The Madness Project (The Madness Method)

by Bralick, J. Leigh

  “What was that all about, anyway?” I asked. “The last time, with Jig?”

  She shrugged, plucking at a loose thread on her trousers. “I only had a wee job to do,” she said, and snorted. “All I had to do was pick a lock on a rain grate. Couldn’t even manage that. Jig was ganna do the rest. Find out how close he could get to the Court before he couldn’t gan any farther.”

  “What for?” I asked, exerting all my will to keep my voice even.

  “Oh, stars, I dan’ na,” she said. “I div’n like the whole business. Kantian’s got screwy notions sometimes. Sometimes I think he’s ganned completely off…” Her voice trailed away, and she flicked a glance over her shoulder at the door to the Hole. “Anyway, Kantian’s an anarchist. I think Rivano thinks he’s dangerous, but he doesn’t do a thing about it. Honestly, they make my head a bit swimmy sometimes, the way they blather on.”

  She didn’t know, I told myself. She didn’t mean any harm. She’s not an anarchist.

  “If you didn’t like the notion, why didn’t you just tell Kantian you didn’t want to do it?” I asked, picking chips of stone from the wall.

  She sputtered a surprised laugh. “You dan’ na Kantian too well, do you? He would’ve had my hide. No, really. He would have had it, except Jig told him it was his fault. So he had Jig’s hide instead.”

  I blew the breath out through my teeth, blood boiling at the thought of Kantian laying a hand on her. After a moment I realized she was watching me, looking rather anxious.

  “If you wanted me to hate Kantian,” I said, “you’re doing a fair job convincing me.”

  Her face turned terribly pale, but I didn’t think it was on account of me. She leaned toward me and whispered, “Be careful, Shade. I used to trust him, but, he’s ganned a bit mad these last few months. I even thought…I thought I saw him talking to that scientist, Dr. Kippler. I dan’ na for sure though, it was just for a moment. But why? Why would he do that? I’m so scared of what he’s got planned. And…and I dan’ think he likes either of us too well.”

  “You think he’s got a thing against mages?” I asked, frowning.

  If Kantian was meeting with Dr. Kippler…things were far worse than I’d imagined.

  She hesitated, eyes wide, then she gave a thin sigh and nodded. “Not the way the elites do, I dan’ think. But still. Think he just wants to use us, is all. Use us up and then spit us out. Anything for blood. All he wants is war.”

  And all these jobs he’s had me do? He’s got me kindling the fire, and if I don’t stop, it won’t be the anarchists my family has to fear. It’ll be me.

  * * * *

  I slipped away from the Hole late the next afternoon, when Hayli and most of the other kids were busy with chores and Kantian’s errands. For some time I wandered aimlessly through the streets, shivering from more than just the cold. Terror and something else—something I didn’t quite understand—abraded my thoughts. I didn’t even realize where I was going before I stepped into the heavy shadows of the sweet shop, my head hammering almost as violently as my heart. A few people crowded in the booths glanced up with passing interest as my entrance dragged in a gust of icy wind. I ignored them all.

  God, I don’t want to be here, I thought, feeling sick. Do I?

  I dug my nails against my sweaty palms and scanned the tables, slowly, until I caught sight of a vaguely familiar figure.

  He was deep in conversation with his two toughs, but as soon as I moved toward him, he fell silent and lifted his head to grin at me.

  “Well, Shade,” he said.

  “Branigan.” I braced my fingertips on the tabletop, trying not to stare at the glass of whiskey in his hand. “Seems I never did get that information from you.”

  * * * *

  “You’re going to lead a demonstration,” Kantian said, watching me weave my way toward his desk.

  I stifled a yawn. Somehow his words didn’t surprise me; at that moment I just frankly didn’t care at all what he wanted me to do. It was near midnight, and I’d been woken in the middle of a fitful dream to meet with him. The way he was still dressed in his suit, I gathered he’d been up all night.

  “You’ve been gone again,” he added. “Where were you?”

  I kicked at the colorful Meritian carpet under his desk, curling up its red border. “Went to try to get more information from Branigan,” I admitted.

  I didn’t know why I’d bother telling him. The meet had gone exactly as I’d feared…or, maybe exactly as I’d hoped. I hadn’t gotten a jot of information from him. Hadn’t got anything from him but a few more moments—moments, or days?— of forgetting and a nagging sense that I’d said too much to him. I closed my eyes briefly. I couldn’t decide if I was more relieved or terrified that I couldn’t remember what I might have said.

  “How did that turn out for you?” Kantian asked, giving me a malicious kind of smile.

  I just looked at him, and that was apparently enough.

  “Word to the wise, kid? You can’t win in that situation. And if I hear of this happening again, you will find yourself on the streets. I can’t afford to have folks hanging about here who will sell me out for a dose.”

  I sell you out for nothing at all, I thought, but all I said was, “What kind of demonstration?”

  “Just a simple kind of thing. Nothing too hard for you to handle, unless you plan on being glassed out and drooling on the floor tomorrow.”

  I winced and stared at the carpet.

  “Look,” Kantian said, leaning back on his desk and rubbing his jaw. “Don’t make it too complicated. The factory is an easy target. You boys can get in there, throw some poppers to shake people up, and get out nice and easy. No one has to get hurt. No one has to get caught. You just need to time it so it happens when they roll out their new steam tram, when they’ll be sure to have some newshawks on hand.”

  “Why this factory?” I asked.

  Kantian had a map open on the desk behind him, but I wasn’t standing quite close enough to see where his pin pointed. He shifted his weight a little, blocking more of the map from my view.

  “Don’t ask too many questions.”

  I folded my arms. “I’m not going to agree to anything until you answer some of them.”

  For a moment we locked stares, but Kantian had never seemed particularly fond of that game. He pushed away from the desk and turned to study the map.

  “Last week they found out one of their factory workers was a mage. Fellow named Arne. Apparently he was running behind schedule so he built a few pieces by hand.” He took my silence for confusion and added, “He shaped them with his bare hands. Cold metal. By hand. Well, anyway, someone saw him do it. Apparently the foreman thought the mage had forgotten what a furnace was because he decided to reintroduce him to it. Head-first.”

  “That’s murder,” I said. “Even if he was a mage. Why weren’t the coppers called?”

  “Not enough proof. It looked like an accident.”

  “And you know about this, how?”

  He sighed, thrumming his fingers on the map. “Arne’s brother was on the factory floor when it happened. Came running here a few hours back, scared for his own life.” He turned to face me again, his features cold and dark in the dim light. “Apparently it’s not the only time something like this has happened.”

  Silence lingered a few moments between us, then I asked, “Why do I need to take all the lads? Won’t that just up the chance that one of us will get nabbed? Seems like something I could handle on my own.”

  “Yes, the lone wolf, fighting injustice all on his own,” Kantian said, the faintest sneer in his voice. “But it doesn’t make the same kind of statement as a small mob.”

  “But the Meats aren’t mages,” I persisted, setting my jaw. “What sort of statement does that make, exactly?”

  He sighed in exasperation. “No one will know that except you.”

  No, I thought. You don’t really care that a mage was murdered, do you? This is just what Hayli was sugg
esting. You want to get us behind you, because you know you have no chance without the mages.

  He flicked open his pocket watch. “All right, listen. You’ve got till noon to get yourselves together and get to the factory. Don’t disappoint me.”

  I backed a step, and tipped my fingers to my forehead, and left the room as fast as I could without looking like I was running away. Derrin was waiting for me inside the barracks, leaning against the wall with his arms folded. If I kept walking he would just track me down, so I stopped beside him and mimicked his pose.

  “So, he’s got you starting riots,” he said, bland.

  “That’s what he thinks.” I glanced over my shoulder, but all the skitters were asleep. “Though why I should actually do it…”

  “Don’t be a grobbing simpleton. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Kantian doesn’t exactly seem to like you very much. Not sure why. But I’m pretty sure that if you walk away now…”

  His voice trailed off, and after a moment he turned and headed toward the stairs that led up to the west-side porch, beckoning me to follow. Once outside, we both leaned on the wall, facing the sulphur-smelling darkness beyond.

  “Listen,” he said, voice low. “I’m not sure how much I trust you. But there’s a difference between me not trusting you, and Kantian not trusting you. I’d watch my back, if I were you. If I know what he’s planning with this riot, it’ll be pretty mild. Just some broken windows and a lot of shouting and making a scene, as if that will somehow make people sympathetic to us.” He rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I don’t know what that man is thinking. But if you can swallow your pride and just do it…”

  I shot him a rather annoyed glance. “Whatever it is you want to say, just say it. Are you suggesting Kantian will have me offed if I don’t play his stupid game?”

  He met my gaze evenly. “It’s not a suggestion.”

  Chapter 11 — Hayli

  Someone was jangling my curtain gears. It couldn’t even have been dawn yet, but I got the sense whoever was standing there had been at it for a few good minutes, because a second after I picked up the sound, I heard my name hissed in a whisper. It almost sounded like…

  It almost sounded like Shade. But I hadn’t seen him in days.

  I sat up, brushing hair from my eyes, and tugged the curtain back. Shade stood there, looking a bit pensive with his head tilted to one side, almost like he hadn’t expected me to wake up. He had that massive leather coat on, and in the low light of a single gas lamp, I could see the shine of raindrops on its shoulders and the fringe of his hair. The light threw his face into shadow, turning the circles under his eyes hollow and ghastly.

  “Shade,” I whispered. “You look grobbing awful. Where you been?”

  His eyes flickered to mine, then he darted a glance around the room and twitched his head toward the door. He didn’t say a word, but I got his meaning clear enough. Soon as he’d turned and headed out, I pulled my curtain closed again and slipped into my breeks and boots, and grabbed my worn wool jumper, which was the warmest thing I owned. Coins had given it to me just yesterday, not because he’d grown out of it, but just because he was kind that way. I carried it until I got to the Hole stairs, then I stopped and tugged it on over my head, the wool scratching a bit at my neck and on my hands where the sleeves hung too long.

  Out in the enclosure, I found Shade sitting on the wall, studying the clouds. The cold rain had turned to drizzle, and out east the sky bled the faintest tinge of dark violet and silver. I could smell snow on the air.

  “It’s early,” I said, wandering over to the wall. “And you really do look horrid. Everything jake?”

  Shade turned to me, finally. I couldn’t tell if he was smiling.

  “Need you, Hayli,” he said.

  A blush prickled up my neck, but all I could say was, “What?”

  “Need your help today. If you’re willing.”

  “Oh,” I said, feeling stupid. Of course he didn’t mean aught by it. “What with?”

  “Kantian’s asked me to lead a group over to the steel mill, spot a little mischief. Wanna come?”

  I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. After watching him and the lads jaunt off for meets and God knew what else, I’d started to think he’d push me away forever. But if he wanted me for this…this was real business. This was action. And he thought I could help.

  “What’s the story?” I asked, hopping onto the wall as close to him as I dared.

  “They murdered a mage who worked there, I’m told. Apparently it happens more than anyone likes to admit. So, we need to show the city we’re not going to take this sort of thing anymore. The mages need to stand together. We need to put up a fight.”

  I shifted, cold from more than just the wet stones beneath me. “I’m not sure about all that rebellion talk. Seems awful drastic. Maybe things’ll get better if we just wait…”

  He smiled. “I’m not talking about taking up arms against the government, Hayli. Just want to let folks know we don’t like being treated like we’re not human.”

  “So, you and me…we’re ganna gan with some other mages to put on a show?”

  He made a quiet sound that I guessed was a snort, or maybe a laugh. “Not exactly. I’m taking a few of the lads with me. Kantian didn’t seem to care too much that I was the only mage.”

  I frowned, scraping the heels of my boots against the wall. “So you just wanted another mage along to make it look better?”

  “Nah,” he said, so cool and careless that I couldn’t tell what he meant by it. Then he turned his head to study me, his eyes glinting in the growing light. “I want you along because you can handle yourself and you see things like no one else does. And because…”

  He twitched his head away, and held his tongue. We sat a bit in silence, while the sun rose behind the clouds and the rain turned to snow, and I tried to figure out what I felt about all of this.

  “Shouldn’t be anything too dangerous,” he said finally. He held his palms up on his legs, staring at the frail white flakes melting on his pale skin. “Just a bit of smoke and shadows to make a scene.” He glanced at me again, holding my gaze just a fraction too long before he went back to studying his hands. “If things go bad, Hayli…if something happens we don’t expect…I want you to get clear.”

  “You want me to run away?” I asked, hot. “You think I can’t…”

  “No,” he said, so sharp that I winced. “That’s not what I mean. I mean I want you to take the lads and get them away, because I can’t be sure they won’t try to play hero and come after me.”

  My mouth dropped open. Then, before I could think, I said, “And you think I wouldn’t?”

  This time I couldn’t meet his gaze. But out of the corner of my eye I caught the look on his face, all bemused surprise.

  “Would you?”

  I knotted and unknotted my fingers in my lap. “I wouldn’t let you stand alone.”

  He planted his hands on the wall and bowed his head, letting out all his breath in one long sigh. I couldn’t tell if I’d disappointed him, or annoyed him, or if maybe he was secretly happy to hear me say it. Sometimes I hated how well he could always mask what he was thinking.

  “Will you promise me you’ll do it? If it comes to that, will you get them to safety? I can get trouble off their backs, but only if I don’t have to be distracted worrying about them.” He leaned forward a bit, peering at me sidelong, which I guessed was the closest he’d get to leaning toward me. “Please?”

  “Drat,” I said. “Can’t say no to that. I got your back, Shade. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  “My thought exactly.” He slipped off the wall, tilting his face back so the snowflakes caught in his lashes. “We’ll leave near noon. That’s when they’re rolling out a new tram they’ve just built, so Kantian wants to be sure the newshawks see us.”

  “I’ll be there,” I said, and watched him disappear into the shadows.

  I wasn’t sure I could make myself k
eep my promise. If things went to the rails, I knew I’d want to follow him more than anything. And I knew the lads would, too. It would take more gutsy strength than I likely had to let Shade do his thing. I wasn’t sure I was sorry about that, either.

  A little before noon I found Shade and the lads in one of the warehouse rooms, putting together poppers. Anuk must have been busy all morning making the things, because he had a pile big as my head on the table in front of him. They were little more than smoke stones in a fragile shell the size of a chicken’s egg that would shatter soon as they hit something. Basically all we had to do was throw the poppers through the windows and watch the factory workers go up in a panic from all the smoke. Jig had a notion it would be funny to watch, and Link and Vim—already annoyed that Shade hadn’t invited them along, again—thought Anuk should add shrapnel to the casings because smoke was too boring. Anuk just set his jaw and kept working, and Shade got a darkish kind of air about him.

  “All right,” Anuk said finally, straightening up and handing Shade a messenger bag filled with the devices. “Try not to shake that too much, so. You ready?”

  Shade gave him a pointed sort of look and slung the bag over his shoulder. “Fine,” he said, his voice heavier than I’d have expected. “Let’s get this done.”

  We followed him out into the city and the spitting snow. I had no idea where we were headed, but Shade seemed to know just where to go, and everyone tromped along behind him in willing silence. After a bit, he turned and met my gaze, then held his hand up by his shoulder where I could see it and beckoned me up beside him. Blushing at being singled out, I ignored Jig and Coins and shouldered my way past Anuk to walk next to him.

  For a few minutes we walked without speaking, then, as we emerged onto Front Street, he turned to me with the corner of his mouth quirked up in a strange little smile.

  “You know where the Macallum Mill is?” he murmured.