“Lazy, noble, I don’t care. Me and him will sit on this side and crank, and you two younger fellows can take the other. Between us, we’ll be back in the Vaults in no time, won’t we?” She kicked away the nearest cart’s brake block and shoved it along its rails until it reached the main track a few feet away. “Hop on board, boys. Let’s get you home, and get these masks off. Then we can have ourselves a chat.”

When they’d finally reached the Vaults and the big round door had spun and sealed shut behind them, all the masks came off. Everyone stood there panting, feeling the air on their faces. It wasn’t fresh air, and it wasn’t particularly sweet-smelling, but Rector was sure it was the best damn air he’d ever felt, and he’d fight to the death anyone who tried to tell him otherwise. Or at least he’d argue like hell until he felt like stopping.

“Boys, I’ve got a thought.” Miss Angeline told them. “Let’s go the back way down to Chinatown and eat there. I want something hot. None of the men down here have taken to cookery, and I don’t smell anything to suggest Mercy or your momma”—she said with a nod at Zeke—“is downstairs experimenting. I might want some assistance from you tomorrow, so I suppose buying you supper is about the least I can do.”

“Assistance? From us?” Zeke positively pranced at the notion.

Rector didn’t roll his eyes, only because without the mask everyone could see him too clearly. That damn kid, so desperate for approval all the damn time. It was downright embarrassing.

She replied, “Walk with me, and I’ll tell you all about it. But first, we’re stopping by the storeroom and picking up a set of spectacles. I don’t know about you three, but I’m sick to death of wearing that damn mask. Let’s see if we can’t air out our faces a little on the way.”

The storeroom was stacked from floor to ceiling with crates, barrels, boxes, shelves, and drawers. Some were labeled, and Rector picked up the highlights even with his limited reading skills. Coffee, gunpowder, socks, leather scraps, single shoes (to be mixed and matched), stray pieces of paper (printed and blank, retrieved from books and book endpapers), maps, fragments of material for patches, copper wire, assorted metal bits (one drawer for lead, one for steel, one for iron), gas masks and filters, a variety of oils and other lubricants for industrial use, hand tools, electrical tools, strips of waxed canvas to repair the great tubes that brought fresh air to the city below the streets …

… and that was only the beginning.