Steampunk Carnival (Steam World Book 1) (12 page)

Katya strolled past the Kaleidoscope, smiling broadly at the patrons waiting in line. “Are you doing all right?”

Half nodded.

“Do you need anything?” she asked.

The rest of the guests shook their heads. A young woman stood off to the side bouncing a baby in her arms, her wide eyes searching the crowd.

Katya walked over to her. “May I help you?”

“Oh, you’re with the carnival.” The young woman shifted the baby to the other side of her chest. Where the infant had been, a long shimmer of drool glistened on the front of her jacket. “My husband’s on the ride, and it’s our first time here. Do you know where I could clean myself up?”

“I can show you to the water closets. They all have sinks in them with a little pump right there.”

“No, I can find them if you point them out to me. I’ll only be a minute. Would you tell my husband, if he gets off before I’m back, that I’ll meet him here?”

“Of course.”

“He’s rather short and wears silver, steel-framed glasses.”

Katya gestured to the Cannon halfway across the carnival. “There’s a line of them right in front of that coaster.”

“Thank you.”

The woman set off, nestling the baby securely against her chest. A well-dressed couple in finely pressed silks pushed a wicker baby stroller a few steps behind her, and Katya imagined the young mother would very much prefer to afford one for her own child.

Katya glanced up at the Kaleidoscope, whirling and gliding on its platform. She did not know when it might stop, but as long as she was serving one of the guests, she did not mind standing still to wait for it. Katya folded her hands together and turned her attention to the crowd flowing past her. Maddox stood behind the moving people, stationary under the glow of the lamplight shining above him. His eyes remained on Katya in every moment people did not pass directly between them.

Katya did not move from her spot, determined to carry out her word to the young mother. Maddox timed a gap in the shifting crowd and crossed through it, tipping his hat as he walked up to Katya.

“I’m waiting for a guest,” Katya explained.

“What are you waiting for, exactly?”

“A woman with a baby or her husband on the Kaleidoscope, whoever reaches me first.”

“So you’re stuck here?” Maddox asked, perking up with a grin. “You won’t be running off?”

Katya sighed. “Yes, Mr. O’Sullivan. I’m stuck here.”

“I wanted to ask you if you’d like to go to the theater with me some afternoon.”

Katya felt her cheeks fire into a blush. She wished she could slip away. She wished the ride would end or the woman would carry her baby back from the water closets, her jacket cleaned of drool. “I thought I told you to ask someone else.”

“I don’t want to ask anyone else.”

“I don’t go to the theater very much. It bores me.”

“Really?”

“It’s not a reflection on the actors or the playwrights,” Katya informed Maddox, barely looking at him. “They’re very good. It’s just that nothing compares to the carnival as far as I’m concerned.”

“I agree on that. I just thought you might like to do other things for entertainment.”

Katya did not know how to send Maddox away without hurting his feelings. “I enjoy a stroll or a ride through the park every now and again.”

Maddox adjusted his hat. “You like Mr. Davies better, is that it?”

Katya met Maddox’s gaze. “Romantically? No. He’s a friend. He’s too old for me by several years.”

“I thought someone more interested in money than fun might look past a man’s age. A lot of women do.”

Katya’s hands fidgeted, each one pulling at the fabric on the gloved fingers of the other. “I don’t care that much about money anymore.”

“No?”

Katya looked away, searching out the woman with the baby. The Kaleidoscope whirred to a stop behind her, and one of the operators ushered the patrons down the iron staircase.

“Excuse me.” Katya stepped away, studying the line of patrons. When a short man wearing glinting steel spectacles set foot on the ground, Katya approached him. He glanced around him at the waiting crowd. “Sir, I spoke with your wife. She’ll be back in a moment.”

The patron bowed his head in thanks.

When Katya turned to move on through the grounds, Maddox blocked her from taking a single step.

“You also told me,” Maddox said, “I shouldn’t waste my time asking someone to the theater or the parks. You told me a night at the carnival would win over any woman.”

Katya swallowed hard. “Yes, I did.”

“Would you ride the carnival with me, Miss Romanova?”

Katya laughed without meaning to.

“Have you ever ridden the carnival before?”

“No. Ask Mr. Warden for a night off? Do you know how impossible it would be to convince him of that?”

“Not a night off. We can ride everything while we’re working.” Maddox corrected himself. “
Supposed
to be working.”

“I can’t do that. Somebody will report us. We’ll lose our jobs.”

“I bet we won’t.” Maddox’s eyes shone steadily.

Katya raised her palm to indicate the passing crowd. “Who’s supposed to help the guests while I’m spinning and coasting all over the night?”

“They’ll help themselves.”

The woman with the baby gave Katya an appreciative nod as she walked by. The baby rested limply, sleeping, with its head on her shoulder. She fell into step with her husband as they headed to the next attraction.

Katya swept her hand toward them. “The new guests can’t even find the water closets without my help.” She blanched at raising her voice about such a private subject.

Maddox stepped back, tipping his hat in resignation. “Very well. I just thought you’d like to enjoy the place you love so much instead of always toiling in it.”

Maddox walked away. Katya did not usually feel bad about turning down a suitor. Men had asked her on at least half a dozen dates while she performed her duties at the carnival. She had declined afternoons watching baseball, listening to opera, and less sophisticated suggestions of a few hours in a room at the Stock Yards Exchange and Hotel.

But just as Dr. Kirby had chosen Lizzy over Katya, Mr. Warden had moved on to Isolde’s perfume and embraces. Even as young, high earning, and beautiful as Katya was, the men she wanted could replace her in their thoughts. Maddox did not represent the worst Katya could do, especially in the name of enjoying herself. If she did not take him up on his offer, he would stop admiring her, too.

As much as Katya appreciated the chance to champion her guests, she could not deny Maddox was right. She worshipped the carnival, but she had never once spent a night there for her own amusement.

Katya picked up her skirts, racing to catch up to Maddox. “Mr. O’Sullivan.”

Maddox turned, bathed under the light of his usual lamppost. His darkened eyes watched her, waiting. He said nothing, and Katya wished he would make the first move. She reminded herself he had approached her multiple times with less than the results he sought.

Katya sucked up her gusto and superseded her pride. “I’ll ride the carnival with you, Mr. O’Sullivan, if you’re willing.”

Maddox blinked at her, his expression blank and reserved. Slowly, he raised his elbow to her. Katya slipped her hand around his arm, and only then did his lips curve upward with pleasure.

“What attraction would you like to ride first?” he asked.

Katya tilted her head back to take in the full height of the Tower up ahead. “Let’s start here.”

Maddox guided Katya toward the line of guests at the base of the Tower. “Have you ever been up so high?”

“I don’t think so. The cars go fifty feet in the air.”

“Are you nervous?”

Katya’s eyes lingered at the top of the metal structure. “Yes.”

“Has there ever been an accident with it?”

“No. There were the usual concerns with some of the gears, but it never put anyone in danger.”

Maddox led Katya right up to the Tower operator accepting tickets for the next group to ride toward the stars. “We need to get on,” Maddox told him.

The man took another ticket from a guest, who walked past him into the fenced-off area for the ride. “Says who?”

“Mr. Warden,” Katya interjected. “He wants to make sure it’s running smoothly enough.”

“Do you have to ride it now?”

“Why not? The car isn’t full yet.”

The operator grunted and jerked his thumb behind him. Katya and Maddox slipped past him to the wheel-shaped car waiting patiently around the bottom of the Tower’s central post. They sat down in adjacent seats padded more luxuriantly than most hotel and restaurant chairs. A second operator walked around the car, helping the patrons buckle the safety belts across their middles. The car filled up, and the operators offered hand signals to each other. They kept everyone else clear of the ride.

Katya felt unsure about taking the ride up into the night sky, but not all of her anxiousness was unpleasant. Part of her looked forward to finally experiencing the journey for herself, and the other part of her searched Maddox’s face for a hint that he felt the same. He beamed at her.

With a gentle lurch, the car rose into the air. Katya grabbed hold of the partitions between the seats, her knuckles bumping the hand of the guest on her left, who had also grabbed for it. Maddox did not reach for a stronghold. His mouth twisted in amusement, watching Katya seek security as everything that held her ascended ten, twenty, thirty feet.

The climb proved gradual and effortless. Once Katya began to relax, she realized how far she could see. The lamplights of the carnival looked beautiful and elegant below them. The slight flickering of the burning gas gleamed off the metal structures throughout the carnival. It lost itself in the velvet of patron jackets and glimmered off their silks. It flashed across buckles on top hats and shoes. It lit up gold and silver jewelry.

Katya could barely breathe. She almost forgot how nervous she had been moments before. The car reached the top of the tower and stopped there, offering its occupants a rare view at the world around them. Katya stared down at the carnival, trying to pick out the details of the band playing in the center of it all. The massive Beast behind it still intimidated, but from this height, Katya marveled in the majesty of its design.

The car shuddered and lowered itself, detaching from its part of the sky. The other occupants chattered to each other excitedly, but Katya could barely form thoughts in her head.

“What do you think?” Maddox asked her.

Katya recited the first thing that came to mind. “The ride lasts for three cycles.” She admonished herself for relying on the only words she knew about the carnival and gave in to sharing Maddox’s enthusiasm. “It’s thrilling.”

The car paused briefly at the bottom before lifting again. Each time it rose, Katya focused on a different part of the carnival. She looked across to the other side, where the Kaleidoscope competed against the game stalls and the Cannon for popularity. It really did shift like a kaleidoscope from this height, the colors of the booths smearing in her vision as they rotated. She looked past Maddox to the El and the food stall beyond it. Magdalene would be handing out cinnamon-sugar desserts and sausages on buns, but Katya was riding the carnival they had staked their lives on. She was riding the dream Brady had worked on years ago. She doubted even he had been able to enjoy it.

The car rested on the ground and stayed there. The operator made his rounds again, helping the patrons get unbuckled and return to their feet. He directed them to an exit gate in the fence. Katya and Maddox filed out with the others to the common grounds of the carnival.

“Where to next?” Maddox prompted.

Katya’s heart pounded with the possibilities. “The coaster.”

“The big one?”

“No, I don’t think I’ll ever be brave enough for that.” Katya watched the Beast’s cars roar high above them. “The smaller one here.”

Katya linked her hand around Maddox’s arm, and they walked to the nearby El. Maddox repeated Katya’s lie to the ticket taker. “Mr. Warden wants us to make sure the coaster’s operating properly.”

The man hurried them past, offering a more courteous front to the waiting customers. “You’ll all have a turn, I assure you. Just a routine inspection.”

Another operator stood a few feet inside the fence, and he motioned for Katya and Maddox to stop where they were. They watched the coaster cars slide and weave their way along the track. A minute later, they slowed into loading position on the platform. The operator stepped over to help the guests out, and once they left the platform, his flexing fingers invited Katya and Maddox toward him. He buckled them into the front seat of the first car.

“Are you nervous now?” Maddox whispered into Katya’s ear.

Katya nodded, but she felt the rush of anticipation filling her chest. “It’s not too fast, is it?”

“You should know.”

“I don’t know. I can’t think of anything except how fun this is.”