The Dream Thief, Kari Kilgore [reading well TXT] 📗

here but never anything like this. You're going to get all of us locked up out there with the ’sters."

"This guy Rhysto is a monster," Karl said. "I'm not trying to get a steady supply of anything. I can't exactly send them to my mother's house, and I'd never get over it if something happens to them. This is the best thing I can come up with. Now come on, I know you know where they'd be safe."

George sat back and scrubbed his fingers through his already messy brown hair.

"The safest place isn't where I'd put anyone I cared to keep sane," he said. "There's an old caretaker's house, one that's been abandoned for a long time. No one ever goes out there."

"That sounds like exactly what we need." Karl got up and started pacing. "Can we move them in tomorrow?"

George crossed his arms over his belly. "Just like that, huh? No worries about where it is or maybe why it was abandoned?"

"Why, then?" Karl said. "What's the big problem?"

"It's out in the middle of where the oldest ’sters live. I'm telling you, no one goes out there unless they have to."

"So why were you there?" Karl said. "How do you know about this place?"

"I drew the short damned straw about five years ago," George said. "One of us lucky bastards has to go check the place out once a year, make sure it's still standing. I don't know why they bother. No one is ever going to live there again. I figure it got put on someone's maintenance list thirty years ago, and no one ever thinks to take it off. That's how most of my run of the mill busywork happens."

"Is it in bad shape now?"

"No, not especially," George said. "I don't think the ’sters ever manage to get inside the fence. It's more like a cage, really. But you're missing the essential piece of information, Karl. The house is in the middle of where the oldest monsters live. No one can control these at all, not that we can really control any of them. It's just a matter of waiting for whoever spawned the damned things to die. This is not a vacation house out in the countryside."

"That's exactly why it's perfect," Karl said. "This woman, she's a little different. She's fine keeping to herself. Better off, maybe. She's a wild Tinker. She dreams, Georgie. Real nighttime dreams. Then she builds what she dreams about."

"Bullshit. You're trying to smuggle some kind of sick Builder out here without letting anyone know, probably to show off for your girlfriend. No one dreams."

"This woman does, I'm telling you," Karl said. He wondered yet again why his own sleep hadn't dissolved into strange visions after days off Crumble. "She doesn't Build, not like you're thinking. She sees things in her dreams, and she makes them with her hands. The most amazing things. Her house out in the middle of nowhere ran completely on electricity. If she sets up that fence anything like she had out there, the biggest ’ster ever born won't get through. All she needs is a little bit of copper and a fire to make the steam."

"An electric house out in the sticks, huh," George said. "Not dependent on Builders or the Ministry for any of it. I'd bet that little skill is what drew her to this prince charming Rhysto's attention."

George still sounded doubtful, but Karl knew he was going to help them. He felt sick to his stomach for lying to his friend about what Rhysto was after, but he was glad no one else would be drawn to the pilot's attention. And George made a terrible point Karl hadn't even considered.

If Rhysto, the scientists at Parliament, or the military out at Stensue knew even a tiny bit about what Gemma made, she wouldn't be safe anywhere in Alterra no matter where he tried to hide her.

"That's it, George. He wants to get out from under the Builders, cover both ends of the supply chain is how he put it. I'd be the last one to argue about escaping from a house full of them, but I didn't put an old woman at risk in the process."

"Or your girlfriend," George said. "Have you thought about this long term, Karl, my buddy? Once this little hideout has served its usefulness, where is this talented lady going to live?"

"If we can deal with the shaw pilot, we can keep her hidden in plain sight. Loretta kept her hidden away for a long time before Rhysto caught on. She can do the same thing, just here where she can keep an eye on her."

George sighed and got to his feet. He only swayed a little bit.

"I don't know what it is about this woman, Gilmore. For more than ten years, you're the most boring asshole in all of Joffrey Columns. Even I look like a socialite by comparison. Now all of a sudden, you're dragging me into yet another bad idea of yours that could get me fired. Or worse."

"So you'll help us?" Karl said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll help you," George said. "I should get my own damned head examined for even thinking about it, but I guess I'm in the right place for that. You owe me, Karl. Again."

"More than I could ever repay, Georgie. I'll talk to you later."

Karl kept pacing after his friend left, searching for a single idea of how he was going to break this to Loretta or Gemma. He couldn't imagine either of them finding an abandoned house in the middle of ’ster country to be an acceptable place to hide, even for a few days. But he couldn't think of anything else to do, either.

He'd been feeling that way far too often lately.

And the end was nowhere in sight.

Chapter 40

Loretta squeezed her eyes closed, irritated at the growing light. She hadn't been asleep nearly long enough for the sun to be rising. Or maybe it had just been too long since