Metaltown (14 page)

Talking to Colin.

He was wearing the same beige long-sleeved shirt he had been when she'd seen him the other day. The neck was ringed with sweat, and the sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. He was taller than the foreman, broader around the shoulders but leaner at the waist. So different from the men she'd seen in the River District. Less refined in every way, but somehow more real because of it.

And she was staring.

Why had she come down here? She could have just as easily called from home. She told herself she should wait in the office, but as she was turning away, she remembered that her family owned this company, and she could go where she liked. With her jaw set, she returned to the stairs, her heels clicking down every metal step.

If anyone noticed her, they did not acknowledge her presence. They kept their heads down, even the youngest of the children, who were sorting the pieces. She clutched her purse to her side, feeling distinctly invisible.

When she drew closer, she could hear the foreman yelling. Colin's eyes snapped to hers, held for a moment, and then lowered. The heat in the room seemed to increase by ten degrees. Beside him was a girl, the same who had been here the other day, only now she wore a knit cap. What showed of the left side of her face was covered by bandages.

“You're down in count, rat, and that's the bottom line,” reprimanded the foreman, and Lena promptly forgot why she'd come here or what she'd planned on telling him—she was too shocked that he'd just referred to an employee as a
rat.
He looked as though he were about to carry on, too, when he noticed the way Colin and the girl had shifted their attention to her.

“Miss Hampton!” Mr. Minnick's face grew a bruised shade of red, and the rivulets of sweat rolling down his cheeks glistened. His eyes were bright with panic.

“What happened to you?” Lena asked, stepping toward the girl. She would deal with Minnick's behavior at another time. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, ma'am.” The girl turned her face away, and to Lena's surprise, Colin positioned himself so that she was half-hidden behind him. Lena lifted her chin, surprised that he was attempting to shelter this girl when all she had expressed was concern.

“Some of these workers are unpredictable,” said Minnick. “This one's down in count by thirty pieces over the past two days.”

“Well, she's clearly injured!” said Lena.

“I'm fine, ma'am,” said the girl. “Just a scratch.”

Lena gave Colin wide berth as she approached the girl. She had thick eyebrows, horrible dental hygiene, and a mess of scars scattered over her flushed face. The heat in here had to be killing her with all those layers. Perhaps she'd just come in from the cold outside.

“Why is your eye covered? Did something happen?”

“She's fine,” said Colin. Then, under his breath he added, “Back off, Lena.”

The comment enraged her. She was his superior, and he was going to get his coworker hurt further making her stay on the job in this condition. Had he no compassion?

“You need to go home and rest,” she told the girl.

“
No.
” The girl began working faster, churning out pieces that even Lena could tell weren't precisely right. “I can do the work. I'll meet goal today, I promise.”

“She'll finish,” assured Colin, glaring at Lena. “I'll make sure of it.”

“Well, I'm hardly going to depend on you,” Lena said.

They stared at each other in heated silence, and between them shot the glances of the other two. Colin looked away first, jaw flexing.

“You heard the lady,” said Mr. Minnick. “Sorry, sweetheart, you're dismissed. Take care of yourself.”

“Wait,” said Colin, at the same time the girl sputtered, “You can't fire me.”

“Who said anything about firing?” said Lena. Even if she'd wanted to, surely she didn't have the authority. Or maybe she did. Mr. Minnick looked eager enough to please.

“My apologies, Miss Hampton, I thought that's what you meant,” said Mr. Minnick, motioning her off to the side. “We can hold her position if you like, but we can't hire someone to take her place while we do. Keeping her on the books will slow down production.”

Lena thought of her father's news—that they needed to produce more weapons for the front lines.
Business is good.
For the Hamptons, maybe, but not for everyone.

“I see,” said Lena, mouth going dry. She looked away from Colin's furious glare, and forced her gaze to the girl, trying to focus on what her father would do. “I'm sorry.”

On her way out, the girl bumped hard into her shoulder, knocking the bag down to Lena's elbow. The scarf inside spilled out over the edge, and when Colin saw it, he shook his head, and turned away.

 

13

COLIN

“Snobby little greenback bitch!” Ty shouted into the night. The noise was enough to turn a few heads in front of them, but apart from some grumbled responses, no one stopped.

“What'd you expect?” muttered Colin. “She's a Hampton.” They'd replayed variations on the same theme since he'd met her after work at Shima's. Not that she wasn't right—Lena had cost Ty her job, and in Metaltown if you didn't work, you ended up on the streets, and then you ended up dead.

Colin wasn't going to let that happen. Ty could come stay with him for a while if that's what it meant. He could float one more person—one more cup of water in the watered-down broth wouldn't exactly ruin the flavor. But telling himself this didn't cure the unexplainable rage he felt every time he pictured Lena's face.

What had
he
expected? Just because they'd talked didn't mean she wasn't a Hampton. Didn't mean she had any idea what kind of damage she could do with just a few words. She was probably home now, eating a big dinner with her dad and brother in her nice warm house. She'd probably forgotten all about what had happened at Small Parts.

A headache was brewing right behind his eyes. Another worker would take Ty's place tomorrow and Lena would never know the difference. But this would change everything for Ty.

“Well that
Hampton
is gonna be sorry when she's the one who's got to work the line because everyone else is either sick from the hot room or cut loose.” Ty kicked an empty tin can across the street.

He pictured a nearly empty Small Parts factory, with only Josef Hampton and his two kids on the line. It helped his mood a little.

“My eye's just an excuse,” she went on. “You know she came there to trim the fat. Probably was just about to pull names on who to sack when she saw me.”

“She didn't come there just to fire you.”

“Oh, is that right? And how would you know that?”

They rounded Whore's Corner to Market Alley, where the shops were bustling with the after-work crowd.

“You could see it on her face.”

“On her stupid, flush face, you mean,” bit Ty. “What are you talking about,
her face
? Who cares about her face? Her mouth is what fired me.”

There was no winning with her when she was like this. “How's
your
face?”

She stiffened beside him. “Fine.”

“Can you see yet?”

“Yeah,” she said too quickly. “Almost.”

Colin dragged a hand over his jaw. “You should have let them take the kid. If Lena hadn't fired you, Minnick would have, just for being a hero.”

Ty had stopped walking, and when he noticed, he turned back. “What?”

“
Lena?
”

Colin felt his ears get hot. “The boss's sister.”

“Oh, I know who Lena Hampton is,” shot Ty. “Do
you
?”

Shifting irritably, Colin quickly explained the situation he'd walked into at the beginning of the week. When he was done, Ty was laughing. He might have taken this as a good sign of her recovery if she hadn't been so damn sarcastic about it.

“You're lucky she doesn't have you jailed for menacing,” she said.

Normally he would have shrugged it off, told her, “We'll see,” or something like that. But he knew she was right. In the two times he'd seen Lena Hampton since their first encounter, she'd treated him like the invisible man.

But she did still have his scarf.

It didn't make sense.

“It wasn't a big deal,” he said. “I didn't even remember it until just now.”

Ty made a noise of disbelief. “What did you need over here, anyway? I'm broke, in case you forgot.”

“We're going to talk to Jed about your job.”

“Schultz?” Her one visible eye widened.

“Do you know another Jed?”

“Uh-uh.” She stopped and turned on her heels. “Brotherhood doesn't cover kids.”

“The Brotherhood covers injuries on the job, though. And anyway, he likes me, and he knows you. He covered for you with Minnick when we went to Bakerstown.” A chill ran through him at the memory of Gabe Wokowski and his father.

Ty shook her head. “I don't need his help. I don't need anyone's help.”

“Shut up,” he said. “You don't even have to say anything. I'll talk, you just stand there and look … desperate or something.” Colin wasn't sure Ty even possessed such an emotion.

“I'm not desperate,” she said between clenched teeth.

“You will be when you're working Whore's Corner.”

She shoved him hard on the chest, and he bumped back into a cart of tableware. A set of metal bowls clanged together and then fell to the cement. He was pissed too; pissed that she was so damn stubborn she didn't get it. She was thicker than blood to him, and he wasn't about to let her freeze to death under the bridge.

“You want me to say it?” he asked, exasperated. “
Please,
okay? Please, Ty. Come with me. There, you happy?”

She melted back a step, rolling her shoulders to shake it off. “Fine.”

He sighed, almost wishing she'd kept fighting so he could burn off some of his own pent-up anger. They pushed through the crowd, stopping at the Brotherhood's door. Colin stood a little taller, remembering how Jed had told him they were alike, and that he didn't need to lie.

Jed had been generous to his family. He hoped he wasn't stepping over the line to ask for one more favor.

He knocked on the door, throwing Ty a harsh look that told her to play nice. Imon opened the door, reminding Colin of just how big the man was. His flat face didn't show any recognition, but he did move aside, and led them down the narrow hall to Jed's office.

The People's Man was sitting behind his desk, wearing a new suit. A fancy one, like a greenback would wear. He almost looked like a different man in clothes like that, and Colin felt a cold feeling of dread come over him, like coming here had been a bad idea.

“Mr. Walter,” said Jed with a yellow-teethed smile. “How are you, Colin?”

“Good,” said Colin. “Real good. Got some new duds with the green you gave me.”

“The green you earned,” corrected Jed with a nod. “I see that. Not too shabby.”

Colin felt his confidence build, even as Ty's jaw began grinding beside him.

“Is everything all right with Cherish?” Concern warped Jed's brow.

“Oh. Yeah,” Colin answered. “I actually came by for a different reason.” He swallowed. “Ty here was injured on the job. Well, not really on the job. The Stamping Mill pulled her out to fix a machine, and she got some burns on her face. And then Small Parts let her go because her eye's all messed up.”

Jed's gaze shifted to Ty, and it struck Colin that he hadn't ever looked at her before just then. “What a shame. Take off your hat; let's see the damage.”

Ty faltered. “It's just a few burns, sir.”

“Take it off,” Jed repeated.

“Do it,” Colin hissed. What was wrong with her? You didn't say no when Jed asked you to do something.

Ty glanced over at Colin, her one eye pleading. A spike of guilt drove through him, but still he reached for her hat and pulled it back. Head hung, she unwound the bandages, and his breath caught when he saw the bright red welts on her skin. There was pus, too, leaking from the blisters, and her left eye was bloodshot and unfocused.

Ty had lied to him. She was blind. She was never going to see again.

He wanted to hit something. He chewed the inside of his cheek, biting down hard so that he'd think of anything else but how hurt she was. Shima should have told him it was this bad.
Ty
should have told him. And now he was making her show it off like some battle scar. Maybe someone needed to hit
him.

Jed cringed. “Imon, come look at this.” The big man stepped forward from the door, and bent down to see Ty's wounds. His expression didn't change. Colin's fists tightened.

“Well, that
is
bad,” said Jed. “Does the doctor say it will heal?”

“Course it will,” lied Ty, her voice so small it made Colin flinch.

“That's good news.” He leaned back in his chair.

Colin noticed the cool tone, and realized that Jed wasn't going to offer anything unless he asked outright. He took a deep breath. “I was thinking you might be able to get her back in at Small Parts. Talk to Minnick or something.”

“The Brotherhood doesn't extend to children's work.”

Colin stiffened. He wasn't a child. “But since she was working at the Stamping Mill when it happened…”

“The fact that it happened at the Stamping Mill makes no difference,” said Jed. He shook his head, disappointed. “You thought you could walk in here, after I put those clothes on your back, and ask me to break the rules?”

“No, sir,” said Colin quickly, feeling the situation taking a turn downhill. “I just thought, since you'd talked to Minnick before about us being late—”