The Dream Thief by Kari Kilgore (books for 10th graders txt) 📕

"You said you get them to Build these things they want themselves," he said. "Can you make anything else?"

Karl wanted to believe this smile was genuine, but he couldn't get past the gleam in her violet eyes.

"That's an excellent question. Sometimes they Build the unpleasant things someone else wants. I'm sure they could create things they wouldn't have to hide. And you and I together could Build what people really need rather than waiting for inspiration from the Aether."

"We'll see," Karl said. He forced his racing mind back to practical matters. "Where did you get the things you use to Build? You say you need to travel to get the gyro-compass repaired? I've never seen Tinkers make anything like that, here or out at the Columns."

"My tools come from the Northlands," she said. "From a different sort of Tinker in the mountains. Not exactly a trolley ride away from here."

Karl raised his eyebrows and sighed. He didn't even know how distant the Northlands really were, only that no one he knew had ever been so far from Waldron's Gate.

"No, it's not," he said. "How did you get there before?"

"I traveled with shaws before," Loretta said. "One was not a kind man. Even after I paid him well, he continues to scheme against me. He's after my business and anything else he can take."

Her downcast eyes and flushed cheeks left no doubt what she meant. Karl tried to stop his mind, but the images flashed up anyway. Under different circumstances he might go to great lengths to possess a woman like Loretta himself, one with strength, intelligence, and such a body. Again, those thoughts were not helping him right now when he had no way to trust her.

Perhaps the whiskey had been a mistake.

"The trains then?" he said. "Or passenger airships, legitimate ones?

"Rhysto and anyone else can too easily trace official transport," she said. "Far too risky. I must find a pilot not in league with the worst one. Do you know any shaws you trust?"

"I can't say I do," he said. "We don't often see them out at the Columns. Mostly trains or boats."

"Of course not," she said. "I apologize. If you were to ask around about one named Rhysto—carefully, I might add—you'd hear he controls much of the trade in and out of Waldron's Gate. A few remain independent, but I'd fear for my life traveling alone with him and his allies about."

Karl tried to sound braver than he felt.

"And if I were to speak to this Rhysto myself?"

"He's out on runs right now," she said. "That's the only reason I felt safe enough to Build last night. I don't think you'd enjoy talking to him any more than I do. His last visit here was most unpleasant. He'd gotten it into his head that I'd been working with another shaw as a supplier. For obvious reasons, I couldn't tell him the truth of what I do. He was displeased."

Karl shook his head, staring at the fireplace to avoid her eyes. He wasn't sure if it was his growing paranoia or his practice at reading people, but he was almost certain Loretta was lying.

He got the feeling she was afraid of Rhysto, and that he probably should be as well. But he didn't think she'd minded his visit as much as all that.

"If you actually do work with another shaw," he said, "won't he get even worse?"

"In all likelihood, he will. But with my gyro-compass broken, I don't have much choice, do I?"

"This place seems a palace to me," Karl said, looking around the room. "It's not huge, but you hardly seem destitute. Do you have to keep doing this business, legitimate or not?"

Loretta leaned forward, and Karl thought it wasn't entirely to emphasize her breasts. She clasped her hands together and stared at him.

"What you see isn't funds I can easily draw upon, Karl. I do own the house, yes, and I'm fortunate in that. But with someone like Rhysto likely to show up at any time, I must have protection. The coin I need for that is more than you'd imagine. I don't have the training or experience you do. How many other options do you think there are for a woman in my situation to earn a living? Legitimate or not?"

Karl didn't have to ask what she meant. He'd seen those women. Never in Waldron's Gate, of course, at least not out in the open. Such things simply were not done. But as a much younger man he'd heard about how different life was out in the countryside, or even as close to home as the Convenience.

Disposal of garbage and waste wasn't the only thing residents of Waldron's Gate preferred to be kept out of sight in that far end of town.

And like so many other young men, he'd visited the Convenience a few times. Years ago, but he wasn't the kind of man to deny the existence of what he himself had taken advantage of.

"All that may be," he said. "But there's still the matter of whether any of what you claim is possible. All I saw you do was set something up. I need some kind of proof before I can even consider this. How do you propose we do that?"

Loretta sat back. "I could take you to some of my clients, see if they'd be interested in showing you what they've bought from me over the years. That might not prove anything to you, other than how shallow the appearance of civility can be. You'll hope the things are not authentic, but I can't prove they're not. I suppose we could try to Build something and hope we can retrieve it. We just need to know where a Builder sleeps."

Karl took a deep breath, tilting his head from one side to the other. No matter how much he might want to, losing his temper wasn't going to help anyone. He was painfully aware he'd already told her