The Inner Circle (Return of the Ancients Book 3) (9 page)

Samantha frowned.

The woman’s mouth dropped open.

The toddler picked up the cookie plate and with a loud squall, dashed it onto the floor before zipping off to the Christmas tree once more.

“That thing isn’t human.” Jareth’s voice carried through the entire shop. “It’s clearly a demon, zipped into a baby suit.”

We were all thinking it.

I saw more than one customer grin.

The mother’s breath came in one huge, sucking gasp.

Samantha turned the full force of her shrewd eyes on me. She waved at the situation and silently ordered me to handle it.

“I beg your
pardon
?” the mother’s voice rose in a shrill crescendo.

Dropping everything, I hurried toward the out-of-control toddler. After all, he would be much easier to deal with than a cranky Samantha. Being on the receiving end of her displeasure was worse than being roasted alive.

Reaching him, I held out my hand. “Why don’t you come back over here to your mom,” I offered with a bright smile.

He responded by kicking me in the shin.

I glared down at him. Maybe he really
was
a demon. Picking the squirming kid up under the shoulders, I lugged him towards his mother as she sputtered at Jareth.

“And just who do you think you are?” she was asking him. Without giving him a chance to respond, she turned and yelled at me. “What kind of place
is
this?”

I gaped at her audacity but then took control of the situation. “Would you like me to help you move to a different table, somewhere nicer?” I offered.

She stood up with a huff. “My latte’s cold now,” she complained, waving at the cup she’d been ignoring while chatting on the phone.

“I’ll get you a nice, fresh one,” I volunteered with a smile as a plan formulated in my head. “Just come this way.”

Sending Jareth a dark glare, the woman followed me across the shop.

I chose the empty table next to Samantha.

After all, if the rest of us were afraid of her, the toddler probably would be, too.

It worked like a charm.

The instant the little boy took one step away from his mother, Samantha looked up at him from her pastry orders, and he stopped dead in his tracks. This repeated several times before he resorted to hanging onto his mother’s leg and staring up at Samantha with a finger jammed up his nose.

The situation had stabilized, so I decided to return to the pastry counter.

With a loud yawn, Jareth stretched and getting up, joined me to lean against the glass in a creak of leather. “Well done, Sydney,” he said.

I scowled at him. “You’re hardly any better than that kid,” I warned testily. “Go sit down before I put you next to Samantha, too.”

He drew back at that and gave a hiss.

The baristas smothered giggles.

“More Jareth antics?” Samantha questioned from her table. She must have heard the exchange, but I could tell she wasn’t too displeased.

“Go sit down,” I ordered Jareth again.

He returned to his seat.

I watched him, concerned. Underneath it all, I could tell that he wasn’t his usual smug cocky self. When no one was looking, he appeared downright miserable. And I could understand why, but I didn’t really know how to help him.

And I wasn’t the only one who had noticed his depression.

With a keen eye of appraisal and a slight reproving smile, Samantha watched him for a time, tapping her pencil on the table. At his third heaving sigh, she took that as her cue, and putting on a professional smile, clapped her pastry book shut and walked over to him.

“Dragon,” he greeted her with a mocking lift of the brow

“You’re such a charmer, Jareth,” she observed in reply and then asked in her no-nonsense voice, “And why the long face today?”

“You should leave, dragon,” he said darkly. “I’m not in a good mood.”

Samantha took that as an invitation. Sitting opposite him, she crossed her legs and laced her fingers around her knee. “Everyone has a time of trial,” she said.

“A time?” Jareth rolled his eyes. “I see only trial upon trial.”

His tone was so genuine that even Samantha took note, and for a brief moment, a flash of sympathy crossed her angular face. But only for a moment.

“Pish!” She clucked, shaking her head. “It can’t be that hopeless. Keep on moving, that’s my motto. Look up from any hole you’ve fallen into and pick a star in the dark sky above. As long as you keep climbing one foot and then another, you’ll soon find yourself out.”

“And then you’ll just fall into another hole,” Jareth responded acidly. “And then again. Failures are assured.”

Samantha huffed. “Failures?” she seized the word. “Then I’d say don’t judge yourself by failures but by how quickly you get up to try again. Your story isn’t over yet, Jareth. You’re too young to have failed. You’re a talented kid.”

“Yes, you have to be born with talent like mine,” he replied sarcastically.

I knew that he was referring to his possible lizard DNA. And while everyone else probably thought he was being arrogant, Samantha apparently sensed his despondency, too.

Moving to the pastry case, she put a fresh blueberry muffin onto a plate and returned to him. “When all else fails, a good muffin usually helps,” she said. “Here, eat one of these, you’re always dying for one.”

Jareth stared at it.

We all held our breath, wondering what Samantha would do if he insulted her.

But I guess even Jareth knew better than to do that. Taking the plate, he replied, “I wouldn’t die for it … but it
might
be worth fainting for.”

Samantha smiled. A real honest-to-goodness smile that actually revealed her perfect teeth.

Even Jareth was surprised. He almost dropped the plate.

“You, of all people walking this Earth, should know that life is all about attitude,” she said, giving him a crisp pat on the head. “Dream your dream and make it happen. No one can stop you.”

With that she left him and returned to her table, but not before stopping to whisper in my ear, “Keep an eye on that one, Sydney. You’re so good at managing our most troublesome customers.”

She graced me with a hard-won nod of approval, and then collecting her pastry books, disappeared into the back.

The day past uneventfully after that. Jareth came and went. I spent most of my thoughts worrying about him.

As my shift ended, Jareth suddenly appeared again and offered me a ride home.

To my relief, there wasn’t a Mesmer in sight outside the coffee shop.

Jareth was silent all the way home, and my attempt to talk of my plans went rebuffed.

After dropping me off, he zipped the car around and backed into Rafael’s garage so fast that I thought he’d go right through it, but he stopped just in time. Barely.

Everyone was in the kitchen when I came through the front door just in time to hear Betty say, “No dear, I’m not turning the house into a giant chicken coop.”

I hesitated. I knew he was talking about a Faraday cage. And I really wanted Al’s help. I had to protect them all somehow. Fortunately, circumstances saved me from having to weigh in.

“Oh my!” Betty threw her hands up in the air as she caught a whiff of smoke. “I’ve burnt the meatballs!”

She hurried to the stove and pushed the pan onto a different burner. We looked over her shoulder at the singed meat.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Grace inserted with a grin. “Tigger’ll eat them.”

“I couldn’t do that, honey.” Betty’s eyes softened at the mention of the old hound dog. “He’s done so well on his new diet. I think he’s lost a pound.”

Grace and I exchanged disbelieving glances, but Betty caught us and gave us the job of scraping the meatballs as punishment. We managed to save most of the insides. The outer bits were so burnt that even Tigger didn’t recognize them as food.

And as we took our seats at the table, Grace asked, “So, what’s up with Jareth? Is he your boyfriend now?”

I rolled my eyes. “That would never happen. He’s like a … a …” I couldn’t think of the right word.

“Brother?” Grace asked curiously.

Brother. That was a new concept for me. I didn’t answer, but I thought about that for most of the dinner. And the more I thought about it, the more I was actually surprised to discover I cared for him.

On some level, anyway.

It was nothing like a romantic love. He annoyed me. I thought he was obnoxious. Yet I knew to my very bones now that I could count on him. And if we weren’t in such a messed up situation, I bet we could actually have some fun. Was that what a brother was?

“Al, did you give Sydney her present?” Betty’s voice cut through my thoughts.

I looked up.

“Ah yes!” Al smiled, pointing to a small paper bag sitting on the edge of the table. “Merry Christmas, kiddo.”

Grinning like a fool, I grabbed the bag and peeked inside.

It was a cellphone. And a nice one. Much fancier than the one I had before.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“This one’s got a techy-pet, just like mine,” Grace said with a wide grin, and grabbing my phone from my hand, she hit a few buttons and showed me the screen.

It was some kind of fuzzball thing. It stared at me and zipped across the screen for a bit before leaving a pile of digital poo in the corner.

Grace snorted a laugh. “Mine’s potty trained now,” she said, showing me her phone with a bright orange fuzzball at the bottom of her screen, dutifully hovering over an itsy-bitsy litter box.

But then she got a text from one of her friends and began jamming on her keys in reply.

Shortly after that, Betty and Grace’s show started, and they stood to take their plates to the family room. But before they left, Betty gave Al a quick peck on the cheek. “Remember now, dear.” Her voice took on a gentle sternness. “I’ll not be seeing this house turned into a chicken coop.”

Al seemed to be struggling to hold back words. “Right, Betty.” There was a clear note of reluctance in his voice. But then he added, “It just don’t make sense—”

“’Doesn’t’, dear,” she corrected with a bright smile and left.

Al’s shoulders slumped.

I suppose he’d been holding out hope until now.

No sooner had they left than he said with pronounced regret, “Betty’s not too keen on the chicken coop wire.” He pointed a warning finger at the microwave. “That thing’s dangerous. Betty should quit using it, especially since this house isn’t protected. And the danger is far more widespread than you think. There are many cases of missing time that people should be investigating. The government’s up to something. Big.”

I could only agree with him. The lizard people were everywhere, and that probably included congress.

“Wi-Fi, baby monitors, games consoles, security systems…” Al squared his shoulders. “Jack says they’re using all of those devices to manipulate human minds.” He scowled so hard that his brows almost met in the center of his forehead.

“We can’t give up,” I said. I couldn’t have Al bailing out on me. I counted on him to help me. Suddenly, I remembered my research. “What about hats? Foil hats?”

He stared at me and then smacked his palm on his forehead. “You might have a whopper of an idea there, Sydney!” He blasted a great laugh. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. That’s worth a call to Jack right now.”

I smiled, pleased with myself as I watched him disappear down the hall to phone Jack.

I’d just finished helping to clear the table when Betty called from the other room. “Sydney, would you mind putting the chickens to bed for me?”

“No problem!” I answered, patting my pocket to make sure Jareth’s rune was still in there. It was. Right next to my shiny new cellphone.

I knew the Mesmers could reach me anytime, night or day, so logically there was no reason to fear the dark especially. But honestly, it was a little hard to believe it as I eyed the dark night outside the window.

Arming myself with a fork from the drawer and Al’s night-vision goggles, I went to the back door and pressed my head against the frosted glass. I couldn’t see any movement through the goggles, and after a few minutes, I deemed it safe.

Someone had accidentally left the chicken coop light on. Several of the hens were still awake in their nests. They were crazy-looking hens, a Polish variety, with feathers sprouting from their heads like afros. Except that the feathers blocked their vision so they couldn’t really see. But that didn’t stop them from going after me as I slipped my hands under them, searching for eggs. A couple of them got in a good peck before I could jerk my hand away. I only got one egg.

Sticking the warm egg into my pocket, I drew the bolt and locked the chicken coop door. I jiggled the handle to make sure it was secure, and I’d just turned back towards the house when a dark shape materialized out of the darkness.

I choked on a scream, but before it could escape my lips, I recognized Ajax’s pointy snout.

“Ajax!” I snapped at him. “Are you
trying
to kill me?”

He gave a sharp yap of a bark and pawing the snow, turned to peer into the greenbelt for a few seconds and then back at me.

“No way,” I scowled.

He stamped his foot and glanced back at the greenbelt, clearly wanting me to follow him. His ears were standing at attention.

“I’m not going out there,” I told him stubbornly. And jamming my hands into my pockets, I headed for the house.

But as I pressed forward, he stood in my way. Placing his shoulder against my knees, he pushed back, forcing me to stop.

Whipping out my cellphone, I stole a page from Samantha’s book and said sternly, “I’m calling Animal Control right now and telling them there’s a rabid Doberman trying to kill our chickens!”

If dogs could roll their eyes, I believe he would have. He obviously didn’t believe me.

But then he switched tactics and lying down in the snow, he began to whine.

I hesitated.

Maybe Rafael wanted to see me?

I have to admit, my heart began to quicken at that, even though I knew full well it could be Melody, or even Marquis, hiding in the greenbelt.

Knowing that he’d won, Ajax leapt to his feet and pranced to the edge of the yard.

“Just a few feet,” I grumbled, letting curiosity get the better of me and added, “Just know I have my fork!” I knew that didn’t really matter. The Fae could disable me with their trions long before I could poke them with a fork.