Chapter 19
“You want to have a Halloween party here?” Mr. Roberts from the council asked, with his eyebrows lifted in disbelief.
“Not a Halloween party, as that implies the service of alcohol.” Nan smiled.
“And the building hasn’t been approved for reopening yet.
However, because of the palace next door, it has become something of a meeting point for the mythological people, and Halloween is their New Year, where they mourn the passing of the old and welcome the new.
They want to have a memorial for the world they lost. And if not here, then where? ”
Noah sat next to his grandmother at the table in the kitchen of the pub.
Mr. Roberts shuffled his papers and looked as though he’d rather be anywhere else from the way his gaze kept flicking to the door.
Perhaps he was worried about the vampires in the palace.
They had discussed whether Feryn or Pan should be there, but everyone had agreed it would be best if Feryn wasn’t, because most humans were not used to seeing vampires.
“Can they not have the party at the rec center?”
“That is where people are living because they have no homes…I guess they could have the party in the palace, but the only door is through the pub anyway, and there is no running water in the palace, and no sewerage connection.” Nan put her finger on her lip as if thinking, and this hadn’t all been preplanned.
“Of course, if those two things were rectified, many of the mythological people could be housed in the palace—temporarily, of course.”
Mr. Roberts huffed as if he were being inconvenienced by the whole idea of the palace. “I’m not sure you should be opening at all.”
“I’m not opening, I simply open the front doors so that the mythological people can come and go from the palace.”
“I’ve heard you have groups of people coming in and talking.”
“I wasn’t aware that talking was against the law.
Some of my regulars like to socialize, even if they are only drinking tea.
Plus, they want to get out of the house, as many have moved in with their adult children, to free up a house for others.
Not only that, but the vampires in the palace need to use the toilet, and they need running water.
Do you suggest I seal the door off and trap them inside? ”
“Oh no no. Definitely not.” Mr. Roberts shook his head. “Why don’t I call the building inspector and get him out here today so we can have a proper look at things. Because this isn’t a straightforward situation, given the palace.” He leaned a little closer. “How much of the palace is underground?”
“There are four levels underground, plus a cellar,” Noah said, having spent the best part of yesterday with Kirel going through maps and papers searching for plans and the book that recorded births and deaths.
The idea was that as part of Samhain, every mytho would come to the palace to have their name checked off and to mark off the dead in the book, and also to create a new document that listed their skills, and whether they had learned English.
While they had been unable to find any plans, they had created a rough map in case it was needed.
“But the cellar is filling with water, which Lord Feryn says is seeping in through the walls.”
Mr. Roberts nodded. “I see. Is it quite big in there?”
“You are welcome to have a tour,” Nan said. “It’s quite fascinating. They had plumbing and hot water and composting toilets. Of course, they don’t work now, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be that hard to connect.”
“I’m going to call the building inspector. I’ll just step out the…” He swallowed as if remembering the dragons were out the back. “Where can I do that?”
“Why don’t you use my office? It’s on the other side of the hall.”
He got up, scurried across the hall, and closed the door. Noah glanced at Nan. “That didn’t sound very promising.”
“Rubbish, the pub hasn’t leaked, and the roof hasn’t fallen in. She’s as stable as she was four hundred years ago when she was built. I dare say the palace is too, aside from the cellar issue.”
“It’s more of an all-round water issue.”
“Mmm. Too much in the wrong place and not enough where it’s needed.” She sighed. “What’s your incubus doing in there?”
“I believe he is discussing the memorial and having Inari assist with creating new documents in English for the skills issue.”
“Oh dear…wouldn’t it be better to have one of my beer, bingo and blood Nanas, help given that the drak spell like preschoolers on a sugar high?”
Noah smothered a laugh, because while it was true they could read and write in English, they took liberties that Shakespeare would’ve been proud of. “They spell phonetically. How else would you translate Tarikian names to English?”
“When I did it for the dead vampires, I put a bit of thought into how best to write the name because there is more than one way to write something phonetically. Hear and here, for example.”
“Point taken. Perhaps they will need some assistance.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Nan agreed, even though it was her idea in the first place.
“And your bingo club will want to attend the party?” Noah was sure it would be way past their bedtimes. They were the kind of people who got up at five in the morning to start the day, and finished just as early.
“Oh no, I was hoping you and your friends would do that. You’re going to be here anyway, aren’t you?”
“I probably will be, because of Silas.”
She elbowed him. “They’re your people too.”
“Only by accident and only temporarily.” Even though the Strega had said his path was always going to lead him to magic.
At this point, he’d much prefer it if Tariko hadn’t collapsed and he’d accidentally found a way there.
From what Nate had told him about life in Calla, it seemed pretty chill, once he’d gotten over the culture shock.
Which he seemed to have done bloody quickly since he’d married a minotaur.
Noah didn’t want to know how that worked because Rohan was huge.
In height, shoulders, and… Well, everywhere.
They’d found sweatpants for Rohan, and they somehow hid less than the tunic, despite not wearing underwear beneath either.
Because of his size and strength, he was assisting with the housing rebuild, while Nate recreated some of his teaching materials in discussions with an elvish teacher.
David was not ready to bring him back to teaching until his paperwork said he was very much alive and not deceased.
That was more admin that was classified as non-urgent.
Did the people making these decisions realize that some of their decisions about non-urgent paperwork were actually slowing things down?
While paperwork jammed up what needed to be done, everyone else was creating new systems. Like the need for spare clothing, or toys, or in his case, a new screen protector. People were bartering.
There was now a room in the palace where donated goods were being stored.
If a human wanted a wheelbarrow full of dragon poo, payment was whatever it was they no longer used.
A spare pot or plastic tubs, mixing bowls and shovels, an ex’s clothes that he’d never collected.
And if anyone needed something, they could come and take it, mytho or human.
Though so far, not many humans had used the service.
Mr. Roberts stuck his head into the kitchen. “Good news, he was finishing up two blocks away, so he’s on his way. Do you want to let the vampires know?” He shook his head. “That is not a sentence I ever thought I’d utter.”
No one could’ve dreamed this up. And unlike the movies, no one had swept in to fix things. Everyone was making it up as they went.
“I’ll go and do that.” Nan got up before Noah could argue, leaving him with Mr. Roberts.
Mr. Roberts glanced toward the back door. “My kids saw the dragon making deliveries.”
Noah nodded. The dragon had made several deliveries, but there wasn’t much he could do to help with the fuel situation. Most of the petrol stations in town were running out. On the upside, people couldn’t drive too far because the roads were fucked.
“The council is looking at ways to deal with that rather large crevice,” Mr. Roberts said as if that one crack in the road was their biggest problem.
“It’s not only that one, though, is it? That’s just the worst one. What are they going to do about all the ripples?”
“My engineer tells me the ripples can be shaved down relatively easily, once they can get the machines in. Part of the problem is getting any asphalt as it’s all being redirected to the main routes.”
“So don’t worry about the asphalt for the moment. There are so many buildings that need to be knocked down. Knock them down and fill the gaps, at least then trucks can move around even if cars can’t.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why? Because it doesn’t meet a standard? What is the standard for filling meter-wide gaps in the road?”
Mr. Roberts sighed. “There isn’t one…but if we do a bad job of it, it’ll make putting it right in the future that much harder.”
“So you’re prepared to leave it there for the next year, or two years, until it can be done perfectly? That doesn’t make any sense. And I’m sure if all the residents took a vote, they’d much rather something temporary that made their lives a little easier than perfect.”
“I know. We all know. But it’s not just the roads.
It’s the buildings. What we call condemned today was something that we could’ve fixed over the course of several months.
But now, if we spend six months fixing one building, then that’s six other buildings that don’t get fixed.
And we don’t have the people or the tools to do everything. ”
“We’re making a skills register, because plenty of the mythological people have trades.
” Noah held up his hand. “And I know they don’t have human apprenticeships, but they had their own.
They have already begun working on their own homes.
One of Linda’s friends is a building inspector. You probably know him.”
“I do. And I have heard. But none of them have water, or power, or sewage.”
“They never had power, so that doesn’t matter. They are setting up their composting toilets the same as they always had, so it’s only the water that’s an issue…but a temporary measure would be a community tap, somewhere they could fill up buckets until they can be connected.”
“Noah, it’s not just the laying of the pipes. There are areas of the town without a water supply because the pipes broke.”
“And you’re not letting people live in their homes because of that.”
“Because when they flush their toilet, it’s got nowhere to go. Or their house was flooded with wastewater. It’s a complex situation we are having to look at on a case-by-case basis. I haven’t had a weekend since this started. I close my eyes, and all I see is the damage, and I don’t see an end.”
“Mr. Roberts, this is Lord Feryn. He was the administrative ruler of the city,” Nan said as she stepped into the kitchen with Feryn behind her.
His hair was loose, and he had his face tipped down, but his clothes were as fancy as fuck.
Far more elaborate than he usually wore, meaning he’d dressed for the occasion, so there was no mistaking his importance.
If there was one thing vampires knew how to do, it was how to demonstrate a point. “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Roberts. I understand you are here to inspect the buildings.” Feryn extended his hand.
Mr. Roberts extended his, as if to shake, but Feryn lifted Mr. Roberts’ hand and brought it to his lips as if to kiss his fingers.
Noah watched as Mr. Roberts’ life flashed before his eyes, and the bureaucrat almost dropped dead.
But Feryn didn’t bite him; he was nearly getting the scent of the human’s blood.
“What is it you would like to see?” Feryn released Mr. Robert’s hand.
It took Mr. Roberts a couple of breaths before he could answer. “I’m waiting for my colleague; he is the building inspector. I’m…I am in charge of the paperwork.” He deflated a little.
“Records are important,” Feryn said smoothly, offering flattery instead of fangs.
“I have been going through mine over the last few days. I was hoping to find plans from when the palace was built, but they seem to have been misplaced sometime over the last five centuries, along with the entire north wing. I’m guessing that didn’t survive the collapse. ”
“Perhaps the plans were in there.”
“Perhaps.” Feryn inclined his head.
“Hello? I’m here to inspect the pub.” a man’s voice called from the front. “Ugh…what the fuck is that?”
Noah heard one of the drak talking, and while he didn’t understand the words, he knew they were as sharp as claws.
The inspector swore.
“I suggest we go and assist him.” Feryn indicated for Mr. Roberts to go first—probably a wise move, as they didn’t want the building inspector running out of the pub vowing never to return after laying eyes on a vampire for the first time.