8. Redd
It just kept getting worse and worse. When Mayor Tommins told me I needed to go rebuild some shelves at the local trinket shop, I did not expect to walk in on something like this. I pictured a few broken pieces, not an absolute mountain of madness.
The whole structure was caving in on itself.
Not to mention the distressed state of the vampire running the shop. This was the woman who had screeched at me like a banshee at the apothecary yesterday.
Now, she was standing in the corner, covered in dust, looking like someone had just kicked a puppy in front of her. Twice. Most of her vibrant hair was twisted into a knot on the top of her head, the rest was sticking out wildly or plastered to her neck with sweat. She looked… kind of adorable–in an intimidating sort of way, of course. I didn’t know what to say to her. She was also cursing at me. Again.
I couldn’t stop my mind from straying to the worst… Was this disaster my fault? I had seen her yesterday, after all.
No, no, it can’t be my fault. I left all that behind me, it can’t have followed me from Sunhaven…
I shook my head, clearing away the worrisome thoughts.
It would be impossible to rebuild anything right now, but with the way Fiella’s lip was quivering, I was afraid to say that. She had clearly been crying and I didn’t want any fresh tears to start.
I hated tears. I didn’t know how to handle them.
“Okay, let’s think about this. I’ve been assigned to rebuild your shelves but it’s clear that a lot more work is needed here. Days, maybe weeks of work.”
She sniffled.
“First, you need to get rid of those beetles, or they’ll just keep destroying everything. What are those things, by the way? Is that why this place reeks? I mean, no offense or anything. I’m sure you smell lovely, er not lovely, that’s not what I meant, I mean–” I cut myself off with a sigh. “Nevermind. Care to explain what in the hells happened?”
She let out a watery exhale. “I’ve clearly been sabotaged. It’s these weird beetles that smell really bad. It’s not me, I swear. Sookie killed a few, I think. I’m leaving them in a pile until I come up with a better plan,” she explained, moving aside a broken chair and a ragged rack of quilts.
I shifted my weight uncomfortably. “Right… Okay. Okay. There’s a lot to process there.”
“A lot to process!” She snorted. “You’re telling me. Gods.” She wiped her face off with a scrap of fabric. It looked like it belonged to the shade of a lamp, but I kept that observation to myself. “Okay well, I guess you should stay there for now. Don’t you dare step on anything important.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I stared at my feet helplessly, afraid to even move a muscle.
She began delicately digging her feet through the wreckage, taking the path of least resistance in my direction. “So, Mayor Tommins sent you? Nobody else was available, huh?”
I glanced at her blankly. “Were you expecting someone else?”
“Well, yes, actually.”
I blinked, taken aback. “Sorry to disappoint.”
She rolled her watery eyes as she nimbly climbed over a large, mangled globe. “I didn’t know you existed until yesterday, don’t get your knickers in a twist. I guess if you’re all they’ve got, we’ll make it work.”
“Wow, you really know how to make a man feel special.”
“If you want to feel special, talk to your Ma.”
She kept wiping her arm over her face as she spoke. Was that snot on her sleeves? I acted like I didn’t notice–I didn’t want to make anything worse than it already was.
“Anywayssssss. I think they’re magical beetles. How in the realms am I supposed to get rid of magical beetles? Kizzi, of course… But she’s so busy…” She seemed to be talking to herself more than she was talking to me.
At least her voice seemed steady now. Phew.
She muttered something about needing to go to Kizzi’s apothecary, clambered deftly through the piles of junk, and walked right past me and out the front door. Okay, then.
She paused a few paces down the road and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, by the way, you haven’t told me your name,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“That’s because you haven’t asked,” I retorted. Because she hadn’t.
I opened my mouth to tell her regardless, but she shrugged and walked away without another word, hustling toward the apothecary shop I had seen her at yesterday.
I shook my head, mystified. What a beguiling creature.
I could have headed back to Town Hall to get a new work assignment for the day–I was sure there was plenty else to be done, but instead, I decided to stick around and start cleaning up.
Tragedies happened everywhere all the time but… If, by the slimmest chance, it was my fault that this disaster had occurred, then the least I could do was try to fix it.
I tucked my tool bag beside the front door, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work, smashing a beetle under my boot as it tried to scurry away. The crunch made me shiver with revulsion.
Yuck.