Garibaldis face loomed over him. Hed made himself look younger in deatha man in his prime rather than the broken shell that had slumbered in that large glass canister guarded by machines. A sly smile curved the mans lipsa slash of mirth in his rugged face. Your friends. Do you think they worry about you? Do you think Samuel is worried?
The man had an unnatural interest in Sam. It made a kind of twisted senseSam was part human and part machine, something The Machinist held in great fascination. Hed been playing God long before his dark path crossed Griffins.
What about Finley? Garibaldi pressed when he got no reaction. Im sure she must be very worried. Is she a crier, your girl? Her mother was always a bit of a limp rag, but her father could be a very hard man when he wanted. Never showed any emotion. Only time I ever saw genuine feeling in his face was when he was dying. Your father was the same way.
Griffin ground his teeth. Hed probably wear them down to bloody stumps before Garibaldi killed him. Would the torture stop there, or would the monster continue after he passed? Would he spend eternity strapped to the table, impotent and helpless? His body ached from all that had been done to it since his capture, but he knew his soul would suffer even more.
So, no. He would not spend eternity on that table. Hed find a way out of this. Death might be his only option. At least with death he could slip free of his mortal shell. Hed be stronger then, in this place. If only hed spent more time testing his powers rather than controlling them. If only he was as certain of his abilities as was the bastard trying to scramble his brain.
It wont take her long to find someone else, Garibaldi told him, hovering above the head of the bed. He flipped a switch and Griffin stifled a cry. It was like hundreds of bees swarming about in his headstinging and battering their wings against the inside of his braintrying to burrow through his skull. It didnt take her mother long to get over her father. Then again, theres not much choice for the women, is there? They must have a man to look after them.
Hed tell Garibaldi to shut the hell up if he thought he still had the capacity for speech, but if he dared open his mouth, Griffin knew all that would come out would be guttural, animal sounds.
Im going to wait until she finds a new man before I kill her, whispered The Machinist in his ear, his Italian accent giving the words drama. I will wait until shes happy, so that when I reunite the two of you, you will have her with you for all eternity knowing she loves another.
It was beyond crueland more torturous than anything else the man could have done to him. Griffin could handle anything Garibaldi threw at him, but not Finley. If she found someone who could make her happy, hed be fine with thatmore than finebut to take that away from her... Garibaldi would ruin her life, as well, just to get to Griffin.
Griffin forced his eyes open, even as wetness leaked out. Red blurred the edges of his vision. It was blood, then. He stared up at his enemy and set his jaw. Go to hell, he growled.
Garibaldi chuckled. Of course, dear boy. But Im taking you with me.
Then everything went black.
Jack wasnt just stupidhe thought she was, too. It was the only way Mila could explain why hed say those things to her. He dismissed her feelings, and then suggested she talk to Finley about womanly things. That was a lie...no, that wasnt the right word. Jokethats what it was. Jack didnt see her as a woman, he saw her as a pet.
But when he said hed never see her as he saw his doxies, that she wasnt like those girls...well, she knew there was only one thing she could do.
Leave.
That part of her that was still fairly analytical knew it was ridiculousrunning away because her feelings were hurtbut that other part of her, the one that was still new, and all girl, couldnt spend another moment under his roof, knowing he would never feel the same way about her that she did about him. It was simply too painful. She told herself that she wouldnt repeatedly smash her fingers with a brick, so why should she continue to watch Jack with his girls, knowing she was never going to be one of them.
No, not one of them. She wanted to be the one. The pain was knowing that Jack wasnt going to let that happen. He didnt see her as a real girl, and he never would. He saw her as a child, or worseas a thingand that she could not bear.
There was this emotion shed begun to experience a lot as of lateit was the one called pride. Like most things, her understanding of it that day was better than it had been the day before. What a surprise to discover that shed had an abundance of it long before she knew what to call it! But she did have it, and Jack...Jack had ground his boot heel into it when hed basically accused her of not knowing her own mind. If there was one thing Mila knew it was her own mind. It might not always know her, but she was always well aware of it. Maybe other girls said things they didnt mean and pretended they werent as smart as they were, but Mila didnt understand the motivation behind such behavior, unless it was to make the males of the species feel smarter.
There was this emotion shed begun to experience a lot as of lateit was the one called pride. Like most things, her understanding of it that day was better than it had been the day before. What a surprise to discover that shed had an abundance of it long before she knew what to call it! But she did have it, and Jack...Jack had ground his boot heel into it when hed basically accused her of not knowing her own mind. If there was one thing Mila knew it was her own mind. It might not always know her, but she was always well aware of it. Maybe other girls said things they didnt mean and pretended they werent as smart as they were, but Mila didnt understand the motivation behind such behavior, unless it was to make the males of the species feel smarter.
So maybe this stupidity Jack exhibited extended to all men. Was it a flaw in their biological composition? Or was it an evolutionary mutation permitted to persist by the fact that women had looked after them for centuries, such that the need to think lapsed behind the need to procreate? It was a sound thesisone she might have to explore in greater detail. If she could prove that right, then she could blame Jack and not herself.
Maybe he just didnt find her pretty or interesting. Maybe it wasnt him, but herself that was the problem.
Oh, but she wasnt ready to think on that. Right now, she planned to explore London in greater detail. Eventually, she planned to find her way to Griffins door and ask if she might stay for a bit, at least until the rest fell into place, but not right away, because that was the first place Jack would look for hernot because he knew her so terribly well, but because King House was home to the only people shed even begin to call her friends. It wasnt that Jack denied her the benefit of society, it was the fact that he had no friends himself. He had people he did business with, people he had a grudge against and people who wanted to use him, but no friends.
Except for her. Without her hed be all alone again.
Mila paused in the middle of her packing and glanced toward the door. Maybe... No. Setting her jaw, she stuffed a pair of bloomers into the valise. Jack Dandy had managed to look after himself for years before prying open the lid to her crate. Hed do just fine when she was gone again. In fact, hed probably be glad to be rid of her, and return to some semblance of normalcy. No more telling people she was his ward. No more hiding her, or explaining her presence to his women friends. Once hed told a girl wearing too much rouge and not enough dress that Mila was his cousin from Yorkshire. They looked absolutely nothing alike, but the girl had believed it. Jack was good at lying, but perhaps hed enjoy a break from it with her gone. No doubt his repair bills would be a lot shorter and less expensive without her around to break things.
She couldnt take everything she owned with herJack had been generous with his giftsbut she packed the most important thingsseveral changes of clothing, tooth powder, soap and her favorite book, The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. Shed discovered it when she was with the automatons. Jack had given her a brand-new copy with beautiful illustrations when she moved in with him. Hed given her many books, in many languages, but this was the one she treasured most. She didnt need an extremely advanced logic engine in her head to understand why. It was only natural that she feel a connection with the puppet who wanted to be a real boy.
She wanted to be seen as a real girl, and the only way to achieve that was to go out and learn how to be one. Jack wasnt about to teach her. And shed rather be just a machine again than go to Finley for help. Jacks precious Treasure. Of course hed want Mila to be more like her. She was strong and beautiful, and knew what words meant. Mila might be able to lift a steam carriage over her head, but that didnt make her unique, it just made her a freak.
Maybe she should find some other freaks. Maybe then shed feel as though she belonged. Maybe theyd accept her just as she was. And maybe the ache in her chest that she felt every time Jack failed to understand her would go away. Or maybe it wouldnt. Either way, there was a world out there, and shed never understand it, never be part of it, if she didnt go out into it and live.
Once she had packed everything she wanted to take, she opened the bottom drawer of the dresser and removed a small locked box. From it she withdrew a wad of pound notes. Jack gave her what he called pin money but since he bought her clothes, shed never spent any of it. He fed her, let her read his books and made certain she had everything she neededthere was no need for money, so shed put it aside. She had planned to buy him something with it one day.
Milas resolve wavered. She was going to need the money now. She was going to have to look after herself. Surely she could do that. She had to do it. The only way not to be a pet or a doll, or a burden, was to go out and prove herself.