Coldmaker(57)

‘STOP!’ Cam screamed. ‘PLEASE! STOP! UNWORTHY!’

Then he stopped abruptly and shrugged, giving me an apologetic look. ‘Just in case Humphrey’s out there listening. Anyway, Leroi runs our tinkershop at the Tavor Manor. He’s kind, and generous, and a genius, and right now he’s determined to drink himself to death. And not from Oolong tea, mind you.’

‘Why?’ I asked, my ears still ringing.

‘Because his assistant died,’ Cam said bluntly, rubbing the front of his throat. ‘An assistant that he cared for very much, and who happened to be Jadan.’

I had a feeling I knew what was coming next.

‘So I went to see a friend named Mama Jana’ – Cam tapped again at the Opened Eye necklace under his shirt – ‘the one who gave me this. Like I said, I’m not the only Noble who believes we should all be equals. Mama Jana keeps good relationships with Jadans she thinks are different, who might prove our beliefs to the rest of the world. So I asked her if she knew any Jadans that might be good in a tinkershop.’

‘And she gave you my name.’

Cam smiled. ‘She did. But honestly, if I had met you on my own I’d have known there was something unusual. Special.’ He pointed at his eyes. ‘Even the way you looked at that music box. It’s all in here.’

‘So, what can I do to help?’ I asked, although I felt that I already knew what Cam was about to suggest.

‘I know I’m asking a lot, especially since, after this Cleansing, you probably want to be with your family.’ Cam took a deep breath. ‘But if you’re willing, you can let me buy you. You can let me set you up in our tinkershop, where you don’t have to steal, where there’s no Sun, where you don’t have to make only basic things in the dark.’

I felt my heart hammering in my chest, hard enough to crack stone.

‘Give me three days to get the right papers,’ Cam said.

I paused for a few beats, and then gave a single nod.

Cam reached across the table, and we shook hands, like equals. Then he got up, cupping his hands around his mouth and aiming his screams at the door. ‘MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP!’





Chapter Nineteen


Abb was sprawled out on his blanket, threading a needle back and forth through a piece of boilweed. He’d been at it for some time now, deathly quiet as he practised his stitching. He didn’t need the practice – Abb was so good he could probably stitch together the Twin Rivers if the Crier gave him a big enough needle – but in the past this method had been a proven system to get me to talk. He knew if he strung along the silence, doing something repetitive, I’d get annoyed and eventually spill whatever secret I was guarding.

He knew me all too well.

But I held back. I wanted to tell him about Cam, about the library, about the life-altering offer that every Jadan dreamed of, but I wasn’t quite ready for the idea to become real.

Going with Cam would mean I’d have to leave Abb behind. To leave my family in this time when things were only going to get worse. When they needed me more than some drunken Inventor did.

I didn’t crack, so after a while, Abb got up and made his way over to my side of the room. He bent down, gave me a very serious look, and then swiped the boilweed across my forehead, dragging a thin layer of sweat away with it.

I tried not to react, but a laugh escaped me. ‘What are you doing?’

Abb scrutinized the sheen in the dim light, giving a nod. ‘Bleeding skin is never dry when you stitch it. No point in practising unless it’s realistic.’ He gave me a respectful nod, almost as if addressing a Noble. ‘Do carry on.’

He returned to his blanket, diving back into silence, poking the boilweed over and over. It irked me that Abb was always so certain he’d outlast me.

‘That Tavor Noble offered to buy me today,’ I said, wanting to slap myself for giving up so soon. ‘To set me up in the tinkershop in his Manor.’

Abb went still, leaving the needle poked halfway through.

I didn’t move from the blanket or turn in Abb’s direction, instead I looked over at my tinker-wall. I’d worked hard every night since returning from our journey with the bucket to try to recreate some of what I’d destroyed, gathering up my scraps from the sands. Most of my creations were dented, looking a bit on the sickly side, but they existed once again.

I hadn’t got too far, but there was at least one of each. I’d finished a crank-fan, a gear flyer, and a colourscope. I’d rescued a few carvings, a scorpion trap – both spring-loaded and bait designs – and an hourglass. My Claw Staff. Sound stretcher. Syringe. And half a dozen other little things I’d be leaving behind.

And if what Cam said was true, I’d never have to worry about scavenging for materials again. I’d get to assist a real Inventor, and maybe in time to become a real Inventor myself.

I just wished Abb would say something.

I finally looked his way, trying to process the devastating idea that I might never see him again. Abb was still, staring up at the starlight through the slats.

I must have broken his heart.

‘I’ll sneak out at night,’ I said quickly. ‘It’s not like I won’t see you again. I’ll even steal from their gardens and bring you and Moussa food.’

Abb still said nothing.