“We still need to ask him if he knows anything about gear people.”
The kettle whistled, and I spent the next few minutes prepping our tea. We took it into my shabby living room and settled down with the fresh muffins. I took a big bite. “So good,” I said after swallowing. I might be an ex-street kid, but I wasn’t a heathen.
Oss nodded. “I got them from that bakery in the Fourth Quarter across from the Tower.”
I vaguely remembered a small cheery store. “The one with the red awning?”
“Yep.” Oss took another bite.
“Delicious. It’s been too long since I had fresh blueberries. I wonder how they got them?” Or more importantly how they can afford to use them as an ingredient and still make a profit.
“Sometimes, it’s better not to know.”
“Except when it’s your butler?”
“Except when it’s your butler,” Oss agreed.
I sighed. “Fine. I will ask around, but I make no promises.” I didn’t want to get involved in Oss’s domestic battle with Brenson, but I never turned down a friend in need. I had so few of them that I cherished every one.
“Thank you. If I see Affie, I’ll ask him, too, but I don’t want to ask too many street kids or word might get back to Thorne.”
“Or worse, Brenson.”
“Exactly, if he’s really involved in shady business, we don’t want to alert him of our suspicions,” Oss agreed.
After our tea and muffins, I was ready to go. Oss preceded me out of my house, then waited for me to grab my bag and engage the locks.
“How was Buster this morning?” I asked as we turned to go.
“Pretty much the same. He hasn’t worsened, but he doesn’t look well. I’m not exactly an expert so I don’t know if anything more has broken. Do you think you can fix him?”
“I have no idea. This is uncharted territory for me. I’ve never worked on anything, or anyone, this big before.” Even with my extensive mechanical knowledge, an entire person was a great deal more intricate than I had ever dealt with in the past. And I never had to worry about something that could feel pain. I couldn’t hold back my concerns. “I’m not certain even with the right gears that I can fix Buster. Once I shut him down, he might not turn back on.” I avoided the phrase “wake up.” I was enjoying my studied denial of the consequences.
Oss squeezed my shoulder. “If you can’t fix him, no one can. There isn’t another person in the city who has a fraction of your skill.”
“If I get killed by the dragon, I’m blaming you,” I hissed. Every instinct I had screamed that this wouldn’t go as smoothly as Oss thought.
“It’ll be fine.” He waved away my concerns with a careless flip of his hand. “Let’s go rip Buster apart.”
“You’re not as funny as you think.”
“I really am.”
We quickly reached the townhouse. Oss’s knowledge of Key’s backstreets was even greater than my own. It helped when you could discreetly unlock city tunnels and lock them again behind you before anyone noticed.
Buster had grown more skin across his face since yesterday and his breathing had taken on a squishy, wet sound.
Had he been breathing before?
“How are you doing?” I peered at Buster’s chest. Spotting something wet and pink in the middle of Buster’s gears, I schooled my face into an impassive mask. I swallowed twice before I could speak. “Growing lungs, I see.” There. That sounded neutral and not like I was seconds away from throwing up my muffin.
“Yes.” Buster’s voice, barely loud enough to reach my ears, lacked yesterday’s echoing intonation.
“Are you certain that if I turn you off it will stop the progression?” I hated the idea of abandoning Buster to whatever was taking over his body, but I had greater concerns over how fast the change was increasing. If a gear cut into his lungs, it could possibly kill him.
I exchanged worried looks with Oss.
“It appears contact with you has hurried my change along. You are going to have to shut me off before you go below,” Buster wheezed.
