Chapter 17 #2
Sway giggled. “Those other ladies don’t like her every much either.”
His brow rose again. “You can hear them?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I told you. I have really good ears.”
Okay, so there was probably something morally or ethically wrong with using your six-year-old niece to eavesdrop, but— “What did they say?”
“That lady in the red hat said she should’ve kept riding the gravy train with biscuit wheels instead of hopping off to bend over for the mule behind it, and then the lady with the scarf said a mule would be an upgrade to what she was riding now, ’cause there’s no way Pete’s hung like one.”
Felix coughed into his fist. “And you think that’s funny?”
“Yeah, a train made out of gravy with biscuits for wheels and a hanging mule? That’s real silly.”
“It is, indeed.” And thank God she’d taken all of that literally.
Felix cocked his head at the shrill ring of a phone.
Jenny fumbled in her purse and then held hers up to her ear.
She glanced at the stage and chewed her boney thumb.
Whatever the person on the other end was saying, it didn’t look like good news the way her face blanched and went slack. She grabbed her purse and hurried out.
“There’s people at her house,” Sway said without prompting.
Felix wet his lips, not quite salivating for more info. “Do you know who?”
“No, but the man that called sounded scary and called her bad names.”
Shocker there. Pete was less than eloquent. The rest of the rehearsal was much less entertaining, and when Cruze came out from the back with Sarah, Jenny still hadn’t returned.
“Hey, Uncle Felix, I hope it’s okay, but I told Sarah we could give her a ride home. Her mom texted that there was some kind of emergency and to stay here, but they’re closing the auditorium.”
Felix pursed his lips, dying to know what that call had been about.
The police sirens that’d kicked up in the distance a few minutes ago didn’t bode well for whatever it was.
“Sure, but we need to make a couple of stops first, and we have to do it fast to get back in time to meet—ah, your brother,” he amended, just stopping himself from mentioning Liam at Cruze’s expression.
“Cool.” She blew out a relieved breath as they all left the building. “Hey, can we wait in the car while you feed Chambers? I want to show Sarah what I got.”
“Sure—”
“I want to see the weasel!” Sway yelled.
“—Sway and I’ll pop inside real quick,” he continued, clamping onto her hand before she sprinted through the intersection.
They all crossed the street, and Felix unlocked the car.
It was a tight fit with one of the seats folded down to accommodate the trunk of clothes, but the two girls managed to squeeze in, oohing and ahhing before Felix closed the door behind them.
He hurried to the back of town hall with Sway in tow.
“Can I feed him?” Sway asked as they went in and headed to Felix’s office.
“Absolutely not, but you can get his kibble out of the closet for me. Right over there,” he said, pointing at the door beside the wall of filing cabinets. A red folio was on his desk with a sticky note. “Filing on Monday” was written on it in big block letters.
Felix thumbed through it. Looked like the town’s response to the lawsuit, but legalese was not a language he understood, though Liam would. Felix glanced up at Chamber’s irate chittering.
“Whoa! Hey!” Felix dropped the folio and rushed over to the ferret cage where Sway was glowering at the former mayor. “Did he bite you?”
“No.” She pouted. “But he’s even meaner than your cat.”
“Don’t let Myx know, he might take that as a challenge.” Felix quickly filled up the weasel’s bowl. “Okay, put that back, and let’s go,” he said, handing her the kibble and grabbing the folio from where it’d fallen. He took one last glance around his office and shooed her out into the hall.
Felix locked the door behind them, and they got back into his car. He wiped a hand across the fogged up window and started the engine. “One more stop. You guys okay back there?” he asked, throwing an arm over the seat to back up. Stupid curbing was a hazard.
“Yep,” Cruze said with a wide smile on her face.
“Good.” He pulled out of town hall’s lot and onto the street. “I’m going to be at the apartment a little longer than my office, are you going to stay with them?” he asked Sway.
She shook her head. “No. All they talk about is boys.”
“Sway!” Cruze sputtered, and Sarah giggled into her mittens.
“What, you do!”
“Oh really?” Felix’s brow cocked at the girls in the rearview. Cruze was several shades past pink. “Any boy in particular I should know about?”
“Dustin Remy,” Sway replied gleefully.
Cruze fell against the seat with her hands over her face, and Felix swallowed a smile.
Well, looked like he was going to be doing some light internet stalking after dinner.
He pulled into his spot and cut the engine.
“Pull out your phone, Sarah.” He rattled off his number.
“I’ll be back in five minutes. Text me if you need me before that. ”
He and Sway headed into the complex, and Felix frowned at the “Out of Service” sign still on the elevator before hoofing it up the four flights of steps. He unlocked the door to his apartment and groaned. The fern was on the floor, and dirt had been tracked up and down the hallway.
“Goddamn it, Myx,” he muttered, hurrying Sway in. “Go hang out in the living room while I clean this up.” Felix pulled off his parka on the way to the kitchen, the furry perpetrator perched on the kitchen table. He looked far too satisfied with himself.
“Ew! There’s cat puke on the couch!” Sway shrieked from the living room.
Because of course there was. “Was that really necessary?”
Myx yawned.
Felix glared at him and grabbed the broom and dustpan. “Since you’ve already eaten, you can wait for second breakfast.”
Myx’s ears flicked back, and he huffed. Whatever. Stupid cat. Felix cleaned up the mess in the hall, then the puke in the other room. It was between the cushions, because why wouldn’t it be?
“You know, I really hate you sometimes,” he muttered, dumping kibble into the cat’s bowl.
Myx huffed again, stomping down the hall and ignoring his tribute.
Felix threw up his hands. “Whatever. I don’t have time for your attitude.” He shrugged into his parka and absently pulled out his phone as it pinged in quick succession. “Come on, Sway, we’re going to be—”
DRAGON!!
pissed off!
stay inside!!!!
Felix’s jaw dropped at Jena’s texts. A what? There was no way. A fucking dragon? There were like twelve on the planet, what the hell was one doing in Havers? He furiously texted her back.
R U OK?!
His chest heaved, waiting for Jena to respond, and a text from Sarah pinged.
we need u!!!
Fuck, they were still in the car. Felix shoved his phone in his pocket and hustled Sway out the door.
Myx shot out into the hallway between their feet.
“Damn it, Myx!” Whatever, he didn’t have time to chase him.
Felix quickly locked up and hurried Sway to the stairwell, the cat keeping pace with them.
“I think he’s coming with us, Uncle Felix.”
“What do you mean you think, can’t your really good ears hear him, too?”
“No, he doesn’t talk to me, but he mutters a lot.”
Well, that was on brand. Felix frowned as they jogged down the steps. “Great. Just what we need, two ill-tempered beasts on the loose.”
The cat’s ear flicked back, racing down the stairs ahead of them. Felix opened the door to the parking lot and froze. In the car, Sarah and Cruze’s white faces were pressed to the glass, staring at the monstrous serpentine shape circling high above the town. Holy shit. There really was a dragon.
“Is that Santa?” Sway asked, squinting at the darkening sky.
Felix’s throat bobbed. “Um. Yes. Better get in the car before he sets fire to all your presents.” She squealed and dashed to the car.
Felix followed her lead, and Myx jumped into the car as soon as the door was opened. He bounded across the front seat to Sway buckling in. She gasped as he plopped down on her, and she went still, holding her breath with her eyes screwed shut.
“Holy crap, that’s a cat?” Sarah asked, tearing her gaze from the circling dragon. Myx yowled at her, hissing, and she cringed back.
Cruze’s eyes went wide. “W-why is he here?”
“You’d have to ask him,” Felix grumbled, hurrying to start the car. Jena still hadn’t texted, and the dragon’s circles were getting lower. Fuck. Executive decision time. Felix shot Liam a quick text and threw the car into reverse.
“Text your mom and let her know I’m taking you to the Witchery with us,” he said to Sarah.
With all the wards the building had on it, it was the safest place in town, and it was also a lot closer than his parents’ house. “Everyone buckled?”
The two girls in the back nodded, clutching at each other, and there was no way was Sway was going anywhere with Myx on her lap. She tentatively tried to put her hand on his back, and he nipped at her fingers, growling.
A much louder growl came from above, rattling the car windows, and Felix floored it.
Liam got back to the house before Felix and the girls, and hustled Axle into the shower.
Kid was ripe after all the work they’d done.
Liam sat at the kitchen table, sniffing a pit as he sat.
So was he, but it would have to wait. Getting the car over to the garage had taken longer than he’d expected.
One of the axles had been totally busted in what Jerry referred to as “the pothole incident,” and the frame on that side needed more than a little help. It wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed, but it had made loading and unloading the car more difficult.
But it was back at the compound now, and Liam had made himself walk away without even opening the hood. He was stupidly proud about that. His fingers were itching to get started, and he was dying to know what was under there, but—no.
No squirreling. No obsessing.