The Inexplicables (The Clockwork Century 4)

Fifteen

They skulked together, guided by their lone lantern. They needed it more and more, and Houjin would’ve struck up another if Angeline hadn’t insisted they shouldn’t. Instead, she recommended that the boys take hold of one another’s shirts, and told Houjin to grasp her hair.

“Don’t tug it—I’m trusting you, Huey. But we need to stay close,” she said in her commanding, quiet voice. “And we should use as little light as we can get away with. Night’s falling. We don’t want to fall with it. ”

All in a row, Rector feeling immensely undignified, they escaped the last few blocks of the rich men’s houses and ripped-apart rotters. Angeline knew precisely where she was going, and she brought them to the Sizemore House before the sun was altogether gone behind the wall. The house loomed big and dilapidate

d, empty and waiting. The front porch sagged, and the roof sagged, too. It looked like a balloon without enough air in it.

“Will it fall down on us?” he asked Zeke, because he was staring at the back of Zeke’s head.

“No. ”

“Who was Sizemore?” he asked. He liked the sound of their voices; the darkness made him lonely.

“I don’t know,” Zeke told him. “And shush. We’ll be downstairs in a minute. ”

By downstairs, Zeke meant the root cellar. Around the back and through a pair of giant wood doors set into the ground, the quartet descended into a space even darker than the one they were leaving—but the tunnels weren’t choked with Blight, they were only tainted with it. The lantern did good work as soon as those doors were shut overhead. The nervous explorers sighed with relief, but they couldn’t take off the masks.

“It looks clear down here,” Rector protested. “I don’t see any gas. ”

Angeline smacked him in the back of the head—harder than was strictly necessary to make her point, in Rector’s opinion. “You don’t have to see it to die from it, you silly boy. If I had any polarized glass, I could tell you true if it was safe to breathe. But I don’t. ”

“We’ve got some back at the Vaults,” Zeke noted.

“Next time, bring some. I expect that’ll be the next step in the repair process, sending folks down through the tunnels with the lenses, seeing what’s still safe and what’s not safe anymore. After they fix up those cave-ins, I mean. ”

Rector almost said, Yaozu will probably add that to his to-do list, but remembered in time not to say the Chinaman’s name.

He caught Zeke and Houjin looking at him, and he shrugged. If they were worried he’d blabber about his employer, they shouldn’t be. Despite the recent smack, he liked the princess in that idle way that required no actual investment on his part. And he also believed the one other thing Yaozu had told him about her: She was useful. Very useful.

“Where are these carts you promised me?” Rector asked, looking around and seeing nothing but the same excavated, unfinished tunnels he’d seen so much of already.

“This way,” Houjin said, lighting his lamp and leading with it.

Angeline looked behind them, glancing at the freshly locked and sealed doors above. It seemed to Rector that she didn’t trust them, as though she wanted to climb up and give them a yank to remind herself they were secure. Instead, she rejoined the small group, this time falling into line behind Rector.

As they walked through the dank, squishy tunnel with its square beam braces, no one talked. It was as if the habit of whispering or staying quiet was sticking with them, even there beneath the city where there were no rotters to lure.

Finally they reached a bend in the tunnel that revealed a set of carts, as promised. Just like the one that had taken them up the hill and under the city, these two were parked off on a short, dead-end side track. Rector said, “Hey, look! We get to ride back home. ”

Zeke told him, “Most of the way. And pumping’s easier, going downhill. ”

“And we’ve got four of us this time. ” He nodded at the princess. “Now it won’t be uneven, side to side. ”

Angeline laughed and slapped him on the back. “I think I like you just fine, Red. Half the men in this city would be god-awful horrified at the thought of a woman working alongside ’em, much less a woman of my years. But you didn’t even think twice about it—just assumed I was along for the working. I like that. ”

Huey sighed. “He’s not noble. He’s lazy. ”

“Lazy, noble, I don’t care. Me and him will sit on this side and crank, and you two younger fellows can take the other. Between us, we’ll be back in the Vaults in no time, won’t we?” She kicked away the nearest cart’s brake block and shoved it along its rails until it reached the main track a few feet away. “Hop on board, boys. Let’s get you home, and get these masks off. Then we can have ourselves a chat. ”

When they’d finally reached the Vaults and the big round door had spun and sealed shut behind them, all the masks came off. Everyone stood there panting, feeling the air on their faces. It wasn’t fresh air, and it wasn’t particularly sweet-smelling, but Rector was sure it was the best damn air he’d ever felt, and he’d fight to the death anyone who tried to tell him otherwise. Or at least he’d argue like hell until he felt like stopping.

“Boys, I’ve got a thought. ” Miss Angeline told them. “Let’s go the back way down to Chinatown and eat there. I want something hot. None of the men down here have taken to cookery, and I don’t smell anything to suggest Mercy or your momma”—she said with a nod at Zeke—“is downstairs experimenting. I might want some assistance from you tomorrow, so I suppose buying you supper is about the least I can do. ”

“Assistance? From us?” Zeke positively pranced at the notion.

Rector didn’t roll his eyes, only because without the mask everyone could see him too clearly. That damn kid, so desperate for approval all the damn time. It was downright embarrassing.