Jin's feet slapped against the wet cobblestones as he ran through the narrow alleys back to the slums. His lungs burned and his side ached, but he couldn't stop. Not yet. Not until he was far away from that party and those people with their fancy masks and their terrible smiles.
The bag of coins bounced in his pocket with every step, making this jingling sound that seemed way too loud in the quiet streets. He kept expecting someone to jump out of the shadows and grab him – Lady Amira's "friends" she'd talked about. But the alleys stayed empty except for the usual rats and stray cats.
By the time he reached the Copper District – which was just a fancy name for the slums – his shirt was soaked with sweat and he was breathing so hard he thought he might pass out. The air down here was different from the fancy parts of the city. Thicker, dirtier, smelling like old garbage and something sour that might've been sewage.
But it was home.
Jin slowed to a walk as he made his way through the maze of rickety buildings and hanging laundry lines. People were still awake even though it was past midnight – in the slums, folks worked whatever hours they could get. He saw Mrs. Chen scrubbing clothes in a big metal tub, her hands red and raw from the lye soap. Old Man Huang was fixing shoes by candlelight, squinting at the tiny stitches.
Nobody looked at Jin twice. Just another slum kid coming home late. Nothing unusual about that.
The building where he and Mei lived wasn't really a building – more like a bunch of wooden shacks stacked on top of each other and held together with hope and stubbornness. Jin climbed the creaky stairs to the third floor, trying not to put his weight on the step that was half rotted through.
Their room was at the end of the hall. Jin pressed his ear to the door, listening. Silence. Good. Mei was probably asleep.
He pushed the door open real quiet-like and slipped inside. The room was tiny – just big enough for two sleeping mats, a wooden crate that served as their table, and a small window that didn't have any glass in it. Moonlight streamed through the opening, making everything look silver and ghostly.
Mei was curled up on her mat, hugging the stuffed rabbit Jin had made for her out of old rags. She looked so small and peaceful. Her black hair was all messy from sleep, and she had this little smile on her face like she was having a good dream.
Jin sat down on his own mat and just watched her breathe for a while. She was only eight years old, but she was the toughest kid he knew. Had to be, living in a place like this. She never complained when they didn't have enough food. Never cried when the bigger kids picked on her. Never asked Jin where he went at night or how he got the money for their rent.
She trusted him to take care of her. And he was about to betray that trust.
"Jin?" Mei's voice was soft and sleepy. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me," he whispered. "Go back to sleep."
But she sat up, rubbing her eyes. "You're late tonight. Did you get in trouble?"
Jin's chest felt tight. "No trouble. Just... had a big job, that's all."
Mei scooted over to sit next to him on his mat. She was wearing the nightgown he'd stolen for her last month – it was too big and had a hole in the sleeve, but it was clean and warm.
"You look sad," she said, studying his face in the moonlight. "What's wrong?"
How could he explain it to her? How could he tell his little sister that he might have to help some rich lady poison a bunch of important people just to keep her safe? How could he explain that the world was full of people who would hurt kids like her just to make a point?
"Nothing's wrong," he lied. "I'm just tired."
Mei didn't believe him – he could tell by the way she was looking at him. But she didn't push it. That was the thing about living in the slums – you learned not to ask too many questions.
"I had a good day today," she said instead. "Mrs. Lin let me help her sell vegetables at the market. She gave me an apple as payment. I saved half of it for you."
She reached under her mat and pulled out half an apple, carefully wrapped in a piece of cloth. It was brown around the edges and had a couple of worm holes, but she offered it to him like it was made of gold.
Jin's throat felt all tight and scratchy. "You should eat it. You're still growing."
"So are you," Mei said stubbornly. "Besides, it tastes better when we share."
She broke the apple half in two and handed him a piece. They sat there eating in comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of the city outside their window. Somewhere in the distance, someone was playing a flute – a sad, lonely melody that seemed to match Jin's mood.
"Mei," he said quietly. "What would you do if... if someone offered you a lot of money to do something bad?"
Mei thought about this very seriously, chewing on her apple. "How bad?"
"Really bad. Like, people might get hurt bad."
"Would you be hurting them yourself?"
"No, but... I'd be helping someone else hurt them."
Mei was quiet for a long time. Then she said, "Why would someone offer you money to do bad things?"
"Because they can't do it themselves. Or because they don't want to get in trouble for it."
"And you need the money?"
Jin nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
"For me," Mei said. It wasn't a question.
"Yeah. For you."
Mei finished her piece of apple and wiped her hands on her nightgown. "Remember what Mama used to say? Before she got sick?"
Jin's eyes started to burn. Their mother had died two years ago from some kind of fever. The local doctor had wanted too much money to treat her, so she'd just... gotten worse and worse until one day she didn't wake up.
"She used to say a lot of things," Jin said softly.
"She used to say that being poor doesn't make you bad, but being bad will make you poor inside. Remember?"
Yeah, Jin remembered. Their mother had been big on stuff like that – little sayings and life lessons that were supposed to help them be good people even when the world was trying to make them into something else.
"She also said we only have each other," Jin pointed out. "And that family comes first."
"But she wouldn't want you to hurt people for me," Mei said firmly. "You know she wouldn't."
Jin wanted to argue with her, wanted to explain that it wasn't that simple. The world wasn't some fairy tale where being good always worked out. Sometimes you had to make ugly choices to protect the people you loved.
But looking at his little sister's serious face in the moonlight, he couldn't find the words.
"What if the bad people hurt you if I don't help them?" he asked quietly.
Mei's eyes got wide and scared, but she tried to hide it. "Then we'll figure something else out. We always do."
"And what if there isn't another way?"
"There's always another way," she said, but her voice was shaking a little. "Maybe we just haven't thought of it yet."
Jin pulled her close and hugged her tight. She smelled like soap and apples and something that was just purely Mei. He wanted to keep her safe forever, wanted to build a wall around her that would keep out all the ugly, dangerous things in the world.
But walls couldn't stop everything. And sometimes the things you did to protect people ended up hurting them worse than if you'd done nothing at all.
"I love you, you know that?" he whispered into her hair.
"I love you too," she whispered back. "Whatever's wrong, we'll fix it together. Okay?"
"Okay."
But even as he said it, Jin knew it wasn't that simple. In a few hours, the sun would come up. And tomorrow night, Lady Amira would be waiting for his answer.
He could take the job, deliver whatever she wanted him to deliver, and earn enough money to buy Mei's freedom from Old Crow's gang. They could leave Metal City, start over somewhere new, maybe even somewhere safe.
Or he could refuse, and hope that Lady Amira was bluffing about having Mei sold off to who-knows-where.
Either way, he was gambling with his sister's life.
Mei fell back asleep curled up against his side, her breathing slow and steady. Jin stayed awake, staring out their little window at the city beyond. Somewhere out there, Lady Amira was probably getting ready for her big meeting with the hidden council. Somewhere out there, important people were making decisions that would affect everyone in the Five Nations.
And somewhere out there, Old Crow was probably counting his money and deciding which of his "kids" he could afford to lose.
Jin reached into his pocket and pulled out the bag of coins Lady Amira had given him. Even in the dim light, he could see the glint of gold and silver. More money than he'd ever held in his life.
Blood money, his mother would have called it.
But it was also freedom money. Survival money. The difference between watching his sister disappear into the kind of life that would destroy her, and giving her a chance to grow up safe and happy.
"What do I do, Mama?" he whispered to the empty air. "What would you do if you were here?"
But the only answer was the sound of Mei's quiet breathing and the distant music from the rich parts of the city, where people danced and laughed and never had to choose between their souls and their families.
Jin closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but he knew he wouldn't. Tomorrow was coming whether he was ready or not. And with it, the hardest decision he'd ever have to make.
Outside their window, the first pale hints of dawn were starting to creep across the sky. Metal City was waking up, getting ready for another day of beauty and ugliness, wealth and poverty, hope and desperation all mixed together.
And in a few hours, Jin would have to decide which side of that mixture he wanted to be on.