Steampunk Carnival (Steam World Book 1) by Cassandra Leuthold Read Free Book Online Page A

frightens you?”
    “No. There’s no point.”
    “I thought maybe he would listen to you. None of the women are comfortable around Mr. Lieber.”
    “There are only four of us. He wouldn’t fire Mr. Lieber if I took all my clothes off and danced around his office. The two are inseparable. It’s hard to talk to Mr. Warden without Mr. Lieber there.”
    “But you were alone with Mr. Warden when he...” Magdalene chose her words discretely. “...gave you your job?”
    “Yes.” Katya appreciated Mr. Lieber’s absence on that cool afternoon. She remembered introducing herself to Mr. Warden, noticing how handsome his definite features made him. She could not have guessed they would share a tight embrace in the back room of his office. He proved more than pleasing to look at, employing strong, supple fingers. His mouth explored hers expertly. The pressure of Mr. Warden’s hands against her corset and her breasts beneath it raised goose bumps on her skin just to think about it. And she had thought about it countless times since then. With a breath, Katya returned her focus to Magdalene and Mr. Warden’s less-appealing qualities. “It may have gotten me a job, but it taught us from the start what kind of man Mr. Warden is.”
    “And you’re sure he’s not as bad as Mr. Lieber?”
    “Quite sure.”
    “What do we do with the notebook now?”
    Katya lowered her eyes to the unassuming surface of the closed dresser drawer. “We wait and see if anyone mentions it. We wait and hope we’re not the next to get death threats.”
     

Chapter Eight
     
    The youngest employees at the carnival were boys, the same ages as some of the carnival’s biggest fans, between eight and fourteen. Like the inconspicuous security, few guests noticed them in their dark attire, but Katya watched them at work. They stayed mindful of the crowd as they wound their way through it, carrying buckets of water from the pumps in the rear of the carnival to whichever ride needed them the most. They rarely spilled a drop, developing their arms, shoulders, and chests to three times the size of their peers. Katya did not trouble herself with all the politics she saw complicating the front pages of Mrs. Weeks’ newspapers, but she found herself supporting talk of more laws against child labor. Mr. Warden defended his hiring practices by saying these boys’ families needed the additional income and he hoped their nights at the carnival would build the foundation for a dependable work ethic. Laboring at the carnival kept them out of the factories and off of the farms. From what Katya had heard around the dinner table, she was more inclined to agree with Mrs. Weeks. Mr. Warden and other business owners like him were cutting costs by hiring children. They saved money on women’s wages, too, which made Katya duck her head with guilt at her higher salary. It was common knowledge that carnival employees made more than the average worker, but it did little to make Katya feel better.
    A pair of boys waddled toward the Kaleidoscope at the front of the carnival, low-hanging buckets weighing down each arm. They set the buckets on the ground beside the ride’s operator, waiting for him to open the hatch to the boiler tank, as Katya had heard it called. Next to the boys, the ride operators’ costumes seemed all the paler and brighter. Mr. Warden meant the boys to blend in and all but disappear in the night. The ride operators and game runners dressed to be seen, their well-tailored jackets and pants embroidered with curling steam ripples or gleaming golden gears. Seamstresses had fastened many of their jackets with clasps and hooks rather than buttons. Their top hats, like several of Katya’s, sported metal buckles on the bands.
    After a few hours near the front of the carnival helping various guests, Katya wandered toward the rear. Another pair of boys carried buckets toward the engine tucked neatly beneath the Beast. Without warning, they scampered away,