Licking His Cane (3 page)

He hooked the handles to a chain pulley and hoisted the molten sugar up past the edge of the table.

“Well, since I am giving you a lesson, we pour the molten sugar out here to cool. The boiling gets out all water and aligns the molecules so that the resulting crystals have an even texture.”

The sugar was disappointingly golden on the table. Oddly enough, it didn’t steam.

“So, no water in it at all?”

“No, and it is very thirsty stuff.” He moved the copper vessel aside and took a set of long, metal paddles, folding and flipping the sugar as it cooled, keeping it even.

“What are you doing now?”

He laughed. “Letting it set up to the stage where I can pull it. Folding it helps the cooling and gets some air into it. Air is what will turn this from golden to white.”

Bel leaned forward and watched him work as the sugar hardened from liquid into toffee-texture. She watched the hard lines of his face as he gauged his progress. When he was certain the time was right, he pulled out a bottle and sprinkled it over the sugary mass.

He glanced at her and smiled. “Peppermint. It is always a classic. We also do spearmint, tuti-fruity and blueberry.”

“That is a fairly rounded selection. No cherry?”

He grinned. “I am still looking for a good colour combination for that one. Red gets mixed up with the peppermint. We try new ones every year.”

“Nice.”

Sure enough, his folding and turning was giving the sugar a paler hue. It took another few minutes before he snipped off sections and coloured them with a dye paste. He put on gloves and started to knead the coloured bits until brilliant red and vivid green were glowing in the candy.

He set the red and green near the heating elements on the roller and returned to the table, grabbing the mass of tumbling sugar and throwing it onto the hook. “Now, I earn my keep.”

Bel closed her jaw with a snap as he started to manhandle the mass up and over the hook before pulling it down again. The muscles in his arms, chest and back tightened and rippled with every haul.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but he had a snow-white and gleaming ball of sugar in his arms as he returned to the roller and started to work on the coloured segments. He rolled and flattened them, using the huge snips to cut lengths that would cover the rough cylinder. He positioned them symmetrically around the cylinder and looked at her. “Now to see what your work can stand up to.”

He tossed the cylinder onto the rollers, and it tumbled around and around.

“Can I approach?” She wanted to see from a better vantage point.

“Sure. The dangerous stuff is set aside. If you will haul the copper bowl to the sink, you can sit on my shoulders.” He grinned and switched out his gloves for clean ones.

The cylinder was slowly narrowing and lengthening. While it tumbled, Rex got the hooked mold down from the wall and set up a station for himself. A sharp knife and a parchment-lined pan completed his setup.

Bel hopped off her perch, and she moved the thick copper bowl over to the sink. One of the clerks came back, and together, they lifted it in to soak. There were only a few flecks of sugar left on it, but cleanliness was important.

She returned to Rex and stood at his side, but out of the way as he started to press the candy down to narrow it. The rollers kept it smooth, and when the width was right, Rex clipped off a chunk and rolled it in his hands until it matched the outer edge of the form he had. The whole procedure was accomplished in seconds, but when it was done, there was a gleaming, twisted, stripy candy cane. She could hear the click as he placed it on the pan, and by the time she had finished staring at the first, the second was next to it.

It seemed that the candy canes were appearing by magic, but his hands kept working until the pan was full and one of the workers had replaced it with a blank.

The cheer that arose from the shop made Bel grin. She inclined her head. “Well, I have seen what I wanted to see. Very impressive. Thanks for the demonstration. My bill will be emailed to you.”

He nodded. “I hope to see you again, Bel.”

“Well, we still have a week before Christmas. It could happen.” She was about to turn to leave when a warm candy cane appeared in front of her.

“Consider this a tip for your prompt repairs. I don’t know what the girls and I would have done if you hadn’t shown up.” He was holding the cane, and she closed her fingers around it as daintily as she could. The warmth of the candy was still in there.

She looked up at him from between her lashes and licked delicately at the warm peppermint.

His eyes darkened, and he reached out as she stepped back.

“Have a good evening, Rex.”

She turned and made her escape with the candy cane clutched in her hand. She held the candy in her teeth as she started up her truck, her bag stowed behind the seat.

She needed a nap in the worst way, and the flashing of her phone told her that the moment she answered it, she would have a call. A little bit of rest was called for and a proper meal. Hopefully not in that order.

Bel woke up with a smile and the taste of peppermint still on her lips. Four hours was all she had gotten, but she levered herself upright and checked her messages.

She had another repeater with a downed oven. The first time he had needed help with his conveyor belt. He was a prompt payer, so she showered and got into her boiler suit.

It was going to be a filthy job, but that is what she was paid for.

She sent out the last of her invoices and headed home after three back-to-back calls that—thankfully—were easy fixes.

Bel used her magic to cleanse her suit of the grime of the concrete floors and the gears that didn’t want to stay in place.

She was just settling her truck into the parking spot when her phone went off again. She answered it. “Sweet Repairs.”

The voice she had been hoping for was on the other end of the line. “Hello, Bel. I was wondering if you would have time to check on a drop press for me?”

She checked her watch and then remembered she didn’t wear one. “How long will you be there, Rex?”

“As long as you want me.”

Bel fought the mental images that came with that husky rumble.

“I will see you in half an hour. On my way.” She hung up and checked her mirrors before putting the truck in gear.

She liked driving. It wasn’t as much fun as when it had involved horses and wagons, but she did enjoy controlling where she went and how fast.

The quiet evening let her get through traffic with relative ease, and when she parked the truck behind the shop, the bar of light let her know that the rear door was open.

She entered with her toolkit in her hand and looked around. The stations were quiet and only the copper pot was in action.

“Where is everyone?”

“It’s after nine. They are home with their families, exhausted after a busy day.” Rex stirred the sugar with a practiced hand and the wide wooden paddle.

She approached cautiously. “Making more candy canes?”

He nodded. “We sold out of the first three batches. I am trying to get ahead for tomorrow.”

A plastic drape showed her where her work was needed. “So, what happened to the roller press?”

He sighed. “Freak accident. We were running a batch of mints and a pan fell in, dislodging the roller.”

Bel grinned at him as she removed the plastic tarp. “It seems to be a theme.”

She looked at the patterned roller and winced. The pan had gouged the pattern as well as dislocated the roller from the gear system.

This wasn’t an easy fix.

Rex rolled the molten candy to the cooling table and poured it. Thanks to watching earlier, she knew that she would have a chance to work her magic when he was pulling the candy.

She didn’t need to lock the machine. It was a hand crank. With focus, she got to work resetting the roller.

“Is there much damage?” Rex folded the sugar and kept an eye on it. His work with the pallet knives was fun to watch.

“I should be able to manage it. How did it happen?”

“Jo was trying to use a pan instead of the gloves to handle the hot candy and Cindy was cranking hard when the pan slipped. There was so much screaming, I thought a finger had gotten jammed into the machine.” He shook his head and flipped the candy.

She nodded and kept working, resetting the gearing system and waiting for her moment. It took a few minutes for him to dye the stripes before he pulled the larger mass. From the blueberry scent wafting toward her, she could guess what today’s flavour was.

With his back to her, she exhaled magic into the machine and repaired the embossed rollers.

Rex called out casually. “You know, I thought you were just a good mechanic and that you couldn’t possibly be a reindeer, but here you are.”

She looked up in surprise, and his sparkling grey eyes were aimed directly at her while his body continued to work on the candy on automatic. His neck had to be twisting something awful.

Bel stared at him. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“It was clever, waiting until I turned my back to you and knowing that I would have to. It was hard to catch the wisp of magic used to fix that mangled roller, but it was definitely there.”

The candy was ready, and he walked over to the roller that she had fixed earlier that day. Without breaking stride, he put the stripes on the cylinder, and then, he tossed the candy into the rollers.

He now had time to grin at her, and as he watched her, his own appearance shifted.

His eyes tilted and widened, his nose flattened and his neck widened. The ears that extended up and out of his hair had grey tips.

Bel jolted. Myth and legend, even amongst the reindeer. She was looking at a wolf-fey. She remembered one of the other girls telling her that the wolf-fey would come out to get them if they dared to stray from the workshop. Apparently, that moment had come.

He was smiling, but he obviously read the panic in her eyes. “Bel, what is it?”

“They warned us that you would come for us and tear our throats out.”

“Who warned you?”

She rubbed her forehead. “When we first arrived and Ru couldn’t watch us, we had fey caretakers. Well, some of us did. Mine warned me of the wolf-fey that hunted reindeer and tore us apart. She said that if I ever tried to leave the workshop, the wolf-fey would be sent to hunt me.”

Rex moved quickly, coming around and gripping her arms. She was too surprised to move.

“Tell me her name and I will give her a taste of her own medicine when we get back.”

She blinked. “So, you
were
sent to get me.”

He sighed and ran his hands along her arms. The gloves he was wearing stuck to her so he peeled them off and discarded them in a bin.

“Of course. We were sent to get all of you, but not like you think. You have to come back willingly or not at all. No one can force Christmas magic. It has to be offered up willingly.”

She licked her lips. “So, you aren’t going to hurt me?”

“No. Who was your nanny?”

“Loma.”

He made a face. “Loma was a bitch. Literally. She was a beta in the workshop fey clan and eventually ended up transferred away. No one knew why, but now, I am getting some ideas. This was right after you arrived?”

She nodded. “Yes. When Ru and Santa were recruiting the others.”

“Did you know that a reindeer of Santa’s team can destroy a fey with little effort?”

Bel shook her head, swamped in the sweet scent of him. “I have never tried.”

He grinned, and she could see the sharp edge of his canines.

“Don’t start now on my account. I just wanted you to know that I know so you don’t have to hide. I have five more days to convince you to come back with me.”

She blinked. “You really mean convince and not coerce?”

“I do.”

She looked at the press and blew gently, smiling as the gears settled into place. “Fine. I will watch you make candy canes and you can start convincing.”

He pressed a kiss to her lips and then left her, gloved up again and went to work shaping the warm candy.

“Can you man the trays?”

He started to fill the first one with swift motions.

“Um, sure. You might want to put the glamour back on. You look a little feral for a candy maker.”

He chuckled. “I do this every year. Rex’s Candies has been in operation for over a decade. Before that, I was somewhere else, as someone else. The magic chooses for you, as you know.”

She looked down at herself. “I look like me.”

“Only because this is your first time in the human world.”

Bel moved into position and switched out the pans when the first was filled. There was a rack waiting, and she set it into place.

“So, the wolf-fey face...”

“Is my real face. It doesn’t change. The humans here can’t see it. The snowflake magic covers my appearance, no matter what I do to myself.”

She moved the full tray out of the way; his hands kept working.

“Wow, um, okay. Was it the snowflake that gave it away?”

He chuckled. “It let me know I was on the right track. You could have been anyone, from a customer to a delivery driver. I have been watching for you for weeks.”

She nodded. “Should I start the second copper vat?”

He grinned. “Are you willing to help?”

“Of course. I want to see that press in action.”

He nodded, “Right. The candy has to be hotter for that.”

“I know. I will just get it started. You have to do the actual work.”

She set the copper pot on the burner, loaded in the premeasured sugar and turned the flame on.

When the sugar was started, she went and switched out the pans again, leaving him one for the last of the batch.

With that done, she returned to the sugar and watched that the heat was not too high.

When she heard the snap of gloves, she knew that Rex was behind her.

“Well, it seems you have things under control here. I will wash out the last vessel and set it to dry.”

She nodded and kept an eye on the sugar. The melt was slow, but when it started to go, it seemed to all get the same idea in a rush. The crystals disappeared and the clear liquid continued to heat.