Chapter 4
The air in the infirmary reeked of disinfectant.
Mingled with it was that sickly jasmine scent that made me want to gag.
Isabella was half-slumped on the infirmary cot, her face white as a sheet.
She was gripping the blueprint tightly.
"Avery, please don't blame Claire. She only went to middle school. It's understandable she can't make sense of all those foreign numbers. I was being stubborn, trying to check every detail, and ended up stressing myself out and fainted," Isabella whimpered.
Avery spun around, eyes flashing like daggers.
"Claire, look at the mess you've made!" Avery barked.
He pointed at the blueprint clutched in Isabella's hand, saliva flying as he ranted.
"Pretending you know what you're doing! Randomly picking words from a dictionary and calling it a translation! Isabella nearly collapsed from overwork trying to fix your mess!"
I stared at the blueprint.
It was a throwaway draft I deliberately left behind.
Sure enough, there were two parameters that were off.
But if Isabella actually understood Irisian, she'd have seen right away they were just typos.
She had no clue.
"Sorry," I said, my voice flat and emotionless.
I didn't show a hint of emotion.
Avery was stunned, like he never expected me to own up so quickly.
"If I'm not good enough, then I'm done with this translation gig," I said, my tone icy.
I turned and walked away.
"From now on, let Ms. Lane, the college student, handle all these fancy tech jobs," I said.
"Stop right there!" Avery shouted from behind.
"What kind of attitude is that? You screw up and just walk off? Go home and reflect! Taking care of my mom. That's your real job!" he snapped.
I didn't look back.
I walked out of the infirmary and pulled the door shut behind me.
That shut out Isabella's sickly sweet, fake soothing voice from inside.
The night breeze hit my face, a bit chilly.
I pulled my collar up and headed straight for the guardhouse.
"Bradley, did I get any mail?" I asked.
Bradley, the gatekeeper, was tuned in to his radio.
He handed me an envelope without even looking up.
"A dude in shades dropped this off earlier. Said it was urgent."
There was no postmark or name on it.
I took the envelope, my fingers tracing the edge.
It felt thin.
I stepped under the streetlight and ripped it open.
Inside was just a neatly folded letter and a train ticket to Silverport.
I unfolded the letter.
There was only one line written: [Everything at Redstar Engineering Works is set. Awaiting your good news, Mr. J.]
Mr. J was the code name I'd given myself.
The letter was from a headhunter in Silverport, urgently looking for someone fluent in Irisian.
I crumpled the letter into a ball and was about to shove it into my pocket.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded behind me.
Then, a hand yanked hard on my arm.
"Claire, what are you hiding?"
It was Avery's mother, Linda Stone.
She was wrapped in that puffy jacket, her sharp, cat-like eyes fixed on my hand.
She was like a cat catching a whiff of food.
Linda's grip was like a steel vise.
Her nails, packed with black grime, bit painfully into my flesh.
"Hand it over!" she barked.
She snatched the crumpled paper from me and unfolded it roughly.
She was illiterate.
But that fancy "Mr. J" signature stood out like a sore thumb.
"Mr. J? It's from a man?" Linda blurted out.
Her eyes darted around, then she suddenly slapped her thigh.
Her voice went through the roof.
"Well, well! So this is what you're up to. Cheating with some random guy!" she yelled.