Fires of Invention by Savage J. Scott

Author:Savage, J. Scott [Savage, J. Scott]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: 2015-09-29T04:00:00+00:00

23

Trenton paced the workshop, running his hands through his hair. “I don’t know why you’re still wasting time on this.”

“It’s my time,” Kallista barked, looking up from her slate. “I can do what I want with it.”

It had been over two weeks since they’d found her father’s plans, and Trenton couldn’t believe she was taking them seriously. He’d stopped by before work to see if she’d finally given up on the project. Clearly she hadn’t.

He dropped onto a stool and rested his elbows on the workbench. “So many things are wrong with this; I can’t begin to count them.”

Kallista stared at him, her lips narrowed.

“Fine. I’ll count them.” He held up one finger. “First, you’re talking about something out of a story.” He swept his hands over the books Kallista had spread across the workbench. Each was opened to a picture of what Kallista called a dragon. Apparently her father had a thing for the make-believe beasts because there were more than a dozen pictures of them burning buildings, devastating cities, and soaring through the air. “They aren’t real,” he sputtered, amazed that he had to say it.

“They aren’t,” Kallista said. “But this one can be. It will be. I’m going to build it.”

“With what?” Trenton held up another finger. “That’s my second point. You want to build this creature, but all you have is a foot. One foot. You don’t even have a pair of feet. What good are the plans with no parts?”

Kallista shoved aside her slate and unrolled the plans, which she and Trenton had pored over for hours. “The parts are listed here, along with instructions for how to put them together. My father wouldn’t have left the plans if there weren’t already parts to go with it. All I need to do is figure out where he hid them.”

Trenton put his head in his hands. “Do you hear how you sound? We’re talking about a thirty-foot-tall steam-powered . . .” He couldn’t bring himself to say the word.

“Thirty-three feet, six inches,” Kallista said. “A thirty-three-foot dragon.”

“Exactly.” Trenton curved his fingers into claws. “It’s one thing to hide a few talons inside a mattress or under a sink. It doesn’t make any sense, but at least it’s possible. Do you honestly believe there’s a metal head taller than you and that it’s hidden somewhere in the city where no one’s noticed it for a year?” He pulled the plans toward him. “I have no doubt that your father drew these up. And who knows—it could even work. But he clearly didn’t get a chance to finish making the parts.”

Kallista took the plans away from him. “If he didn’t finish making them, I will.”

They’d been over and over this. He nodded toward the map she kept updating on her slate. “How many smelting plants have you checked now?”

She looked away. “Six.”

“And how many have the ability to make the metal your father machined the pieces from?”

Kallista didn’t answer. She didn’t need to; he’d seen the map. She’d

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