28. Redd
Iwalked into Lunette’s Plant shop, feeling lighter than I had in a long time.
I couldn’t believe Fiella had asked me on a date. Well, she technically didn’t, but she was going to.
Or… I had assumed she was going to. Maybe I just hoped that she was going to.
Regardless, I would be seeing the lovely vampire this evening and the thought brought a smile to my face.
That smile dropped as soon as I pushed open the door to Lunette’s.
Oh, gods.
There was dirt everywhere. It seemed to be in every single nook and cranny, covering every visible surface. Even the walls were dusted with a fine layer of filth. It fluttered into the air as I walked by.
“Hello,” I called out. “Lunette? Mayor Tommins sent me here to help with… your problem.”
“Oh, hello!” shouted a voice from the back room. “One moment!”
I wasn’t sure where to go, so I stayed put, trying to take a visual inventory of the room. It appeared that the largest problem was the dirt. Everything else looked relatively whole.
A tall, graceful druid woman came out from the back room. The smell of cherries wafted with her, and I found myself wishing for a berry smell instead.
I had seen her before, in the park and at the diner, but I had never spoken to the woman.
“Thank the gods! I was hoping to get some extra help around here today.” She gestured around with dirty hands. “As you can see, I’ve got a bit of a mess.”
I nodded. “I can certainly see that.”
“Right. So, I’m not sure how much Tommins told you or how much you really care, but here’s what happened,” she stated. “I was bringing in my latest shipment of potting soil, but it must have frozen in its sack during the snowstorm, and somehow it burst as soon as I sat it down.”
I didn’t even want to know how that was possible. Sacks didn’t usually burst, even with extreme temperatures. But that wasn’t my business.
“Well, that is a problem. Sounds a little suspicious.”
She sighed. “I know. It does. Regardless of the cause, I just need to get this cleaned up. If these plants don’t get sunlight soon then they are going to wither–there is only so much my light enchantments can do.”
Lunette handed me a pair of gloves, a few small sacks, and a small shovel, and nudged me toward the safe side of the shop to start working. I didn’t want to know what she meant by safe–I just made sure not to wander too close to the area she was working in.
As I let my hands slip into the idle movements of scooping, gathering, and digging, my mind began to wander.
The worry crept in. I worried about my family back in Sunhaven. I worried about this town, and what I had done to it. I worried about the plants I was delicately shaking dirt from. I worried about Fiella, about her shop, about her delicate throat.
Things couldn’t possibly stay this unfortunate forever. I kept hoping for a streak of good luck, but it didn’t seem to be coming any time soon.
The hours dragged by, the excitement of my evening with Fiella making the minutes feel endless.
A black cat wandered in my direction, meowing at me and watching me curiously. The cats in this town were so strange. I didn’t want to call them intimidating but something about the intensity of their gazes made me feel uneasy.
I had seen Fiella talk to her cat all the time, but it felt stupid to speak to a critter.
I cleared my throat hesitantly. “Um… Hello?”
The black cat hissed at me before scurrying away.
I looked around to make sure nobody had seen.