They were threatening to take him in when they heard the rapid clatter of a woman’s shoes. Cassie emerged from the fog, out of breath.
“Please, he’s had a rough night,” she told the constables. “I promise I’ll see him home.” They grumbled for a moment, then let him go with a warning.
Danny straightened his jacket and turned to Cassie. Her face was blank, but he could tell she was disappointed in him.
“Auto won’t start,” he said, looking away.
She went to the boot for her tools. They had expected something like this to happen. As she propped the bonnet open and began to tinker, Danny leaned against the auto. Now that his anger had burned off, he could feel the cold and started shivering. Even the throbbing in his hand grew more intense, a sickening starburst of pain.
“I’m sorry,” Cassie said. “I know how badly you wanted the Assignment.”
“It’s fine.”
“Sure. Beating on a bloke tends to mean everything’s fine.”
“It’s just …” He dragged his uninjured hand through his hair, clutching it until his scalp ached. “What the hell am I supposed to do now? I can’t go to the Maldon tower. I can’t even go to Enfield.”
“Is it really so hard for you?” Cassie asked, glancing at him as she worked. “Not going to Enfield.”
“You wouldn’t understand, Cass.”
“Wouldn’t I?”
“No, you wouldn’t. No one does.” Except for Matthias, he remembered with a pinch of shame. Matthias would know how this felt.
He watched the brick wall across the street and listened to the clanks and scrapes of Cassie’s work. There was a pause, then she swore. Danny turned and saw her staring at the internal components, her shoulders shaking. She went back in and checked every piece, every connection, every screw, every valve. Then again. And again.
“Cass.” Danny gently pried her tools from her hands. Her white gloves were now stained with grease. He wrapped one arm around her, tucking her under his chin. It was the way he’d held her when she told him William was dead. She breathed hard, and he could feel the cold sweat on her temple.
“You’ve done enough,” he told her. “It’s fine. I’ll be all right.”
They stayed like that as the noxious fog rolled in, thick and oppressive. Eventually, Cassie swallowed and stepped back. She ran her sleeve under her nose, an unladylike gesture that would have given both their mothers conniptions.
“Thanks,” she said thickly. He nodded. “Listen, Danny … if it’s so important to you, then why don’t you just find out who the new mechanic is and ask to switch?”
He leaned back on his heels. “What?”
“Find out who’s going to replace you and convince them to let you go instead. Whatever assignments you get, they can have, and their Enfield assignments can be yours.” She took a deep breath. “Right,” she said to the auto, closing the bonnet and kissing the top. “That’s a fix for you, then. And you?” She looked at Danny. “Is that a good enough fix for you?”
He thought about it, then nodded. “Cass, you’re brilliant.”
“Don’t tell me what I already know.”
He had been wrong about his mother not caring. When she got the call about Danny’s behavior at the social, she ordered him to sit at the kitchen table. She lit a cigarette. The smoke wafted his way and he coughed.
They were silent for a long time. Finally, Leila said, “Why?”
“He was being an arse.”
“Danny, please.”
“What do you want me to say, Mum? He was being rude to Cass. How could I let him get away with that?”
“Hitting him was not the solution. You should have reported him to a chaperone.”
Danny almost laughed at that, thinking back to Rotherfield and how the constable had been willing to accept Lucas’s word over his own.
“Oh, now it’s all so clear! Let me just pull apart time and go back to that moment—”
“Danny!” Her voice cracked, and he winced.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
She took a long pull off her cigarette, then snuffed it out on a copper ashtray. “What did he say to you?”
He watched her expression as he told her, but it didn’t change.
“Don’t waste your thoughts on him, Danny. He isn’t important.”
“You agree with them, don’t you? You think it’s strange, me being this way. You think I do it just to make your life harder.”
“I never said that.”
“You think it.”
She took out another cigarette.
You lost your temper, the gesture said.
She lit a match.
You told him to go, the flame whispered.
She took a long, slow drag.
He’s gone because of you, the smoke sighed.
He stood up from the table. “I’m heading to bed.”
“Danny …” They stared at each other, but Leila eventually looked away. The unspoken whispers followed him out the kitchen, up the stairs, orbiting above his bed like twin desolate planets.
Your fault.
AETAS AND THE SKY GOD