The Way

by Mary E. Twomey

  This so confused Alec that he dropped his defensive focus for a moment to stare at the man next to him. “What are you doing?”

  The three watched as Blue lifted her hand to curl and uncurl her fingers in a veiled acknowledgement of Sam’s greeting, and then dropped her tray by accident.

  Sam grinned at Blue in a way that summoned the now familiar blush to invade her. “I’m just saying hello. You know, waving. Is that a problem?” His accent stood out in the American bar, and a few nearby Femreaux gave him the glad eye.

  “Stop being a freak,” Liam whispered.

  “Oh, I’m a freak because I’m waving to her? Could this be misconstrued as ‘take your clothes off, love’?” He shook his head as a Femreaux who’d overheard his last statement responded with a flirtatious smile. “Not you.”

  “I think the direct translation is ‘I’m already wrapped around your finger, so here, take my whole hand and lead me wherever you want.’” Liam held his hand out slavishly before Sam batted it away.

  

  “Waitress!” called a voice from one of her tables. Blue ducked her head and went back to work.

  A song was blaring from the jukebox that Blue had never heard before. She tried to listen to the slurred and often unintelligible words of the high-voiced male singer as she averted her eyes. She trusted Steve to seat the Vemreaux she could feel watching her from across the bar.

  The last hour of the night passed with little of the levity diminishing in the Vemreaux who insisted on keeping each table full. Baird had sent Stephanie home at twelve-twenty, judging that Grettel could handle closing up the kitchen herself. “Hey, don’t seat anyone else,” Baird instructed his sister when she came up to the bar to get more shots.

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  Steve came up to the bar and stood beside Blue. He took no notice of her and nearly knocked her out of the way in his beeline for Baird. “It’s twelve-thirty. I’m tired, and I’ve got a sore back,” he stated with just enough whine to make the complaint believable. “I’ve pulled this shift too many days in a row, so I’m going home now. Blue can handle the rest of the tables.” Without waiting for a response, Steve took off his apron and tossed it to Baird, who looked like he wanted to give Steve something more to cry over than a troublesome lumbar. The Vemreaux left the bar; it was the fastest he’d moved all night long.

  When the round clock behind the bar finally clicked to twelve forty-five, Baird sighed. “Alright, guys. Bar’s closed for the night.”

  “Come on, Baird. Just one more for the road,” Martin slurred.

  “Really, man. Usually you give me a ten-minute warning or something, so I know to order another. You can’t send me away like that,” Lawrence complained.

  “You should really branch out next time, Lawrence. You know I can make other drinks, right?” Baird made another round of shots and lined them up on a tray behind him for the booth he knew would not leave at one. The barflies grumbled, but stood and made their exit together.

  Blue and Elle began collecting bills and clearing tables, subtly conveying that it was high time for everyone to leave. Some Vemreaux begrudged giving up their well-earned seats after a long day of work, while others took the hint and headed to their vehicles soon after paying down their tab. Finally, it was just the lone booth and the staff that occupied the diner.

  “Hey, midget. You up for one last order?” Baird called into the kitchen. “It’d be great if you could make a platter of pancakes for these guys. I can tear down the patio.”

  “Of course, Baird,” Grettel consented.

  Blue saw Elle’s stiff and deliberate demeanor and recommended she sit down. “No, no,” Elle insisted, shaking her head. Blue could tell by her hooded eyes that she was pushing through a headache from the lack of sleep and loud music that had thankfully stopped. Blue pulled out a chair and pointed to it, imitating Baird’s firm way of commanding.

  Elle chortled. “Just for a minute, okay? I want to get out of here at a reasonable hour tonight so I can actually rest.”

  Blue reached for the large square bucket she was using to bus the tables, but found Sam holding it instead, smiling around his freshly lit cigarette. With a look of disgust, he picked a dirty plate up off the nearest table and rested it in the gray plastic bin.

  “What are you doing?” Blue tried to keep the smile out of her voice. She watched him pick up the next plate with just the tips of two fingers to avoid the smear of curried blood ketchup that dripped over the side.

  “I’m trying not to lose my lunch,” Sam admitted. “Oy! Liam! Grab Elle’s bin and make yourself useful.” He motioned with his shoulder to Elle’s bucket that rested on the ground at her feet.

  At the suggestion of a Vemreaux lowering himself to do her job while she was still able-bodied, Elle shot up out of her seat with new life.

  Liam stood uncertainly and moseyed over to Elle. “So, what do I do?” the prince asked, lifting the gray bin up off the floor.

  Elle tried to take it from him, but he raised it over his head and out of her reach. “Not so fast, blondie. Sit down and tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

  “Um, does Baird know about this?” Elle made another swipe at the tray in the air with her left arm and immediately regretted it. “Ah!” The stitches pulled at her skin. She winced at the sting. She held her side to soothe it. “On second thought, I think I will sit down a little bit longer.” Elle stared at Liam, taking in the same blue she saw every day in Baird and his sister. “Oh! Your eyes! They’re the same as Baird’s. Weird. Never seen ’em on anyone but them.” She sat down in the chair, unable to tear her eyes from his alien ones.

  Liam lowered the bin to his waist. “Yeah, but mine go with a much better face, so you know, I’m still more handsome than he is.” The prince tossed her a dazzling smile and a wink, and then looked at the table in confusion. “What do I do?” he repeated.

  Elle stared up at him like he was a puzzling insect that just told her a very complicated riddle. “Uh, you just take the dirty dishes and put them in the bucket. Nothing to it.”

  Liam scooped up two plates at a time and dumped them with a clatter into the bin. “Like that?” he asked for confirmation, pleased when Elle nodded. He repeated the action with seven shot glasses. “Hey! Look at me, Sam! I’m bussing tables!” His theatrical, joyful voice boomed across the diner with too much volume.

  “Where’s the paparazzi when you need them?” Sam was beginning to regret offering his help as he approached a particularly disgusting plate. “This is sick.” He played up his reaction to draw a second smile from his favorite waitress’ lips.

  “I’ll be outside making myself useful,” Alec informed his friends. “Baird looks like he could use some help with the patio. You got Liam, Sam?”

  “Every mouthwatering eyeful of him.”

  Liam flexed animatedly for his friend, drawing out a tired whoop from Elle.

  Blue giggled, and Sam endeared himself to the sound. With every dish that he blanched at, Blue’s smile unveiled itself a little more. By the time they finished the third table, she gave birth to a full-blown, teeth-bearing grin and a quiet laugh. The boys would finish clearing off a table and she would wipe it down and put the chairs atop it.

  Grettel opened her mouth when Sam handed her the tub of dirty dishes to wash, but no sound came out. “Thank you,” she whispered before ducking back into the kitchen.

  Sam threw Blue a quizzical look. Blue shook her head sadly in response. Blue was beginning to hide her face less and less, now that the diner was closed to outsiders and it was just them. The more she glanced over at Sam, the more relaxed his shoulders became. When Sam finally slumped into the booth with Liam, he patted the seat next to him.

  “Come on, little Wayward. Take a load off.”

  As Blue judged the decision to sit next to him, her eyes darting from him to the patio where Baird was, it caused the confident smile to wash from his face. Sam realized that he had not made as much progress as he
would have liked. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he began silently shouting at himself, berating his vulnerability.

  Instead of wallowing or dissecting his longings to have an A-blood sit next to him with all of her sulfuric stench, he began listing conquests in reverse chronological order. Each Femreaux had to have possessed a name, surely. He tried to recall the third one from the week previous. He was pretty sure she had dark hair. He was positive she had long legs.

  Blue shook her head at Sam’s offer, whispering, “I can’t. I don’t want to set off Baird again.”

  As Blue excused herself and walked away from the booth into the kitchen, Sam realized a sobering thought: he did not want to think of any Femreaux. They all seemed plain compared to Blue.

  Liam glanced down at his best friend and shook his head as he, for once, managed to keep his voice low. “Man, now you’re working at a diner for her? Did you really think that would impress her?” The platter of pancakes sitting in front of him was too tempting to resist, so he piled three onto one of the plates and shoved a forkful into his mouth.

  Sam decided to stop playing dumb since Elle was the only other person in the dining area, and her head was resting on the table out of whispering range. He took a drag on his cigarette, wide eyes staring at nothing. “Like you said last night, her brother hates me and she does whatever he says. Even if I did want to be, you know, with her at all, it couldn’t happen.”

  Liam’s mouth fell open that Sam conceded his denial so easily. “Would you hear yourself being all sensitive? Who are you? What happened to my boy who’d screw first and ask questions later?”

  Sam shrugged. He had been wondering the exact same thing. He righted himself when Baird and Alec came back in. They both were inflexible with the colder air and moved stiffly.

  Sam cast a warning at his friend. “Not another word, Liam.”

  Liam looked up at the ceiling, pretending to weigh the options of poking more fun or giving in and being a good guy. “Okay, okay,” he consented, lacing his hands together behind his head. “Do you think you could do me a solid and cut down on the Romeo eyes? It’d make jerking you around a little less… Well, just quit it. Either I throw jabs at you or Baird actually throws punches, so you know, tone it down. Let her come to you.” He shook his head at his friend in mock disappointment. “You know how to bait the Femreaux. Why’re you acting like a virgin?”

  Sam kicked Liam under the table hard to shut him up when Alec slid into the booth next to the prince. “Pancakes!” Alec exclaimed as he reached over Liam to grab a plate. “Finally! This is all I wanted.”

  “So how’d you like working in a diner?” Liam queried between mouthfuls. The excitement at having cleaned off tables danced in his face like a kid promised a new toy.

  Alec, not being one for self-revelatory conversation, replied in monotone. “I think I made the right career choice, despite the monkey I’m supposed to be guarding.” He inspected the syrup before drizzling it onto his steaming stack. “And Sam, that was maybe your worst attempt at flirting. Ever. What’s your deal with her?”

  The dig at being referred to as a primate didn’t even touch Liam. His pride at working a few minutes as a common man displayed proudly upon his puffed up chest. “Wait till ole’ Emperor Freddy hears about this. Prince Liam: Man of the People.”

  Alec cocked his head toward the prince as Baird emerged from the kitchen with girls behind him. “We still have to figure out how much you’re actually going to tell your dad. I hired Brody, you know, and I’ve been with your family since before Frederick was even born. We’re not exactly supposed to keep secrets regarding your safety from him.”

  Liam rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t going to get hurt putting dishes into a bucket. Francis’ pants, I’m not that fragile.” He pounded his fist to his chest once like a caveman.

  “Not bussing tables, which I’m sure will get adequate media coverage back home. I mean the fact that you’re buying the Light. We’ll be traveling with an assassin capable of killing the thing Vemreaux haven’t been able to catch or even photograph.” Alec tried to convey the seriousness of the situation to the goofy man next to him.

  “Technically,” Sam intervened, “she’s probably not killed anyone yet, so she’s not an assassin. She hasn’t actually done anything that’s too big of a red flag.”

  “Sam, she threw you up against the wall and attacked Liam’s guards. That’s cause for trial back home, at least,” Alec reminded him.

  Sam grumbled, “Well, we’re not at home, Alec. I don’t think telling Frederick about her will do anything to calm her brother down. I love Uncle Freddy, but he’s the emperor. He’s got an obligation to the public that we don’t. It’s too risky telling him about her. Or anyone, for that matter.”

  Alec shrugged, conceding for the moment.

  The three watched as Baird instructed Grettel and Elle to hurry home and lock the door behind them so they could settle in for the night while he stayed and sorted things out with Blue. They were all a little surprised at the gentle kiss he placed on Elle’s pouting lips and the affectionate ruffle of Grettel’s hair that he indulged in as he said goodnight to the girls. They were treated entirely different than Blue was.

  The moment of tenderness faded as Baird turned to the booth and tightened his shoulders. He snapped his fingers at his sister, who followed obediently a few paces behind him, clutching onto a plate that housed a nibbled sandwich.

  Liam ground his heel into Sam’s foot. “Keep your eyes to yourself.”

  Sam punched Liam under the table just above the knee in response. “Keep your mouth shut.”

  “I’m sorry, was that you trying to get to third base with me?” Liam joked. His smile turned into a grimace at Sam’s glower.

  After setting a tray of shots down on the table in front of the three Vemreaux, Baird slid into the booth next to Sam so that Blue could not, though she made no move to. She sat next to her brother and kept her head down, eyes on her sandwich.

  Baird was not one for wasting time when he could be home, so he cut right to the chase as Liam unabashedly downed the first shot. “Keep it to two shots, Liam. You’re unchanged, and that’s absinthe.” He cleared his throat. “Joe called me a little while ago and told me he talked to you, Liam. I told him I could find a decent replacement for Blue if he could call The Way and speed things along. It took months longer than it should have for them to sign her over, and we just don’t have that kind of time now. He’s gonna call the headmaster tomorrow to see if it can all be expedited.”

  “Who’d you choose?” Blue asked quietly. Alec was surprised she spoke at all.

  Looking a little guilty at being confronted with this, Baird glanced at the shaded window behind Liam to avoid his sister’s question. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll be gone by the time he’s here anyway. He’ll do fine.”

  The other three were mildly curious at this unimportant piece of information, but Blue suppressed her prying questions and trusted that Baird knew what he was doing. She had grown to understand that there was little use in pushing Baird to do what he did not want to. She was not the only sibling born with a strong will.

  Liam spoke up. “I’ve been keeping current with Joe about paperwork and everything, so that won’t slow anything up.”

  “Perfect,” Baird said with a nod.

  “So if all goes according to plan, we’ll have ownership of Blue by Wednesday.” Liam reiterated bits of the plan they all knew. “And we’ll be gone the next day.”

  Alec cut in with the questions he needed to ask to do his job as he reached for the green liquid in front of him. “Is there anything we need to know?”

  Sam’s scowl betrayed him. “She’s sitting right there, guys. She can answer for herself, you know.”

  Baird ignored Sam and spoke for his sister. “She hasn’t done most things that Vemreaux have. She’s only been in the world a month, so don’t assume she knows things that everyone else does. She picks it up quick enough, but you know,
don’t take anything for granted. And like I said last night, don’t leave her alone, either.”

  At this, Blue cut her eyes over to him, but said nothing to what she considered an insult.

  Baird elaborated, “Once she gets over there, if things get clearer to her how she should kill your predator, someone should be there so she can do whatever it is that needs to be done. If she needs a specific weapon, you get it for her. If she needs a ride, you take her. Stuff like that.”

  The clarification gave Blue back a little of her dignity.

  “It wouldn’t do well for us to go through all this trouble just to have her get arrested or lost over there because of something stupid that could’ve been prevented.”

  Liam scratched the five o’clock shadow on his face with his fingertips. “She’ll be my personal servant.” Remembering that she was at the table, he addressed Blue directly, though she was partially obscured behind her brother. “Is that okay with you? It’ll make sure you’re with me most of the time. I’ve never had one before, but my sister has one. It wouldn’t be too weird. Might be strange that she’s a girl, but they’ll just have to get over it.” Liam stretched his large arms behind him and draped them on the back of the booth. “What else do we need to know? Does she like, shed her skin or Hulk out if we leave her out in the sun for too long?”

  Baird didn’t understand the “Hulk out” part, but he got the rest just fine. He sighed and looked down at the table, trying to find the right words. “Actually…”

  “Baird, don’t,” Blue warned. “I’ve got it under control.”

  Baird stared at his sister and shook his head. “You know that’s not true.”

  “It didn’t happen last night, or when I took them down,” she motioned to Alec and Sam. “Not worth mentioning. Please,” she pleaded, turning the full force of her otherworldly eyes on him.

  “I don’t believe you,” he ruled. “And I won’t be there to hide the bodies in Europe. They need to know what they’re getting themselves into. They have Liam to protect.” Baird turned his attention to the wary men. “There is something you should know. Blue…she can’t always control her temper...her abilities. You have to understand, everything’s an effort. She’s far stronger than anyone you’ve ever met, so she has to really try hard with even normal things to stay under the radar. Sometimes it’s too much for her to hide.”