Chapter 5
The next day, Eli was shaky. When Joshua Fagan walked in through the back door, he shrieked. They hadn't agreed on him coming in today and seeing someone come from the wrong side of the shop messed with his mind.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. I came from the dock and the back door was closer." Joshua smiled.
Eli waved him off. "I'm a little jumpy, is all."
Narrowing his eyes, Joshua watched him for a little too long. "What's going on?"
"Vampires keep popping up."
At Joshua's surprised expression, he chuckled. "It's not a problem, but Thano, the vampire leader, has had some questions."
"About?"
Eli told him about the toll discussion, and how Thano had said the others would resign from the board.
"Shit." Joshua rubbed his neck. "That's not good."
Nope, it wasn't. Eli grimaced and shrugged. There wasn't much they could do about it.
After a long moment of silence, Joshua shook his head. "I have a crate of Jerusalem artichokes out in the alleyway if you want to buy some. They're growing like weeds, so I figured it was time to thin them out."
They grow like weeds? Eli listened as Joshua talked about how he'd dug up enough to fill several crates. It wasn't something Eli normally stocked, mostly because it wasn't something Joshua normally sold, but since he was running low on just about everything, he gladly agreed.
They walked over to the bank, Joshua bought some venison when they got back to the shop, and then they stared at each other in silence.
"I'll head back and harvest everything I can. You're fine with me coming in tomorrow?"
Eli nodded. A lump grew in his throat, so he cleared it before he spoke. "Yeah, I'll take whatever you have."
"Live birds too?"
Eli gave another nod. "Yeah, might keep someone alive a little longer."
Joshua gave him a glum look. Neither of them spoke about what it would mean for the future.
Eli considered Joshua a friendly business acquaintance, but it might change if there was more of an economic strain on their relationship.
He didn't blame the Fisherman's Lake people for resenting the Last Hope's direction.
"Right." Joshua let out a loud breath. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Eli raised his hand in a wave as Joshua exited the shop.
As soon as he was alone, he looked around.
How often had there been vampires in there without him knowing?
Vampires were those who blended in the best, and he was convinced he'd had vampires browse the shelves without knowing they'd been vampires, but what if they lurked in the shadows all the time?
Was he being watched? On the other hand, why would they watch him? It wasn't as if his life was filled with excitement.
His heart rate was elevated for the first half of the day, then it was as if it didn't have the energy to be afraid anymore and went back to its normal rhythm.
When the door opened and a slim, dark-haired woman who was vaguely familiar walked in, he didn't react much. She wore an ill-fitting dress, but it was nothing unusual. Some people couldn't afford to be picky when it came to what they wore.
Then she spotted the basket in the corner next to the counter and cawed.
Eli jumped at the sound and looked between her and the basket.
It was the one where Eli had a few second-hand kitchen utensils and other smaller gadgets he'd once bought from the delivery man who came from Grave Ville.
He hadn't sold many or he might have looked into getting more, but people mostly came to him for food, and he didn't have space to offer a lot of other products.
"Look how shiny!"
It was a set of measuring cups and spoons in brass. The cup-sized scoop was a little dented, but all of them were shiny. Eli looked at her again. He was pretty sure she was the crow who'd been in with Thano.
"Has the meeting ended?"
She tore her gaze away from the brass, but it looked as if it took effort. "Meeting?"
"The board. Thano said you'd all quit."
"Not Conal. He remained to keep an eye on the humans."
Eli nodded. "Didn't you want to stay on?" He had no idea what a crow's ambitions were. Were they like humans or were they like crows? And if they were like crows, then what? What did crows want out of life?
She scrunched her nose and went back to studying the light reflecting from the measuring cups.
"I believed it would be more like in the stories.
" She turned the tablespoon around and made a series of hoarse clicks no human should ever make.
Then she clutched the set in her fist and focused on Eli. "Did you find any cupcakes?"
He shook his head. "No, sorry. I've been thinking about it, though. To make cupcakes, you need cupcake liners or whatever they're called."
She gave him a puzzled look, so he shaped his hand into a bowl. "Something to pour the batter in that you can put in the oven when you bake. In the before-time, they were made of some sort of paper."
"Why don't you have paper anymore?"
Eli stared at her. "I...eh...it was decided...by the leaders." Eli didn't know why. In the beginning, they'd claimed a shortage, but it was something they easily could've fixed by now. Or maybe not. Maybe it was the lack of trees. The others owned all the forests.
"But not by breed. We give you settlements, we allow you communication and connecting roads, you have electricity, but you don't make paper. Before you had large buildings that made paper."
How old were crows? Had she lived in the before times or was it something she'd been told? "I'm sure we could have paper if the leaders allowed it. There is paper. The bank and board have papers, so there has to be a paper mill somewhere."
"Humans are stupid."
Part of him wanted to argue, but it was stupid. Yet another thing the leading group did to control the masses. Life was harder without paper products, and while he didn't need baking cups, he often wished he had a notebook.
She narrowed her eyes. "I want this." She held up the brass set, then clutched her fingers tight around it again as if she'd refuse to give it back.
Others weren't allowed to withdraw money from their accounts--the selected few who had accounts--so they had to go to the bank to finalize the purchase.
There were no other customers in the shop, so he could close for a few minutes. "Want to go to the bank?"
Her eyes widened. "You'll let me invoice? Thano said humans don't invoice breed when Tuur argued about missing out on money when leaving the board."
Eli tried to sort out what she was saying.
Let her invoice? "If we hurry over to the bank now, I don't think there will be a problem, but if there are customers in the shop, humans can't leave to make the transaction at the bank.
" He hoped it was a sufficient enough answer.
He could pop over and only be gone for a few minutes, but if someone wanted to buy something from someone in, say, Fisherman's Lake, it was a whole different matter.
Plus, he was sure Thano was right. Most humans didn't want to do business with the others.
"What's your name?"
"Fala Moonlight."
He nodded and turned the key in the cash register. "Let's hurry." He put up a wooden be-right-back sign and locked the shop door. Fala was still clutching the measuring set, but Eli didn't care. No one had wanted to buy it the entire time he'd had it.
The bank was empty of customers, and it only took a few minutes to make the transaction.
Eli noted the bank adding a fee to Fala's withdrawal he'd never seen them do when he did something similar with a human, but he kept his mouth shut.
Fala was happy, which was all that mattered.
Or maybe not all. He wondered what would happen if the others grew tired of being discriminated against. It could mean the end of them all.
Though, only those who'd been on the board had accounts at the bank, so maybe he didn't have to worry.
* * * *
Thano strolled down the main road with a broody Tuur by his side. The human members of the board had been thrilled to see them resign with immediate effect. Or not all. He believed he'd noted some reluctance in Charles Riggle.
As they walked in silence past the bank, the door opened, and Fala and Eli stepped out. Fala was bouncing and clutching something shiny in her hand. Why was she with Eli?
"Fala." He dipped his head in greeting, then he focused on Eli to try to decipher why he was with her. "Eli." He nodded at him and got one in reply.
"I have to hurry back." Eli gestured toward the shop.
"Of course." Thano made a sweeping gesture with his arm, giving him leave despite Eli not being one of his people. He watched him go, then turned back to Fala. "What were you doing with Eli?"
She held up the set of metal cups in different sizes and beamed. "Shopping. Look how shiny." She moved the cups to catch the light.
"Pretty." Thano forced a smile. Crows!
"What is it?" Some of Tuur's grumpiness lifted as he studied the cups.
"Eli said it's something to use to measure when you cook or bake."
"You don't cook." Tuur frowned.
"I'm gonna make cupcakes for Romeo." She clutched the measuring set to her chest. Thano didn't point out she needed ingredients to bake. She was happy about her purchase, so he'd leave it for another occasion.
"Did Eli have that in his shop?" Thano couldn't remember there being anything other than food in his shop, but Last Hope didn't have a general store. Where did people buy their things? On market day from each other, perhaps. People came in from different settlements on market day.
"Yes, he was hiding it away by the counter. Had put lots of things in a basket to hide the shiny, but I saw it."
"You have a good eye." Thano gave her another nod.
"Which is my good eye? Both my eyes are good."
Filling his lungs, Thano then slowly let the air out. "It's an expression, means you're good at seeing things others might miss. I suspect several people have been in Eli's shop today, and no one else spotted the shiny."