A carriage rattled past, just as they would in the borough.
"Are you sure I'm in the right place?" he asked the door.
"Nathaniel Bentley?" The man who approached was dressed in the same waistcoat, jacket, trousers, cravat and top hat combination as Nate. The colours were more subdued, but the look was welcoming. He had half expected a prison jumpsuit, or a guard with a weapon trained on him.
"Yes, that's me." Nate took off his top hat and bowed. Only when he straightened he noticed the guards who stood behind the man, hands on batons or tasers. He put up his hands. "Ready to comply."
"Yes, well, that's sparking good." The man nodded. He wasn't much older than Nate, but his hair was dark and cut short. "Follow me then."
"Are you a student?" Nate asked. He lowered his hands and walked beside the man. "Um, Mr…"
"My name is Felix Hanson, and we're inmates. Best you remember that."
"Oh, of course." Nate tucked his hat under his arm. "So they sent an inmate to make sure I didn't get lost?"
Felix gave a half smile, which inexplicably made Nate's heart skip a beat. "Things are different at Clockwork. They assume we'll do anything we can to be allowed to stay here."
"I'm guessing they'd be right," Nate said.
Felix's smile widened. "You're correct. They don't just lock any old criminals up in here. They have to be sure we're able to be rehabilitated. You won't find hardened felons here. No murderers, rapists and so on, in Clockwork. At least, no one with that kind of record."
"So, what are you here for?" Nate asked. Was that a rude question?
Evidently not, since Felix gave a wry smile. "Art forgery. I'm a painter. I couldn't resist trying my hand at copying some of the greats. No one as famous as Monet or Picasso, but great enough. A friend told me they were so good I should try to sell some." He shrugged. "For a half a million, who could resist? Turns out the buyer was a cop."
"Ouch." Nate winced. Maybe he shouldn't feel sorry for a fellow felon, but Felix seemed like a likeable guy.
Felix snorted. "Yeah. So here I am. You?"
Nate told him, except the bit about having done it all on purpose. He didn't want to look like a total dick.
"I guess you…got time." Felix grinned.
Nate laughed. "I guess so." He glanced back over his shoulder at the guards. They didn't look to be listening, but he suspected if he put a toe out of line, he'd be whipped out of here before he could blink.
They came to a stop outside a large building. "This the academy itself," Felix said. "The houses around the facility are for staff. You know, teachers, cleaners, guards and the like. We're not allowed in them. We can walk around the facility though. It's…well…one big prison yard." He pointed to the lampposts. "They all contain cameras, so if you even think about stepping out of line, you'll be seen. Before you ask, they're all equiped with the latest recognition technology. They go far beyond just recognising your face."
"Wow, big brother really is watching," Nate muttered.
"He really is," Felix agreed. "You might feel free here, but it's all an illusion. It's like a prison planet. You can roam, but you can't leave."
"As long as we're not enslaved," Nate remarked.
Felix chuckled. "Never that." He sighed and gestured for Nate to walk beside him up the front steps and into the academy building.
"Welcome to Clockwork. Where everything runs by clockwork, including us. Not literally," he added quickly. "The expectations on us are high. Meet it and the world is our oyster."
"Fail and be the bitch of some guy named Brutus," Nate said.
Felix snorted. "Something like that. Although," he lowered his voice, "if Brutus has a big cock, I might be willing." He gave a tentative smile.
Nate read between the lines. Felix didn't want to be anyone's bitch, he was simply saying, in a round about way, that he was gay.
Nate nodded. "I might be so inclined myself."
Felix looked relieved. "Right, great. Luckily that's not a problem here either. No one cares about preferences."
The thought hadn't crossed Nate's mind, but now it had, he was also relieved.
That only lasted a few moments; right until he saw Clara Winterbourne
Almost as tall as he was, the dark haired woman sneered at him.
"What are you doing here?" She narrowed her eyes at him and looked as though he was something she'd scraped off the bottom of her patent leather boots.
He shrugged. "I heard you went away last year." Her family had been close to his until the downturn in the economy. When money got tight, so did tempers. While the Bentleys had worked hard to get by, the Winterbournes had gotten into increasingly shady dealings with increasingly shady people. The community in the borough took care of their own, but they didn't take kindly to criminals, especially conmen and women.
"Yes, well, just some bad luck," she replied indifferently.
Something in her eyes made him wonder if she hadn't got caught on purpose too. He knew there wouldn't be many people willing to take such a risk. Most of the inmates probably hadn't even known about Clockwork until they found themselves here. He and Clara probably should have been sent to a regular prison just for being presumptuous.
"Did you—" He stopped when he saw another familiar face, walking with an older inmate. "I guess that's a yes."
Angus Winterbourne looked even more sullen than his older sister. Maybe because, judging by the inmate beside him who looked to be a guide, it had taken a year for him to get in here. His family had founded the facility. They wouldn't have even needed to pull strings. The fact he was here and not at