Read Online Angel of Brass by Elaine Corvidae - Free Book Online Page A

came from the streetlights below,
so he had to move slowly. He supposed he ought to be grateful that
Dr. Malachi had given him human eyes, instead of some kind of
night-vision optics.
    When he reached the house that Molly had
described to him, he went even more cautiously, watching for long
minutes in case the smiling men were lying in wait. He didn’t see
any, though, so perhaps they’d never been there. Or Dr. Malachi
has them on another errand . The thought of what they might be
up to made Jin shudder.
    He waited until the light came on in the
uppermost room. Leaping to the roof, he hurried across it. Molly
had already swung the hinged, round window open, and he eeled
easily through the gap and onto a rather cluttered desk. Her eyes
were wide as she watched him, but he thought her expression was one
of admiration rather than disgust. He started to thank her for
letting him stay, but she held a finger to her lips. When he nodded
his understanding, she went to the dresser, which was half-buried
in piles of paper. Shoving a stack of books aside, she uncovered a
wireless and turned it on.
    “We now join our hosts, Leander and Warbuck,
with the Aetherwave Drama Hour!” declared a strident male voice
from the small speaker. As a burst of tinny music followed, Molly
turned back to him with a grin.
    “Okay, we can talk now, so long as we keep it
quiet.”
    “Ah.” Jin still crouched on the desk below
the window, and he gestured vaguely behind him. “I don’t want to
make any more trouble for you. I’d feel terrible if you were thrown
out of the boarding house because of me.”
    “And I’m not letting you sleep out in the
weather. Just keep it down, and everything will be all right.”
Molly looked around at the mess of her room. “Um, I ought to
apologize. I wasn’t expecting visitors, and, well...”
    “Clear me a place on the floor, and I’ll be
fine,” he said with a smile. “And I don’t mind the clutter. I’m
betting it will tell me a lot about you.”
    Her cheeks pinked at that, which he liked, as
it brought out her freckles even more. The room smelled of dust and
paper and oil, but it also smelled of her, which he also liked.
    “Your sister was very nice,” he said,
climbing down off the desk. To his surprise, Molly scowled at his
words.
    “Winifred is nice. And beautiful, and
accomplished, and a dozen other wonderful things,” she said sourly.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she propped her chin in her
hands.
    Good one, Jin. Do you think you can wedge
your foot a little farther into your mouth?
    “Sorry,” he said cautiously. “I didn’t
realize there was...tension.”
    “Oh, there isn’t. Not between Winifred and
me, anyway.” Molly’s shoulders slumped. “It’s just that she’s the
perfect daughter whom everyone adores, and I’m the weirdo who lives
in Chartown and tinkers with engines all day.”
    “There’s nothing wrong with that.” Jin moved
a few books out of the desk chair, then positioned it so that it
was closer to the bed. Swinging one leg over, he straddled the
chair backwards and leaned his arms on the backrest. “If not for
people like you, we’d all still be living in caves, hitting each
other with rocks for fun.”
    Molly gave him a grateful smile. “I
appreciate that. But you don’t want to listen to me whine. I don’t
really have anything to complain about.”
    “I don’t mind. It seems so...” he searched
for the right word “...normal.”
    “I suppose it does.”
    “That’s not a bad thing. Honestly, I’m a bit
surprised that I can even recognize normal when I see it.”
    Her face softened. “Yeah. I’m glad.”
    “So am I.” He shifted slightly in the chair.
Eerie music drifted from the wireless, accompanying a woman’s
breathless scream. The villain of the piece laughed maniacally and
began to deliver a monologue. “How long do you think it will be
before this spymaster acts?”
    Molly pulled a rag from a pouch on her tool
belt, took off her