Chapter 20
ERDIKOA
Rory and Sam walked into the restaurant she and her friends agreed upon for lunch, and when Kordie saw them, she stood and met them by the door, giving Rory a hug.
Sera sat on the end next to Dume and scooted out of the booth for Rory to slide in.
Sam looked at the space between the table and bench and back at the group. “Is this a joke? I cannot fit here.”
Keith tried not to laugh, and Sera patted his arm. “I’ll grab you a chair.”
Rory noticed Dume zero in on Sera’s hand touching Sam’s arm, and she elbowed his side. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
He lifted his glass of water and mumbled something before taking a drink.
Sam trailed behind Sera, and when she found a spare chair, he grabbed it and held it in the air with one hand.
Sera wove her way back to the table while Sam barreled through, bumping into other people’s chairs.
It didn’t escape Rory’s notice that women turned to watch him pass.
He was a handsome man in that big, burly way with his shoulder-length blonde hair tied back, light stubble, thick body, and arms that made you think he could snap a log in half with his bare hands. He probably could.
Once everyone settled in and ordered their food, Keith pulled out a bag and set it in front of Rory. She peered around the gift at him. “What’s this?”
“Open it.” His face split into a mischievous grin, and her hackles rose.
Kordie was shaking her head, Dume and Sera were watching her expectantly, and Sam couldn’t have cared less. Giving in, she pulled out the tissue and peeked inside, spying a black sweatshirt.
Keith’s smile practically touched his ears, and Rory was hesitant to see what had him so giddy.
When she unfolded the hoodie and read the front, she gasped and slammed it back into the bag. “Are you out of your mind?” she hissed as he burst out laughing.
Kordie pushed his shoulder. “Shut up. I told him not to do it, but he refused to listen.”
“What does it say?” Sera asked, grabbing for the bag.
Rory’s reaction caught Sam’s attention, and she had no choice but to show the table. “I am going to kill you,” she promised Keith. “And I’ll wear this when I do it.”
He couldn’t stop laughing, and she flipped him off. While threatening Keith had her occupied, Dume plucked the shirt from her hands and held it up before she could show everyone herself. His deep laugh made her elbow him in the side. “It’s not funny!”
“Let me see!” Sera nagged until he flipped it around.
Her eyes scanned the shirt quickly before her hand clapped over her mouth, and her eyes reflected the laugh she was holding in for Rory’s sake. Even Sam’s lips pulled into a half-smile when Dume passed it to him.
“It is funny,” Sam admitted.
“You’re all traitors,” Rory grumbled and snatched the shirt back, holding it up again. It had the logo for a local butcher shop called Erdikoa Meat Co across the front with a picture of a pig, and at the bottom, it said, ‘Employee of the Month.’ “Why would a butcher shop sell merchandise, anyway?”
“They don’t sell them to the public, but the employees wear them. I paid some kid behind the counter for it and had ‘Employee of the Month’ added.” Keith looked proud, with the stupid smile still plastered on his face.
Rory pressed her lips together and tried not to laugh. “You’re an ass.”
She put the shirt back in the bag and locked eyes with Keith. His wide smile conveyed his actual gift, and gratitude overtook her. He knew she was worried her crimes would make them see her differently.
They might have, but not enough to shy away from her, and his ability to make light of it proved that.
“Do you remember when the old lady at Whiplash mauled Keith?” Dume asked her and Kordie. “The Sylph who kept ruffling his hair?”
The girls burst out laughing at the memory. Once when Rory was working, the other three came in after work, as usual, and a woman in her early one-hundreds took the seat next to Keith. She wouldn’t leave him alone the entire night.
Keith narrowed his eyes at Dume. “No thanks to you three.”
Tears ran down Kordie’s cheeks, and she fanned her face. “And you kept scooting closer to me, but every time you did, she pushed your chair back next to hers with her air ability.”
Rory slapped the table as she laughed, Dume drew the attention of the entire restaurant with his own booming laugh, and Keith threw back the rest of his drink. “You are terrible friends.”
Sera and Sam were quiet, and when Rory turned to them, Sera was watching Dume dreamily while Sam watched Rory with an emotion she couldn’t describe. It wasn’t pride, but it was akin to how a parent or older sibling would look at someone they loved when they were happy for them.
Rory already assumed she and the Angel were close in Vincula. If only she could remember it.
That night after dinner when they got home, Rory’s father told her to stay put while he grabbed something he had picked up for her. If it was another butcher shirt, she was hanging them all from hooks.
He returned, holding a large book with a worn leather cover. “I couldn’t find a book on Aeternums,” he said apologetically. “But this one is about the history of Erdikoa. I thought it could be useful.”
She set the book on the coffee table and pecked him on the cheek. “Thank you.” It was doubtful there would be anything about Aeternums in the book, but her father’s thoughtfulness made her chest warm.
“Anything for you, sport.” He patted her on the head and reached for the remote to the ES before settling in on the couch.
“Are you not going to work tonight?” she asked, sitting next to him.
He glanced at Sam when the Angel descended the stairs. “No, I have the night off.”
Her father never had Fridays off. Remembering Sam’s words to Lauren, she forced herself to look unaffected. He’d said her father would take off work on the nights they changed shifts.
This might be her only chance to grab potions from Fiona for another week. “I’m going to take a shower,” she told them and hurried to her room without waiting for a reply. After turning on the water to ensure they couldn’t hear her, she called Sera. Hopefully she was free.
Her friend answered and asked, “It’s go time, isn’t it?”
Rory snorted. “Yes, but we have to wait until Sam leaves and my father is asleep,” she whispered.
“Excellent. Remember to wear a hat and a hood to cover your face.” She stopped talking, and Rory heard rustling. “I’ll bring you a pair of glasses, too.”
“Sunglasses?” Rory wouldn’t be able to see with a hat, hood, and sunglasses at night.
“No.” Sera giggled. “They’re a pair of reading glasses with fake lenses. It’ll make you less recognizable.”
Rory didn’t think it would, but she went along with it. “Okay, thanks. And Sera?”
“Yeah?”
“You don’t have to go. This might be dangerous.” Silence stretched between them, and she worried she had hurt Sera’s feelings. The thought of anything happening to one of her friends made her ill.
“I’m coming.” Sera sounded pissed. “If you try to stop me, I’ll go to the underground market alone.”
Rory grinned into the phone. “Okay. I’ll call you.”
“You better,” Sera snapped before hanging up.
Rory stared at the phone. “Damn.”
Rory sat patiently on her bed with her window open, waiting to hear Sam’s car leave and her father go to bed. As far as they knew, she was already asleep.
It felt like hours before she heard the front door shut and Sam’s SUV roar to life. Her father had turned in earlier, and she texted Sera, sharing her location through her navigation app.
Rory slipped on her signature black hoodie, leggings, and boots before grabbing a hat and pulling it low over her eyes. Her hair hanging long over her shoulders still bothered her, and she pulled it through her cap, wrapping it in a tight bun.
She made a mental note to tell Sera they needed to stop by an ATM and take out moedas before heading to the underground market. After ensuring she had her things, she tiptoed downstairs and noticed a red light flashing on a panel next to the door.
“Fuck.” How would she get out, and how did she not know there was a security system?
Wait. When they set the house alarm, her window was open, meaning the sensor wouldn’t trip unless she closed it and opened it again. Slipping back upstairs, she pushed her window all the way open and waited to make sure it didn’t trip the alarm.
“Rory, you beautiful genius,” she praised herself as she carefully stepped onto the roof and hesitated. Maybe she didn’t think this through.
Scooting to the edge on her butt, she cautiously peered over the side. The awning over the porch was lower than the roof of the house, and if she could lower herself onto it, she could try to shimmy down one of the pillars.
Moving as quietly as possible, she crab-walked sideways until she was over the porch, then slid off the edge, scraping her back. She cursed as her skin burned. So much for getting down unscathed. She stared warily at the edge of the porch awning and sighed.
She’d come too far now. This time, she turned around on her stomach, lowered herself until she hung by her fingertips, and dropped into the flowerbed. Scaling buildings looked easier in the movies.
A dark blue car pulled into the driveway with its lights off, and Rory tensed. What if it wasn’t Sera?
All of her anxiety melted away when Sera rolled down the window. “Get in bitch. We’re going to get your memories back.”
Rory laughed as she careened around the hood and slid into the front seat.
Sera held out a pair of black square-frame glasses. “Put these on.”
Rory obliged her friend, and when she looked in the mirror, it surprised her to see that Sera was right. Yes, anyone who knew her or who really looked at her would know who she was, but between the hat, glasses, hood, and the dark, it would be tough for a passerby to recognize her.
“Good call.” Rory held out her phone. “Here are the directions to the market.”
Sera grabbed the phone and attached it to her phone holder on the dash. “Thanks.”