Ma refused to confine herself to the kitchen and bustled about the tables, offering tempting samples of their most profitable items and pushing the puppy boxes. It was ‘adapt or die’ time, with a higher focus on take away items to counteract the lack of dinner crowds after curfew.
It must be how On the Fang, across the street, had survived the past year as well.
If Ondine’s family didn’t find new ways of bringing in customers earlier in the day, they’d go broke. It was getting close to that point, which was why Ma ‘over bustled’ in the dining room. You could smell the desperation on her.
Making herself useful, Melody now donned Ondine’s old gloves and did the washing up. It had been a thankless task when Ondine did it, but ‘the glasses had never been shinier’ according to Ma. Ondine could do without the implied criticism, but she was nonetheless grateful that Melody was paying her way. It freed Ondine to wrap her arms around Hamish whenever she had the chance.
Which wasn’t anywhere near as often as she’d hoped.
Taking a new tray of dirty teacups towards Melody, Ondine whispered, “I think we have a spy in the dining room. Is there any way you can find out?”
“Oh yes.” Melody shifted her shoulders and clicked out the kinks. Then she held onto the edge of the sink, closed her eyes and breathed deeply. A hard line formed between her brows and her mouth tightened.
“Saturn’s rings, she is a spy,” Ondine gasped.
“It’s not that,” Melody said, her chin puckering with concentration.
“It’s something else?”
“It’s bad,” Melody opened her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t get through.”
“She’s blocking you then?” Only people with magic and something to hide would block astral projection.
Therefore she was a spy!
Melody kept her voice low, but the worry on her face spoke volumes. “Not just her, I can’t get through to anyone. I can’t astral at all.”
“You haven’t . . . lost your magic as well have you?”
“I hope not,” she waggled her fingers over the hot water, it bubbled and frothed, the dirty teacups plonked themselves in and came out sparkling. “Nope. Still got magic! That’s a relief. What do you mean ‘as well’? Has someone else lost their magic?”
Quick, don’t let on about Old Col, Ondine thought. “So why can’t you astral?”
“It’s like there’s a blanket over me when I try to reach out astrally. It feels like it’s made of lead and I can’t lift it and I can’t see through it.”
“Has Mrs Howser put something on you?”
Melody rubbed her forehead, resulting in suds in her hairline. “I should have known they wouldn’t let me go so easily.”
“Ondine, out front please lovvie, we have more customers,” Ma said, producing a new tray of dirty teacups and side plates for Melody.
A new couple had come in to the dining room.
Ma tended them while Ondine waited on/spied on their customer with the laptop.
Honestly, coming in with something that flashy was bound to make her stand out. [339] With what she hoped sounded like chirpy tone, Ondine asked, “Working on a book?”
The woman stayed focused on the screen and said. “I come here for the solitude.”
Point taken.
Ma fussed over the new customers, whom she’d seated at the table by the window. [340] They were two women dressed in dark suits, which reminded Ondine of the night last year when immigration inspectors had come into the pub and tried to deport Hamish. Shudder.
At Natalia’s table, Ondine poured more tea and gave them two jam tarts to share between the four of them.
Over the next ten or so minutes, the suited ‘window couple’ spent the whole time looking at the menus. Ondine watched them from the safety of the kitchen doorway, wondering why someone should take so long to decide what kind of tea to have. Especially when they only had four types. Peppermint, Regular Black, Green and Brugelish Blend. [341] They needed to hurry up and get some food on the table so more people walking past could be lured in. It was already past three in the afternoon. By four, everyone would need to leave so they’d be home in time for five o’clock curfew.
“I can’t seem to get them to order anything, they’re saying everything looks so delicious they can’t make up their minds,” Ma said as she came back into the kitchen.
Ondine grabbed an empty plate and turned to Henrik. “Put a scone and a slice on it and we’ll call it a sampler.”
“Just one scone,” Ma added.
“I’ll cut it in half,” Henrik said.
The result was a half-scone with a scraping of jam and a delicate drop of cream on top, next to a wafer thin slice of apricot delight. It had been apricot cake yesterday, but they’d had so much left over, Henrik had repurposed it into something closer to a brownie. Except it was apricot.
Ondine took the plate, added a red nasturtium flower as garnish and headed out to the dining room. With a warm smile, she approached the table and slid the platter between the two suited women. “Ma said you were having trouble deciding, so I brought you our house specials. Please enjoy.”
The woman on the left asked, “Is this complimentary?”
Mercury’s wings, cheapskates in suits? Maybe they were spies. Or maybe they were just city workers who’d ended up with too much month at the end of the money. “It’s a sample platter, they’re a schlipp each.” Ondine beamed at how quickly she’d made that up.
The woman on the right said, “There weren’t any sample platters on the menu.”
“This is true,” Ondine stalled for time, then inspiration struck. “There’s a backlog with the printers and we have to wait.” Of course there would be a backlog at the printers. They, like every other business, had to close early because of the curfew.
“Can I bring you some tea?”
Instead of answering, the woman on the left asked, “Why is that woman using a computer?”
Definitely a spy-like question. Best get them out of here as soon as possible. “Because the library doesn’t let you eat at your desk. I’ll be back in just a moment with the samovar.”
Back in the kitchen, Ondine refilled the samovar with fresh boiling water and set the tea light candle underneath. The candle was an affectation really, keeping the water warm but hardly boiling. It wasn’t even a proper samovar, just an enormous teapot with a faucet near the base, but that didn’t matter either. With everything loaded on the trolley, including all four kinds of leaf tea ready to get spooned in, Ondine wheeled it towards the suited women. “Have you decided which blend? You only need pay for the first cup, refills are free.” Ondine said.
“Then we’ll share one cup of Brugelish Blend,” the woman on the right said.
Ma bustled in with a plate of hot delicacies. They smelled divine; mushrooms and cheese wrapped in something bake-able. “I heard you couldn’t decide, so I brought you our delicious mini savoury parcels. Resistance is futile!”
Resistance? Really bad word choice, Ma! Ondine felt like her heart would stop as she made her way back to the kitchen as fast as she could without looking like she was running. Stupid Vincent and his stupid curfew, ruining everyone’s lives. If it wasn’t for his mandatory home-time, the resistance would be able to meet anywhere they liked under cover of darkness.
Which, now that she thought about it, was obviously why he’d brought a curfew in.
“Eh lass, whatja gawpin’ at?” Hamish said as he sidled up beside her.
Hamish was here. Everything would be all right now, wouldn’t it? “The women on the window table. I think they’re spies.”
“Weil, they’ll be gone soon, it’s nearly curfew.”
Ma walked past and noticed Hamish. “Be an angel and dash over to Fang’s for me. See if they have any potatoes? There’s a good lad. We’ll pay them back later.”
“Hurry,” Ondine said, giving him a quick kiss. “And be careful. There are cadets on every corner.”
�
�Och, lass. I’m always careful,” he said with a wink.
Staying busy so she wouldn’t fret about Hamish, Ondine headed over to Natalia’s table. As she stepped closer, the two suited women by the window took an increasing interest in everything going on. If they were spies, they sucked at it.
Keeping her voice bright, Ondine said, “More scones ma’am?”
“Thank you, yes, and tea,” Natalia said, then she dropped her voice into conspiratorial range. “If those women on the other table think they’re going to follow me home, they’ve got another thing coming.”
“I’ll freshen the samovar,” Ondine said.
The light outside dimmed. Time marched on. Clearly Natalia wasn’t leaving before the suited women left, but the suits were so slow they could have doubled as buskers dressed as statues.
Another ten minutes passed. Hamish came back from Fang’s with a small bag of potatoes and presented them to Ma, who gave them straight to Henrik. “Soup for dinner again Henrik. Let’s see how far we can stretch it.”
The entire situation did Ondine’s head in. The women in suits had to leave, right now, if Natalia had any hope of making it home before legal lights-out. “What are they doing?” She asked Hamish, “Playing curfew chicken?”
“I’ve given the suits by the window the bill,” Ondine said. “But they’re not moving. I think they’re spying on us.”
“Why would we have spies in here? Honestly!” Ma said with a roll of her eyes. “Stop being a drama llama. Maybe they want to stay for dinner and a room?” Ma said.
That got Ondine’s attention. “They’d be our first dinner guests in months.”
Ma said, “It’s about time we started having hotel guests again. We’ll need to offer them a full Brugelish Continental breakfast in the morning.” She rubbed her hands together in anticipation and headed over towards the women in suits, to suggest they stay the night.
Clearly, her mother didn’t have a clue how serious this was. They had the leader of the Brugelish Resistance in their dining room, and two spies spying on her. Outside, there were cadets on street corners, watching everything. Natalia and her friends had to leave soon or they’d have to stay the night as well. Did they have enough food to feed everyone?
And another thing, where was everyone going to fit? They had plenty of rooms for family, of course, even the extended family plus Melody. But they only had one or two spare rooms and . . . uh oh, Ma returned with a gleam in her eye.
“Ondi love, you and Hamish get rooms ready. We’re going to have overnighters again! Right, hand me the menu. Chef, Cybelle, tell me what we can offer them for dinner.”
“Er, soup?” Cybelle said. “And their body weight in scones.”
“Soup and scones?” Ma shrugged. “Eh, where are they gonna go at short notice anyway?”
“Weil, there is Fangs across the street,” Hamish said.
Ondine gave him a nudge.
“Ahhhh, but they’re only a restaurant, not a pub. If people stay too long at dinner, they’ll have to sleep at the tables,” Ma said, heading back out to the dining room. Her voice sounded two notches too loud, as if there were far more people than the measly handful. “My lovely guests, can I get anyone more tea? Apricot slice?”
The front door tinkled and three new people came in. Watching from the kitchen, Ondine could see them look directly to Natalia. A flicker of recognition flashed across their faces. The women on the other table cricked their necks back and forth to observe the exchange.
More people? Nobody would get home in time for curfew at this rate. Which meant things were going to be very crowded in the hotel tonight.
“Three more for the dinner special,” Ma said as she came back into the kitchen. “Time for FHB.”
Cybelle gave Ma a confused look.
“Family Hold Back. Paying guests first, us second.”
“We don’t have enough food?” Ondine didn’t want to believe it.
“Not at the moment, but after they pay their bills, we’ll re-stock,” Ma said.
In protest, Ondine’s stomach made the loudest gurgle heard this side of the Caucasus Mountains.
Da came in with extra fire-wood to keep the dining room warm. “If they’re staying the night, how about we take their money up front? Then I can dash down to the market and restock now. I don’t know about you Ondi, but I can’t think straight on an empty stomach.”
“But it’s nearly curfew,” Ma said.
“I’ll be fine.” Da headed into the dining room and built up the fire.
Ma said, “Hamish, you’re good at getting people to part with money. Be a champ and collect deposits for the board and breakfast.”
“Aye,” he said.
Flustered, Ma shook her head. “We’ve never taken money from people up front before.”
“We’re doing lots of things we haven’t done before,” Ondine said.
A few minutes later, Hamish handed the deposit cash to Da.
“I’ll be back before anyone has a chance to miss me,” Da promised. He walked past Margi and kissed her on the head. She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her rotund belly.
“It kicked!” Da’s face split with a smile. “Keep cooking little Berger. We’ll see you when you’re done!”
Ondine and Hamish followed Da towards the back door, Hamish asking the very question at the top of Ondine’s list of worries: “I didnae think thae market was still open.”
“It’s not,” Da said. “But I know a place.”
“The cadets will see you, they’re right out the front,” Ondine said. Nerves pumped her heart, trembled her fingers and shortened her breath. Da was acting as if this were nothing more than a shopping trip, but if he was caught out after curfew he could be arrested. Or worse.
“I’ll create a diversion, lass,” Hamish said with a wink. “I like the look of their trousers!”
“Be –” Hamish vanished into his clothes, and Shambles the ferret crawled out of the crumpled sleeve on the ground. “– careful.”
“Right, I’ll head out the front door sharpish, Da can sneak out the back.”
“Thank you Hamish,” Da said.
“Awff we go then,” Hamish as the Shambles ferret darted towards the door adjoining their private room behind the kitchen, only to pull up short. “Er, lass, I didnae think this through. Would ye mind opening the door for me? I cannae reach.”
Reluctantly, Ondine turned the handle and opened the door enough to let the ferret out into the cool evening air. Through the gap, she saw the cadets sipping something from a hip flask.
While Shambles bounded out to the street, the door to the beer garden creaked open and Da slipped away.
Please be safe, both of you, she silently begged.
SLEEPING AS A FERRET at night in his safe, warm bed was one thing, but being a ferret out in the open, on the road, as the light faded for the day had Hamish feeling twenty kinds of nervous. Being so low to the ground made him vulnerable to the kind of heavy boots the Fort Kluff cadets liked to wear.
As a ferret, his adorably fuzzy little ears gave him excellent hearing. Da’s footsteps faded off down the road, now was the time to act. Wailing like a banshee, Hamish leapt into the air and spun around on the spot, landing with a wet thud into a gutter puddle. Cold and wet, he wailed some more. A totally natural wail as it turned out.
“What?” One of the cadets noticed Shambles’ efforts and walked across the street to get a closer look. “Hey Gregor, look at this funny cat!”
“I’m nae cat!” Shambles yelled. Standing on his hind legs brought him eye level with their kneecaps. Their tasty, vulnerable kneecaps.
The one called Gregor yelled and took a step back. “It talks!”
Diversion well and truly made, Shambles tapped his foot on the kerb. This was going so well he could barely believe his luck. “I can dance too, if ye want.”
The other cadet said, “What’s it saying?”
Gregor ran back to his post.
“Come back a
nd play with me,” Shambles called after him. As the cadet checked left and right to cross the street, he did a double take in the direction of the beer garden. Da should be long gone by now. Shouldn’t he?
“Rav, get backup,” Gregor said. “We’ve got an ‘out after curfew’.”
Desperate, Shambles leapt after Gregor, locking his claws into the cuffs of his cadet pants.
Gregor violently shook his leg. “Get off me!”
Dizzy and shaken, he clung on for his life, the fabric ripping where his claws dug through.
“What is that?” The other one said.
Shambles was in no position to tell who said what, as he clung on for his life. Being flung around like a rag doll, he focussed on survival.
“Don’t worry about me, call it in!”
“But it’s ripping your trousers!”
“Hurry up, he’s getting away!”
The shaking stopped. Dazed and dizzy, Shambles clung on, took a second to get his breath back, then scarpered up Gregor’s leg and on to his back. The cadet’s arms flailed and whipped backwards, trying to grab him.
“Get this thing off me.”
A hand clamped around his tail and pulled. Shambles let out a whelp of pain and dug his claws in to Gregor’s uniform.
“He won’t budge.”
Shambles clamped his teeth down on something and locked his jaw. He was going nowhere.
“Unit three-seven-three reporting in, we have a citizen out after curfew. Has decamped in direction of unit three-seven-seven. Please advise.”
A scratchy voice came in from a speaker somewhere. “Advising unit three-seven-seven to apprehend.”
Shambles’s hopes fell faster than a ferret dropping from a man’s back. He scarpered to a safe distance and looked back. The cadets were checking the damage on Gregor’s uniform and not chasing Da down the street. Which was a good thing. But no, it was bad, because the cadets stationed further down the street could already be in pursuit.
How could he be so stupid to think distracting the cadets on their corner would make a difference, when there were so many cadets stationed on street corners all over the city?
Dejected, he crept back to the pub and hoped that by some miracle, Da would be all right.
The Ondine Collection Page 75
