Marcus headed out after James, rolling a big cart in front of him and immediately veered too far to the left. He rammed the edge of the cart against the sidewall of the warehouse and small splinters came loose, flying like embers around the worn out wood. James glanced back over his shoulder and gave Marcus a grin.

He didn’t stop to help him or slow down for Marcus to catch up, instead he did the opposite, heading up the road toward the mountain at a speed that Marcus could only describe as running. Marcus cursed and tightened his grip around the handles of the cart, steering it out onto the road once more, and headed after James. He pushed the heavy overfilled cart in front of him, packages of clean linen and clothes ready for delivery, swaying against the edges.

James had stopped not too far away by a house with white stone pillars, probably painted over the original gray color. He had his hands on his hips and watched Marcus steer his cart over to him. Marcus stopped next to James, a little clumsily, but he had caught up. He dragged one hand over his knee where the pain emerged like a hot knife.

“This the Mannericks,” James said, pointing to the house. “Two packages.”

Marcus scrambled around his cart, wiping sweat off his brow, and felt the chill of the morning air creep up his neck in a cooling embrace. He read the labels of a few packages until he located the right ones. James stood patiently waiting for Marcus to carry out his orders and when Marcus threw him one of the packages, James caught it.

Marcus felt heat lick his back and his shirt stuck to his skin. But James looked calm, unruffled, and had been ready for his throw. He hated him at that moment. Hated that James seemed to know everything that Marcus was feeling and that the older man was in better shape than himself.

James and Marcus walked up a pathway to the house and passed under the columns that held up a small balcony. It looked like it had never been used by anyone except damsels in distress who waved a white handkerchief at someone in a tearful goodbye. Marcus shook his head at the excess of some of the people in Aldrion. It really wasn’t like Windbrook at all.

James knocked on a door at the side, and a woman popped her head out. She had a white apron tied over a gray dress and when she caught James’ eyes; she gave him a wide smile.

“You’re late,” she said.

“Got a new boy with me.”

James tilted his head toward Marcus and the woman looked at him with the smile still plastered on her face. She stepped aside and James walked in with Marcus following him. They walked through a small hallway with paint coming off the walls in small white flakes.

James entered a room that looked like a big broom closet with cleaning tools and rakes for the garden. He placed his package at a table and Marcus followed him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then?” the woman said as Marcus and James headed toward the door.

“Tomorrow I’ll be here at the usual time,” James said. “More time for chatting then.”

“Great,” she said, walking away into what looked like the kitchen.

James and Marcus piled out of the house and walked back to their carts parked outside. Marcus dragged a hand through his hair and dared a glance at the road stretching up toward the mountain. He shook his head, delivering all these packages today was going to be more difficult than his entire career in the Aldrion army so far.

“Does your cart pull to the left?” Marcus asked.

James grabbed the handles of his cart and looked over at Marcus. “They all got their own little kinks. Nothing is perfect, boy.”

Marcus nodded.

“The thing to do is, feel it out, learn what’s wrong with this cart and compensate,” James said. “The sooner the better. We still have deliveries to go and a mountain to climb.”

#

The sun was beating down on Marcus’ neck as he unloaded a package of freshly cleaned laundry from his cart. James and he were outside the gate leading up to the Taveck mansion, a place Marcus had never been to before. He knew Mel had been here, even been inside the creepy-looking house with its metal spires stretching toward the sky.

Marcus held the package in his arms as they walked up to the gate. He shook his head and let out a deep sigh. How could Mel choose Austin Taveck over him?

He knew Mel hadn’t said anything about Austin and her dating or even that she wanted to. But he had seen them together. Right from the first moment he had met Austin, they had shared glances and smiles. The ones that were loaded with feelings and desire. Something Marcus had thought Mel and he had shared before, but now wasn’t sure of anymore.

He had thought they’d made perfect sense. That Mel was just shy, but equally, or at least somewhat, interested in him. But she had told him differently and now Marcus had to line up his own memories of her glances and blushed with what she’d told him.

It made little sense to Marcus. It was like his heart wanted him to keep believing Mel had always been into him, but his brain felt differently. His brain was telling him to listen to the words, not the unspoken connection he had once felt.

James pressed a button that looked like a doorbell, but no sound came out. Marcus glanced over at him, but James just brushed his nails against his shirt and exhaled a deep breath. Like he didn’t like to wait for the gate to be opened.

Marcus was sweating profusely by now and he had to hold the package a small distance away from his chest to not soak the entire paper wrapping in the dampness of his shirt. He winced when a lean woman walked out from a back entrance to the Taveck mansion and made her way to the gate.

She had the custom white apron tied around her waist, just like the dozen other servants he had seen today, but her lips never even showed a hint of a smile at seeing James, something that felt unusual to Marcus. James seemed to be friends with everyone on his route, except the Taveck house, apparently.

The woman opened the gate for them and let James and Marcus pass into the Taveck grounds without as much as a hello. She walked up a path toward the service entrance and disappeared through a door to the side of the house. Marcus and James followed her and inside she stood turned to them. She looked at Marcus and then tilted her head toward the floor. Like she wanted him to just place the laundry right there at the entrance.

“Just put it down, boy,” James said.

Marcus did, and James backed away from the house, holding up the door for him. The lean woman stood with her arms folded, scowling at them, and then she followed them out on the grounds again, toward the gate.

“Next time I need you to come earlier,” she said, her voice like gravel.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

James nodded several times and had his lips drawn into a grim line. They got back outside, and the woman locked the gate behind them, making sure it was thoroughly closed. Marcus felt a frown descend over his forehead.

“What was that about?” he asked.

James shrugged. “It’s the Taveck mansion. You know how they are.”

Marcus shook his head. No, he didn’t know how they were.

James’ voice was low when he spoke next and he seemed to lean into Marcus as if he was sharing a secret of sorts. But one he thought everyone already knew except for Marcus.

“It’s the business. It keeps them from letting people in. You have to be trusted to earn your right to step foot in the mansion. At first, when I started at Ms. Leanne’s, they didn’t even let me past the gate. I think I made progress over the years.”

Marcus swallowed hard and brushed a few beads of sweat off his brow. “And what kind of business are the Taveck’s doing?”

James raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t you guessed it already?”

Marcus shook his head.

“Well, I didn’t tell you,” James said. “But they are responsible for all the luxury goods winding up in Aldrion. The things that cannot be grown here and cannot be transported through the mountain pass. How do you think they end up on the market in Aldrion?”

Marcus opened his mouth, then closed it again. He had never thought much about it. Where Gabs got her apples from, she sometimes treated Mel to, or where the peonies at the merchant stalls came from. He hadn’t seen any orchards, and he hadn't seen any flower farms up here, but he hadn’t known.

“You’re not as smart as you look, boy,” James said.

A smile spread over the man’s face and he grinned at Marcus, showing off his terrible teeth. But Marcus had gotten used to James by now, and he didn’t feel the same pressing need to look away. Instead, he felt himself smile back.

They only had three packages left in the carts and he had already sneaked a peek on the labels when James hadn’t been looking. Their next stop was Headmaster Lorken’s mansion, up by the dragon forge, and Marcus felt his stomach tightening with anticipation and possibly fear too. He rubbed at his leg until he saw James glance over at him and then stopped.

#

They arrived by another gate, not the same kind as the one leading up to the Taveck mansion. Probably because of them having to pass through the Falden school grounds to even get close to Headmaster Lorken’s mansion. James stalked up to the gate and again, he pressed a button, but no sound came out.

“What does it do?” Marcus asked, trying to peer over the two packages in his arms.

“Oh, it’s one of Lorken’s inventions. He makes stuff from what I understand. The button makes a little metal pin crash into a bell inside the servants’ quarters.”

“Smart,” Marcus said.

“Yeah, I guess. It would be smarter to just let some people have a key, though. But it’s like this with the top. They think everyone and their own mother are out to kill them. Crazy bastards, I tell you. Wouldn’t want to trade places with Lorken, that’s for sure. Too much money and power leads to too much headache.”

Marcus nodded, but didn’t say anything back to James. James put his hand on the side of the gate, leaning against the stonewall separating them from the inside. His face looked tired now, even exhausted, maybe, but not from the trek uphill that they had been making all day. No, James seemed in better shape than Sergeant Tick, even. It looked to Marcus like James was exhausted by waiting at gates, like this was his least favorite part of the job.

Marcus shifted in his stance, balancing the packages on top of each other. A man slipped through a pathway down toward the gate. He was wearing Aldrion blue and looked vaguely familiar to Marcus. Possibly a soldier from the army, working as a guard for Lorken today.

The soldier opened the gate and then snatched the packages from Marcus’ arms. James was still holding one of the paper wrapped linens in his arms when two other guards filed down toward the gate.

“We can carry them inside, man,” James said. “It’s included in the job.”

Marcus wondered why this guard, who looked to be the same age as Marcus, deserved to be called a man while he was still referred to as a boy by James. But he didn’t press the issue.

“No, not anymore,” the guard said, handing the packages to his friends. “Headmaster Lorken is not accepting anyone who’s not trusted inside.”

James shook his head and blew out an exasperated sigh as he handed the last package to the guard. “He just keeps getting crazier.”

The guard gave him a leveling look. “Can’t talk about it.”

Then he closed the gate in front of their eyes and Marcus felt a stab of panic shoot through him. This was what he had worked all day for. To get inside Headmaster Lorken’s mansion and now some guard had just closed the gate on him because Lorken was paranoid.

“Why?” Marcus shot back through the gate.

The guard stopped in his tracks, faltered for a moment, and then turned around. He glanced over at Marcus, but didn’t seem to recognize him without his uniform.

The guard finally shrugged. “Think it’s got to do with the explosion somehow. But I don't know. We don’t ask, he doesn’t tell.”

The guard turned his back to Marcus and walked away, disappearing behind the massive building and into the mansion. James walked back through the Falden grounds and Marcus stood frozen for a moment, looking at the place he had wanted to enter for Mel. He let out a deep sigh and had to accept his failure, feeling like he had somehow known this would happen from the start. Maybe Austin would have been able to get inside, but not Marcus, no.

Marcus turned his back to the mansion and walked after James down through the school buildings. They walked in silence through the gates and back out onto the streets. There, they picked up their carts and kept walking down toward the warehouse again, where Marcus would drop off the cart and then escape from this job. He didn’t need to talk salary with Ms. Leanne; he had no reason to keep the job after this. He just didn't want to leave James here alone at the edge of the city with two carts.

Halfway back, James glanced over at Marcus and cleared his throat. “You did good today, boy. I will put in a good word with Ms. Leanne for you. She usually listens to me. I won’t even mention the leg.”

“Oh, thanks,” Marcus said, looking down at his leg. So he had noticed it after all.

“Things are changing on my route, it seems,” James said. “But don’t worry. You will have it easier. Most deliveries are to the army or big industries. You’ll haul bigger loads, but not travel to so many places, I think.”

Marcus nodded. Half-listening to James now. He didn’t care what kind of route Ms. Leanne had planned for him. He wouldn’t take it anyhow.

“No Taveck’s or Lorken’s for you,” James said. “You’re lucky, you know. If I didn’t like Ms. Leanne and knew she didn’t have anyone else but me to do it. I’m not sure I would.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Marcus said.

“I barely think you do,” James said. “It’s not the distance or the lack of companionship on most days that gets to me. It's waiting by those gates. It’s serving those people. You know, the rich.”

“Mmm…” Marcus hummed in response.

“They can do pretty much anything. They can definitely get anyone they want. Those kinds of people go through life feeling like everyone else owes them something. Like I should just follow their every command because I’m beneath them.”

James spit on the ground after he said those last words and Marcus felt more and more like he actually liked James. He was a good man who saw things like Marcus did in many ways. Why did the Tavecks of this world always get what they wanted? Why did Austin get Mel?

It just wasn’t fair. The only differences between them was money and power, something that shouldn’t matter in love. But Mel was falling into the arms of some rich kid whose family was supplying Aldrion with luxury goods, not Marcus’ arms. So he guessed money and power did make all the difference to her.

“I got to ask,” Marcus said. “How do the Tavecks get those goods inside Aldrion?”

James glanced over at him and then looked around, but they were alone on the street now. The sun was setting and there wasn’t anyone around to overhear. Most were probably at the bunkers already, getting cozy for the night’s attack.

“It’s a tunnel,” he said, leaning in toward Marcus anyway. “They’re smuggling it through a secret tunnel in the mountains. But I didn’t tell you that. And you don’t know about it. Okay, boy?”

Marcus nodded. “Sure, I don't know anything. But does the governor know about it? Does he know they could probably use it for other things too? Like getting people into Aldrion without the dangers of the mountain pass.”

James looked at him with a strange gleam in his eyes. “You really aren’t smart, boy. Of course he knows. How do you think he came to be the governor?”

Marcus swallowed hard, feeling the earth under his feet shifting and his stomach tightening. They were all in it together, of course they were. It was a conspiracy.