CRAVE (13 page)

“Good to see you, Dandelion,” Red said.

She smiled. “You look busy.”

“Oh, yes,” he said. “Busy in the best kind of way. Building. Not tearing down.”

“Charming’s going to show me around. But while I’m here, I promised my boss I’d scout possible locations for an Exiled bar? Open to humans, too? If you have some ideas about where and how that might work,” she looked between Red and Charming, “let me know.”

“Your boss?” Red asked. “You mean Scar?”

“Yes. Who else?”

Red shook his head. “I guess the rest of us kind of figured that things turned ‘round at some point and he works for you.”

That statement evoked a surprised laugh. She shook her head. “No, but I take that as a compliment.”

“You should. Some ways, you’re the glue that holds Newland together.” That caused Dandy’s mouth to hang open. “You don’t believe it, just ask anybody how it was when you were away from the Commons.”

Dandy wasn’t familiar with blushing, but she felt her cheeks heat. “That’s nice of you to say, Red.”

“Okay. Enough.” Charming interjected. “You’re embarrassing her.” Red just grinned. “What’s on the schedule for today?”

“The Power Commission is meeting with us in an hour or so.”

“What about?”

“I suspect they’re going to ask you for help. They’re going to say that they can get the power up and going faster if Exiled join forces.”

“You think that’s a good idea?”

Red hesitated, looked at the ground, looked around the park, ran a hand over his buzzed head, then said, “The power thing. It was used against us in bad ways and I know firsthand because I was there. If we can be sure that doesn’t happen again, we want to be a part of what it can offer. It’s like magic, the things it can do.”

“So you think we should volunteer our people?”

“We’ve got people working on the build-out and conversions, but we’ve still got a lot up at Newland not doin’ much of anything since there’s nobody left to fight. They’re gonna have to figure out how to work with humans sooner or later. If the humans train them to work on the power, it takes care of two things at once. Getting them used to humans and teaching them about the electricity and stuff. Would give them a job to do.”

Charming smiled and put his hand on Red’s shoulder. “An impressive argument. Free would think so, too. Maybe you should oversee this thing and I should just do what you tell me.”

“Nah. I want to be left alone to build. Not a leader. You can have the grief.”

“Free always made it look easy. The juggling. The balancing. The worry over whether or not choices were the right ones.”

Red nodded. “Yes. He did at that. Just like you’re doing now.”

Somebody came up behind Red’s left shoulder to ask a question. When he turned away, Charming took Dandy by the shoulders and turned her body forty-five degrees, then pointed across the park.

“Look over there.”

“Okay,” she said.

“That’s a potential bar waiting to happen. You want to walk over and take a look?”

“Sure.”

It was considerably warmer in the valley. Charming had shed his jacket as soon as they’d parked. Dandy took off her leather jacket and the wool sweater under it and draped them over the bike seat. That left her in her boots, leather pants, wraparound skirt and a soft hemp Henley. She’d braided her hair for the bike ride so that it wouldn’t be wild enough to scare the humans.

They walked straight through the park. The humans they passed stopped and stared openly. That wasn’t anything new. Dandelion had been to Farsuitwail before and knew to expect that.

“You think they’ll ever stop staring at us?”

“I do. I don’t know how long it will take, but our presence will become so commonplace that we won’t be a novelty. That’s what Rosie said would happen and I believe it.”

“I miss her,” Dandy said.

“Yeah. Me, too.” Wanting to change the subject, Charming deliberately brightened his tone. “The humans are going to have vehicles, too. The four wheeled kind.”

“Four wheels?” she asked.

“Yeah. They’re like enclosed boxes with seats.”

She laughed. “You’re making that up.”

“No. I’ve seen some still around from the time before the Rautt. They’ve got them in big buildings they call warehouses.”

“I’d like to see that.”

“Okay. We should have time. The thing about this place,” he pointed to the area toward which they were walking, “is not just that it’s a central location with a lot of people around, but it used to be a bar.”

“No way.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “Hasn’t been used for a long time, but the bones are there.”

“Bones?”

He smiled. “I just mean it’s set up for bar business. You’ll see.”

The space had two large plate glass windows on either side of a red door. A bare metal structure hung above that had once served as the frame for an awning. There was ornate lettering on the glass that was worn, but still readable. Apparently the bar had been named
Free Spirits
, although it was doubtful that drinks had been given away for free. They served wine, beer, whiskey, ale, and good food. Or so they claimed.

Charming turned the handle and opened the door which, like all unoccupied buildings in Farsuitwail, was unlocked. The wood-paneled walls and ceiling covered in black tin tiles made the place even darker with no lights, but Dandelion had the benefit of cat’s eyes. Tables and chairs were long gone except for those that were broken and stacked in a corner. But the twenty-foot bar was like nothing she’d ever seen.

Making her way to the back of the bar, she found a cloth and wiped dust away from a section in the middle. Underneath the dirty film, it was polished to a cherry sheen that was gorgeous. The apron, on the front and sides, was hand carved to ornate perfection and the entire wall behind the bar was mirrored with shelves in front.

“The mirror’s not broken,” Charming said. “And the bar is kind of pretty.”

Dandelion scoffed at the understatement. “It’s not ‘kind of pretty’. It’s incredible! And you know it. Scar is going to faint from excitement when he sees this.”

“Scar fainting? That should draw a crowd. Come look at this.”

They walked to the back and took a look at the kitchen, which was larger than the one at the Commons and full of appliances and gadgets Dandy had never seen.

“What are all these things?”

“I’m as lost as you are, but when the power comes back up, we’re going to learn how to use each and every thing here.”

“Can Scar get permission to move the Commons here?”

Charming grinned. “Dandy. They owe us. If Scar wants to set up here, we’ll figure it out. Exiled are still going to need someplace to go and be with each other sometimes.”

She looked around. “It needs to be bigger.”

“The space next door isn’t being used. Red can knock out the wall. Make it look like it all goes together.”

She grinned at Charming. “This is perfect. Maybe the move won’t be so bad.”

Charming looked at her affectionately, grabbed a pigtail and put it behind her shoulder. “And you could use a change of scenery.”

“And I could use a change of scenery,” she repeated.

For the rest of the day Dandelion shadowed Charming. He introduced her to a lot of humans. She was fairly certain she wouldn’t remember any of their names, but she did her best to be polite and look interested in meeting them. He gave her a tour of the building renovations. Some were just in the planning stages and some nearing completion.

All in all she was amazed at what had been accomplished.

“You can decide what you want to do, Dandy. You can continue with bar work if it’s what you want. You could work at one of the schools or in government. For that matter, you could be a farmer. Or a shepherd.”

That made her laugh. “A farmer?”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “Why not?”

“I can think of about a thousand reasons.”

He squinted at the setting sun. “We need to head back. I want to get up the mountain before it gets dark.”

“Aren’t you going to miss it?”

“What?”

“Newland.”

“Yeah. I’m sure of it. But I’m just as sure that this is the best thing for the future of Exiled.”

“If it works out the way you want, we won’t be Exiled anymore.”

He chuckled. “You’re right. We’ll have to think of something else to call ourselves.”

“Huminals.”

He laughed. “I’ll add that to the suggestion box.”

“We have a suggestion box?”

“No,” he laughed harder, putting on his leather jacket. While Dandy was pulling on her outerwear, he said, “Well. Any ideas about what you want to do?”

“Lots to think about. Thank you for the day, Charm. If nothing else, I don’t feel anxious about moving down here anymore.”

He nodded and started the bike just as she slid into place behind him.

CHAPTER TEN

The next day Dandy arrived at the Commons prepared to work a double shift, like she’d promised. At two thirty, when she’d normally head home, she pulled a chair into the corner behind the bar and leaned back against the wall for a cat nap.

She heard a gravelly voice saying, “Wake up and get me some cider, cutie.”

She’d slept for a couple of hours. She shook her head, stood, and stepped behind the bar, letting muscle memory push her through the motions since she wasn’t fully awake yet. Within a minute or two she was at full throttle and kind of enjoying the attention she was getting from the evening crowd she didn’t normally serve.

As soon as there was a break in the action, she told Sparkle to take over so that she could start the big fire in the center of the room. Sparkle was a young female who’d just finished school. She’d been trained to be a warrior, but Dandy thought she had potential as a barkeep.

Scar arrived before time to serve dinner and helped feed the hungry mob. By eight those who were there for food had eaten, which meant the Commons would be serving drinks the rest of the night until closing. Dandy went into the back to eat dinner. She sat down on a stool pulled up to one of the long tables where the kitchen staff prepared meals. Someone put a bowl of lamb stew in front of her and said, “Just in time. We’re almost out.”

She took her time enjoying stew, a hunk of artisan bread, and creamy butter that had been delivered to the gate that day.

“Thanks,” she said, putting her bowl and spoon next to the cleaning sink.

As she pushed through the swinging door to the bar, the first thing she saw was Charming coming up to the bar smiling.

“Charm,” she grinned, delighted to see him. “You want an ale?”

He started to answer yes, but before he did, Dandy’s eyes shifted to something over his shoulder. His smile fell as he watched all the color instantly drain from her face. She gasped and doubled over clutching her mid-section like she’d been kicked in the stomach.

Charming jumped over the bar and grabbed her as she seemed to be losing the ability to stand up. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?” He knew he sounded panicked, but he didn’t care. That was how he felt.

She looked at him with glazed eyes, her mouth trying to move, but she wasn’t forming words. His eyes searched the direction she’d been looking when she seemed to have been seized.

He didn’t have to look hard to find the reason. Crave sat in a corner, his back to the wall, with Midnight in his lap. They were kissing and laughing in a way that implied acute familiarity. Crave was oblivious to the fact that Dandelion was struggling to keep from collapsing behind the bar with no air in her lungs.

Charming was infuriated with his brother. His emotional reflex was to want to give Crave the righteous beat down he had coming. Or try. His family had been through enough! But he knew Crave wasn’t responsible for Dandy’s feelings. The situation was what it was. A tragedy. He pulled Dandy to her feet and shielded her from curious onlookers with his body as he quickly guided her out the door.