Quote the Drow Nevermore

by Martha Carr

  “Kind of a big one for this apartment, huh?”

  Cheyenne smirked. “I’m not even a little worried about the money, Em. That’s not what she meant.”

  “Huh.” Ember licked her lips and tried to put the pieces together. “So, you’re talking about the price of being your mom for twenty minutes? Wearing you out like that, and almost giving Caroline and William Alban a heart attack.”

  “Sure, that counts.” The halfling blinked at her friend and cocked her head. “That and by the end of next week, everyone who works here is gonna know Bianca Summerlin’s daughter just moved in.”

  “Oh.” Blinking slowly, Ember studied the edge of the conference table and let out a wry chuckle. “Well, you did say you were done hiding, right?”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  “I can’t believe you did this.” Ember wheeled herself farther into their new apartment and laughed. “For real.”

  “For real.” Cheyenne jingled the two keys on individual keyrings and handed Ember one. “Don’t lose that.”

  “Please.”

  “Okay.” The halfling rubbed her hands together and looked at their new digs. “New car. New apartment. Change of lifestyle. This might be worth it.”

  “Yeah, now we just gotta keep those bull’s-head idiots from breaking into the place and blowing up the Panamera, and we’re golden.”

  Cheyenne laughed and spun around. “I’ll handle that part, Em. You wanna call around and find some movers?”

  “To move what? The only things I want out of my apartment are my clothes and my laptop. Probably that plant, too.”

  The halfling clicked her tongue and frowned in mock pity. “Can’t leave the plant.”

  “Hey, at least it’s alive. Seriously, most of my stuff is still packed in the bags you brought to the hospital. I don’t think we need movers.”

  “Okay. Decorating, then. If you’re up for it.” Pulling out her wallet one more time, Cheyenne handed her debit card to her new roommate. “Seriously. Whatever you think is gonna look good in here. I trust you. Just no more of this white and silver and hardwood. Kinda makes it feel like we’re standing in a glass box.”

  “I think that’s the point.”

  “I think I prefer a Goth box.”

  They both laughed, and Ember stared at Cheyenne’s debit card, shaking her head. “If you really want me to do this, I’ll do it. But it’ll be tasteful, got it? Don’t expect me to go full Goth on this apartment.”

  “Ha, ha. I’ll handle that part too. So. You think you’ll be okay in this awesome new spot by yourself for a couple of hours?”

  “Where are you racing off to now?”

  “Just to go shove all my clothes into a trash bag and pack up Glen. My computer, Em. Server, tower, monitors, all that stuff?”

  “I had no idea Glen was so multi-faceted.”

  Cheyenne pointed at her friend and grinned. “That’s exactly what she is. All the different pieces working together to make magic. Which, actually, doesn’t mix well with real magic. I found that out through personal experience.”

  Ember snorted and pushed herself closer to the wall of windows to get a better view. “Well, I’ve got a fully charged phone and the internet and Ms. Summerlin’s debit card—”

  “Ah! Everybody and the Ms. Summerlin spiel. Et tu, Brute?”

  “So, if I need you for anything, which I probably won’t since we already grabbed dinner, I guess you’re off the hook for a few hours.”

  “Oh, thank you, Ms. Gaderow. You’re so generous.” Cheyenne spun around, spread her arms, and bent in a sweeping, exaggerated bow.

  “Yeah, yeah. You can bow down before me when you get back.” Ember waved the halfling off and chuckled as she started the process of making a fully furnished apartment feel more like they lived there.

  “Seriously, call me about anything. Even if, I don’t know, you need snacks or something.”

  “Oh, so only for emergencies. Got it. Bye.” The fae wiggled her fingers, and Cheyenne spun back around with a snort before stepping out of their new apartment and into the hallway.

  She locked the door behind her and paused. That’s a good habit to keep. Especially if she’s in there by herself.

  Nodding, Cheyenne headed down the hall and smirked when she pressed the elevator call button. “So much better than stairs.”

  She got back to her old, crappy apartment half an hour later, chuckling to herself as she unlocked the front door. This place was a dump even without comparing it to Pellerville Gables Apartments. Maybe now Mom will come down for a visit.

  That thought made her stop, and she blinked as the image of Bianca Summerlin heading into Richmond for the day entered her mind. “Not a chance.” She laughed and shoved open the door.

  Most of her clothes were still in the dryer, which made shoving them into a giant trash bag that much easier. Then she went through her closet and the bathroom, sweeping random things into the bag until it felt full enough. Cheyenne dropped the trash bag by the front door and got to work disassembling her desktop setup. I didn’t think I’d be moving again for a while, but at least I made it easy on myself.

  She found an empty shoebox in the front closet and stacked all the cords and cables into it, then broke Glen down as much as possible without compromising any of the larger tech pieces. She stood back and surveyed the scattered parts and shook her head. “Gonna take a few trips. Trash bag first.”

  Once she was sure the black plastic bag wouldn’t rip open the way she’d slung it over her shoulder, Cheyenne stepped out into the hall again and walked toward the staircase. I feel like Goth Santa right now.

  The door three apartments down from hers opened, and R’mahr stuck out his head. “Cheyenne! Hello! I was just about to come knock on your door and ask if you…” The troll’s gaze fell on the huge black sack bouncing against the back of the halfling’s legs, and his eyes widened in concern. “What’s that?”

  “Some things I’m taking…somewhere else.” She smiled and watched the guy’s excitement melt into confused sadness. Oh, man. He’s gonna take this personally no matter what I say. “How you doin’ today, R’mahr?”

  “Are you…are you moving?”

  “What?” Yadje stomped across their apartment before squeezing into the doorway beside her husband. “Why would you even suggest a fool thing like that, you—” When the troll woman caught sight of the halfling’s black bag, her wide scarlet eyes took on the same level of deep hurt. “That’s an awfully large bag.”

  “Yeah, I’m just taking a few things out to my car.”

  “You know, Cheyenne, if you’re moving out of your apartment, you could have asked us for help.” Yadje glanced over her shoulder at their young daughter curled up on the couch with another book. “Bryl is exceptionally talented at organizing. We would have helped you pack in a heartbeat.”

  “We would have?” R’mahr shot his wife a dumbfounded look.

  “Oh, don’t let your mouth hang open like that. You look like my Uncle Danriz.” Clicking her tongue, Yadje stepped into the hallway and waved toward Cheyenne’s trash bag. “We can help you now, at least. And then we’ll be out of your hair when you’re out of the building.”

  “Oh, no.” Fighting back a laugh, the halfling dropped her bag onto the floor. “I’m not moving out, okay? I’ll still be around.”

  “Then what’s that?” R’mahr stared at the bag.

  “Just a few things I’m taking with me. I found a new office on the other side of town. You know, like one of those co-working spaces.” Wow. Lies just rolling off the tongue.

  “You got an office job?” Yadje frowned. “That doesn’t seem like you.”

  “No, it’s…okay.” Cheyenne scratched her head, her wrist chains clinking as they slid down her arm. “Space for me to do what I’m already doing, only not in my apartment.”

  The corners of R’mahr’s mouth turned down in confusion. “Why would you do that?”

  “I
don’t know. I read something about how unhealthy it is to stay in your house all the time, so I figured I’d try this out.”

  The troll man’s laugh didn’t sound convinced or amused. “Cheyenne, you’re gone most of the time. We can see your car right outside our window.”

  “Oh, you can, huh?” Trolls keeping an eye on me too. I know they mean well, but it’s time to get out. “Did you see it blow up yesterday?”

  “That was your car?” Husband and wife gawked at her, then glanced at each other. “Who would want to blow up your car?”

  “That’s so far beyond me right now, R’mahr, I can’t even pretend to come up with an answer.”

  “That’s awful, Cheyenne.” Yadje clasped her hands in front of her chest and slowly shook her head. “Are you okay?”

  “Oh, yeah. I’m fine, thanks. Listen, I didn’t mean to worry you guys. If I were actually moving out, of course I would’ve said something.” Not technically a lie. “I’m just rearranging things and trying to keep everything running smoothly, you know?”

  Yadje raised an eyebrow, her scarlet eyes narrowing as she lifted her chin toward the Drow halfling. “It’s a good thing to strive for improvement.”

  Yeah, she’s calling bullshit. “Right. That’s what I’m doing, Yadje. Striving for improvement. Just had to make some changes.”

  “So, you’ll be home even less than you are now?” R’mahr asked, barely noticing when his wife elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Probably, yeah. But like I said, I’ll still be around. You guys can’t get rid of me that easily.” Cheyenne pointed at the troll couple and chuckled, but they gave her thin, wan smiles in return. “Oh, by the way, I’m thinking about going to Peridosh tomorrow to grab whatever I missed last time. I know you normally head out there on Wednesdays, but do you wanna come with me tomorrow?”

  Bryl’s book thumped onto the floor, and the troll girl leaped off the couch to run toward her parents standing in the doorway. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Maji, can we go with her tomorrow? Please?”

  The halfling fought back a laugh as the kid tugged on her mother’s sleeve, a huge grin across her violet-colored cheeks.

  Yadje deftly removed her daughter’s fingers to hold Bryl’s hand instead and shot her husband a sidelong glance. “What do you think, R’mahr?”

  “Oh, please?” Bryl whined. “I have to have that calver fin to finish my Lightless Pike. And I want to go with Cheyenne. I can show her everything!”

  “Hmm.” R’mahr glanced slowly at Cheyenne and winked. “If your maji says she wants to go, we will go.”

  “Well, I can’t possibly say no now, can I?” Yadje stared at her husband and raised a thin scarlet eyebrow.

  He chuckled and shrugged. “I leave it entirely up to you.”

  The troll woman patted her daughter’s hand, glanced at the ceiling, and couldn’t keep a straight face any longer. “Yes, my love. If Cheyenne wants some company at Peridosh tomorrow, we’ll go with her.”

  Bryl squeezed herself between her parents, her narrow shoulders bumping their hips. She didn’t say a word but slowly raised clenched fists, her eyes wide and hopeful and bursting with excitement.

  “Oh, kid, you’re killing me.” Cheyenne laughed. “Nobody could say no to a face like that.”

  “Yes! Yes! We’re going, we’re going, we’re going!” Bryl jumped up and down in the doorway, knocking her parents against the doorframe and each other.

  The troll couple laughed weakly and shared a look that made Cheyenne think the kid would be bouncing like this for the rest of the night. Can’t win ‘em all, I guess.

  “There you have it then, Cheyenne.” Yadje smiled and nodded once. “We’ll join you tomorrow.”

  “Awesome. You guys know where the entrance is in Union Hill, right?” They nodded, and Cheyenne picked up her trash bag to sling it over her shoulder again. “Great. Meet you there at two?”

  “An excellent time. Yes.” R’mahr nodded vigorously, his usual enthusiasm back. “We’ll see you there tomorrow.”

  “Okay. Cool. I’ll be making trips back and forth to my car. In case it sounds a lot busier up here than usual, that’s what’s going on.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want any help?”

  The halfling nodded, smiling as she took off toward the stairwell again. “I’m sure. Thanks anyway. Looking forward to tomorrow.”

  “Yes, so are we!” R’mahr leaned out into the hall and pumped a fist in the air. Snorting, his wife grabbed his arm and pulled him back into their apartment before quickly shutting the door. Her muffled voice followed Cheyenne until she started down the stairs and the door to the stairwell closed behind her.

  She focused on her footing with the relatively heavy bag bumping awkwardly against her back. If they don’t know where I am, that’ll keep them safe too. A price for everything, huh?

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  On her sixth trip down to her car, Cheyenne finally had her clothes and all the pieces of Glen secured snugly in the trunk and the back seat of her Panamera. She dusted off her hands and turned to look up at the building she’d called home for the last few years. I could break the lease if I wanted. Better to keep the place as a decoy. For now, at least.

  She got into the driver’s seat, started the car, and flexed her fingers around the steering wheel. “I’m not gonna miss this place even a little.”

  Grinning, she pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward her fancy new apartment with an actual roommate, bringing everything she needed with her in the back of her fancy new car.

  “Okay, I realize I already used the ‘Honey, I’m home line,’ so this time, I’ll just go with—woah.” Cheyenne turned around from closing the apartment door and found Ember sitting in her wheelchair in the center of the living room, surrounded by at least a dozen large boxes. “You went nuts on the online shopping, huh?”

  “Did you know there are people out there who will pick your stuff up from any store in the area and bring it to you?” Ember grinned and swept an arm across the expanse of box-filled living room. “Like, it’s their business.”

  “For anyone who wants it?”

  “Yeah, I guess. I didn’t think to ask.” Ember laughed. “I mean, I’m not gonna make a bunch of phone calls like, ‘Hi, I’m Ember. I’m in a wheelchair. Can you do this stuff for me?’”

  Cheyenne bit her bottom lip and swerved around the closest stack of boxes. “Obviously, you don’t have to.”

  “I know, right? Guess we have a lot of unpacking to do tomorrow anyway.”

  “Uh…” Cheyenne walked toward the kitchen island and showed her friend the pint of Ben & Jerry’s she’d picked up before setting it down on the granite countertop. “About tomorrow.”

  “What happened now?” Ember wheeled herself down the aisle between boxes and went searching through the kitchen drawers.

  “Nothing crazy. I told you about my troll-family neighbors, right? Well, ex-neighbors, I guess.”

  “Yeah, the underwear crafters.” Ember snorted. “Holy shit. When they said fully furnished, they really meant fully.” She closed the drawer and held up two spoons. “Silverware and everything.”

  “Look at that.” The halfling stepped around the island to take the offered spoon, then opened the pint of ice cream and handed it over. “So, my troll friends have been trying to get me to go to Peridosh with them for a while, and I have to get over there soon anyway to pick up a bunch of ingredients I’ve never heard of for spells I don’t entirely trust.”

  “Huh.” Ember dug out a second huge spoonful of ice cream and passed the pint. “Sounds exciting.”

  “Yeah, maybe. I invited them to come with me tomorrow after lunch.”

  “Oh, man. You know, I’ve been in Richmond for, what? A little over four years? I’ve always wanted to go down there to see what it’s like.”

  “So, come with us.” Cheyenne shrugged and braved the chance of brain freeze with a giant bite of ice cream.

  “You know, you’re normally full of a
wesome ideas, Cheyenne.” Ember snatched the pint out of her friend’s hand. “But that’s not one of them.”

  The halfling chuckled. “Why not?”

  “First of all, I have zero magic.” Ember took another bite, then shook her spoon at her friend and talked around the mouthful. “So, if we ran into any kind of trouble, I wouldn’t be very useful. Forget the whole wheelchair thing.”

  “I was in a bar fight with five giant idiots the other night. By myself.” Cheyenne folded her arms and leaned against the counter. “Not an issue if you don’t have any magic to protect me.”

  “Okay, but I didn’t start with the most important reason, did I?” The fae shoveled more ice cream into her mouth and handed back the pint. “I can’t go because I look like a human, Cheyenne. Useful for keeping my magical-without-magic identity a secret, for sure. Not so great in a place where any human who steps inside probably isn’t stepping back out again.”

  Cheyenne blinked. “Huh. I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “Yeah, I know. You’ve been trying to keep your drow side a secret. Well, I’ve been trying to keep my magicless side a secret too. Which is every side. I can get by out in the open and call it an illusion spell. Plus, I’ve been told that fae have a pretty distinct smell, so I guess that’s still going for me.”

  The halfling almost sprayed ice cream all over the counter when she laughed, then quickly handed the ice cream to her friend so she could focus. “A smell?”

  “Yeah. A fae smell. I don’t know.”

  “I never picked up on that. And the whole thing about drow having a seriously intense sense of smell is true.”

  Ember shrugged. “Maybe it’s ‘cause you didn’t know I was fae ‘til, like, last week. And you just thought it was me.”

  “We can stop talking about your fae scent any time now.”

  Laughing, Ember spread her arms. A glob of ice cream dripped off her spoon, but she didn’t notice. “I’m just laying it out for you, Cheyenne. Unless there’s a way for me to look fae, I can’t go down there.”