The Girl and the Clockwork Cat (Entangled Teen)

by Nikki Mccormack

  The edge of hopelessness in his voice diffused her temper. Unable to come up with a reassuring lie, she nodded.

  “They’d never do something like that,” he defended. “Not even to someone who deserved it.”

  She already believed that of the man who treated her so kindly in the pub, before making off with the cat, of course. To have Ash confirm it with such certainty banished any lingering doubts. “I’m not sure it was pirates at all. If what your dad said about Mr. Folesworth denying the weapons development is true, the pirates would want him in charge of Clockwork Enterprises rather than let it fall into the hands of his partner.”

  “His partner might be a target too.”

  “Maybe, but if the landing pad door wasn’t shut, it’s likely that someone made a quick exit that way.”

  He caught on quickly. “Which would mean someone with access to a decent airship. One that wouldn’t look out of place up there like ours. You’re smarter than you let on.” He flashed her a quick smile. “If you’re right, we might find allies in the pirate community. After we get Sam, we should ask around where you found Macak. I doubt the cat ended up there on his own. Barman might have seen something.”

  She nodded. It was a place to start, but not suspecting pirates meant Lits, Lits who would be more than happy to pin the crime on pirates like Ash’s father. The detective might have information that could help, but they didn’t know how deep her affiliation with the Lits went, which meant they couldn’t trust her. This was far more complex and dangerous than she could have imagined. It was time to disown the mess and yet… Ash had an education and the advantage of his more privileged upbringing, as well as some connection to the pirates, but he didn’t have the underworld knowledge or street smarts to dig into this alone. He’d get himself killed.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  Fresh tension tightened her shoulders. What now?

  “Do you go through a lot of shoes?”

  She laughed with amusement and with genuine relief. “I don’t usually cover this much distance in so few days, and throwing them at horses is a new thing.”

  “It was a brilliant throw.”

  She grinned at his praise. “It was good, wasn’t it? Too bad about the shoe.”

  Cheapside afternoon markets were crowded, which increased the chances of Chaff being around, but made it harder to pick out one individual in the crowd. On the other hand, it also reduced the chances of the occasional Literati patrol picking them out of the bustle. There was no doubt they were both on wanted lists now. Being smaller than average for her age, Maeko had an advantage when it came to vanishing in crowds. With Ash there, however, she had to take more care. He wasn’t large, but he wasn’t slight enough to disappear behind a slender man. Women were easier to hide behind with bustled skirts and parasols broadening their profiles, but they also tended to frequent the area less due to an abundance of shops catering to a male clientele.

  A wild array of aromas from food vendors selling sandwiches, meat puddings, and even cold sweet ice cream along the pedestrian pavements made her stomach growl. Now wasn’t the time to let such things distract her, though, especially given their lack of tin.

  Glancing over her shoulder, she discovered with a prickle of alarm that Ash had vanished. She scanned the crowd, leaning this way and that to peer around people, and finally spotted him off to one side among a group staring up at the massive new steam-powered clock above the watchmaker’s shop. Under the clock was a board made up of metal plates with numbers and letters on them that flipped periodically to display various tidbits of news.

  Literati street cleanup Program an overwhelming success

  She snorted at that. Brilliant job locking up scary old homeless folks and orphans. A blighter future indeed.

  The clacking of the plates as the headline changed drowned out the ticking of the massive clock.

  Clockwork Enterprises Breaks Ground on Two new factories

  Maeko stalked up behind Ash and waited, watching the machinery above for the right moment.

  “Stick close,” she snapped when the steam clock blasted out a loud exhale.

  He jumped and spun, then smiled and pointed at the news board. “How does that thing work?”

  “I don’t know. But on the streets we call such things orphan bait.”

  He looked up at the clock then back at her, puzzled. “Why?”

  “Lit officers stake out distractions like that. When a street rat stops to gawp, the Lits slip in, cuff and bag them, and take them away.” She frowned a warning and turned to the task of finding Chaff, trying not to giggle at his sheepish look when he followed her away from the display.

  “I wasn’t gawping,” he muttered.

  Selecting a cluster of foreigners with several women in their midst to follow, Maeko worked them along the street, scanning for a familiar face. Not an easy task when most people were taller than she was. A few familiar faces made brief appearances in the crowd, rivals and acquaintances working the streets, none of whom she would consider friends, though a few might be useful for tracking down Chaff if she didn’t spot him soon.

  The group they followed made an abrupt turn at a jewelers shop. As they moved out of the path, she spotted Chaff just past a tailor’s shop, hovering menacingly over another kidsman who wasn’t supposed to be on their turf, which was probably why he looked ready to tear the bloke apart. She moved in, keeping an eye out for Lits and weaving through the crowd in an effort to get close enough to eavesdrop.

  “Have you seen her or not?” There was an edge of breaking patience in Chaff’s voice. “You’ve no business being here and I’ll drag you back where you belong by your ears unless you have something for me.”

  The man’s eyes darted about. He knew Chaff rarely lost a fight and he wanted a way out. His gaze lit upon her then and his eyes widened. He grinned and looked at Chaff.

  “I’ve seen her.” He pointed past Chaff with his chin. “She’s right there.”

  Chaff turned with the fluid movement of a serpent, which was appropriate somehow. He might not spit venom, but he could strike fast. The other kidsman took advantage of the moment and bolted away.

  Chaff’s tight angry look relaxed instantly to one of relief and pleasure that made her feel a little short of breath.

  “Blimey, is that my Mayko? Nice churches, Pigeon.” He gave a nod to the oversized shoes, following it up with a teasing wink.

  Pleasure took back seat to a flash of irritation. “I’m not your anything, especially if you refuse to say my name right,” she grumbled.

  At her tone, Ash puffed up beside her, a strutting peacock ready to defend its territory. It might have been funny and a bit flattering if she didn’t know how dangerous Chaff could be. He’d made a tidy sum prize fighting when pickings were slim and she’d seen him pressed into street scraps often enough, many times in her defense. The lucky ones he let limp home.

  Chaff grinned, his eyes sparkling with satisfaction at managing to get under her skin so fast. Then he turned to Ash, picking him apart with a quick glance to evaluate all the details important to a street rat. Strength, speed, intellect, street smarts, wealth, all things Chaff could gauge in a heartbeat with uncanny accuracy from a person’s attire and bearing. After a few seconds, he shrugged, openly insulting Ash by implying with the gesture that he wasn’t worth his time.

  He turned back to her, tilting his head to one side in a gesture that reminded her of a large puppy eyeing a toy…or a hawk eyeing its prey. Odd that the two images were so similar and yet one was much more sinister. “Not sure about that particular haircut on you. It does help you blend in though. I approve of that.”

  “I wasn’t looking for your approval, great one,” she teased in a more playful tone, hoping it would deflect the building tension she sensed in Ash.

  Benny was gazing up at her with that open admiration of a child not yet jaded by life on the streets. “I think it’s splendid!”

  Despite her change in attitude towa
rd Chaff, Ash gave the taller boy an icy look. Though younger and shorter, he had that muscular build that might give him the misguided impression he could overpower the lean street rat. She doubted that little bit of extra mass would matter in a fight. Chaff could fight like a wildcat, all speed and sharp pointy bits. If they weren’t in a hurry, she would let Ash learn that lesson the hard way. It would be good for him to gain some respect for the education of the streets and she didn’t think Chaff would really hurt him, not so long as he was in her company, but they didn’t have time.

  Stepping forward to put herself between the two, she faced Chaff and said, “I need your help.”

  Chaff lowered his blue-eyed gaze to her and the forward aggression in his stance faded some. He met her eyes, his expression turning serious when she returned a solemn regard. It was rare for her to request his help outright. She often managed to get it through clever manipulation when she did want it, making something of a game of wits out of it. The uncharacteristic approach gave him something to think about other than the strange boy encroaching on his turf. Since she was one of many youths working the streets for him, she was, in a sense, his turf.

  “What for?”

  There was no way to ease into the subject without wasting time. “To help get Ash’s brother out of an orphanage.”

  He frowned and shifted back from her, resistance giving a frosty edge to his gaze. “You don’t want much. Why should I care what happens to his kin?”

  She could feel the pressure of Ash’s anger rising behind her like an approaching storm. Boys! “Because I do,” she answered, soft and sincere.

  There was a small inhale of surprise from behind her. Chaff started to look up at Ash and she took another quick step forward, catching his attention again and holding it. She gave him her soft-eyed pleading look, an art form it had taken her years to perfect. “I’ve been a meal ticket for you for years. Isn’t that worth something?”

  Her world lurched out of balance when his expression warmed, a fond smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You’ve never been just a meal ticket. I wouldn’t be here without you.” The resistance in his eyes faded away. “I’ll do what I can to help if that’s really what you want, Pigeon.”

  The nickname didn’t sound so bad when he infused it with such warmth and gratitude. She couldn’t recall him ever speaking to her in quite that tone before. It was powerful, a spell to counter her pleading eyes, though she wasn’t about to acknowledge the giddy melting sensation he’d caused in her middle.

  Focusing her thoughts on her feet and the way the ground felt solid beneath them, she gave an earnest nod.

  The odd moment passed. Chaff turned serious, or at least as serious as he ever got. “Right then. I s’pose he was nicked recently?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “Daytime?”

  She nodded.

  “He’ll be in the new building near Tyburn. If you want to get him tonight, we should get there by dark, which means we need to chivvy along. You have tin for an omnibus?”

  She shook her head and glanced over her shoulder at Ash who did the same. “Please, Chaff, can’t you take the hit this time? I’ll pay you back. You know I’m good for it.”

  He pulled out his pant pockets, showing that they were empty, and shrugged. The wicked light flickering to life in his eyes told her he was hiding something. “Looks like you’ve got a predicament.”

  He couldn’t handle being too nice, not when he didn’t want to be involved in something in the first place. Maybe that was why she got snippy with him so much, a kind of pre-emptive strike at the rotten devil inside him, though she rather liked that devil most times, just not when it worked against her.

  She turned around to scan the pedestrians. She could feel Ash’s eyes on her and did her best to ignore him. Foolish as it was, she had hoped this wouldn’t come up while he was around.

  This is who I am. It’s how I survive. If he doesn’t like it, that’s his problem.

  She set her jaw and continued studying the bustle of people.

  The best thing about Cheapside was all the foreigners it attracted. That made it easy to find unsuspecting marks. She didn’t like leaving the two boys alone together. There was little chance of them playing nice without her there and she didn’t doubt that Chaff would take the opportunity to taunt Ash. With that in mind, she searched for a mark that wouldn’t take her too far away.

  When Chaff first took her under his wing, he’d been stealing and recruiting for a kidsman who managed a small ring of child thieves. To his credit, he never presented her to that man, fearing he would put her to work doing something other than thieving. He chose to protect her from that ilk, sneaking her into various lurks to make sure she didn’t die of exposure or hunger while he taught her the ropes. She’d been a quick study, taking to the art of picking pockets as if she had done it all her life. With her help and that of a few other skilled youths, he liberated himself from that kidsman a few years later. Now he ran his own group of thieves, which was why she doubted he was penniless, but it was too much work to argue when a quick foray could solve the problem.

  She spotted her mark, a dapper toff focused on the lady he was escorting through a tight crowd. With his attention on her and the jostle of the crowd to help, he would be an easy mark for an accomplished thief. The thrill of the hunt made her nerves dance.

  She glanced in Ash’s direction, avoiding his eyes. “Wait here.”

  Behind her, she heard him ask Chaff where she was going, setting aside earlier tensions before the pressure of curiosity. Chaff told him to watch and learn because a cracking fine wirer was going to work.

  She smiled at that. Did Ash even know what a fine wirer was?

  She wound her way into the crowd with practiced ease. Her heart drummed a rhythm in her ears, a familiar music that helped her keep a steady, calm cadence to her movements. Without drawing attention, she maneuvered close to the couple, spotting the faint bulge of a wallet in his left pocket when another passer brushed his coat back from his hip.

  With a quick maneuver, she bumped another bloke, making him stumble into the mark’s lady. When the toff stepped a leg back for balance, reaching out to catch his female companion and keep her from falling, Maeko slipped in, dipping a hand in under the coat and into his pocket. The wallet was in hand and tucked into her trousers by the time he turned. She pretended to be catching herself from a trip over his back flung leg, using his fine frock coat to get her balance and then held up her hands in a show of apology.

  “Sorry, Sir.”

  He nodded once, distracted, and turned back to his lady who swooned as only a wellborn lady in a tightly laced bodice could.

  Maeko worked her way out of the crowd and back to where the three boys waited. When she got to them, she grinned and chucked the wallet at Chaff who snatched it out of the air, beaming with pride. In stark contrast, Ash’s face had become a tempest of black emotion. Uncertainty fluttered in her chest, wiping away her grin.

  Chaff peeked into the wallet, nodded, and tucked it away. “Top mark, Pigeon,” he praised. “Let’s leg it before we attract attention.”

  She fell in on his heels as they made for an omnibus. Ash stomped along beside her.

  She gave him a nervous glance. “What’s wrong?”

  “You stole that bloke’s wallet,” he growled under his breath, wary of the people around them.

  The judgment in his tone made her bristle. “So!”

  “So? What if that was all the tin he had to feed his family?”

  She glared at him. The burn of shame rose in her cheeks and it fed her anger. She’d never felt guilty for nicking a bit of coin before, especially from someone so obviously well off. On the contrary, every successful theft was a source of pride, an accomplishment…and another day or two that she wouldn’t go hungry. Those skills helped her stay out of the hands of men who would use her for far more unsavory things and every good mark let her stash more away toward her mother’s debt.


  “How dare you judge me,” she snapped under her breath. “You have no idea what it’s like to survive on the streets.”

  “But you don’t have to, you have family.”

  “I have no family,” she hissed, her voice cracking. The recent encounter with her mother twisted like a knife in her chest.

  He started to respond, but trailed off when Chaff stopped and spun around to face them a few feet short of the omnibus.

  He cocked his head, his beautiful blue eyes boring into Ash with the calm, cold burn of protective fury she had seen so many times. “I’m not sure who you think you are, but you’re hounding the wrong bird.” He gave Ash a disgusted sneer, then slugged him in the jaw.

  Chapter Eleven

  To her surprise, Ash didn’t fall. He could take a hit. He staggered back a few steps, his hand going to the tender red mark spreading on the side of his jaw. Chaff had been nice enough not to break his nose and Maeko thought the mark went well with the bruise from falling down the steps outside JAHF, giving him a rebellious flair. Ash didn’t look the least bit amused, however. A murderous rage rose through the shock in his eyes as he stared at Chaff, his hands balling into fists.

  So much for not drawing attention.

  Maeko stepped out of the way when Ash charged, she wasn’t about to get in the line of fire. Chaff wouldn’t do him any real harm, and right then she rather wanted to cuff him herself.

  Chaff grinned, the look of a hungry predator about to make a kill. He stood his ground, then took a step back at the last second and grabbed Ash by the shoulders, spinning them both around and letting go so that Ash’s momentum slammed him into the side of the omnibus. The bus rattled with the impact and Maeko winced. The horses started, half-rearing in their traces, and the driver cursed at them while he reined in the animals. Surrounding pedestrians backed away in alarm, though they didn’t go far and more gathered, drawn by the irresistible lure of conflict.

  Ash staggered a step and shook himself. His pale eyes homed in on Chaff and he charged again. Chaff lowered his stance as if he meant to brace for the attack, but he sidestepped at the last possible second, his movement effortless and graceful as a dancer, and swung around to clout Ash a sound blow to the back of the head. Ash caught himself on someone’s arm. When he spun around this time, his face was crimson with rage and humiliation. He charged again and she wondered if he would ever learn, but this time he caught hold of Chaff’s arm on the brush off and spun himself around, striking the taller boy a solid blow under his eye.