The Clockwork Fairy Kingdom Read Online Free Page B

the waves had pushed him dangerously close
to the rocks. Digging into the water with each stroke, Kostya drove himself through the waves, swimming away from the danger. A human wouldn’t
have made it. He headed north, up the coast.
    Only after Kostya had reached his
hidden boat did he realize his mistake.
    The fairies now had his jabber. They’d learn about the human
Tinker. It was their machine, after all—they’d left it out as a test. He’d
just adapted it for his own purposes.
    Instead of heading further north, to his second set of
tunnels, Kostya turned the boat back south.
    The human Tinker had to die.
    ***
    Robert sat in his car outside the off-track betting house
and considered calling Denise back. That first “hello” had been flat, not soft,
and the second time he’d called her she’d had too much tension in her voice.
Was this the right Denise, though? The one Robert’s client had hired him to
find?
    The only way Robert would know for certain was by seeing
her. He sighed, looking again at the betting house. It was a plain house, built
in the 1930s and painted a faded green. Sandwiched in between two shops, it was
easy to miss. It advertised itself as a “gentleman’s club.” Ladies waited for
men to buy them drinks and converse in the front room. In the back, the formal
dining room and kitchen had been converted into a gambling den, with TVs hung
on the walls like paintings. The bookie sat in a converted closet under the
stairs. Robert had heard rumors of high-stakes poker games on the second floor.
    Robert sighed again. He couldn’t go in, not now. He had work
to do. So he drove back to the ratty motel he currently called home, with the
thin towels, thinner walls, and shower that just spit at him, and extended his
stay instead of checking out. He could have gone to a nicer place—his
winnings from the day before had been enough. However, when he finished this
job he’d have more, a lot more. Robert promised himself that this time, he’d
save some of it. Use it to get himself more legitimate work, bigger clients,
and a nicer office, maybe one with a window.
    First, Robert located the house Denise had rented, viewing
it using the Internet. Without driving out there, he quickly learned that the usual
techniques he used for photographing suspects weren’t going to work. The house sat
higher than the surrounding land, with clear views on all sides. Robert didn’t
see anyplace he could set up a nest and take photos, not without Denise getting
suspicious.
    So Robert haunted grocery stores, his camera pen poking him
in the ribcage every time he bent over. Woman had to eat, right? While he was
looking around, he learned that more than one of the shops offered home
delivery. He stomped out of the store, growling at the amount of money he’d
wasted while “shopping.”
    The next route Robert considered was the kids.
Unfortunately, single men sitting in ramshackle cars, taking pictures of high
school students, tended to get questioned by the police. Robert needed to avoid
all law enforcement, at least for a while, until he got some money and could
pay off his debt. While driving by the school to see if there was a place where
he could set up shop without drawing any attention, he noticed one important
thing: school buses.
    The kids would have to wait somewhere for the bus, right?
Probably close to their home.
    It didn’t take Robert long to find out when the school bus
stopped on Spring Road—the winter cancellation notifications listed all
the start times. Then it was just a matter of driving the route, estimating the
number of kids and pickup times. Robert had always been good with numbers,
though they hadn’t always been good to him. He’d make it all up on this job,
though.
    Once Robert had come up with his plan, he thought about
calling his client. In the end, he decided not to. His client had some anger
issues, enough to almost make Robert turn down the job. However, he had checked
before taking