Angel of Brass (27 page)

There came the hiss of air over metal, and
Molly jumped as Jin landed in the street by them. “You’re sure all
the smiling men are destroyed?” she asked nervously, playing the
beam of the torch over the peeling paint of the sign.

“I’m certain.” He walked past her, his metal
wings folded tight to his back. Even so, they arched high over his
head and almost brushed the ground. “Let’s try the loading dock. I
don’t want to take the rig off, just in case, but it’s hard to fit
through ordinary-sized doors with it on.”

Something happened to him here
, Molly
thought.
He seems so distant. Almost cold
.

Worried now, she followed him around to the
back of the building. There was indeed a loading dock, with a wide
roll-up door. The door had a heavy padlock on it, but with Jin
holding the torch, Molly was able to pick it easily. The door slid
up with a loud series of clatters, sending echoes ringing
throughout the building.
So if there was anyone left inside,
they’ll know we’re here
.

“If we find active shamblers, I want you to
leave immediately,” Molly said to Jin, taking the electric torch
back from him. “Liam has the anti-controller. If we have to turn it
on, you need to be as far from here as possible, understand?”

Jin hesitated. “I can’t just abandon
you.”

“You have to. If the anti-controller works,
we’ll have a better chance using it than trying to fight. But we
can’t turn it on while you’re nearby. I don’t know what the range
is, so you need to get as far away as you can, as fast as you
can.”

She could tell from the look on his face that
he wasn’t happy about that. Unable to argue with her logic, he
instead said, “Where should we look?”

“The refrigerated rooms would be near the
docks, so that meat could be loaded quickly onto the trucks,” Liam
said. “I suggest starting here.”

The room they stood in was cavernous but
empty. Shadows clung to the walls and ceiling, and every small
noise was magnified a hundred times by echoes. The smell of death
hung on the air. Although a heavy layer of dust covered the floor
around the edges of the room, a wide swath had been cleared away in
the center, as if by many feet.

“Shamblers,” Molly said quietly, illuminating
a bare footprint in the dust. “Leaving, not coming in. We’re too
late.”

Jin cursed under his breath. “We should make
sure, just in case,” Liam said, although he didn’t sound
particularly hopeful.

They followed the trail easily enough, back
to a refrigerated room so large that a pair of double doors opened
onto it. Jin pushed the doors open, and they stepped inside. Dozens
of meat hooks hung from chains, their wicked points orange with
rust. Pools of noxious liquid had frozen to the floor, and the
stench of decay was almost overwhelming, despite the icy air.

They left quickly, by silent agreement, and
hurried back out into the street. “So, what now?” Liam asked after
they had enjoyed the clear breeze for a few moments.

Molly glanced up at the building uneasily.
She didn’t really want to go back in, but they might not have much
choice. “I take it that Del wasn’t here,” she said. “But there
might be a clue somewhere inside, as to where Malachi might have
her hidden.

Jin turned away from them. “She was
here.”

His bleak tone made Molly’s heart race with
worry. “What happened? Is she...did Malachi hurt her while you were
gone?”

“No.” He tipped his head back, staring up at
the stars. “She...decided to stay with our father.”

“Your father? You mean Dr. Malachi?” Molly
asked, astounded. “After everything he did to you?”

“That’s crazy,” Liam said. “Perhaps he has
her under some sort of hypnotic suggestion?”

“No. Nothing like that.” Jin let out a gusty
sigh. “She agrees with him, with everything he’s done.”

“But that’s horrible!”

He shrugged; the great pinions rattled
uneasily against one another, and a couple of gears clicked softly.
“Gibson’s dead, isn’t he?” he asked, in an obvious effort to change
the subject.

Molly exchanged a worried glance with Liam.
“Yes. I think someone betrayed him.”

“Oh.”

He sounded so dejected, so lost, that it tore
at her heart. “Jin?” she asked tentatively. “Can I talk with Liam
for a minute?”

“Of course.” He unfurled his wings partially.
“I should be on my way.”

“No!” Her vehemence startled him into turning
around. “I don’t want you to leave,” she said. “I’ll meet you on
top of the building we were on earlier, all right? Please?”

“If that’s what you want.”

While she watched, he climbed up the side of
the factory, then launched himself from the height, wings outspread
beneath the glowing moon. With a sigh, she turned her steps back
down the street, Liam at her side. “Well, this is a mixed victory,
at best,” he said. “We’ve got Jin back, but his sister’s gone over
to the other side.”

“Sounds like it,” Molly said sadly. “I don’t
think there’s anything we can do for Del at this point.”

“So at some time in the near future, she’s
going to try to kill the queen, and we don’t have the slightest of
idea who turn to for help, because if we go to the wrong people,
we’ll be the ones who end up dead. Am I right about that?”

“Got it in one,” she agreed. “You’re right.
This isn’t much of a victory. I’m tired though, so maybe things
will seem less hopeless in the morning.”

“Maybe,” Liam said skeptically. “So why did
you want to talk to me alone?”

“There’s nothing we can do for Del, but Jin
needs a friend. A big part of his world has just fallen down around
his ears. So if you don’t mind catching the monorail home, I’d like
to stay with him. I don’t think he should be alone.”

“And I suppose he’d look a little odd getting
on the monorail,” Liam said with the ghost of a smile. “Not to
mention the wings wouldn’t fit through the door. All right. We’ll
reconvene tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Liam.”

“I live to serve,” he said with a crooked
grin.

* * *

Jin stood in the center of the roof,
feeling...lost, really. The rush of adrenaline from the fight had
long ago faded, leaving him hollowed out. He’d escaped Malachi a
second time...but for what purpose? The first time, even if he
hadn’t known exactly how he would save Del, he’d at least had that
goal on which to focus.
I had a task. A reason for going
on
.

Now that was gone, and he no longer knew what
to do. He’d thought that he understood Del, but it had turned out
that he’d been wrong about everything.

Maybe I’ve never understood anything. If I
could have misjudged Del so badly...I don’t know. Maybe I’m the one
who is wrong. Maybe she’s right, and I’m the one who has betrayed
the family.

The sound of someone climbing the ladder made
him turn; a moment later, Molly clambered onto the roof. Her coat
was smudged with soot, and one of her fingerless gloves had gone
missing. Shadows gathered under her blue eyes, as if she hadn’t
slept.

Even so, she was the most beautiful thing
he’d ever seen.

“You came back,” he said, surprised. He’d
thought she would leave with Liam, take her chance at escaping the
clockwork monster who’d fallen in love with her.

She gave him a puzzled look. “Of course I
did. Did you think I’d just leave you in Dr. Malachi’s hands?”

That isn’t what I meant
. But it gave
him hope.

“So.” She gestured vaguely at his rig.
“Wings.”

The night air was cool on his skin, and he
suddenly wished that he’d been able to modify his shirt before
putting on the rig. But then, he hadn’t exactly had time to worry
about his wardrobe, had he? “Yes,” he said, and spread the wings to
their fullest. “This is it. My last secret. The thing that
hopelessly marks me as an abomination, and yet almost makes being
one worthwhile.”

She cocked her head, looking closely at him.
“Why do you think you’re an abomination?”

Jin let out a hoarse laugh. “I was built by a
madman to be a monster. What else would you call me?”

She was still studying him, her eyes taking
in every detail. He wanted to look away, or to hide himself from
her scrutiny, but the only thing he could do was stare back
defiantly.
This is me. Whether you like it or not—whether I like
it or not—this is what I am
.

“I’d call you beautiful,” she said, then
cleared her throat. “You already were, of course, but this
is...different. Complete. Like something had been missing before,
and now it isn’t.”

He gaped at her, certain that he’d misheard.
“I...I mean, you...you think so?”

The pensive expression eased from her face,
and she smiled at him tentatively. “Yes. If...if it’s not too rude,
may I see how they attach?”

He didn’t
think
that her passion for
machinery alone would lead her to call him beautiful, but just to
be sure, he said, “I’m not sure that you’d find me half so
interesting if I didn’t have any gears for you to poke.”

“That’s not true!” she exclaimed, looking so
horrified that he felt guilty for letting the thought cross his
mind.

“It was only a jest!” he said hastily,
turning his back to her so that she could see where the rig
socketed in along his spine. “Just promise not to disassemble me in
my sleep, all right?”

“Spoilsport. Now hold still.”

“You’re sure you aren’t taking out your
wrench?”

“Nothing in my hands.” He felt her settle
them on the skin of his back, between the final attachment point
and the arch of his hip. “See?”

It was suddenly difficult to breathe. Her
skin was warm, the tips of her fingers callused from her work, and
he was intensely aware of just how nice it would be if she would
keep touching him. “Y-yes,” he managed to say.

Her hands traced a path up the valley of his
spine, over the twin rows of sockets, and onto the struts of the
rig. No matter how sensual it felt to him, he told himself fiercely
that it was just an examination of sorts. Nothing personal, even if
it did affect him badly enough to make him tremble.

“Can you feel this?” she asked, sounding
surprised.

He didn’t dare look over his shoulder at her.
“Yes. On the structural elements, anyway.”

“So not on the pinions?” Her hands kept
going, now only on his right wing, tracing servos and gears and
wires, the sensation vanishing as they slid onto the longest
pinion.

“Only at the base.”

“For positioning, no doubt,” she murmured.
“You realize that you shouldn’t be able to feel any of this. It’s
not possible. Can you tell me how it attaches?”

He shrugged. At least this was a safer topic
than what he was feeling at the moment. “I’m no scientist. I can
only tell you what I experience. The rig...it’s a part of me. I
don’t wear it, any more than I wear my nose, or my eyes. Without
it, I’m not complete, just as you said.”

“Amazing.” Her hands returned to the skin of
his back and slowly traced up and out across his arms. “You have
scars here.”

He’d almost forgotten about them. “Yes.
Father was always tinkering with us. Making adjustments.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it
up.”

“It’s all right.” He swallowed. “Speaking
about it with you makes it feel less painful, somehow.”

“I’m glad.” She was silent for a long moment.
“Jin? Can I ask you a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Take me flying?”

He let out a laugh of startled delight,
turning to her—and forcing her to skip back to avoid being hit with
the rig. “Oh, no—I’m sorry!”

She grinned at his embarrassment. Not that he
could blame her for laughing at him. “It’s all right,” she
reassured him. “I’ve got good reflexes.”

“I’m just not used to having to think about
where the rig is in relation to someone else,” he explained, hoping
that he didn’t sound too stupid.

“Jin, it’s all right.” She stepped closer to
him, and he felt as though the night had suddenly grown ten degrees
warmer. “So, what do you need me to do?”

He scratched his head thoughtfully, wondering
what the best method might be. “I’m not sure. I’ve never flown with
anyone else before today. The extra weight threw me off
balance.”

“You did well enough getting rid of that
smiling man,” she pointed out.

“Yes, about that.”
Not my finest
moment
. “That was a bit of an accident. I didn’t really mean to
get quite
that
close to the train.”

“Oh!” A look of alarm spread across her face
as that sunk in. “I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time.”

“I’ve also never flown at night before.
Except for in the airship.” Which crashed.

Molly started to look rather dubious. “Maybe
we should wait.”

“No, I think we’ll be all right, if we stay
up high, away from any wires or steeples. I won’t kill us. I
promise.”

The skeptical expression lingered for a long
moment, then eased into a smile. “Okay. I trust you.”

“I think the easiest thing would be for you
to have your back against my chest. I’ll hold you around the chest
and waist, and once we’re up, you can hook both of your legs around
my right leg. That will still leave me the left to help steer.”

“All right.”

Jin led her to the edge of the roof; there
was an abandoned railroad line running alongside, giving a long,
straight slot between buildings that would be perfect for takeoff.
Molly seemed apprehensive about standing with her toes all but
hanging out over the drop to the street below, so he put steadying
hands to her shoulders while she positioned herself. When he
stepped up directly behind her, she let out a little squeak, body
wavering slightly.

“It’s all right,” he said, slipping one arm
around her hips and the other just under her breasts. “I won’t let
you fall.”