The Mechanical Theater (14 page)
Read The Mechanical Theater Online
Authors: Brooke Johnson
“Thanks.”
She took the roll and bit through the thick icing into the soft bread.
Sol sat next to her against the wall. “Tough day?”
“How did you know?”
“I always know,” he said softly, nudging her with his elbow. “So? What happened?”
Petra swallowed another bite of sweet roll and shrugged. “Got in a fight with Tolly, almost got my wages docked, and I turned down a chance to work with a Guild engineer. You?”
“A Guildie?”
She nodded.
“What did he want?”
“He offered me work—engineering work. Five quid a month to help him redesign a ticker, but . . .”
“But what?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Sol wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him, breathing in his familiar coaly scent. “If some rich bloke offered me money to perform with a troupe in London, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second,” he said, hugging her. “This is your chance to do what you love. Take it.”
“It’s not the same, Sol.”
“Why not?”
“What if I take the offer and regret it? What if I fail? What if all I prove is that I’m as stupid and worthless as they think I am?”
“Then refuse it,” he said. “Give up your dream of becoming an engineer and work in the pawnshop for the rest of your life, making your twenty pence a week.” He sighed. “Petra, don’t give this up because of a little doubt. You
know
you’re the best engineer this side of the city. Why not show everyone else that? What’s the worst that could happen if you accept?”
She shrugged. “I won’t be recognized for my work. The Guild will still refuse to accept me as an engineer. I’ll go back to being a shop girl, and nothing will change.”
“So what do you have to lose? Say it does work out. What then? What if accepting this job is your chance to be a Guild engineer?”
Petra thought about it, envisioning herself working in the University workshops, building something spectacular, something that would change the world forever. She would be a celebrated engineer, famous for her contributions to the Guild, for her innovations in clockwork mechanics. And Emmerich Goss was there, helping her work out the designs, calculating figures at her request, building prototypes with her. She had him to thank for it. He insisted she take credit for her contributions to the automaton design, and with his help, she proved to the Guild that she was as good a ticker engineer as any, if not better.
She smiled.
Sol hugged her close. “You can’t let this go, Petra. Even if it doesn’t work out, you have to at least try. Do it for yourself. Show them that Petra Wade is not just some shop girl from the fourth quadrant. Give yourself that chance. You deserve it.”
“If you say so.” She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed in the smell of soot and burning coal baked into his clothes. “Thanks, Sol,” she whispered.
He kissed her on the forehead. “Anytime, you lovely girl.”
BROOKE JOHNSON is a stay-at-home mom and tea-loving writer. As the jack-of-all-trades bard of the family, she journeys through life with her husband, daughter, and dog. She currently resides in northwest Arkansas but hopes to one day live somewhere more mountainous. Follow her on Twitter @brookenomicon.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from
The Brass Giant
copyright ©2015 by Brooke Johnson
THE MECHANICAL THEATER
. Copyright © 2015 by Brooke Johnson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition JUNE 2015 ISBN: 9780062387189
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