“Well, I forgot to go into work yesterday.  I had to do extra hours then because of the day before,” I explain.

“On Saturday?” He asks. I nod.

“And when I went to get ready for work this morning, my family was gone, and I found this note,” I say, pulling the Supervisor’s note out of my pocket. “Sorry if it’s hard to read. It fell into a puddle.” Jackson reads the note I hand him, and his eyes widen. 

“So, your supervisor kidnapped your family and is making them work?” He asks. I nod. “Let me guess. It’s the East Rust Workhouse?” 

“How did you know?” 

“We get hundreds of complaints from that place,” He says, sighing. “I’ve been trying to shut it down since the first complaint arrived, but that Supervisor just dodges every lawsuit.” 

“That sounds like him,” I reply, hands in his pockets. “He’s sending people to Discipline all the time.” 

“Discipline?” Jackson asks. 

“Yeah, misbehaving employees are sent there to be punished,” Flint says, pointing to the white burn marks up and down my arm. “Aren’t Discipline rooms a standard thing in factories?” He asks. Jackson shakes his head. 

“That goes against the island’s charter,” He says, his eyes wide. “I need to start paying better attention to this sort of thing,” He says, then stands up. “I’ll call the Supervisor about this. Hopefully I can shut him down this time.” 

“Thank you,” I say, standing up. Jackson nods. Flint takes my hand and leads me out of the room. “So, he’s not a big scary adult. He’s a nice adult,” I remark, as we get on the elevator. Flint nods. “I’m so sorry about your dad.” 

“If he was worth being sad about, he would have stuck around,” Flint says, shrugging. “I know Mom didn’t love him either,” He says. I nod, all drawings of his dad missing from my head. Who cares? 

“Olive!” Casey yells, as I enter the factory. She drops her rust sponge and runs over to me, pulling me into a hug. Her arm is bruised, and her lip is cut, but she’s smiling. “These guys showed up at the house looking for you but I explained you were out with friends, and then they took us here and flooded the house!” So Mom did close the holes in the roof. I think, patting her hair. “It’s so terrible here, Olive,” She says, sobbing suddenly. Mom walks over, her hands stained red like mine. 

“Where’s Dad?” I ask. Mom bites her lip. 

“They took him to see the Supervisor. We haven’t seen him since,” Mom answers. Flint, standing behind me, grabs my hand, and pulls me up the stairs, to the Supervisor’s office. 

“You’re a weakling,” I hear the Supervisor growl, as we get through the security scanner. I run into the room, and see Dad in his wheelchair. The Supervisor turns to glare at me. “Of course,” He mutters, and turns to Flint and I. “I’ll deal with you two later,” He says, then turns back to Dad. 

“Don’t act like you’re any less of a weakling,” Dad says, with a tongue sharper than mine. “You just get fat all day, letting others do the work.” The Supervisor pulls his hand back to smack Dad, whose face is already cut and bruised, but stops when someone walks in. “Mayor Mountbatten,” The Supervisor says, his eyes wide.

“Supervisor,” Jackson says with a charming smile. 

“W-what are you doing here?” The Supervisor asks, his eyes bulging. 

“Just visiting,” Jackson says nonchalantly, walking around the office and looking around. “Did you kidnap this young woman’s family and keep them as slaves?” He asks, casually as if it’s the most normal and legal thing we’re talking about. 

“They aren’t slaves. I pay them, and fairly,” The Supervisor says, finding his spine again. Jackson sighs. 

“Well, I guess a Silver would have a better education than a Platinum,” He says, sarcastically. “But last I checked, two cents an hour is not enough to support a family.” He points at me. 

“They don’t even behave well, and none of them have good attitudes,” The Supervisor defends. Jackson sighs. 

“Pay your employees better with that fat wallet of yours, close down the Discipline room, and be kind to your workers. That should fix the behavior and attitudes,” Jackson says with a smile. “And release the Ferrum family.” 

The Supervisor nods, his hands shaking, though Jackson doesn’t really have a commanding presence. If anything, his quiet voice and kind manners puts people at ease. 

“Thank you, Mayor,” Dad says, as Jackson starts to leave the room, his hands in his pockets. 

“It was my pleasure, Mr. Ferrum,” He says, shaking Dad’s hand. “Just let me know if your family needs anything.” Jackson smiles at me and leaves the office. 

“Go home, then,” The Supervisor says, still jumpy. “And I’ll pay for the damages to your house,” He says, embarrassed. He shoos us out of the room. 

Flint holds my hand, pulling me down the stairs and towards the door. Dad goes down the elevator, and soon we all leave the factory. Casey smiles as she sees me walking next to Flint. 

As soon as we get home, Mom tries to scrub the rust off her hands, but some of it still remains. I walk over to her. She takes my hand in hers, and squeezes it, her brown eyes filled with tears. 

“You’re so brave,” She mumbles, looking at me. When I don’t respond, she wipes her eyes. “I’m sorry, Olive. I’ll sell the teacups.” 

“Mom,” I groan, hugging her. “The Supervisor is going to pay me more. You can keep your teacups,” I say. “And now that we’re friends with the mayor, we’re going to need some fine china.” This makes her burst into tears again. I pat her shoulder and walk over to Flint, who stands by the window. 

“Things are starting to get better,” He says, putting his arm around my waist. Casey laughs about something from behind me. I hear Dad laugh along. 

“Yeah, I guess they are,” I say, then look at Flint. “Could you and your mom come over for dinner? I’ll convince Mom to make something better than rations.” I squeeze his hand. He nods, laughing. 

“I’d love to,” He says, smiling down at me. I sit down on the couch, and Flint lays down near me, resting his head in my lap. I roll my eyes and brush my fingers through his hair. 

Flint watches out the window for his mom to come home, and gestures for her to come here instead. When she walks in, Mom embraces her and starts talking immediately. Mrs. Sterling stays silent, more of a listener than a speaker. And Mom’s talkative, so they’re the perfect pair. No arguments ever. 

“He’s lying.” Casey says, watching Flint with narrowed eyes. Flint smirks and turns over the cards he put down, revealing that he was not, in fact, lying. Casey grumbles, and takes the entire deck from the center of the table, putting it in her already-full hand. 

“Flint and Olive are so good at this.” Mom says, counting her own huge pile of cards. 

“Their kids are going to be masters at card games.” Casey mutters. 

“I don’t even know if I’ll have kids, and I doubt playing BS well is a genetic trait,” I mumble. Flint kicks my foot under the table. 

“Four aces,” I say, putting the last of my cards facedown on the table. The table is silent, as people look at each other. “Well, if nobody’s going to call it, then I guess I win…” 

“You’re lying!” Mom blurts out. Slowly, I reach down, and turn over one, two, three, four aces. Everyone at the table groans. Flint high-fives me and I gather up the cards again, shuffling them in my hands. A knock comes at the door, and Mom stands up to answer it. “Oh, hello, Mayor Mountbatten,” She says cheerfully. “Come in.” 

“Thank you,” He says, walking in with his hands behind his back. “You have a lovely home,” He says with a charming smile, and Mom melts. 

“Tea?” She asks, remembering the teacups in the cupboard. 

“I would love some,” He says, then walks over to us. “Olive, could you introduce me to everyone? I’ve only met you and Flint, formally.” I nod. 

“This is my dad, Karter, and my mom, Raeven. Then there’s my little sister Casey, and you already know my neighbor Flint, and that’s his mother, Mara,” I say. Mrs. Sterling stares at Jackson, and he stares back. The awkward silence continues until she speaks. 

“I better get home. I have some clothing to mend,” She says, brushing past Jackson, walking towards the door. “Flint, are you going to stay here a bit longer?” Flint nods. 

“I’ll escort you home,” Jackson says quickly, grabbing her coat for her. She takes it from him and puts it on, then walks out the door, linking her arm with Jackson’s. 

“That was weird,” Casey says bluntly, as Mom fills the kettle. Flint puts his arms around me and rests his chin on top of my head. Casey watches me, a smile playing on her lips. I hum quietly. 

When Jackson gets back, we give him Mrs. Sterling’s seat at the table. Mom passes out cups of tea and sugar, the fine granulated kind she won’t ever use unless we have guests. I sip my hot tea and immediately wish I hadn’t, because it burned my taste buds off. This always happens. 

“So, is there a reason for your visit, Mayor?” Dad asks, blowing on his tea like a smart person. Jackson pulls a letter out of his pocket. 

“As soon as I got home today, This was on my desk. It’s a message from the governor on the mainland, and it concerns your family,” He says. 

“What did Olive do now?” Mom asks, shaking her head. I flush and try not to roll my eyes. Jackson smiles to himself.

“Olive’s not in trouble,” He says, then opens the letter. “In a few weeks, there will be a contest on the mainland, to choose a new governor. And each Division can put forth one candidate, chosen by the Mayor of the Division.” Mom nods. 

Is he talking about me? The person who wasn’t smart enough to blow on their tea before drinking it? 

“I’ve been looking at what the security scanners have picked up about Olive, and I have decided that she would be my first choice for the Metal candidate,” Jackson says, then hands me a piece of paper. It’s a transcript of the security scan that I got when I went to his office. 

“What is BL?” I ask, pointing to the paper. 

“Beauty Level. All people are rated in looks, based on a perfect person created by an artificial intelligence computer. You’re rated on a scale of 1 to 150 on how similar you are to the perfect face,” He says. “You scored the highest I’ve ever seen, with 143.” Flint tickles my side.