Chapter Ten
Delilah’s mouth stretched open in a yawn wide enough to swallow a rat. I clenched my jaw, resisting the urge to follow suit, which was completely unfair because I was the one who had a nighttime visitor interrupting my sleep.
“Late night?” Father asked, his lips quirking in a sympathetic smile. He filled up my cup of coffee, already drained, and splashed a few drops into Delilah’s cup, leaving her more than three-quarters of the space to fill with cream.
“Fitz wanted to discuss strategies,” I explained, resting my elbow on the table, and supporting my head in my hand. “He said we needed …” my eyes drifted shut.
“Trey?”
I blinked and straightened, looking around in confusion. “What?”
“You fell asleep while talking,” Dad informed me gently. “Do the two of you need to return to bed for a few hours?”
“No, no, I’m fine.” I reached across the small table and started filling my plate with eggs, bacon, and toast.
A loud, rattling snore came from the other side of the table. Delilah had also been supporting her head with her hand, but she now slid slowly forward, her hair falling onto her plate.
I poked her with my fork.
She jolted awake, sending her own fork flying in her enthusiasm. “What is it? Who’s attacking? Is it the Grim-Faced Quill Beast?”
Laughter bubbled up in Father, but he covered his mouth as he asked, “The what?”
“I can’t tell if she’s speaking nonsense or quoting a bestiary,” I said with a shrug.
“So, have you decided which Great and Terrible Evil you’ll be defeating?”
“Not yet. Fitz mentioned the Prince of Shadows—”
A spray of coffee hit me straight in the face. I squeezed my eyes shut and groped around for a napkin. Dad apologized as he wiped the mess away for me. “Sorry, Trey, I just wasn’t expecting …”
He and Father exchanged wary looks. “I wouldn’t recommend challenging that particular mage,” Father said with much more composure.
I finished mopping up the rest of the coffee mess. Honestly, getting sprayed with it had done more to wake me up than drinking it. “Don’t worry, Delilah already chewed Fitz out.”
Delilah nodded firmly. “I told him under no circumstances was he to interfere with Aunty Lucy’s writing.”
“You didn’t actually call her Aunty Lucy, I hope?” Dad asked tentatively.
“No.” She shoved a whole piece of bacon into her mouth. “I only said she was my mother’s favorite author.”
“Good. Cyril and Lucinda are … not family friends exactly, but that doesn’t mean we want to make them family enemies either.”
“We won’t finalize our quest until we speak with the Good Wizard,” I explained.
Father’s eyebrows arched. “I didn’t know he’d already been invited.”
“Fitz sent him a message yesterday when we realized we’d need more guidance.”
“You’ve accomplished quite a lot already.” His voice grew quiet, his expression solemn. “We thought it would take much longer for you to decide anything.”
“It probably would have if anyone else was in charge,” I explained. “Fitz is—”
“A controlling, overbearing, research monkey.” Delilah stabbed her eggs, and her fork scraped against the plate.
“Delilah, do you ever actually like anyone?” I demanded.
“I like you when you aren’t an asshole.”
“I like you when you aren’t a cat.”
She frowned. “I’m always a cat, whether I wear the ears or not.”
“Which is probably why we never like each other.”
She snickered and grinned at me, and I bumped my shoulder against hers.
Father watched us with a bemused expression. “I never know whether you’re genuinely fighting or getting along.”
“Neither do we,” we said in unison. I stole the last piece of bacon from her plate, and she hissed at me, and breakfast carried on as usual.
“Welcome to Day Two of Quest Preparation,” Fitz announced.
Despite his enthusiastic welcome, puffy circles surrounded his brown eyes, and his tawny hair looked like he’d run his hands through it a dozen times.
Several wrinkles marred his shirt and waistcoat, which I suspected were the same ones he’d worn yesterday.
Maximus frowned and asked quietly, “Did you sleep last night?”
“Irrelevant,” Fitz replied, adjusting his glasses. Either he needed to have them refitted or someone should get him something else to occupy his hands.
Delilah pushed her face in close to Fitz’s, her eyes narrowed. “Are you undead? Undead don’t have to sleep.”
Fitz leaned away from Delilah, holding up a hand to ward her off. “I’m not undead. And who are you to judge, Princess Cat? Or are we only allotted one not-totally-human champion at a time?”
“Can we please get to the point?” Angelica demanded. “The more time you spend bickering, the more time I have to listen to it.” She shuddered deeply, like that was the worst punishment in the world, despite her horrendous personality starting more than half of yesterday’s arguments.
“As I was saying.” Trying to escape Delilah’s suspicion had knocked Fitz’s glasses askew, so this time when he had to fix them, it wasn’t his fault. “Today we should figure out our supplies based on budget, weight, and necessity.”
Delilah thrust her hand into the air. “Are we going shopping?”
“That won’t be necessary. The castle’s pantry is well stocked and—”
“I don’t have quest-appropriate attire,” Angelica interrupted. “And we should get potions and … weapons and … things.” She circled her hand in the air vaguely.
“I agree with Angelica,” Delilah said, which was the most shocking statement to ever come out of her mouth. “We might not know what we want until we see it. Shopping will provide us with a wider selection and help us generate ideas.”
Fitz tapped his pen on his note paper. “I suppose … an excursion wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’ll give us a chance to travel together without killing each other.”
“Travel?” I asked, my brow furrowing. “Aren’t we just going to the market? We passed one on our way into the capital.”
“If we were only buying common goods, the market would be fine, but Angelica brought up potions and weapons. For those items, we’ll need to go somewhere else.
There’s a good place, about an hour’s carriage ride from here.
If we leave now, we’ll have plenty of time to shop and return home before dark. ”
Delilah giggled and bounced to her feet. “Yes! Finally! I’ve always wanted to go to Windermere Plaza.”
“Uh, and what is Windermere Plaza exactly?” I asked.
“It’s the largest shopping center in the Desolated Lands!”
Within the hour, we’d piled into a single carriage.
Five was a tight fit, but Fitz insisted that part of the purpose of this excursion was to bond, and we couldn’t do that if we split up.
He was less enthusiastic about the idea when Delilah, Maximus, and I took one side of the carriage, leaving him to sit with Angelica.
Her coral skirts spread out around her, taking up two-thirds of the bench, shielding her personal space.
Unwilling to risk her wrath, Fitz squeezed himself into one corner.
Cramming three people onto one seat wasn’t any easier. Delilah’s small stature was negated by Maximus’ broad shoulders. He tried to take up as little space as possible, tucking his legs against the bench and folding his hands politely in his lap. His shoulder still firmly pressed against mine.
How did I end up in the middle?
The first ten minutes of the journey passed in physically and socially uncomfortable silence.
Eventually, Fitz cleared his throat and asked, “Would anyone like to play a travel game?”
Angelica rolled her eyes. “Will the whole quest be like this? Silence or awkward overtures of friendship?”
“If you simply accept my overtures, it won’t have to be.”
“What kind of game?” Delilah asked.
“We could,” he trailed off, lips parted as if ideas would simply leap into his mouth of their own accord so he could spit them back out. “Count cows?”
We all looked out the window onto the cobbled city streets.
“Zero,” Angelica said. “Do I win?”
“Fine, someone else come up with something.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, closed my eyes, and leaned my head back against the carriage. The argument faded into the background, replaced by the muffled sounds of horse hooves on stone, the clatter of the carriage wheels, the bustle of traffic.
The weight of my missed night of sleep covered me like a warm blanket. I drifted off before they decided on a game to play.
Drool oozed from my lips, sticking the fabric beneath my cheek to my skin. Half-asleep, I lifted my hand to wipe it away.
“Here,” a soft voice said, then a gentle cloth cleaned the corner of my mouth.
My eyes snapped open, and I jerked upright. Only the heavy weight on my lap kept me from tossing myself off the carriage seat. I looked down to find Delilah using my lap as a pillow, her tail wrapped around herself.
Across from me, Angelica slept with her head back and her mouth wide open. The snores coming from her were like rocks grinding against each other. Both of her feet were kicked up, treating Maximus’ lap like her own personal footstool.
On the other side, Fitz was curled into a tight ball, chin tucked against his knees. If it hadn’t been for his heavily askew glasses, I would have sworn no one could sleep like that.
I glanced back at Maximus, the only other person awake right now. Since he wasn’t wearing a jacket, a dark stain spread over his white shirt where I’d leaned against his shoulder. How long did he let me drool on him?
“Guess everyone was tired,” I said. “Did you sleep?”
He shrugged.
Does that mean ‘yes’ or ‘no?’
“How long until we reach the plaza?”
“We’re almost there,” he said, gesturing out the window.
I peeked outside to see a line of carriages all heading in the same direction. Beyond the carriages, there was a stone wall so large I couldn’t see the whole of it. Colorful banners hung over the doors and windows, proclaiming shop names and special prices. “What is this place?”
Shuffling sounded from the other seat, and then Fitz asked, “Have we arrived?”
“We’re pulling up.”