(Sample) Chiral: Book I of the Affix Trilogy

(Part of) Chapter 2

I wake from darkness violently, choking on ammonia filling my lungs. All I can see is blinding light which burns into my brain. I fling my arms around, but I am caught by my wrists and shaken once firmly.

"Wake up," a baritone voice says, sweeping my resistance out from under me.

"Yes, sir," I reply and retrieve my hands from my father's grasp.

My eyes adjust in time to see Father stopper a small vial of smelling salts.

"You need to keep up appearances," Father says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He regards me stoically, his steely gray eyes and chiseled face calm and measured. "How do you feel?"

I want to tell him that I feel like hound puke: chewed up, partially digested, regurgitated, and chewed up once again for good measure. But I know he only cares as to whether my wounds will arouse suspicion from anyone I may come across today. I gingerly touch my freshly bandaged chest, testing my bullet wound and broken rib. Both scream in agony and cause me to break out in a cold sweat. "I'll manage," I whisper as I pull the blankets away with my right hand and slowly wobble to my feet.

"Good," Father replies. "Will you need assistance getting dressed?"

"I said I'll manage," I growl and instantly regret letting my emotions slip.

Father's eyes somehow grow colder, but he only sighs and heads for the door.

Before he leaves, I ask him,"Who was that girl?"

"It's a moot issue now," he says, stopping as he grasps the door handle. "She's gone."

"But why did we risk so much on her? And how did she-?"

"I said, the issue is moot," Father repeats as he turns to face me. "If you and Rawk had managed to acquire her, then it would be worth discussion. As it stands, the fewer who know the details about her the better."

"...How many did we lose last night?"

"Too many, especially for having failed. I'll need to train a new lead Trigger to replace Jenza."

I chuckle at his callousness and lean against the bedpost for support. "Did you at least bring her body back for her family?"

"I know how to manage my subordinates, Raign," Father says as he opens the door and leaves. "Her family will be taken care of."

As the door closes, I only hope that he means they will be taken care of financially. Either way, I need to get ready for school.

I feel like I will break with every step toward my dresser. Every time I push aside the tinkering components and disassembled contraband littering the floor, I nearly topple over. Even my tailbone is still hurting, but with gentle probing, I determine it at least isn't broken. After I cross my room, I take a moment to lean against the dresser, losing myself in the sensation of the rosewood's smooth texture and the hypnotic churning of the ferrocite that slithers around the row of magnets I have mounted above the desk next to me.

At first, I had to extract most of the ferrocite from outdated dynamos and busted coilers that I had to pay for with their weight in gold countenari. Fortunately, the regulation officers who sold them to me assumed I wouldn't have the know-how to manipulate the dark mercurial metal, so they gave it to me at a discount. Their assumption was understandable, given that even the royal alchemists who have dedicated their lives to studying ferrocite still don't fully understand it, even after centuries of research.

But without that magnetism-enhancing material, none of our technology would be possible. Our technology would probably even be more advanced if the substance weren't so closely guarded. The possibilities hidden in that slithering substance send a shiver up my spine even now. Propelling shoes and railers are only the beginning. My father only took notice of my inventions a few months ago and acquired more material for me once he realized I could give his Creeps better tools to kill with. Even though my inventions are still in their infancy, it's exhilarating to be walking on the cutting edge of innovation, only made possible by walking just outside the law.