I suddenly felt like a trainee in front of an Illuminati tribunal, a supplicant awaiting judgement.
“As I’m sure you’ve figured out,” Franklin said, “Westport is fairly isolated from the rest of the country’s paranormal and supernatural communities, although the number of residents of the Otherworld who reside here is larger than normal. That left us vulnerable to the plots of outsiders coming in to impose their own ideas of what our future should be.”
I didn’t know what to say. Yeah, that was my assessment of the situation in the city, but other than tell people in power what I thought, I wasn’t in a position to do much about it. Were they going to blame me? Hell, I was only the messenger. They were all hundreds—in Roisin’s case, a thousand or more—of years older than me. I didn’t bring the Hunters to Westport; they just took advantage of the situation.
“What we’ve learned,” the Reverend White said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, “is that we need a true Otherworld Council to govern the non-humans who live here. A council that has some bite, some enforcement power. So, we’ve come together to create that council.”
“What we’ve done,” Sam said, “is agreed to create, and fund, a true governing body, with an enforcement arm—a paranormal-supernormal police force, if you will—to keep the peace and investigate crimes in Westport. It’s overdue, but we’ve all been stuck in the past, and it took a threat from outside to show us that we need to deal with modern realities. You’ve really helped with that. Most of us rarely see or talk to each other, but you seem to create bridges between different kinds of people, and we’d like to thank you.”
I was confused when I walked into the room, and nothing anyone had said clarified things.
“I don’t understand. I thought the Columbia Club acted as the paranormal council for this area.”
Several of the people in the room chuckled.
Franklin leaned closer and said, “No, though I’m sure many of our members thought we did. The club is all mages. We got together sometimes and pontificated, sometimes put some money together to pay someone to solve an immediate problem, but outside of our little circle, no one paid attention to us, or even knew we existed. Then you showed up and exposed us as a bunch of rich, blowhard busybodies.”
“We’re formalizing the council and setting up the funding to create an Otherworld police force,” one of the witches said. “Frankie’s unit at the DA’s office will act as a liaison for us to the norms, but we’ll be recruiting enforcers and investigators from all the Otherworld communities to staff a true Otherworld enforcement arm. Along with that, we’ll set up a court to enforce our decisions. A clear set of rules for behavior will tell everyone what is expected of them. We can’t afford the kind of recent issues that have exposed us to humans.”
“Okay,” I said. “That’s good, I guess?”
There was a titter of laughter around the room.
Franklin leaned forward and said, “We want to say thank you for giving so many of us a kick in the pants. I’m not sure if we would have ever figured it out and come together except for your indignant self-righteousness at our failure to see and take appropriate action on things that were right in front of our noses.”
I felt my ears burn. I didn’t realize I sounded self-righteous.
“I understand that you have a goal to go to college,” the witch with Roisin said. I suddenly realized that he must be Lizzy’s father. I glanced at Sam, and he nodded.
“Uh, yeah. I’m going to try and start at the community college in the fall.”
“And what do you plan to study?” one of the witches asked.
“Hospitality management. It seems like the best choice.”
Sam looked down at me and asked, “Is that what you want to do? Run a bar all your life? Hell, you don’t need a degree to do that.”
Roisin shook her head. “What do you really want to study? What is your dream?”
I looked into her eyes, and she pulled the truth out of me.
“I looked into studying architecture at the university,” I said, “but I can’t afford the tuition. It would be crazy to borrow that much money.”
Franklin stuck out his hand with a piece of paper in it. I took the paper and unfolded it. At the top was a logo for the Westport Metropolitan Communal Council, whatever that was. I read down, and the letter said,
The Westport Metropolitan Communal Council affirms that for services rendered, the Council pledges to provide a scholarship, including:
Full tuition, fees, books, and supplies for an academic program leading to a Bachelor’s degree for
Erin McLane
The scholarship is dependent upon acceptance to an academic program at a recognized accredited United States institution of higher learning.
All invoices to be submitted to the Council in care of Jones, Carmody, and Wagner, LLP. Payment for each academic term shall be contingent on evidence of successful completion of all courses paid for in the preceding term.
Samuel Patrick O’Grady
Council Chairman
I stared at it, reading it over and over. Finally, I raised my eyes and said, “I don’t understand.”
Sam took my hand in his and said, “We’ll pay for you to go to the university.”
“But, that’s thousands, hell, hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a degree.”
“Yes, it is,” Roisin said. “And we expect you to take it as seriously as you take everything else we’ve seen you do.”
“It’s about as sure a bet as I’ve ever placed,” Sam said.
The tears blurred my vision, and I tried to hold them back, but they spilled down my cheeks in spite of all my efforts.
“You’ll note that we’re not including your living expenses,” Sam pointed out, “so you’ll have to work. If you go to the university here in Westport, and we’re all hoping you stay here, you’ll have a job here at Rosie’s. I’ll make allowances for your school schedule, but you’ll have to show up on time and work your shifts, something you’re pretty good about when you’re not busy saving the world.”
I looked up into his face—his kind, smiling face—and realized that I had found a home.
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Books by BR Kingsolver
Rosie O’Grady’s Paranormal Bar and Grill
Shadow Hunter
Night Stalker
Dark Dancer
The Dark Streets Series
Witches’ Brew
The Chameleon Assassin Series
Chameleon Assassin
Chameleon Uncovered
Chameleon’s Challenge
Chameleon’s Death Dance
Diamonds and Blood
The Telepathic Clans Saga
The Succubus Gift
Succubus Unleashed
Broken Dolls
Succubus Rising
Succubus Ascendant
Other books
I’ll Sing for my Dinner
Trust
Short Stories in Anthologies
Here, Kitty Kitty
Bellator
Dark Dancer (Rosie O'Grady's Paranormal Bar and Grill Book 3) Page 21
