“Then save someone else,” Corin said. “Why does it have to be me?”
That was a question that had been plaguing Jessie over the last few days, and it wasn’t one she had an easy answer for. What had Corin ever been to her other than just another customer? That was all anyone had ever been to her. And none of them had ever really cared to try bridging that gap with her, to become more than just an acquaintance. None except for Corin, in his drunken, haphazard way.
“Because losing you would make me sad. You don’t want that now, do you?”
Corin didn’t quite seem to get what she was talking about. Maybe he’d been too drunk that night to remember. But that didn’t keep him from arguing.
“Look, Jessie, there are a lot of things you don’t know about me. I might be able to take care of myself.”
Jessie raised an eyebrow at him. “And these things I don’t know, they include you knowing how to escape from slavery?”
Corin sighed. “Maybe not.”
“Then stop trying to act so macho,” Jessie said. “I’ll be back soon. I’ve got to go figure out how this whole thing works. Don’t go anywhere.”
She turned away from the cage and started through the crowd in search of any face she might know. Almost immediately she bumped into Lock.
“Jessie!” Lock said. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to buy one of the men.”
“You want to… you can’t do that! There’s no men allowed on board, and by the captain’s orders you can’t leave the ship.”
“Other women have told me that they’ve done it. We’re allowed to keep one as a stud, right? You keep them locked in rooms the way I was on my first day. I may be new, but you can’t deny me the same rights everyone else has. Not if the Twister is really the free society you claim it is.”
Lock frowned. “But you want one from your own town, don’t you? That’s highly irregular. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea for a woman to have too much of an emotional attachment…”
“That’s not really your call, though, is it?”
Lock crossed her arms and did her best to look threatening. She managed a decent enough job, but Jessie stood her ground. “The captain probably won’t like this sort of arrangement,” Lock said.
The captain’s got more important things to worry about right now, Jessie thought, but she didn’t say it. Instead she asked, “Am I going to be allowed to do this or not?”
Lock stared at her for several seconds, then sighed. “You’ll have to bid just like everyone else. It’s a standard auction. When the one you want gets brought up to the platform you just hope that no one else outbids you. I wouldn’t get your hopes up. You probably haven’t earned enough money yet to actually afford one.”
Lock left her alone then and Jessie waited as even more people started to crowd into the auction house. While a few of them were from the airships Jessie saw even more that were obviously not. Most of them looked rather well off. She couldn’t imagine what some of these people would want slaves for, and she didn’t think she wanted to try. Most probably just needed the labor, but there were so many other things that could be done to these people. She gave another look at the cages holding the men from Sun River, then looked away again. She couldn’t help them. Really. There was nothing she could do. But she didn’t think that would make much difference when she tried to sleep at night.
The auction started with the slaves from the Hurricane, and it took nearly two hours before the auctioneer even got to the Twister’s prisoners. There was a short stage at one side of the room where the auctioneer stood, and each slave was brought up one by one in chains. After the very first person was sold Jessie already started to worry. The slave had been a woman, old and ugly with sores, the kind that wouldn’t have been useful for much of anything, not even as menial labor or a bed warmer. But she still sold for a good deal more than Jessie had on her. If that was the kind of price people paid for the weakest of the lot, what would someone be willing to pay for a man like Corin?
Jessie tried to avoid thinking too much about each person as their freedom was permanently taken from them, but it was hard. Jessie wasn’t built to simply ignore something like this. The little girl Jessie had seen on the floor of her cage earlier had to actually be hoisted to her feet and dragged to the stage because she couldn’t stand for herself. She ended up sold to an older man who actually licked his lips when he saw her. Jessie couldn’t help but shudder and feel dirty.
The auction house had cleared out a little by the time Corin was finally taken to the stage, and Jessie felt some small amount of hope. Fewer people meant she might actually have a chance. Corin stood on the stage, straighter than she had ever seen him stand, and Jessie felt a moment of amusement as she realized this was probably the first time she had ever seen him completely sober. The auctioneer rattled off the opening bid at lightning-fast speed, and Jessie raised her hand. It was well within her means.
The auctioneer called out the next price, and someone else raised her hand. After a third bid another person raised his hand, and Jessie felt a nervous flutter in her stomach when she saw that it was the same man who had bought the girl.
Jessie raised her hand for the next bid, and for a minute three or four other people, the old man included, continued to bid against her. The price was getting high fast, however, and Jessie felt all her muscles tighten. There was no way. She was going to lose. After only thirty more seconds the bids flew up out of her range, and she was out.
“Oh gods,” Jessie whispered to herself. She couldn’t believe this. She had failed. She hadn’t even come close. The bidding continued, and soon enough it was down to only two people. One of them was the older man. Horrible thoughts started flowing through her head about what he intended to do with Corin.
“Hey,” a voice said next to her. “Put me on your shoulders.”
Jessie looked in that direction and didn’t see anything. Then she looked down to see Leech standing next to her. “What?”
“I’m too short. They can’t see me raise my hand. You have to put me on your shoulders.”
The older man put his hand up again. This time no one else bid after him.
“You want to bid?” Jessie asked. “How would you even afford him?”
“I’m the chief engineer, moron. I make more in a day than you do in a month. Now put me on your shoulders if you don’t want to lose him.”
Jessie didn’t have time to argue. She stooped down and helped Leech to her shoulders just in time for her to bid before the old man won. Jessie had to strain to keep herself standing. Leech may have been short, but that didn’t mean she was light.
The final bid was almost what Jessie would have made in a year at the saloon. Leech pulled the money out of her own money pouch as though it were spare change. They had won. Corin was hers. Or at least he was Leech’s.
“I hope your birthday is soon,” Leech said. Even though she was trying to use a gruff tone, the girl smiled as Jessie set her down. “Because that’s all you’re getting from me.”
Jessie couldn’t believe it. Corin stared down at them from the stage with a massive smile on his face. He didn’t seem to really understand what had just happened, but he at least knew how close he had come to being someone else’s property. Jessie hugged Leech, smearing the grime from the girl’s face all over her clothes. “Thank you so much. But I don’t get it. Why did you help me?”
The smile left Leech’s face. “Because you’re a really crappy worker. I figured maybe if I helped you get some sex it might straighten you up. Speaking of work, come on. We’ve got to install a new spinny-job thing into number seventeen before the ship takes off.”
10
It was another whole day before Jessie was able to go see Corin. Leech had left out half a dozen other things they needed to do before the Twister was ready to go again, and even after take-off they had continued working putting away any extra parts they had purchased. Jessie hadn’t had any idea they kept so
many parts on hand, but she supposed it made sense. It wasn’t like the Twister could just stop at some random store any time they ran out of nuts and bolts.
As much as Jessie wanted to see Corin right after she was finished she still had to sleep and wash up first. She felt some amusement at herself for wanting to look and smell her best when they saw each other again. It wasn’t like she really intended to have sex with him. By the Twister’s rules he was just property to be used when she felt that certain kind of loneliness, but that wasn’t what he really was to her. To her he was a free person, even if he was still in a cell.
When she was ready Jessie searched out Lock and together they went to Corin’s room. It was still on the first level with all the rest of the living quarters but in a farther corner that was thick with dust. Many of the doors here had rust on them, and all had locks. Leech had explained this to Jessie earlier. Jessie was expected to rent a room for Corin and pay Lock for his food and upkeep. Most women only kept their men until they got bored with them or they got pregnant, at which point they would just resell the man at the next auction. For that reason Corin was only one of about five men on the ship at the moment, and no one really expected Jessie to keep him for long. Jessie had very different plans from that, but she couldn’t say that to Leech.
Jessie and Lock stopped outside Corin’s door, and Lock held her keys in her hand but didn’t yet put them in the lock. “You get to stay in there with him as long as you want, but I have to lock the door behind you. We can’t risk having him roam all over the ship. Whenever you’re done just call out for me and I’ll let you out. You do understand that you do this at your own risk, right?”
Jessie raised an eyebrow. “At risk of what?”
“Sometimes girls pick the wrong men. They look docile and cute in their cages, but once you’re alone with them they turn violent. We’ve had men take out their anger at being imprisoned on their owners. The lucky ones get out with just busted jaws and broken bones. Other ones don’t get out at all, and we have to put their men down.”
Jessie snorted. “I highly doubt Corin would do anything like that.”
It was Lock’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “That’s just the way men all are, Jessie. That’s why women have to make damn sure they know who’s in charge. They’re really nothing more than animals.”
“Could you please just let me in?”
Lock shrugged, inserted a key, and then opened the door for her. Corin was lying back on his bed, his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling, but he looked up when the door opened and, upon seeing Jessie, immediately sat up in bed. Lock closed the door behind her.
“Remember, just call if you need me,” Lock said to Jessie in a voice that sounded almost motherly. Lock’s eyes shifted in the peephole to Corin. “And don’t you dare try anything on her she doesn’t want, understand?” Then there was the sound of footsteps going down the hallway, and they were alone.
“What was that all about?” Corin asked.
Jessie shook her head. “I don’t even try to guess anymore.”
Neither of them talked for several moments. Corin stayed seated on his bed, and Jessie tried to read his expression in what little light came in through the peephole, but even as her eyes adjusted she couldn’t get a feel for what he was thinking.
He, however, didn’t seem to have the same problem. “You feel guilty,” he said.
“What? No, I didn’t do anything…”
“I wasn’t accusing you of anything. I can just see it in your face.”
“There’s no way you could see that.”
“I’m a scientist, so I have to be observant. I could always tell what you were feeling, Jessie. Even if you never wanted to believe it. What I don’t understand is why.”
Jessie stared at him for several seconds before sitting down on the bed next to him just far enough away that they didn’t touch. The fact that he was a scientist was surprising, and she was suddenly full of questions for him, but that wasn’t the most important thing right now. He was right that she had been feeling guilty. It was something she had been trying to hide, and certainly no one else had seen it, but this man who had never before seen her when he was sober had seen it right away.
“Just about everything, I suppose,” Jessie said. “The fact that I’ve been free for the last week and a half while you were in a cage, that I wasn’t able to do anything for any of the others. I even almost messed up in helping you. If Leech hadn’t been there…”
“Yeah, at some point you’re going to have to explain to me how a little girl was able to come up with that sort of money, but you need to stop blaming yourself. None of what has happened is your fault. If anything, it’s mine. I’m the one who ran off trying to be the hero. Now we know which one of us is the real hero. I’m just the guy who got you stuck on here with me.”
Jessie thought about it all for a second and actually had to chuckle. “Maybe we’re both just giving ourselves too much credit here as far as guilt. Neither us are the ones that sent the Twister into Sun River.”
Corin paused and took a deep breath before speaking again. “No, I’m just the one who could have warned everybody.”
Jessie’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean?”
“I was never entirely honest about who I am and why I left Rhianna. I knew all about the Twister and the other two airships, because I was on the secret military team that was trying to stop them.”
“But that doesn’t even make sense,” Jessie said. “I thought that only women were allowed in the military.”
“They are. I wasn’t actually part of it. It’s like I told you. I’m a scientist. One of many that were working on a way to destroy the pirate airships. We were a secret because the airships were a secret. The Argonan Council of Governors was keeping their existence from the public because they thought it would cause a panic. They almost didn’t pick me for the group because I’m a man. Even in Rhianna that still can count against you. But I had ideas that no one else could come up with, and in the end that got me on the project.”
“So why were you in Sun River, then?” Jessie asked. “And why didn’t you tell anybody about the threat?”
“Once my part in the project was done I was forced off the team. I couldn’t bear the idea that I had spent all that blood and sweat working on the most magnificent invention of our time and now would never be allowed to see it. I couldn’t even admit it existed, or else it would be considered treason. If I told anything that I knew it could be the death penalty.”
He went quiet, and Jessie couldn’t think of anything to say. She certainly didn’t blame him for anything that had happened, but he obviously carried more guilt than even she did. She suddenly found herself with an intense need to say something. The silence for some reason made her nervous. There were so many other things they were not saying that they should be, and the longer it took them to say it the harder Jessie thought it would be. Finally she said, “Are you okay? I mean after them keeping you locked up for so long?”
“As okay as I can be, I guess.”
“They didn’t hurt you at all?”
Corin sighed. “Not me. They kept most of us pretty drugged. Most of the women down there were indifferent to us, like we weren’t there. Never took us out of the cages except for supervised bathroom breaks. But there was this one, called herself Weasel. She would look at us, and even drugged I could tell that she hated us. Not just thought we were beneath her, but actually acted like we had no reason to exist.”
Jessie nodded. Weasel’s reputation preceded her. No one seemed to like her much.
“The first day after we were taken, one of the guys tried to pick the lock of our cage and got caught. Weasel, she didn’t punish the guy. Instead she took one of the others out. Remember Wally, the mayor’s son? She took him. Didn’t say anything to him as she pulled him out, didn’t say anything to anyone else. And then, like she was dumping out wastewater, she opened up one of the hatches in the floor and just pushed
him out. We could hear him screaming for longer than you would think. She said that any time anyone tried anything stupid someone else would be thrown out. No one else let that guy try anything from that point on.”
Jessie’s stomach clenched. That would probably have been right about the time that Lock had been showing her around the bazaar. A boy had been murdered and Jessie had actually been starting to have fun. How many women on the Twister knew that sort of thing happened? Captain Vestra most certainly knew, but what about the others? Did Lock? Tamsin? Leech? Did anyone even care?
“Dear gods,” Jessie said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Again, not your fault.”
“But… I’ve just been wandering free while you were down there. They just… accepted me into this society they’ve created. And I liked it. I’ve actually been enjoying myself.” Jessie didn’t realize a tear had slid down her cheek until Corin reached out to wipe it away. His touch startled her, and after he put his hand back down she thought she could still feel his fingers on her skin.
“And is this where you want to stay?” Corin asked. His voice was soft, guarded, as though he were afraid of the answer.
Jessie forced herself to stop crying. “If you had asked me that two days ago I think I would have said yes. But I can’t say that anymore. Not after what I saw in the auction house. Not after what you just told me.”
Corin nodded. “So why did they let you buy me?”
Jessie had to smile. “A little loophole in the rules of their society. Women are allowed to keep slaves for the purpose of procreation.”
Corin took a deep breath. “So you’re here for…”
“No! No, I just wanted to talk to you, see how you were…”
Corin reached out and touched her face again. This time his hand stayed there, gently cupping her cheek. “So you don’t want to?”
Jessie took several breaths before speaking. “You’re not my slave, no matter what they say. You don’t have to.”
“But what if I want to?”
The Twister Sisters Page 6