Nate swallowed and forced a smile. "I might have." He flinched at the flash of anger in his father's eyes. "I mean, I did." He looked down at a crack in the concrete floor. It was jagged like a lightning strike. Weird.
He looked back up. "At least I didn't use magic to—"
Gerald cut him off with a hand gesture. "You committed a criminal act. My son…" He shook his head. "I'm not sure if I even know who you are."
Nate's face paled. "I… I'm still me, I just…"
"Fucked up?" Gerald asked. He looked as though he was desperately trying to understand.
Nate glanced away. "No, I did it on purpose."
Gerald clapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. "You did what? Are you a fucking idiot? I never would have thought—"
"You know why," Nate said softly.
His father's lips dropped apart in surprise. He leaned back for a moment, then shook his head. "You did this because…" He shook his head. "We would have worked something out."
"No we wouldn't," Nate replied. "We can't afford for me to go to university in the borough. Clockwork is my only hope for a decent education."
"Clackworth is a correctional facility," Gerald said, his tone stiff. Apparently he didn't care for the nickname the younger generation used for the place. "It's an academy for delinquents."
"It's a facility for promising students to get their lives back on track while getting the best education in clockwork mechanics and magic in the country."
"Second best," Gerald reminded him.
"We couldn't afford the alternative," Nate insisted.
"So you stole." Gerald rubbed a hand over his balding head. "You'll have a criminal record forever, in the hopes you'll be sent there and not to a regular jail. Do you realise the gamble you just took?"
"If it works, it'll be worth it." If it didn't, he'd end up someone's bitch for a year or two. Or make someone his. Okay, who was he kidding? He was definitely not badass material. "You might pull some strings," he added hopefully.
"Fucking hells, boy." Gerald tugged the hem of his waistcoat, a habit Nate must have learned from him. "Do you realise the position you've put me in?"
Nate smiled wryly. "I do, I just didn't know what else to do." He sank back onto the bench. "I didn't want to spend the rest of my life etching rune stones or changing bulbs in streetlights. I want to make new technology, change the world."
The technology in the borough might look like little more than cogs and gears, but with the help of magic, it was so much more. Smarter than a smartphone, more advanced than a computer. Some day the whole world would embrace it. Nate wanted desperately to be a part of that. Desperate enough to steal.
Right now though, he wilted under his father's scrutiny.
"Better you made an honest living." Gerald leaned against the doorframe. "You've done what you've done now. You'll have to live with the consequences, whatever they may be."
Nate nodded. "I know. I'm sorry. I swear, I'll make you proud of me again." Whatever it took, he would make up for this. If only the judge and his grades allowed for it.
When the verdict came, it was without the dramatic gavel drop Nate had seen on television time and again.
Rather, it came with a nod from the borough magistrate, who was also the local chocolatier.
"Nathaniel Bentley, for the crime of theft, you have pleaded guilty."
Nate nodded. "That's right, ma'am." He tipped his top hat politely.
"Very well." She glanced down at the sheet of paper in front of her. "Due to the value of the goods you procured illegally, you are sentenced to serve three years in Clackworth Correctional Facility. During that duration you will be engaged in extensive study. You will adhere to each and every rule imposed on the inmates by the guards and present head teacher."
She frowned at him. "Make no mistake. The facility is not a picnic, nor is it a free ride. You are a felon and will be treated as such. Clackworth is surrounded by an impenetrable wall of magic. It may be a minimum security facility, but do not let that convince you that you may behave as you wish. If you fail to obey the rules, you will be removed and sent to Hardbey Correctional Facility. You will find things to be considerably less…pleasant there."
Nate swallowed and nodded. "Yes, ma'am." He looked toward his parents who sat behind a table on the other side of the room. His mother was crying, but his father's face was unreadable.
Nate looked down toward the table in front of him.
Shit just got really, really real. To all intents, he was going to jail, for something he had done in order to be sent there. This could have backfired horribly. Nate had no doubt his father had pulled every string he had in order to make this happen. Honestly, he wondered if he deserved it. Maybe he should have gone to Hardbey like the dumbass he was.
He wiped a tear from his cheek. Damnit all to hells, he wasn't going to waste this chance.
"You'll be taken to Clackworth immediately," the judge declared.
No gavel, no ceremony, no hugs from his parents, Nate was all but pushed out the door.
"Here." The constable who had arrested him in the first place, all those weeks ago, pressed a button on the wall of the constabulary.
Nate frowned. It was just a wall…
"Oh." He startled when the wall slid to one side. "It's a door."
The constable gave him a look that clearly said, "No shit," and pushed him through. "Clockwork will take care of you now."
The door closed silently except for a final click as Nate was locked inside the facility.
"Um, thanks?" Nate shrugged and looked around him. At first glance, it looked as though he had simply
