The Engine What Runs the World: Chapter 1, Page 2 (Unedited)

He stoically peered across the desk at Marla, he dipped his featherpen in the inkwell and patiently waited for her.
“Thank you for seeing me,” Marla began, “My sister Blue is missing.”

Smoke began to write, “How long has she been gone?”

“A week.”

“Tell me about your sister,” Smoke said without looking up.

“What do you need to know?”

Smoke looked up from his pad, “Anything you can tell me,” he said softly, “Age, height, weight, who she hangs around with, what level you both hale from, her personality, if she has any enemies or friends. Anything like that.”

Marla’s eyes narrowed as her lips pressed tighter after Smoke mentioned needing to know the tower level, “She’s sixteen, around nineteen hands tall, just under nine stone,” Marla paused for a moment, “She wasn’t the sort of girl who had much for friends; she was more of a solo book person. We’re from the Second Above, though she spent a lot of her time on the surface. I’m not entirely sure what I can tell you of her personality; she was a lone girl. That said, it’s hard for her to have enemies when she spent so much time by herself.”

Smoke sighed, “That’s really not a lot to go from. Is it possible she’d have met someone on the surface or even in school?” Smoke paused for a moment, “People in tower still have schools right?”

Smoke’s Ignorance seemed to have amused Marla, a small curl of a smile on the edge of her lips formed as her eyes lightened, “Yes Mister Callahan, we still schools.”
Smoke matched her amused visage to keep her from becoming defensive, “It could be possible she could have been approached by someone at that time.”

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t know her well,” Marla confessed, “at least not since she grew up, it is absolutely possible she met someone that took her,” Marla slightly cocked her head to the right she looked as if talking about it had given her a thought, “She may have run away. She basically shunned the family business that brought us to the Second Above.”

Smoke grinned, now they were getting somewhere. He scratched down the notes as quickly as he could, “Why would she shun the family business?”

Marla gave him a half shrug, “I don’t know.”

Smoke inquired, “Miss Lang, I need to know everything you can tell me. The devil is in the details, even the smallest detail could make finding her all that much easier.”

Smoke had to fight to stifle a small bit of laughter. Instead he raised an eyebrow, “You don’t know?”