had done to get the cat to talk. I put a hand on his shoulder and shook my head. "It's okay, doc. Stick to your blood science. Bread and talking cats are something even we can't explain in a way to make you understand."

"Also, I'm not a cat. I'm a cat sìth," Smokewell said.

"Wait, my mother used to tell me stories about cat sìth," Hammer said. "They are real?"

"Forget it, doctor," I said. "Life is too short to try and comprehend it all."

"No wait." Hammer shook his head. "I saw what you did back at the prison. That giant wolf and massive frog and that mask that made me look like someone else...you are all magic users. It is quite obvious but…Wow." Hammer gave a silent sigh. "I never thought that I would actually cross paths with someone who practices something that even I can't explain. Let alone in circumstances like these."

"Give yourself a break, Mr. Hammer," Lily said, pushing her glasses higher on her nose. "Science isn't responsible for explaining everything that happens in this world. Even the field that we work in doesn't answer each and every question we have about reality."

"Some things do have an explanation," Hopper said. "Such as why they had to send you to prison."

All eyes turned to the man with the top hat and cane.

"Wasn't it because I was saying things that went directly against what the government was proposing?" Hammer said. "Wasn't it because you all didn't want to be proven wrong by a mere human?"

"Oh, if only the truth was that petty. Turns out it was a lot more cold and rational," Hopper said and came to a halt on the sidewalk. We had arrived under a bridge. The wall next to us had a big hand painted illustration of a child smiling and flashing a thumbs up at us. And above his head were big bold letters that read:

WYNDHAM'S APOTHECARY. 'WE WISH FOR YOUR GOOD HEALTH'.

"It was them," Hopper said. "They are the ones who have caused so many deaths because of the green blood theory."

Hammer's face was pale with shock. "That can't be true. The Wyndhams have been friends to my family for a long time. They can't be--"

"I wouldn't ask you to trust me on anything else, Hammer. But trust me on this one. Wyndhams are the real criminals here. People who were meant to cure other people's ailments were the ones who led all those people to die. If you want to save lives, you’ll have to send the Wyndhams to the prison first."