“Well,” Jason said poking through the small refrigerator in the kitchenette area, “At the very least it’s a change of scenery.”
“How can you possibly be hungry again? We just ate breakfast,” Allie teased him as she walked past, heading out to open the store for business. Saturday was usually a busy day, and she hoped they’d start to see the sort of tourists who were interested in shopping and not interrogating her.
“That was hours ago. You’ve got to feed the machine Allie.”
“If ate as often as you do,” she yelled back over her shoulder, walking up to the front door, “I’d break my machine.”
She could just barely hear him laughing, the sound faint across the length of the store. She opened the front door and let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d held as she’d unlocked it; the front door step was empty. The new windows gleamed in the sunlight. Feeling foolish for letting Bleidd and Jason get her so worried she left the door open to the beautiful day and turned the sign to open, flipping the light switch on the wall so that the overhead lights buzzed to life.
Turning to the side of the room filled with book shelves she pulled out the list she’d made of the phone orders and headed over to start finding the books. They were all easily located and five minutes later, Allie was returning to the sales counter with an armload of special orders. Jason was leaning against the counter eating a sandwich; after a moment Allie identified it as the lunch she’d brought in yesterday. “You know that’s old right?”
He shrugged, “Tastes fine. So everything’s quiet?”
“Yeah, everything looks fine. I told you it would be.”
“You might think we’re overreacting but Allie, honestly, and I’m saying this as your friend, I don’t understand where you’re coming from on this one. You’re having panic attacks about this stuff, but then you’re totally blowing us off when we try to help you. I don’t get it,” Jason ate while he talked, his voice pensive between chewing.
“Jason, I just…”Allie stopped, not sure how to explain. If she let herself believe she was really in danger now she’d lose any ability to function. She just could not think it. “It’s not that easy. And the panic attacks aren’t because of what’s going on they’re because of what happened before. The stuff now just triggers things. I don’t want you and Bleidd wasting your time babysitting me because of stupid things.”
“Have you told Jessilaen?” Jason asked, in a tone that made it clear he expected the answer to be no.
“For your information I have. I told him everything that’s been going on,” Allie said, feeling some satisfaction that coming clean to Jess about everything had the added benefit of wiping that know-it-all expression off of Jason’s face.
“Oh!” Jason didn’t bother to hide his surprise. “Well good. What did he say?”
She rolled her eyes, organizing the books into piles by which customer wanted what, “That he wants the cameras fixed as soon as possible.”
“Huh. Well he and I agree on that one. Have you called someone to come look at the system?”
“Not yet. I wouldn’t even know who to call. Do you have any idea how old that system is?” she reached for the phone as she spoke, watching Jason polish off the last of the sandwich. “Where do you put it all?”
“Are you calling now?”
“I just said I don’t know who to call. I need to get back to people about these phone orders so they’ll come pick them up,” she said, distracted. She started to dial the first number on her list.
“Tell you what then you do that and I’ll track down someone to come out and look at the surveillance system.” Jason said, already pulling out his cell phone.
“You don’t need to do…Hi, is this Phil?” Allie cut off mid-sentence as the man she was calling answered the phone. She made a face but waved Jason away, watching as he huddled in a corner and started talking into his phone. “Hi, this is Allie at Between the Worlds, I got your message about needing a copy of ‘Signs and Portents’. I have one in stock….yes….uh-huh….not a problem, we’re open until 5:30 on Saturdays….sure, I’ll have it behind the counter for you….you too, thanks.”
She wrapped up her first call but Jason was still on his phone so she called the next one on her list, and kept going with one eye on Jason. She talked to several people and left one message as his conversation dragged out and she started to wonder if he hadn’t called a friend to talk to while she worked. The curiosity was driving her crazy and she was tempted to walk closer to where he was standing and try to overhear something, if only to know whether he was talking about her camera system or not, but her ankle was starting to hurt. She knew from experience that if she didn’t take a break and sit down she’d really be in pain later.
Keeping one eye on Jason she reluctantly sat on the stool she’d put behind the counter when she’d come back to work after being injured. She reached down and was rubbing her ankle, trying to decide how much of the computer system she could afford to pay for herself before she’d have no choice but to let Jess help, when the bells above the door rang. The sound got her attention immediately because it was not a noise she had ever heard them make before, as if the bells had been wrapped in cloth: muffled and subdued. Allie had no idea what to make of that. If it was someone from the Dark court here to start trouble or someone who meant her harm the bells should not have rung at all and the ward should have broken…
She looked at the customer just walking in and realized he was an elf. A very young elf she thought in some shock, and alone. You didn’t see the younger elves often outside of Fairy, which meant that Allie hadn’t seen an elf this young in decades. The birthrate was extraordinarily low, favored male children, and the mortality rate in childbirth – for mothers and babies - even with magic and the use of human technology was very high so that children were a precious commodity. On the rare occasions when a family might decide to risk their precious offspring in the human realm or Borderland the youth in question would be accompanied by a half dozen relatives at least. And yet here this one was alone. Despite the weirdness with the bells and feeling of warning that came with that Allie was intrigued and her curiosity got the better of her.
He was tall, but probably not as tall as he would be when he was fully grown. He had the look of a human teenager of perhaps sixteen or seventeen, which meant that he was probably around a hundred, give or take a few decades. His hair was a rich chestnut brown which he wore loose over a pristine t-shirt bearing the logo of a rock band. She’d bet real money the shirt was brand new. From the look of the jeans the entire outfit had probably come out of a bag within the last few hours.
Allie stood up slowly, careful to put most of the weight on her good leg, and walked out from behind the counter. “Hello, may I help you?”
The elven boy’s eyes, an unusual light hazel, took in the store with interest before settling on Allie. When he spoke it was in Elvish, “Pardon, but do you speak the language?”
Once again Allie felt a strong sense of warning. Something was not right here. Even if he had somehow, completely inexplicably managed to get free to wander around Ashwood alone, he had to speak English or know that it was spoken here. Elven children were taught the human language of their nearest neighbor from a young age, in some cases several of them. It was barely within the realm of possibility that he could be from a Fairy Holding that did not border an English speaking country, but he should have tried another human language first. Very few humans spoke Elvish with any degree of fluency and those that did were usually military or politicians. In a very few cases scholars, but that would be at universities not small bookstores, and there was no reason for him to look at Allie and think she was anything but human. Nonetheless she answered very politely, if cryptically, in kind “I speak several languages fluently. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Jason was off the phone but had tactfully melted into the shelves. Of course Allie thought wryly he doesn’t understand what we’re saying, he thinks I’m
just helping another customer, nothing unusual. But you are unusual aren’t you?
The young elf switched his appraisal to Allie in a way that made her eyebrows go up caught between skepticism and grudging respect. He smiled wolfishly at her, “I’m not sure. Perhaps you can. I’ve never been in a store like this before.”
“No offense intended, but you don’t look as if you’ve been out of Fairy at all before,” she said carefully as he continued to run his gaze over her as if he liked what he saw.
He laughed, “Very observant. I haven’t. So I’d like to make the most of this opportunity if you know what I mean.”
He stepped forward as he said the last so that they were standing close enough if he leaned forward he could kiss her. Allie had to admire the kid’s moxie – young as he was she doubted most of the adults around him, which would be almost everyone all the time, ever treated him as anything but a child. On the other hand the idea of getting hit on by the Fey equivalent of a teenager made her want to giggle. How do I tell someone three times my age that he’s too young for me? Allie wondered, not wanting to hurt his feelings. She decided to intentionally misunderstand his meaning, “Of course. If this is your first trip to a Bordertown there’s a lot to see and do. Usually when I get tourists in here it’s humans looking for unusual books, so I may not have much that would interest you. You might try across the street though. Curious Curios has a very unusual selection.”
He smiled slightly. This close she couldn’t totally block him out even with her shields up and she felt his respect at her response. It made her wonder if he was used to less polite rejection. “You speak Elvish very well.”
“So do you,” Allie replied dryly, earning a slight laugh from the strange boy.
“Fair enough. My name is Sal. I’m here staying with a friend, but I find the staying part a bit too sedentary. I thought it was time to liven things up a bit,” his smile widened as if that were a private joke.
Sal? Allie thought fighting not to show how intrigued she really was. He’s giving me his nickname right off? That’s a huge breach of etiquette….She nodded slightly, “My name is Allie, I own this place or perhaps you could say it owns me. I gather your friend has no idea you are here right now?”
That surprised him into a full laugh, a sound like bells ringing. It reminded Allie of the way her ward-bells hadn’t rung properly when he’d come in. “Oh no. He has no idea. He would not approve at all of me wandering around going into stores by myself.”
“It sounds like he’s worried about your welfare.”
“I’m not as young as all that,” the boy said, smirking, “and I think he’s more worried about my father’s reaction if I get into any trouble.”
“I can understand that. I am glad to have met you Sal, but unfortunately I have other things to attend to now. If you have any questions or need any help finding anything here just ask,” Allie said, suddenly wanting some space to think about this odd encounter.
His look turned measuring, but his voice stayed pleasant. “Of course, I don’t mean to monopolize your time. I have very much enjoyed meeting you as well Allie. I’m certain we will talk again.”
Something about the way he said the last bit felt like a threat and it gave Allie pause. She didn’t feel anything dangerous from him, in fact his emotions were a mix of happiness and excitement about on par with what she’d expect from any teenager who had slipped the adult leash and snuck off to have an adventure. And yet…she watched him wander over to the first row of books and begin browsing, looking like any other shopper.
She went back to the counter and found Jason waiting for her looking as curious as she felt. When he spoke at least he was smart enough to keep his voice to a whisper. “What was that about?”
“He says he just wants to browse,” Allie whispered back.
“Really? He looks so young. I’ve never seen an elf that young before.”
“You won’t, outside of Fairy Holdings,” she said, feeling perplexed all over again. He hadn’t lied to her, she knew that, and yet even if it was entirely true his story was still somehow a story. Allie couldn’t quite figure it out.
“Weird,” Jason murmured, and they both watched the boy idly flip through a paperback novel.
While they were standing there the bell over the door rang again and this time when Allie looked up she did a double take.
“Liz!” she cried out, startling the browsing elf into jerking backwards. He turned and looked at her wide eyed, but she ignored him, for once not caring about good customer service. She could count the number of times Liz had come into the store ever on one hand. She limped around the counter as quickly as she could as Jason wisely stepped back out of the way.
Allie’s cousin was standing uncertainly in the doorway and a moment later Allie recognized the woman standing slightly behind her as well, “Candice! Oh my Gods, I can’t believe it. I haven’t seen you in forever. How are you?”
Liz’s best friend since childhood, Candice, smiled at Allie’s enthusiasm. Candice Reed was tall and stately, her blond hair carefully arranged in a bun, her slacks and blouse tastefully casual. Everything about her made it clear she had style and class and Allie always felt like a dumpy little pony next to Candice’s sleek presence. Luckily Candice had always had a soft spot for Allie, because Allie had grown up adoring the older girl, who had seemed to effortlessly succeed at everything she did. Now Candice turned a benevolent and slightly amused look on Allie as her friend’s cousin wrapped her up in a hug.
“It’s so good to see you. What are you doing here? Come in, come in, don’t just stand in the doorway. Did you need something? Or did you just stop by?” Allie said quickly going from one subject to another.
“Oh, ummm, just stopped by. Wow this place hasn’t changed at all has it?” Liz said as Allie grabbed her arm and all but dragged her up to the counter with Candice trailing behind. Liz blinked hard when she saw Jason, “Hey Jason, I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Hey Liz. I’m just keeping Allie company for a bit. She’s been having some bad luck lately and I thought, since I don’t have anything else to do, I’d hang around here,” Jason said with his usual cheer.
“Bad luck? Really?” Liz sounded interested, but Allie sensed nervousness, not concern from her cousin. Then again Liz had not handled the drama last month well and Allie could understand why she might be gun shy around anything reminiscent of that.
“Jason this is Candice, Candice our roommate Jason. I don’t think you guys have ever met before but if I’m spacing then just ignore me,” Allie said, as Jason and Candice exchanged polite nods. Despite her close friendship with Liz Candice rarely came to the house and Allie was fairly sure she’d never met Jason before. Then switching topics before Liz could bring it back up, “It’s okay Liz, just some random bad luck, nothing dire. Someone broke the front windows-“
“What? That’s horrible,” Liz meant it this time and Allie relaxed a little bit. “Did you call the police?”
“Yes, they’re looking into it,” Allie said watching out of the corner of her eye as the young elf slipped out of the store. The bells gave the same muffled chime when he left, but Allie didn’t have time to think about it.
“Well I hope they catch whoever did it.” Liz said, and again Allie got a strange mix of nervousness and tension from her cousin.
“I’m not going to hold my breath, but at least if whoever did it comes back the cameras will be fixed. Well, hopefully they’ll be fixed first,” Allie said.
Liz’s eyes went blank, and Allie felt a surge of fear from Liz. Realizing it was probably rude to be reading the other woman, family or not, she tried to cut off the emotional input and to reassure her. “I’m sorry Liz I forgot you didn’t know. Something’s wrong with the cameras. They haven’t been working so I’m – well we’re, Jason’s helping – anyway we’re trying to get someone out to fix them.”
“Oh, right, speaking of that, “Jason said, “I talked to a friend at an IT company
in Berville. He does some freelance stuff once in a while for security companies and he said he’d be happy to come out today and take a look. Since you’re a friend he’ll give you an estimate and if it’s easy get it sorted today and bill you. If it’s not an easy fix he said he can at least tell you what’s wrong and what it’ll take to fix it.”
“Jason I owe you one,” Allie said.
He smiled but waved her off, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll feel better knowing the system’s back up.”
“Yeah you and everyone else apparently,” Allie sighed.
“You can’t blame people for worrying about you,” he shot back.
“Who’s worried? What’s going on Allie, I thought you said it was nothing?” Liz managed to sound disapproving and put out all at once.
“It is nothing Liz. Just some petty harassment stuff. It’s been upsetting me but it’s nothing for you to worry about,” Allie tried to project reassurance, even though projecting wasn’t something she was good at.
“I’m your cousin, if anyone is going to be worried about you it’ll be me,” stern disapproval had been replaced with an odd possessiveness that Allie wasn’t familiar with.
“No one needs to worry about me Liz, I’m fine. It’s all just getting blown out of proportion. Really. Jason and Bleidd just don’t want me alone here until the cameras get fixed, but that should be today, so no worries there. And now that I’m helping the Guard…”
“Wait, back up. Since when are you helping the Elven Guard?” Liz cut in frowning fiercely.
At the same time Candice, her voice disapproving, said, “You’re helping the Elven Guard?”
Allie bit back a sigh, wishing Liz wouldn’t always overreact to everything involving elves or the elven police. “They asked me to help them as a kind of inter-cultural translator. They’re working a missing person’s case and having some trouble questioning humans. So I’m helping. It’s not a big deal.”
Lost in Mist and Shadow: A Between the Worlds Novel Page 16