Free Jani and the Greater Game (The Multiplicity Series Book 1) by Eric Brown Page A

Janisha-ji, you should see the wonders of his workshop! The marvels! You see, I have always been good with my hands – Mr Fix-it, your father calls me – and when... when, that is...”
    Jani smiled. “When my father fell ill.”
    Anand swallowed and nodded. “Ah-cha, when papa-ji fell ill he arranged for me to start an apprenticeship with Mr Clockwork. And Mr Rai, he will become the driver of Mr Cholmondley, the Home Secretary, and all the cleaners and gardeners, too, have jobs to go to.” He stopped chattering suddenly, his eyes downcast, and then murmured, “I’m sorry...”
    Jani found herself unable to reply, moved that her father, ill and facing the end, had thought of what his death would mean to his faithful household staff.
    She moved to her father’s desk and picked up his fountain pen, its ivory shaft worn by his thumb and forefinger. “Where is my father now, Anand?”
    “He is taking a bath, Janisha-ji, but he will be finished presently. He was told what time you would arrive, and asked me to give you a drink on the verandah.”
    “That would be lovely. Do you have any of Zeena’s homemade lemonade?”
    Anand beamed. “She made some especially for you, Janisha-ji.”
    She moved out onto the verandah overlooking exquisitely manicured lawns on which peacocks strutted.
    Her father had saved the tousle-haired Anand, an orphan, from the streets when he was three and Jani five. Until Janisha left for boarding school in England at the age of eight, she and Anand had been like brother and sister, inseparable. They had played with the peevish monkeys on the lawn, despite her father’s repeated warnings, and ineptly knocked croquet balls into the head-gardener’s prize herbaceous borders.
    She leaned back against the cushions of the wicker settee as Anand poured her a tall glass of iced lemonade. He settled himself on the lacquered floorboards at her feet and asked, with downcast eyes, if she would tell him all about her time in England.
    He listened to her with wide eyes, marvelling at her stories of Buckingham Palace, the river Thames, and Cambridge.
    “Oh, Jani-ji, it is my dream one day to travel the world. First I would like to see my country, all India, north and south, east and west – and then I would like to take an airship to Europe and visit Great Britain!”
    “And one day, Anand, you will do that.”
    He regarded her with his massive chestnut eyes. “Do you really think so? Do you think I might become an engineer or an inventor like Mr Clockwork and earn enough to travel far and wide!”
    “If you apply yourself, Anand, study and work hard, then you can do anything.”
    “And you?”
    “Me?” She sipped her lemonade.
    “When... when you leave India, and go back to England and complete your studies... what then?”
    She held the ice-cold glass and stared across the perfect lawn. “Then... I am not sure what I will do, Anand. A part of me would like to return to India, to work as a doctor among my own people, but...”
    “But... you have met someone special in England, yes?”
    She looked at the young boy, wondering at his perspicacity – or was he merely voicing his fears?
    “There is someone, yes. A young man of twenty.” She shrugged. “But I don’t know where that might lead.”
    “Do you love him?”
    She sighed. “I think I do, Anand. That is, when I’m with him I feel safe, secure, and when I am not with him I wish to be... So perhaps, yes, I do love him.” She sipped her lemonade. “And you? Is there a young girl in Delhi who has won your heart?”
    Anand coloured to the roots of his midnight hair. “Well, there is a servant girl at Mr Clockwork’s workshop. She is my age and very, very sweet. Her name is Vashi and we have met once for chai on Rabindranath Road. I call her burfi, my nickname for her because she is so sweet.”
    Jani felt an inner glow, and it was as if she had never been away, much less spent years on the far side of the world.
    The double doors onto