“And I know you never meant for me to get hurt,” Chaff began, stepping in before the silence could stretch. “You never mean for anyone to get hurt. You only did what you did because you care too much sometimes, because you don’t want anyone to get hurt, and that’s something I love about you. I wouldn’t have you any other way. Besides,” a dagger twisted in her chest when he glanced down at his mechanical hand and a wry smirk touched his lips, “Drake did give this arm a few nice additions the old one lacked.”
“He sure did.” Ash added with a tentative, boyish smile. “It’s the dog’s bollocks.”
Chaff tossed Ash a quick scoundrel grin and Maeko discreetly pinched herself to see if she could maybe wake up before this got any stranger.
“The point is,” Chaff continued, serious again, “we both care a lot about you. We know you’re planning to try and help Ash’s father again before Drake moves on the prison and we want to help you.”
“But Drake needs me to finish up some things for the battleship if it’s going to be ready fast enough to…” Ash trailed off, looking a bit crestfallen, and nodded to Chaff.
“What we decided was that perhaps I should go with you. I’m not doing anything here except taking up space.”
Maeko was nearly overwhelmed with the urge to hug or hit each of them. She lifted Macak into her arms as she stood to make both options impossible. She gave them a suspicious scowl.
“Did Crimson put you two up to this?”
Both boys looked mildly insulted, though there was a hint of flush in Ash’s cheeks that told her she hadn’t missed the mark by much. He didn’t have Chaff’s skill in the fine arts of deception.
Chaff kicked the dirt with one shoe, knowing full well that she, of all people, would know when he was dodging the truth. “No.”
“But?”
“Drake might have said something,” Ash admitted.
Drake?
That surprised her a bit. The wealthy Pirate was an odd one.
“I don’t suppose it matters. I think you’re both barmy, but I do appreciate the apologies. I’m sorry too, for everything that’s gone wrong, but I believe we might be able to make some of those things right.” She gave Chaff a speculative look. “Are you healed enough to be out running around?”
He nodded, a flicker of some deep sorrow and shame shadowing his features for a moment. Given their last encounter, she suspected she knew where the shame came from. “I’m well enough. There’s still healing to be done, but the arm is functional and the pain isn’t so bad.”
She had a feeling he was understating a fair bit, but the cogs were already spinning and the task she had for him wasn’t going to require much physical exertion.
“Good enough.” She looked him up and down once more and wrinkled her nose. “We need to find you some better clothes. Someone around here’s got to have some decent togs they’d be willing to loan you. C’mon.”
She started toward the house. It was only a few seconds before the boys fell into step with her and she felt, for an odd moment, rather like Em must have felt with Amos and Rueben always on her heels.
The thought of Em brought the woman’s last moment back to her mind in vivid detail. That expression of shock, of surprise. Death had finally caught up with her and hadn’t bothered to stop and introduce himself before taking what was his to take. She remembered as vividly the hollowness in Amos’s eyes. Em was gone. Rueben was gone. His world had been flipped upside down in seconds.
This had to end.
Whether the Pirates were going to make anything better or not, the Lits and their supporters had killed people and were building weapons with which they could continue to do so in greater numbers. Drake’s battleship was a weapon as well, but his proclaimed intention was to use it to strike a blow to the Lits that would end their rise to power and stop the killing in the streets. The Pirates wanted to put an end to starvation and mistreatment in Literati workhouses. They wanted to lessen the gap between the rich and poor, especially when it came to access to healthier living conditions and medical care. That’s what she overheard in the halls of Drake’s manor. She had to hope it was true.
She swallowed a lump in her throat and held Macak a little tighter as she headed into the manor. Without too much trouble, they tracked down Crimson. It was so easy, in fact, that Maeko suspected the woman had been spying on them.
“We need to find some more…” She paused, looking Chaff up and down. The clothes they’d given him to replace the bedraggled and stained ones he’d arrived in weren’t a large improvement over his typical street wear. She needed him to look upstanding and she needed to hide his arm and hand. “Some more distinguished togs that fit well enough to pass him off as someone in service to a wealthy gent. Perhaps some gentleman’s gloves as well.”
Crimson swept him once over with her discerning emerald gaze and Maeko didn’t doubt that she’d estimated his measurements in that quick once over with admirable accuracy.
“I think we can manage that without too much difficulty. Anything is going to be a touch loose. You’re still a bit undernourished from your stay with the Lits, but I don’t doubt we can make you look upstanding enough.” Crimson squinted her eyes at his head, looking dubious. “Especially if you let Tomoe give you a quick trim.”
Maeko met Chaff’s eyes. His brows raised as if to ask if that was necessary or perhaps simply checking to see if she were on board with the idea. Either way, she trusted Crimson’s opinion so she gave him a nod.
“While you two are working on that, I need to talk to Drake.”
“He’s down in the underground workshop,” Ash offered. “I can take you down there.”
This time, Maeko glanced at Chaff, seeking his approval. It wasn’t as though she wouldn’t go should he disapprove and she suspected he knew that, but perhaps showing that she at least cared what he thought would help smooth their relationship a bit. The lack of hesitation before his nod made her wonder what had passed between the two boys in her absence. She did notice that Ash looked a touch put out by her seeking Chaff’s approval, so all was not sweetness and light between the three of them. At least a peace treaty of some kind had apparently been negotiated.
She met Ash’s eyes, wishing the flicker of sorrow that lingered there was something she could fix, but, for all that she cared for him, she didn’t love him that way and anything she did to try to fix this would only prolong the process of healing. It was time to move on.
“Let’s go.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Maeko and Ash left Chaff in Crimson’s capable hands and started off in the direction of the underground hangar and workshop. Macak draped himself comfortably around her neck, a superheated, if slightly weighty, scarf.
“Can I ask what happened in the last day? I didn’t think either of you wanted anything to do with me.” Let alone with each other.
Ash shrugged. “I can’t speak for Chaff, but I got a solid tongue-lashing from Drake for the way I was treating you. I was devastated when you came out of that prison with Chaff and not with my dad. It was like that night at the orphanage all over again, when you weren’t able to get to Sam before Em did. I hated myself for not being there to protect my brother in the first place back then and I hated myself for not being there for my dad when they took him. I also resented you for getting what you wanted. You had Chaff back and I had nothing then, not even you. It wasn’t your fault, I know, but I couldn’t help imagining that you had just given up on saving my dad once you knew Chaff was safe.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you or him. I hope you know that.”
He gave her a sideways glance and a tentative, self-conscious smile tugged at his lips. “I realize that, but I was also burning half-mad with jealousy. It’s no reason to treat you the way I have been, but a terrible part of me had hoped that you wouldn’t be able to save him.”
Maeko took a deep breath to silence a spark of anger and scratched Macak’s head. “I’m pretty sure I knew that too.”
<
br /> “Can you forgive me?”
She glanced at him. His furrowed brow and the worried lines around his eyes said he thought she might not.
“I suppose so.” She sidestepped, bumping into him playfully with her shoulder.
A relieved smile banished the worry and he bumped her back, almost knocking her off her feet. He was a solid block of muscle, especially after spending so much time down working on the airship of late. Quite the opposite of Chaff’s lean, lanky form, grown thinner with his recent ordeal. So, different, the two of them, and yet both so dear.
“I know you’re going in there to try and save my dad again and I know better than to argue with you about it. All I can ask is that you try not to get hurt. For my sake and your mother’s and, yeah, even for Chaff’s sake.”
“I’m not going to pretend it isn’t dangerous, but I’ll try to come out in one piece.”
They stopped at the bottom of the dark stairwell before the door into the underground lab and hangar when she realized they didn’t have a code for the lock… or did they?
Ash walked up to the door and turned the dial to a chorus of clicks and mechanical grumblings until it shifted open. She felt a small pang of jealousy that he had been entrusted with the keys to the secret lair, so to speak, and she had not, but he was helping build the battleship, so it did make sense.
As soon as she stepped inside, the battleship commanded her attention. It was big. Sleek. Black. Somehow beautiful. It had been finished to look like Drake’s stealthy matte black personal airship, but it was so much larger, filling the massive space of the underground hangar. Lightweight cannons attached to the four corners of the two long gondolas stripped the airborne whale of a ship of any semblance of innocence. A lethal leviathan.
“What do you think of her?”
Maeko wasn’t sure if she’d walked up beside Drake or he up beside her. She found herself smiling and felt immediately guilty for it. This was a machine of death. Or perhaps it should be looked at as a machine of intimidation, intended to bring peace and a better life… at a dire cost to those who stood in the way of such things.
“She’s magnificent.” She turned to Drake, catching the smile of a proud father pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Is she ready?”
“Your boy here is going to help me finish fine tuning some things with the cannons,” he answered with a nod to Ash. “She’s ready to fly now.”
“Good. I’m ready to head into town. Chaff is going with me. He’s going to help me suss out the situation at the Tower. Once I’m on my way to the prison, he’ll head back here and let you know so you can get the timing right.”
Drake nodded. “I’d hoped you would work something like that out once these two dunces got over themselves and realized how unfairly they were treating you.”
Ash flushed, tucking his hands in his pockets and staring at the floor. He must have gotten quite the earful from Drake.
“I need to ask you a favor.”
A crackle of dread danced over her nerves, but she owed him a great deal. For taking her and her mother in. For bringing the boys around. “I’ll help if I can.”
“That’s all I can ask.” His gaze moved to the area opposite the airship where various inventions were being worked on by a small handful of individuals with monocles, myriad complex tools, and identical engrossed expressions. “If you’re able, when you find Garrett, see if you can get the blueprints for the work they’re doing at that facility.”
“They’re making weapons,” she objected, putting her foot down in her mind. She would not aid in the further spread of devices of death.
“Mostly, but Lucian was never really a maker of war. There may be some technology in those blueprints that has other useful applications. I see no reason to let the creations of a brilliant man go to ruin.”
Maeko stroked Macak’s side, the tips of her fingers brushing against his clockwork leg. What had Thaddeus said? Cats with missing legs aren’t that easy to come by, but they’re easy enough to make. That didn’t mean that Lucian was all bad, but it certainly lost him a substantial chunk of respect in her regard. Still, Drake’s point wasn’t wrong.
“I’ll do my best.”
Drake gave a nod. “Again, that is all I can ask. It’s far more important that you and Garrett come out alive. If we lose that knowledge, we will regain it another way. If you get lucky, then we’ll celebrate a bit of good fortune later, agreed?”
“Agreed.”
The big door behind them opened and Wells entered carrying a folded paper. Maeko was surprised to realize that Drake must have given the ex-Lit the code as well. With a single elegant gesture, Drake directed them all to a nearby table where Wells quickly began unfolding the paper.
“I asked Wells if he could remember enough of the prison layout to give you some extra guidance,” Drake explained as the map Wells had given her of the prison when she visited him at JAHF for help rescuing Chaff was spread out before them. She had thought she left it in her room. Perhaps Tomoe had found it for them.
Many new details had been hand drawn in with various helpful tips and labels added. Wells quickly set to work pointing out where the guards tended to spend the most time, where Garrett and the blueprints were being kept when he was there, and where the least protected entrances had been. He and Maeko went over it all several times while Ash and Drake looked on in silence. When she felt like she had it committed to memory she nodded to Wells.
“Thank you. This is invaluable.”
Wells shrugged. “I wanted to help. After all, you worked your way under my skin like you seem to do with most people.”
Drake chuckled and Ash heaved a sigh.
Maeko felt her cheeks reddening. Unsure what to say to that, she muttered another thank you and turned to Drake. “I’m ready.”
“Are you going to take the map?” Wells asked.
She looked it over one more time. “I can’t. If they find it on me it will expose my lies and I’ll be killed for certain.”
Wells paled and began to fold the map up again.
Drake nodded. “The coach should be waiting.”
#
A short time later, she gave Ash a long hug outside a coach in front of the manor. Too long perhaps to pretend that she didn’t suspect she might not make it back, but she wanted to let him know he was important to her and she was afraid to say too much lest her voice betray her fear. Drake stood watching them from a second-floor balcony, his face shadowed so she couldn’t see his expression, but Tomoe and Crimson were standing up there with him. She almost felt sorry for him. Neither woman looked pleased with the turn of events, Tomoe especially. Maeko gave her mother a small wave over Ash’s shoulder. Tomoe lifted her hand in response, looking like she might burst in to tears.
Maeko looked away and stepped back from the hug, not sure what to say.
Macak sprinted past and leapt up into the coach when Chaff walked outside to join them. Chaff was dressed in fancy businessmen’s attire, his hair neatly combed and perhaps a smidge shorter. The hand of his mechanical arm was hidden beneath dapper gloves. He almost would have looked like his normal old self if seeing him dressed that well didn’t strike her so odd. He looked distinguished. He looked handsome, though she still rather preferred him in his usual scoundrel street clothes.
She realized she’d been staring a little too long when he gave her a teasing smirk and she flushed, glancing away.
There was a hint of envy behind Ash’s good-natured smile, but he made no comment.
“See you soon, mate,” Chaff offered as he walked past them and stepped into the coach.
“You better,” Ash answered.
Still tongue-tied, Maeko started to turn away.
“Gunb… ganbun…” Ash flushed and she couldn’t stop a soft giggle. He chuckled in response and gave up. “Good luck.”
“Ganbatte,” she answered and stepped into the coach after Chaff.
There was a moment of awkwardness when she entered the dim
interior. Chaff had settled on the far end of one seat, leaving several options open. Should she sit beside him? Were the emotional wounds between them sufficiently healed? Or should she sit across from him? If she sat across from him, would that send the wrong message?
Macak, the glorious cat, leapt up and stretched out long next to Chaff on the bench and Maeko, that option removed, went to sit across from him. Chaff scratched the cat’s head with his right hand, his movement a little awkward as though trying to weigh the oddness of using his non-dominant hand against the strangeness of the artificial limb.
“He’s a smart little beast, isn’t he?”
She smiled, feeling an odd shyness as she did so. Had he felt the same awkwardness she did? “He certainly is.”
Once the door was shut, the coach began to move. Without any holes in her clothing to pick at, Maeko forced her hands to settle in her lap and stared at them.
“I know I said sorry once already, but I want you to know that I really am so sorry for how I treated you, Mae. I never really blamed you for what happened to my hand. You made your choices, but I made some choices too and one of those choices was to watch over you and try to keep you safe while you were trying to protect the people you love. I followed you knowing the risks.”
Her throat twisted and tears sprung to her eyes without warning, running fast down her cheeks. She brought a hand up, meaning to brush them away, but Chaff caught her wrist in his metal hand. The grip was strong and painfully tight, though warmed a touch by the glove. She winced, and his hand loosened. His features twisted in a grimace.
“Bollocks. I’m still getting the hang of it.”
A few more tears crept down her cheeks.
“It’s all right.” She glanced toward the hand. “Can I see it?”
His expression tightened, but he tugged the glove off and tossed it down on his thigh, holding the mechanical hand out to her. She cupped her hands under his, turning it slightly. The metal had a soft gleam in the low lighting. When he moved his fingers, myriad tiny parts moved together in silent, graceful harmony to make the motion possible.
The Girl and the Clockwork Crossfire Page 14