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often?”
    Molly turned away to hide the blush that
touched her cheeks. “Help strange boys avoid even stranger men? No,
but there’s a first time for everything.”
     

Chapter 4
     
    As the cab pulled up at the institute gates,
Molly glanced at her companion. “No disappearing act if we’re able
to fix you, all right? This is the second time I’ve gone out of my
way to help you. The least you owe me is an explanation.”
    Jin nodded, even though he didn’t look happy
about it. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Molly. I really didn’t mean to
drag you back into all this. I just didn’t know where else to
go.”
    Well, that’s sad . “It’s all right,”
she said, patting him on the knee of his uninjured leg. It felt
hard through the cloth, although again it was noticeably warmer
than the cold air inside the cab. I wonder how the heat is
transferred, and why? Are living nerves embedded in there
somehow?
    Once the cab had departed in a rattle of
harness and clop of hooves, Molly guided Jin through the gates. A
pair of statues stood to either side: Saint Velma, patroness of
knowledge, and Saint Hobart, patron of learning. Both wore scowls,
as if to impress upon those passing through the gates that
attending the institute was a serious business indeed.
    Once past the glowering statues, buildings
loomed up on every side like disapproving professors, their brick
and marble façades shrouded in shadows. Fortunately, it was only a
short walk—or stumble, in their case—to the Applied Engineering and
Automaton Design building.
    The heavy door was locked with a combination.
Molly turned the dials, and the gears spun, ratcheting back the
heavy bolt. In the dim illumination of the entryway’s only
gaslight, Molly saw that Jin’s face had gone from copper to gray. A
couch stood against the wall, and Molly steered him over to it and
eased him down. “I’m going to get Liam, all right?”
    Jin only managed a nod. Molly ignored the
slow lift in favor running up the stairs, the brass chains on her
coat sleeves jangling loudly in the narrow space of the stairwell.
It was dark and rather dank, and the gaslights at each landing
threw her shadow on the wall, making it seem as if she raced an
eerie twin. By the time she reached the third floor, she was
completely spooked and had a stitch in her side.
    Wood paneled the hallway leading to the lab,
much of it scarred from fire, hot metal, and acid. Brass fixtures
in the shape of men and women supported gaslights at regular
intervals. A small cleaning automaton puffed along at one end of
the hall, its brushes polishing the floor to a bright shine.
    As she approached the lab, she felt a twinge
of worry. What if Liam had decided to take the night off after all,
and gone back to his flat? Or headed out for a night on the town
with one of his innumerable boyfriends? It would be at least a
couple hours if she had to track him down at home, and more if she
had to search the city.
    The lab door was unlocked, which was a good
sign. Inside, a row of tables took up most of the available space.
Many of them were strewn with the remnants of student projects:
stray gears, coils of wire, and the odd flask of mercury. Long
counters lined the walls, cluttered with instruments for measuring
voltage, force, and acidity.
    Liam sat at his assigned table at the far end
of the room, hunched over some sort of hand-cranked motor. He
looked up when she entered, his eyes distorted through the
magnifying lenses of his goggles.
    “Molly?” he said, puzzled. Pushing up the
lenses, he blinked owlishly at her. “What are you doing here? I
thought you were working at the shop tonight.”
    Molly sagged against the doorframe, out of
breath from her run. “I was. Remember the boy who fell through the
skylight?”
    She gave Liam the abbreviated version of
events on the way back down to the lobby. Jin was still there,
slumped against the arm of the couch. She and Liam dragged Jin’s
arms over their shoulders, all but