I’d been tinkering for a few hours when Cam’s knocks sounded at the main door. Three raps – two fast, a pause, and then another – which was his way of letting me know it was safe, and that he was alone.
I laid down my tools to run up the steps and undo the heavy chain.
Cam checked the hallway behind him and then swept past me. He looked dishevelled, strands of his golden hair flying around him, and with dark circles under his eyes.
I locked behind us. ‘Good to see you.’
‘Good to see you too.’ Cam smiled at me, although it was more like a wince. ‘You look happy.’
My face was still flushed with excitement from setting the Glassland Blue in place on my latest invention. I still couldn’t believe all the things I had to tinker with in the main chamber alone. ‘Well, you’re to thank. You’re the only reason I’m here.’
Cam leaned back against the bannister on the stairs. He sighed. ‘I just wish I could do the same for all the others in here. I try so hard, Spout, a compliment here, or a smile. I sneak them food and medicine, but most of them won’t take it. No one wants to trust me.’
I nodded, unsure if I had anything to add.
‘It’s just— I’m so sick of how things are,’ Cam said, clenching his teeth. ‘The more I look, the worse it gets, and I’m completely powerless to help.’
I was almost afraid to ask, as a part of me had been waiting for the hammer to drop. ‘Is it really getting worse out there?’
Cam swallowed, looking at the wall of instruments Leroi had displayed. I hadn’t touched most of them: I’d blown over a few of the pipe sets but the sound had plucked my heart with thoughts of Moussa and I’d had to stop.
I tried to meet Cam’s gaze, but he looked at the floor instead. ‘It’s okay. You can tell me,’ I said.
Cam paused. ‘There was another Cleansing yesterday.’
I tensed up. I’d gone a few hours without worrying about Abb, but now I was flooded with anxiety. ‘Any word on …’
Cam nodded, still not meeting my eyes. ‘Mama Jana says he’s alive.’
My ears popped with relief, but my heart was still heavy.
‘Was the Cleansing because of me?’ I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
Cam suddenly gripped my shoulders, facing me with a fierceness I hadn’t seen in him before. ‘This is all because of the Khat. Never forget that. Ever.’
I nodded, wishing that were possible.
Cam clucked his tongue. ‘Is Leroi still in his study?’
I nodded, my stomach still trying to unknot. ‘For going on two days straight now. He moved in all these machines and materials so he could make those anklets.’
Cam nodded, brushing down his hair. ‘How do I look?’ he asked archly.
I lifted an eyebrow. I hadn’t failed to notice how silent both cousins became when I brought up the anklets. ‘Don’t change the subject.’
‘Sorry, Spout.’ Cam sighed, his hand going to the necklace under his shirt. He started pacing. ‘I’d rather not talk about it now though.’
I shrugged, unsure of what to say.
Cam started pacing awkwardly around the room. ‘How are you getting on then?’
‘Well, I’m making some progress on something at least.’
Cam stopped pacing long enough to give me a quizzical look, pushing his glasses back up his nose. ‘Flying?’
I shook my head. ‘No, that might take me a while. Especially if I’m working on my own while Leroi’s working on those mysterious anklets …’
Cam’s lips pinched into a thin line.
I held my hands up. ‘Sorry, sorry. I’ll drop it. Want to see what I’m working on?’
‘Is it something new?’
I gestured for him to follow. ‘Always. You’re not the only one sick of the way things are.’
‘I’m intrigued. Lead the way, young Tinkerer!’
I smirked, hopping towards the large platform with the giant fan mounted on the back, and the cabinet with the silver medallion-like trinkets.
‘So I was thinking,’ I told Cam, shifting around the table I’d claimed as my workspace. ‘There’s got to be other helpful things that I could make while I’m trying to figure out the big stuff.’
Cam sank into a chair on the other side, picking up the rubber strip I was going to use for tension. ‘I’m all for that. What can I do to help?’
‘Listen and watch.’
Cam sighed, leaning over so he could look at all the gears and springs I’d laid out, still toying with the rubber. ‘Fine. But when you discover how to scoop Cold out of the sky and the whole World Cried knows your name, you be sure to tell them mine too.’
I put a hand over my heart. ‘Fair trade.’
I tapped on the sheets of parchment I’d drawn the design on, glad that I finally had paper to work with. Being able to extract the ideas from my mind and plan them properly had uncovered a whole new layer of my creativity.
‘This is the Decoy Box,’ I said, gesturing to the various materials laid out on the table, gleaming and ready to be assembled. ‘I was thinking about all of us Jadans who sneak out at night. Whether it’s trying to find food, or escape something in our barracks, or even things that I don’t know about—’ I thought of Abb and me wandering out onto the dunes, and turned back to the table, my throat dry. ‘A lot of us are out there crawling on the rooftops at night, and it’s not safe.’
Cam nodded solemnly. ‘I can only imagine.’
I plucked off the thick piece of Glassland Blue and the brass rod from their places and began rubbing them together slowly, easing out the horrific sound. I’d discovered this phenomenon by happy accident, a few nights back when once again I couldn’t sleep and had wandered the raw materials stacks of the tinkershop instead, testing things.
Cam’s face scrunched up with disgust. ‘Lizards under stones, shut that off!’
I nodded, smiling through the sound, which was like someone howling after a whipping. I rubbed the pieces a bit faster, and the volume increased, sounding even more like a high-pitched moan.
Cam’s hands went to his ears, and he gave me a pleading look. ‘Mercy. Mercy.’
I put the rod and rare glass back on the table, the vibrations cooling. ‘So I figured I’d make a system with a series of gears on notches which would be timed to rotate in—’
Cam held up a hand. ‘I don’t speak Inventor.’
I paused, raising an eyebrow. ‘Want me to translate it to … “Camlish”?’
Cam laughed and bowed over the table. ‘Fluent.’
‘Basically, you put the box in some alley, crank this piece as a timer and then go about your business. When it goes off, the taskmasters will be drawn to it, and you can slip behind their backs unnoticed. And I’m going to paint the Decoy Boxes deep black so when the sound stops, they’ll be lost in the shadows. Useful for the simple Jadan scavenger, or someone devious.’
Cam took his eyes off the table to meet mine. ‘And this is something you came up with? Without Leroi?’
I nodded. I knew this was nothing which would bring down the Khat, but I felt that it was a solid invention that might be able to help someone.
Cam wobbled the rubber rope some more. ‘I’m in.’
I opened my mouth, but he knew what I was going to say.
‘To watch,’ Cam said, catching the look on my face. ‘For company. Don’t worry, I won’t mess with anything.’
I grinned at him. ‘I might take a while. Some of this is going to be tricky.’
Cam tapped his shirt pocket, pressed into the shape of a book. ‘I brought supplies. For when I get bored.’
I reached across the table and snatched the rubber strip from his hand. ‘Good, because this will be quite complicated. See, the crank is going to be—’
Cam put his feet up with a wink, and then pulled out his book with the Opened Eye on the cover. ‘Phew. Don’t think I could have taken much more of that.’
The dribble finally reached Cam’s chin.
Which meant that I had lost the bet against myself.
I sighed. I’d been using the slow trickle of spit from Cam’s sleeping mouth as a challenge, racing to see if I could get the timing gears aligned before the drip hit his chin. Now I’d lost, and I owed myself three more hours of not worrying about Abb.
Or I could at least try.
I’d thought about waking Cam, as a lot of this tinkering would have been easier with an extra hand to press glue here and keep the rubber from snapping there, but he looked so peaceful that I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I was shaving down a piece of the Glassland Blue with some sandpaper when the study door slammed open.
Cam woke with a start, nearly falling to the floor, his book toppling from his chest.
Leroi’s crumpled body slumped against the doorframe. His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks were sunken, and his silver hair was outrageously unkempt. He looked like he’d aged a few years in a few days, and, if anything, his complexion was even paler than before, so pale that I wondered if the magic lights might just shine right through him.
Leroi croaked something, his voice gravelly and soft, but his eyes weren’t focusing on us.
Cam and I exchanged a look.
Then the Tinkerer seemed to realize that no one was on the other side of the door, his eyes blinking furiously, and he ducked back into the shadows.
Cam yawned, wiping the dribble from his chin. ‘Do you think—’
Leroi shot out of the study, his wiry arms wrapped around a large crate. The bars were too thin to see through properly, but I saw glimpses of steel, curved and sleek. Inside were dozens of different little items that I had to assume were the anklets. From here they looked like normal shackles, and I couldn’t tell what all the fuss was about.
I stood up, so Leroi might see where we were, but at the sight of my face he took off, smashing and bumping his way to the main stairs. The crate was unwieldy and obviously heavy, controlling him more than the other way around. Leroi knocked against a table leg, stumbled, and sent a small shelf of starscopes cascading to the ground, lenses smashing.
‘Cousin!’ Cam shouted, but Leroi didn’t stop. He almost didn’t make it up the stairs, the weight of the crate making his feet falter – but he reached the top, and didn’t look back. The veins in his neck strained with effort, purpled and bulging, but he managed to knock the chain loose with his elbow and burst through the door.
I ran behind, straight through the stench of strong alcohol, but when I got up the stairs and to the door I heard voices in the hallway. I knew I couldn’t risk going out, so I stopped short. Closing the door with a sigh, I returned to my table. Cam’s head was deep in his book although his cheeks were flushed. Even though the desire was now burning, I knew this would be the wrong time to ask again about the anklets, so I kept quiet and went about my tinkering.
Leroi didn’t return for three days.
When he showed up he didn’t come through the main door, instead appearing from somewhere in the back of the workshop. I’d already assumed there were secret passages in and out of this place, but now there was proof.
I was working on my Decoy Box when Leroi cleared his throat softly behind me.
I spun around and found a different man than the one who’d left.
His cheeks had filled out again, and his arms didn’t seem so frail. His clothes were free of oil stains, his goatee was groomed, and his eyes were alive. He had sunburns all over his face and neck, his light skin baked crisp and red, although it was nothing next to the pain.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
I got up from my chair and went to the vial cabinet, picking out one of the few that I recognized. ‘You don’t have to be sorry for anything.’
Leroi took the groan salve with a little nod, uncorking it and spreading a layer over his burns. ‘At least it’s over with.’
I watched him cover his burns, wanting to flinch as he pressed against some of the spots. Matty and I could have had a heck of a game of whatsit looking over all that red. ‘Where did you go?’
Leroi kept spreading the salve.
I nodded, deciding not to pry any further.
‘I see you’ve been working on something,’ Leroi said, gesturing to my boxes and putting the stopper back on the salve.
‘I think it’s pretty good.’
‘We’ll see about that.’ He smiled. ‘Has the Crier told you anything else?’
‘Nothing,’ I replied. ‘Maybe He’s forgotten about me.’
Leroi sat down in a chair, looking over the designs on my parchment. I’d never seen anyone’s eyes move so fast, study so intently. Finally, he gave a nod. ‘Well then, let’s build something to make Him remember.’