Rebel Magisters (Rebel Mechanics #2)(17)
Philip stuck his hand out at Colin. “Delighted to meet you. You’re awfully talented,” he said, beaming.
After a pause that went on long enough to become rude, Colin took his hand and shook it. “Thank you. You’re obviously a man of excellent taste.”
Lizzie took his arm. “I need a word with you, my dear brother,” she said.
To us, he said, “I’m sure she wants to critique the Hamlet. She’s never satisfied.” In spite of his jovial tone, his eyes were serious.
“I don’t think he’s happy to see us,” Geoffrey said dryly as we watched them go to the other side of the theater, where they had an animated discussion. All of Colin’s discussions were animated, but this one seemed particularly intense. From this distance, I couldn’t tell who was arguing what or which one was winning. They were both smiling when they returned to us.
“Would you like to join us for the cast party?” Colin asked. “Then we can get to know each other. If you’ll follow me…” We followed him to the theater’s basement. “I’m afraid we’ll have to take the long way around, since you took that doorway away for us.”
“We can put it back for you,” Henry said.
“That should probably wait until after the soldiers leave town. We don’t have the machines here anymore, but we don’t want them discovering what we’ve done with their old subway system in case they pull another surprise inspection at the theater.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Henry agreed. “But when you want the door back, send a message to Verity.”
Colin stopped at the end of the passage we were in. “I’m going to show great faith in you by not blindfolding you. You already know about the subway, and you know a couple of the access points, so there’s not much point in confusing you about where you are now. But I will stress that this location is a secret that only the Rebel Mechanics know.”
“On our honor, we will keep this secret,” Geoffrey said solemnly.
“Well, good, then. Otherwise, I’d have to kill you.” Colin grinned as he said it, but his eyes were unusually serious. I shuddered at the thought that he might have meant it.
Chapter Five
In Which
We Make Great Plans
I felt like Colin was taking us on a particularly circuitous path as we spent longer than I recalled was necessary walking through tunnels. I was tempted to mark a wall so I’d know we were walking in circles if I saw the mark again. Finally, we reached a large steel door.
“Wait here a moment while I prepare our hosts for your presence,” Colin said. “Ladies, if you’ll care to join me—other than Verity.” Lizzie and Emma followed Colin through the doorway, leaving me with the magister men.
“I get the feeling we’re not entirely welcome,” Philip said, his tone flippant.
“But I thought they wanted money,” Geoffrey said, frowning.
“I don’t think they like having to ask for it,” Henry said.
“What they wanted was more money from the Masked Bandits,” I explained. “They probably don’t want money from magisters, unless it’s stolen from them. This is…I think this is making them think about people in a different way. They hate owing you anything. Remember, you’re what they’re rebelling against.”
“We’re what we’re rebelling against, too,” Philip said. “We don’t want to have to be what we are.”
“Then you’ll have to show them who you are, that you’re individual people, not just magisters.”
I was beginning to fear that Colin had stranded us there when he finally returned. “Come, and enjoy the party,” he said, flinging the door open theatrically.
We found ourselves in the main station of the underground railway. “It’s got to be the safest place in the city for us to gather, since no one knows about it,” Colin said. “And you have to admit, an underground rail station is rather appropriate for our cause.”
The magisters had seen the station the night we loaded the machines onto the subterranean railway to get them out of the city, but they hadn’t had much time then to look at their surroundings. This station had been built when the railway was meant as a way for magisters to travel out of the weather. As a result, it looked like the first-class waiting area of a major railroad depot, with decorative tile and fine wood furnishings. By the time the station was completed and the tunnel bored, the magisters had moved uptown, and the railroad never went into service—until the Mechanics found it and fitted it out with their machines.
I was familiar with the station, but I’d never seen it quite like this before. The benches had been shoved aside to create an open dance floor on which people in colorful Mechanics garb were twirling around to the tunes provided by a small band set up in a corner. They didn’t have the full-sized calliope that had been at the last Mechanics party I’d attended, but they did have a miniature model providing a breathy, hooting descant to their wild music.
I recognized the odd and overly complicated drink dispenser, but there was also a new one with an array of bottles and a mass of tubing flowing into a line of glasses. The big machines might be safely out of the city, but some of the smaller models were there. A small traction engine pulled a cargo of sandwiches across the floor, and a tiny airship drifted around the room with a basket of roasted nuts in its gondola. People grabbed handfuls as it passed them.