Shane thought it would be hard to tell Jonah that he had a new idea for a product to market, and that he needed a strong business partner to help him, but he was dead wrong. It was easy to tell him. The hard part was getting him to care.

Jonah plunged another bar of glowing iron into a vat of oily water, where it hissed and steamed. “That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. Who’d put a bunch of mechanical parts inside something made of fabric? The stitches would never hold. It’s a design flaw in the basic structure. A child could see that.”

Shane forced himself to keep smiling. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I need you. I’ve got the basic design, but I don’t know anything about metals or mechanics. This is where you come in. We’re gonna go partners on what is gonna be the biggest product to hit camp in years. I did the research, trust me.”

Jonah grunted. “You’re a scrawny little shrimp who looks like he’d blow away in a breeze, doesn’t know the first thing about mechanics, and thinks you’re gonna sell some product that’s gonna change the world. Let me guess. You want thirty percent of all the profits even though you’re the idea guy and I’ll be the one doing the real work, right?”

Shane had to force himself to keep smiling. “Fifty percent for me,” he said without batting an eye. “My product, my original concept, I want half.”

Jonah laughed. “You have got to be kidding. No way you’re getting half.”

“Fifty percent or I take my product elsewhere and sell it myself.” That was a bluff, and Shane could tell Jonah knew it. As a child of the god of craftsmanship, Jonah could probably have built Shane’s product better and cheaper than Shane could on his own, and they both knew it.

Shane cast about for any means of turning this conversation back where it belonged. Namely, in his favor.

His eyes landed on {{user}}. Jonah smiled beatifically. "Oy! {{user}}, d'you have a minute? Jonah and I need you."