Gears and Steam

Wind-Up Toys

Edmund

I was about ready to scream at Freddie and Theo. They had brought home another assistant for me. I didn't need an assistant. Our group was fine with just the three of us; another person would ruin our dynamic. This new guy wouldn't be any different from the others–I could tell. They were never different. All of them were just stuck up know-it-alls that thought they were better than me just because they were a few years older. Eighteen wasn't that young. I didn't like any of the new assistants, and I didn't trust them, not after what happened with Floyd.

This guy...Jules? He was just the same as all the other idiots that Freddie had recruited. He was tall, taller than Theo and I, and had raven black hair that swept across his forehead. His grey eyes had studied me fearfully right up until I walked out of the room. I noticed a patch of freckles around his left eye before I left. Between the weird eye color and strange freckles, he was actually pretty interesting to look at.

Maybe he was just a bit different. He was scared. Most people didn't come into our shop scared, but they were when they left. I knew my teammates had warned him about me, their warnings must have actually stuck. It wasn't that I actually wanted him to be scared of me, it was just easier that way.

I stomped up the stairs and into my room, slamming the door behind me. I didn't like new people; they annoyed me. I didn't like having to get used to the way they talked and acted. I knew how Freddie and Theo worked. I knew how to make them happy and how to tick them off. I didn't know how Jules worked. Jules wasn't expected to last long anyway. After he left, I doubted that anyone would want to work with us again.

I collapsed into my bed and shut my eyes. It was too early to sleep, but I didn't want to have to deal with people right now. I would fix the car when I was sure that Jules left and Theo and Freddie were asleep, so they didn't bug me while I was working. I worked best alone, I didn't see why that was so hard for Freddie and Theo to understand.

...

I crept downstairs after I was sure that the others were asleep. Jules had left earlier, and Freddie must have turned off all of the lamps, making it harder to find my way to my shop without tripping on anything. Half of the downstairs was a store where I sold various wind-up toys and knick knacks to help us pay for food. The floor of the store was covered in displays that Freddie liked to move around. I was extra careful around those. Freddie would yell at me if she found me awake at this time.

My workshop was completely silent, spare the clock ticking on the wall. I turned the knob on a few of the oil lamps, so I could see what I was doing. After pulling the grey tarp off the car, I jumped in order to grab a chain with a hook on it hanging from the ceiling. I attached the hook under the hood of the car and repeated this three more times on each side of the car. Once I was sure that everything was secure, I jumped up to grab another chain. This chain was attached to a pulley system that allowed me to lift the car off the ground without much effort. I attached the chain to a hook on the ground, leaving the car suspended about a meter in the air.

I crawled under the car and began unscrewing the panel that would give me access to the brakes. The stupid cables had come loose again, but it was a simple fix. What I really needed was some new parts. The nut that held the cables in place wasn't standard size, so I didn't have a large supply, and all the ones I had were worn out. Until we won a race, I would just have to keep retightening this one. I didn't make much money selling my wind-up toys, just enough for us to buy enough food each week. Once we started winning, we would be in a much better place.

I reattached the panel. I would do any other repairs to the car tomorrow. The brakes were just a quick fix; everything else would take more time. It looked as though one of the exhaust pipes was bent and the front bumper was dented. That might take my small forge to fix. I needed to make the car stronger. I needed better parts.