Nearly every other day since then, he whisked her away to fetch flavored ices in Pemberton Square as they talked about whatever happened to cross their minds—engineering mostly, the different theories and projects they had dreamed up in the years before they met. Petra looked forward to their next outing that afternoon. She stood at the window, anxiously counting down the minutes until the end of her shift, excited to show Emmerich the vast gallery of machines beneath the fourth quadrant. He waited for her just outside the pawnshop, leaning casually against the stairs as he regarded the hazy gray sky above, his hair tousled by the breeze. She felt a presence loom up behind her and turned to find Tolly hovering over her shoulder. She scowled. “What do you want?” “Going out with him again, are you?” he asked, gesturing out the window. Petra crossed her arms over her chest. “And if I am?”
