Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
The contract was long, but less complicated than it could’ve been. By the time my dad came in, wearing his own clothes—gray pants, white shirt—I was resigned to my fate and ready to sign.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed then shot a glare at Rawley as she wiggled her brows then turned and stalked out, leaving us alone.
“Dad!” I threw my arms around him and clung to him while my eyes overflowed and I bawled like I hadn’t cried since Mom died.
It was just that everything was awful! Him being caged and me having to pretend to be okay with the person who’d done that to him because the goblins outside were worse.
And he’d stolen my strawberry shortcake!
Yes, he’d healed me from my shin to my hand, but that was just to soften me up.
And keep his other guests from turning feral.
My dad stiffened like a board, but then he finally held me tight, patting my back while I sobbed. “There, there, fairy princess. What would your mom say if she saw you like this? You need to face the future with a smile. Your life is ahead not behind.”
I pulled back and looked at him with big eyes, my heart in my throat, the rabbit on the table looking wan and pathetic.
I felt like that. So much. “I’m making a deal with the devil.
That’s my future.” Was it really? It wasn’t a good deal when the rabbit was so clearly close to death, but five years to pay off my mother’s debts and get my dad out of the cage? I had to try.
His eyes burned with emotion, and he bared his pointed teeth at me. “No.” The word was flat, absolutely without emotion, but riddled with resolve.
My heart beat faster as I faced him, someone I’d never really had to stand up against. He did not look like a nice goblin. “It’s a really good deal.”
His brows lowered, eyes turning into hard chips of gold. “You need to leave now.”
“Where should I go? I’ve been evicted, but even if I hadn’t, the goblins came and…” I swallowed hard while his eyes narrowed.
“The goblins came? To your apartment?”
I nodded and shivered. “I shrank long enough to get out the window then they ripped my wing, and I cut my leg and…” I took a deep breath and tried to straighten up.
I wasn’t a child. I’d paid for the apartment my dad had stayed in while my mom had been at the Bell so much over the past year.
“It’s the best solution going forward. I’m going to have a bakery. ”
His glower darkened. “The cursed shop? He’s putting that on you?
And the cursed rabbit, I suppose you get that burden as well.
What a deal!” He shook his head. “They shouldn’t have disturbed you at home, not when the debt is mine.
Unless the goblin king gave the okay. Which is possible considering how interesting he’d find you.
The goblins won’t leave you alone as long as my debt… ”
“I asked the devil to take care of it, as part of my deal. I figured I should get as much as I could out of it.”
He stared at me long enough that my eyes watered in sympathy. “He’ll deal with the goblin king? What’s the deal?”
I pushed the stack of papers across the table toward him then picked up the rabbit and snuggled him.
He smelled like festering sores and old urine.
First thing, I’d give him a bath then rub a nice lotion on him that would help with wounds and wrinkles.
I used it myself for its anti-wrinkle properties, but it was good for wounds too. Healing was healing.
My dad put on his spectacles and went through the contract quickly, page by page, nodding as he went. When he was finished, he knocked it with a knuckle and said, “Do you see the catch?”
“The rabbit’s going to die before my five years are over then I’ll be forced to work in his bakery forever.
But you see, it’s in a bakery, not in a mine, or as a dancer in a cage, or something else I couldn’t bear.
I’m still guaranteed a place to stay along with everything I’ll need to continue working. ”
He shook his head soberly. “I forbid it. It’s not your debt. A child doesn’t pay the debt of the parent. You do not inherit my slavery. Your mother would…” He spasmed as he remembered that his reason for living was no longer with us.
I grabbed his calloused green hand. “She’d be happy that my bakery is being funded by the most attractive man in Singsong. Maybe he’ll fall in love with me and destroy the contract, insisting that I only bake for him.”
His eyes hardened. “Don’t joke about that. Love? A devil? You must have a soul to love, and the only souls he has belong to those who made deals with him, thinking they had no choice. You have a choice.”
I nodded as I stroked the rabbit. “Yes. I have a choice. And I’m choosing to have a bakery and a pet rabbit, and dinners with a devil, and you not in a cage. That’s what I’m choosing.”
“My freedom for yours?” He shook his head, eyes anguished. “If you care about me, you’ll take care of yourself. Leave Singsong! Find another place where no one knows who or what you are. I’ve taught you how to disappear. Run, hide, and be free!”
I cocked my head as I stroked the sad rabbit’s head, studying my father, a goblin who’d given up his freedom to extend my mother’s life.
“But then I’d lose you and Mom in the same week.
I don’t think I’d be able to survive that.
” I pressed my lips together and tried not to cry again.
My eyes were already going to be puffy. “And this way, I’ll be able to do more than survive.
I’ll get my own bakery. And who knows, maybe with enough love and care, the rabbit will live longer than five years. He’s a magic rabbit.”
He shook his head. “I beg of you…”
“Like Mom begged us to let her die a year ago when she was diagnosed with iron poisoning? I wouldn’t trade the time we had with her for anything. Everything has a price, and the cost of this comes with a convection oven.”
“And dinner?” He shook his head. “Devils are not to be trusted. He could provide another deal after you sign this, once you’re accustomed to him. Perhaps you would actually believe the lie of love he’d feed you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Give me some credit. Even if by some weird fluke I fell in love with him, I’m not taking a bad deal.
Not after he put you in a cage. In feathers.
” Some of my goblin growl came through, enough to make him pause.
It was infuriating that the devil could do that to us the week my mother died.
Who took someone away from a funeral? Even gangsters respected funerals.
My inner goblin wanted to bite the devil.
Hard. And he’d taken my strawberry shortcake.
He’d better not stick it on a shelf somewhere to get stale instead of eating it.
My dad searched me with his yellow eyes, glowing gold in their intensity. He finally shook his head. “I will never agree to this.”
“Then we agree to disagree.”
He glowered. “I do not agree to disagree. You’re making a grave error!”
“Like you did when you made a deal with the devil? And the goblins? And who knows how many other people?” I shook my head, tsking. “Let’s just say I inherited my father’s cleverness and leave it at that.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing.”
I crossed my arms and stared at him stubbornly. “Like father like daughter.”
“You’re making a big mistake!”
“Life is about making mistakes. Failing forward. Or is it falling forward? I’m trying to think of good bakery names. What about Powdered Sugar Rush? It’s terrible. What about Donut Hole?”
He took a moment to switch from glaring at me to the rabbit. “The Rabbit Hole. And you can make the whole thing an extension of Wonderland, with the whole Alice thing. Because if you’re going to walk toward the madness, why not embrace it? You know nothing of the devil!”
I straightened and raised my chin. I shouldn’t have cried; that had just made him think I was too childish to make my own choices. “I know his name is Philius Gray. I know he put you in a cage. I also know he has all Mom’s debts and is offering me a bakery.”
He grabbed my arm, claws almost pressing into my skin while his eyes burned intently. “You’re smarter than this. I know it’s been a rough week, a rough year, and you aren’t thinking things through. At least sleep on it.”
I threw up my hands. “Where am I supposed to sleep on it? The goblins are waiting for me to leave. Even if they weren’t, I’ve been evicted. None of the devil’s people seem that miserable. It’s not like he tortures anyone. He’s just a devil, like you’re a goblin. And he has that sum-positive curse.”
He glowered. “You’ve made up your mind.”
“I’m not running away without you. You should’ve realized that when you made the deal with the devil, it would involve me.”
He closed his eyes and stood there for a moment, eyelids quivering. Would this break him?
I grabbed his hand. “It’s okay. I maybe wouldn’t have gotten another loan for the funeral, but I agreed with the medical treatments. More than agreed. Every second was a gift. And the funeral really was beautiful. A wonderful sendoff. If only I’d been able to enjoy it.”
His eyes widened. “What happened at the funeral?”
I hesitated then smiled brightly. “I punched my boss. Oops.”
His eyes brightened, and for a second, he almost smiled.
“Now that’s something I’d like to have seen.
That’s what you mean about being evicted?
You lost your job for punching that arrogant, worthless kit?
He never treated you with the respect you deserve.
Just because you’re part goblin doesn’t make you less than anyone else.
If you act like you’re worth less, that’s how people will treat you.
You deserve all the best things, princess. ”
I beamed at him. “Thanks. And now I deserve a bakery!”
He groaned but didn’t seem quite as upset. “Are you determined?”
I nodded and picked up the rabbit, holding it under my chin and making my eyes big and adorable over his head. “And I get a pet! Isn’t he so cute?”