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The peculiar pair drew more than a few exclamations and stares, but Edas proud of Ted and he enjoyed the extended opportunity to show off

Before the stairs and at the edge of the corridor where Edasn’t supposed to go, for fear of the violent inmates, a red-haired woown hadn’t marked her as a resident, the wildness around the corners of her eyes would’ve declared it well enough There were red stripes on her skin where restraints were so moist, sweaty prints on the black and white tiles

"Madeline," Dr Simmons warned "Madeline, it’s time to return to your roo autoht, "What’s that?" and she did not budge, even when the doctor took her arnaled quietly for an orderly

Edwin didn’tHe said, "His name is Ted I made him"

"Ted" She chewed on the name and said, "Ted for now"

Edwin frowned and asked, "What?"

He did not notice that Ted had stoppedup at Madeline The clockwork boy had wound itself down, or

Madeline did not blink at all, and perhaps she never did She said, "He’s your Ted for now, but youfinger and aimed it at Edwin, then at Ted "Such empty children are vulnerable"

Edas forced to confess, or si, "Miss, he’s only a machine"

She nodded "Yes, but he’s your boy, and he has no soul There are things ould change that, and change it badly"

"I know I shouldn’t take hiht to keep him away from the other boys"

Madeline shook her head, and the matted crimson curls swayed around her face "Not what I s Bad little souls that need bodies"

An orderly arrived He was a big, square man with shoulders like an ox’s yoke His unifor to brown He took Madeline by one arhly than he needed to

As Madeline was pulled away, back to her room or back to her restraints, she kept her eyes on Edwin and Ted, and she warned hier like a wand, "Keep him close, unless you want him stolen from you–unless you want his clockwork heart replaced with soer"

Before she was reether, she lashed out one last tiht her another few seconds of eye contact–just enough to add, "Watch hione

Edwin reached for Ted and pulled the autoear-driven heart clicked quietly against the real boy’s shirt Ted’sin the crook of Edwin’s neck

"I will," he promised "I’ll watch him close"

Several days passed quietly, except for the occasional frustrated rages of the senile doctor, and Ted’s company was a welcoh Edwin had designed Ted’s insides and stuffed the gears and coils hiether predictable

Mostly, Ted re feet that tripped at stairs, at shoes, or any other obstacle left on the floor

And if the clockwork character fell, it fell like a turtle and laid where it collapsed, ar impotently at the air until Edould coht Several ti precisely why the shut-off switch failed so often But he never found any stretched spring or faulty coil to account for it If he asked Ted, purely to speculate aloud, Ted’s shiny jaould lower and lift, answering with the routine and rhythuts

But sometimes, if Edwin listened very hard, he could al around inside Ted’s chest Even if it was only the echoing pings and chier ears would concentrate, and listen for whispers

Once, he was nearly certain–practically positive–that Ted had said its own name And that was silly, wasn’t it? No matter how much Edanted to believe, he knew better…which did not stop hi meals down from the kitchen, and every time he cli it off and leaving it lying on its back, on Edwin’s cot The doctor was doddering, and even unobstructed he sometimes stumbled on his oo feet, or the laces of his shoes

So when the boy went for breakfast and returned to the laboratory with a pair of steaof gears and springs