Chapter 4
FOUR
The Importance of Meat Sticks
When we returned to town, Nick took Maisie to Harold’s house and I flew home.
I’d explained what I could to Nick on the drive, but I was still trying to make sense of it myself.
Replaying scenes from the bridge in my mind, I showered and dressed.
The Justice League would probably be showing up at midnight again and I wanted to get refreshments set out before they arrived.
Luckily, I was better prepared this time than the last time the group met here. I pulled out a large wedge of brie and drizzled honey all over it—for Nick and his cousin—before adding some of the dried fruit and nuts that I’d given Tyrion earlier.
As I pulled crackers out of a cabinet, I heard a knock on the back door. Stepping out into the hall, I saw Nick standing on the back porch. I waved him in, having already unlocked the door.
“Hey.” He closed the door behind him. “I’m really glad you found that poor man’s dog. He was crying when I handed her to him.”
I returned to the kitchen and started pulling out glasses. “They have each other. That’s important.” I counted the glasses. “How many are coming tonight?”
Nick leaned against the wall, watching me, a strange look on his face. “As far as I know, it’ll be the three that were here last time. Arthur, of course, and now that Declan, the werewolf, and Arwyn, the wicche, are seeing each other, they’ll be coming together.”
Nick took a step back into the hall and turned toward the bookstore. “There’s someone on your front porch.”
My eyesight was superior, but he had me beat when it came to hearing.
“I told the others to come around the back, since you have the bookstore closed. I’ll go check.” Nick disappeared around the bookcases, moving silently through the dark toward the front door.
A moment later, I heard a knock. If it had been someone he knew, Nick would have opened the door. Since he didn’t, I followed him. Nick met me halfway through the bookstore.
“I think it’s one of your customers,” he said. “He looked at the sign but knocked anyway.”
I nodded, continuing on. “It’s probably Jeremy. If the others arrive, show them to that conversation area. There’s a floor lamp you can use in the back corner.”
When I opened the front door, I found Jeremy, seemingly stuck. He stood in the middle of the porch, looking back and forth between his car and my front door.
With the door opening, he let out a gust of air. “Oh, good. You are there. I just need that book I ordered. I need to work on that chapter, and I need that book.”
That sounded like a lot of need. Jeremy was working on his PhD thesis—one he’d been trying to write for quite some time.
Occasionally, he was struck with inspiration and a frantic energy to get it written.
That usually lasted for a few weeks and then he’d fall back into a paralyzed stupor, unable to move, much like he was right now, stuck on my porch.
“I’m closed but I do have the book. Give me a moment.
” I closed the door and went behind the counter.
I didn’t need more than the pale moonlight through the windows to find the one he wanted.
I may not have been a crime fighter, like the others coming tonight, but I helped the ones like myself, who needed books to study, to dream, to escape.
His face was glowing when I returned with his book. “Thank you so much! This is the one I need to unlock the whole thesis. This is perfect.”
He started to take out his wallet, but I waved him off. “Pay me next time. I don’t have my computer up.”
He held the book to his chest. “Absolutely. You’re a lifesaver!” He jogged down the stairs and hopped into his car. Thankfully, no one was behind him because he spun out of his parking spot and barreled down the hill like he was on fire.
Two SUVs were parked beside Nick’s. The others must have gone around back while I was dealing with Jeremy. After closing and locking the door, I snaked through the bookcases toward the murmuring voices and the dim lamplight.
I’d pulled a coffee table down from the attic since the last time we’d all met.
I’d used some of my parents’ old things in my apartment upstairs.
I didn’t need much, though, so the majority of what had been in our house when I was growing up was now in my attic.
I should have thought to bring more down here years ago, but even the couch had seemed like an indulgence.
Bookstore browsers didn’t need a couch. I was the one who used it when I was reading and feeling lazy.
Arthur took the single leather chair that matched the couch.
Declan and Arwyn sat side by side on the couch.
Last time, I’d had to sit on the floor because I hadn’t had enough seating.
Along with the coffee table, though, I’d also brought down two wingback chairs in a dark green brocade that my mother had loved.
Nick sat in one and left me the other. He also seemed to have brought out the cheese, crackers, and glasses of water.
Gesturing to the refreshments, he said, “I hope you don’t mind.”
I shook my head and sat. “I appreciate the help.” I glanced at Arthur. “Can I ask, before we begin, does this group have a name? I like to know how to refer to things.”
Arwyn grinned. She was breathtaking. She had an ethereal beauty that better belonged in Faerie than in this world. She had big, bright green eyes, and long, curly hair in a multitude of colors. It was mostly brown, but also red, gold, and black.
Declan, her werewolf Alpha boyfriend, kept an arm around her. He had to have been at least a foot taller than her, with warm brown eyes, a chiseled jaw under a beard, and wavy brown hair. His physique broadcasted strength, but she felt like the real power in that couple.
Arwyn leaned forward. “I asked him the same thing. I like to name things, and I told him this group needed one. He blew me off,” she added on an eye roll.
Arthur took a large hunk of honeyed brie on his plate with a handful of crackers. “Once you give something a name, it becomes less secret.”
“I’ve been calling it the Justice League in my head,” I told them.
Declan laughed. “That’s how I refer to it too. Arwyn calls it the Shadow Conspiracy.”
“We could just call it the Tetherball Team,” Nick suggested. “That doesn’t sound like a supernatural crime-fighting crew.”
Everyone but Arthur laughed.
I took a sip of water. “The problem with that, though, would be people asking if they could join the team or watch us play. It seems to me that it would need to be something no one would want to do.”
“We could just say we’re playing D malevolent, even. He was pissed that I was in his space. I get that same feeling sometimes when I fly into another predator’s territory.”
A shiver ran through me, like I was shaking out my feathers. “I moved because I saw the dog, but even if I hadn’t seen him, I was getting ready to fly away. I felt his focus on me.” I rolled my shoulders, trying to relieve the tension. “I don’t enjoy feeling like prey.”
“You’re saying he and his,” Arthur observed. “Is that a default for a creature you can’t identify, or did you get the impression it was male?”
I considered a moment. “I used he because it didn’t seem right.
There was intelligence there, a cunning.
And I don’t mean that in the way that certain natural animals are quite smart.
This was more like a creepy old man who lives alone has started leaving candy on the porch, hoping to lure in unsuspecting children. ”
“So…” Declan looked between me and Nick. “We’re thinking this thing eats animals? But why in the world did it come so far north for a meal? That bridge has got to be, what, eight or nine miles away.”
I shook my head. “I’ve been thinking about that. It’s only that far if you’re on the road. As the owl flies, it’s probably more like six. If he was headed straight across the Jack’s Peak wooded area, the first neighborhood he’d hit—depending on his trajectory—would be mine.
“I will say,” I continued, “now that we’re discussing it, I didn’t notice any animals on my flight to the bridge.
Normally, I see rabbits or mice, sometimes other birds.
” I pushed up on the armrests, lifting my body off the chair and crossing my legs beneath me, exactly the way I used to sit in this chair in my parents’ home.
“I usually have to decide if I want to detour for a snack or continue on my way. I was hungry, but I didn’t see any small animals, which now seems significant. ”
“Are you still hungry?” Nick asked me, looking concerned.
I shook my head. “My stomach is off. Whatever it was gave me knots.” I clenched my hand in front of my stomach.
Declan put what was left of the cheese and crackers on a plate and handed it to me. “You may feel that way right now, but you shifted and flew a good distance. Your body needs the fuel. Sometimes eating helps unknot those stomach cramps.”
I stared at him and the offered plate a moment. Did he think I didn’t know what it was to be a shifter?
Arwyn rubbed Declan’s knee. “No insult was intended, Orla. Declan is a caregiver. He reminds me to eat all the time too.”
Arthur sat forward. “You know, if she doesn’t want it…”
Declan growled and I shot up, taking the plate from Declan and handing it to Arthur.
“I’m fine, but you’re probably right. I’ll go get something more substantial than cheese.
” I went to the kitchen and checked the fridge for food.
I didn’t make meals down here. This was more of a snacking kitchen. The proper food was upstairs.
I found an unopened package of meat sticks. After cutting open the plastic wrap, I brought the whole thing out with me. I offered everyone a stick and all but Arwyn took one.
Our conversation was derailed as the men chewed thoughtfully and silently.
Finally, Arthur asked, “Are these beef sticks from Voget’s?” He was referring to a butcher downtown.
“Argus Meats by the pier?” Nick guessed.
Declan shook his head. “No. These are better than theirs.”
Arwyn crossed her arms over her chest. “You guys are more concerned with finding a butcher shop than whatever is lurking under that bridge.”
I bit into a stick, pretending I didn’t notice the men eyeing the rest I still held in my hand. Taking a big bite, I glared at them. Declan and Nick looked elsewhere, but not Arthur.
“They’re turkey, not beef,” I said. “And they’re from the Grove Meatery. I’ve tried those other butchers. Grove is the best.”
“Turkey?” Arthur shook his head. “Those are much better than any turkey stick I’ve ever had.”
I moved the bag in my hand so he could read the big Turkey sticker on the front.
He hmmfed and I said, “So what are we going to do about whatever is under that bridge?”