Chapter Eighteen
Austin walked back to Kai’s shop, her entire body sore once again. She would probably be sleeping over again today, since she had rushed out this morning without a goodbye, and she thought about her tent. As comfortable and enticing as sleeping on the ground sounded, she preferred the reading room’s comfy chairs. Even leaning against the bookshelf, listening to Kai type, was fine with her.
She tried to push open the door to his shop, but it didn’t budge. She noticed an envelope taped to the glass with her name on it. When she held it in her hand, it was heavy.
Austin, the paper inside the envelope read, Since you’ve become quite fond of my shop, I thought you might drop by this afternoon. Sadly, if you are reading this, I am not there to greet you. You could search for me throughout the city if you like, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You might find me at the supermarket or delivering packages, but I’m probably out on a date. I’ve enclosed a key for you. Keep it. Enter whenever you need to, but lock the door behind you. If I’m not there, customers shouldn’t be either.
Kai.
It was written in fancy handwriting, but Austin guessed that it was Kai’s normal script. She took out the key and ran her fingers across it. It wasn’t normal. It was a heavy skeleton key, like the ones used in the 1800’s.
Who knows, maybe the shop is that old. Still, Kai should have had the locks replaced in the last two hundred years.
She unlocked the door and stepped inside, instantly ready for work. She dumped her stuff at the door and walked straight to the kitchen, leaving the door open behind her. She didn’t want to make herself sick from chemical fumes.
She started on the dishes first, scalding her hands with hot water. Most of his cups were chipped but the bowls were not. Did he only drops cups, then? She stacked the clean dishes precariously on the edge of the sink and she went to work sorting out the cabinets.
“Empty,” she said, looking into a box. She tossed that one into the open trashcan and found that most o the boxes were empty, just taking up space in his cabinets. She threw empty box after empty box away until the shelves were nearly bare. She straightened the remaining items up and, since there was so much space left, put away the things lying on the counter. Tea was organized in the upper right corner, just like Kai preferred, and food filled the rest of the shelves. She leaned back, impressed with her work, before wiping down the counters.
Things did need to be done in the bookstore part of this building, but the kitchen was a hazard. If she didn’t fix things up now, who knows what could happen?
“What a surprise to see you here,” Kai said without a hint of shock in his voice. Austin chuckled, her back still facing him. She stacked the dishes onto a shelf she had completely cleared, right under the teapots, “I’ll be right back.”
She heard him pick up the trash bags, the plastic crinkling loudly around his grip, and he left with them. Trash must be picked up here same as it was in the human world. Or the human dimension. Or whatever it was called.
No, that couldn’t be right.
“Kai,” she called, hearing a door open as he came back, “I haven’t seen any cars since I arrived here. What’s up with that?”
“Car exhaust fumes clog up the atmosphere,” Kai said, looking tired, “Why would we bring such an invention here when we know what will happen? It’s better to wait until either we or the humans have come up with a solution to that problem.”
“So, if there aren’t garbage trucks, what do we do with trash?” she asked. Satisfied with how the kitchen looked, she turned to face him.
“Well, I have my very own portal—sorry, my own door that leads to nowhere, so I dump mine through there. It ends up in some landfill in near Boston, or sometimes in the ocean. Portals are fickle like that. Other people have to take their trash to one of the public portals.”
“You just dump all of your trash into the human world?” she blinked. That meant that the filth that covered her streets, the smog that filled the air, wasn’t the human’s fault, not entirely, “Isn’t that-“
Kai interrupted her smoothly, “One might wonder why you’re so sympathetic towards humans.”
“Well,” she said, her throat suddenly running dry. She swallowed, “Well, I…”
“You need to choose your battles wisely. Pick a cause,” Kai rolled his eyes, “Storytellers, humans…next you’ll be sympathizing with chaos.”
“What’s wrong with you?” she spat, finding her words. He looked taken aback by her sudden temper.
“Nothing,” he said. After a few seconds of her glare, he decided to tell the truth, “Sorry. I had a fight with Derrick, and it’s-”
“I’ll make some tea,” she said, immediately forgiving him. She was bugged that he was taking it out on her, but she wasn’t going to hold that against him. She made tea just as she had yesterday, using a different kind today. In only a few minutes, quicker now that she didn’t need constant directions, she poured a cup for Kai.
“Better,” he complimented her after taking a sip. She poured herself some, adding milk, and tasted it. Today it tasted creamy and, somehow, floral.
“Now talk,” she ordered, sitting down. More books had piled on the table in her absence, so she moved those to the floor.
“Why am I always the one who talks?” Kai asked in more of a complaint than genuine curiosity. Austin shrugged.
“The first night I came here, I told you everything,” she answered, remembering that night. There was something about the scene that wasn’t right---a familiar face. She tried to focus on the figure. Just as the jacket became more define, the face sharpening, Kai broke her focus.
He said, interrupting her train of thought, “More must have happened since then.”
“Is this research for your story?” she asked. She was dealing with a storyteller, after all. She didn’t want every detail of her life to be published.
“No, this is me trying to be your friend,” Kai said stiffly. Austin almost laughed at his awkwardness. After a few seconds of holding it in, she did laugh.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, leaning forwards. He looked irritated, probably thinking that she was laughing at him.
“You just looked so serious,” she laughed and threw him a bone, “Fine. Life’s been great here on Affelil. Training is going well, even though my muscles are sore for a few hours after it ends. I work at your shop. I read to kids. What else is there to do?”
“You haven’t done anything but stick to the schedule?” Kai asked. She nodded, “Austin, you’re supposed to be spending your free time making friends and having fun, not spending it trapped in my shop.”
She chose not to say anything, satisfied with the intensity of the glare that she managed to pull. She didn’t care for his attitude, and she chose to be here. She wasn’t trapped, “Is this your way of kicking me out?”
“No,” he looked shocked at the idea, “I just know that there are so many places in Anathaem that everyone should see, and to think that you haven’t been there is just-“
“Fine,” she said, “You take me. If you’re so-“
“I’m not taking you,” he said, pushing his glasses higher onto the bridge of his nose, “I don’t want to see the sights. I’ve already seen them.”
“Then I guess I’ll go by myself. You’ll have to end up following me anyway,” she tilted her head, baiting him with false innocence, “You are my guardian, aren’t you?”
“I technically never retired from that position, but-“ he frowned. She knew that she had him. She spent years perfecting the art of changing Demitri’s mind. Kai, with his awkwardness and his sleep deprived mind, didn’t stand a chance.
“And you’re all about technicalities,” Austin pointed out, standing up. She took her coat, which she left sit on the table, and slid it on. The heavy weight was just the same as it had been in the human world, and that was comforting. Not everything had ch
anged, “We’ll go grab a cup of coffee. You need coffee, not tea-“
“Tea solves everything,” Kai muttered under his breath. Austin pretended not to hear him.
“And while we’re drinking coffee, you’ll tell me what happened between you and Derrick. If you feel better after that-“
“I won’t,” Kai promised.
“If you feel better after that,” Austin repeated, “We’ll see the sights. If not, we’ll come back here. Okay?”
“What happened with Derrick isn’t even a big deal,” Kai said, staring absently at the leftover tea in his cup. He was definitely moping.
“Let’s go,” she said with such finality and strength that Kai didn’t dare disobey her.
Fledgling Page 19
