Shadow and Bone

another table, a Fabrikator with a cloth tied over his nose and
mouth was measuring out a thick black liquid that stank of tar.
Genya led me past all of them to where a Fabrikator hunched
over a set of tiny glass discs. He was pale, reed-thin, and in
dire need of a haircut.
“Hello, David,” said Genya.
David looked up, blinked, gave a curt nod, and bent back to
his work.
Genya sighed. “David, this is Alina.”
David gave a grunt.
“The Sun Summoner,” Genya added.
“These are for you,” he said without looking up.
I looked at the disks. “Oh, um … thank you?”
I wasn’t sure what else to say, but when I looked at Genya,
she just shrugged and rolled her eyes.
“Goodbye, David,” she said deliberately. David grunted.
Genya took my arm and led me outside onto an arched
wooden arcade that overlooked a rolling green lawn. “Don’t
take it personally,” she said. “David is a great metalworker. He
can fold a blade so sharp it will cut through flesh like water.
But if you’re not made of metal or glass, he isn’t interested.”
Genya’s voice was light, but it had a funny little edge to it,
and when I glanced at her, I saw that there were bright spots of
color on her perfect cheekbones. I looked back through the
windows to where I could still see David’s bony shoulders and
messy brown hair. I smiled. If a creature as gorgeous as Genya
could fall for a skinny, studious Fabrikator, there might be
hope for me yet.
“What?” she said, noticing my smile.
“Nothing, nothing.”
Genya squinted suspiciously at me, but I kept my mouth
shut. We followed the arcade along the eastern wall of the
Little Palace, past more windows that looked into the