Page 29 of A Light in the Dark

TWENTY-NINE

She’d been told to go hunt berries, hadn’t she?

I choked out three pounds of silk over a three hour period, and between coughing fits, I directed baleful glares at my boss. Once I finished, Roger took the fibers away, earning a storm of unhappy squeaking over having been robbed of the prize I’d worked hard to create. Before I could try to fly and nag the Hunter for his theft, my boss caught me in his hands, moved me to the middle of the bed, and did something that made my bones burn. It only lasted for a few moments, but rather than squeak, I spat out a volley of vehement curses.

Roger stopped, turn to face me, and raised a brow. “That did not take long at all.”

“It’s easiest to force someone to shapeshift when they’re already in a heightened emotional state. She was infuriated you’d taken her silk away, so I took advantage of that to bounce her back to human. You can’t eviscerate him, Valerie. Can you summon the doctors and nurses so they can do an examination?”

“I can. Please sit tight. I won’t lose any of your silk, and I’ll make sure it’s separated from your first shift silk.”

“Silk thief,” I accused.

The Hunter laughed at me, headed to the door, and used his elbow to let himself out, informing someone in the hallway that they had a human patient to work with.

His announcement brought in several men and women, who kicked everyone else out of the room. The examination started off with a question and answer session before they opted to exclude me from the rest of the tests through sedation.

Apparently, it was easier to determine how badly someone had been injured when the patient wasn’t conscious to slow the process down, ask questions, or otherwise get in the way.

When I woke up, my clothes had been whisked away, I’d been tossed into a hospital gown, and my boss read a book next to my bedside. The lack of an IV pleased me, and I crossed my arms over my chest and sulked.

“You’ll be here for two days,” my boss informed me without looking up. “They found significant internal injuries, mostly in the form of bruising, but you require a transfusion. To keep the whining at a minimum, the donor for your transfusion is on route by car, but he won’t be here for an hour or two. He’ll be bringing a replacement phone for you. With some help from Yolana, he managed to get your project app installed and find the pattern you were using. Fortunately for us all, Yolana remembered which one it was and managed to find a copy to buy.”

“Is Joel the donor?” I asked.

“He is. He’s a universal donor, and while he had a concussion, there’s nothing wrong with his blood supply, he’s not on any medications, and he qualified. Honestly, you don’t need much blood, which is the reason he qualified. It also allows the Hunters to get him monitored here rather than in Stonecreek. That better protects him, especially as the Hunters found sufficient evidence to level official genocide accusations on Stonecreek’s mayor. The evidence was presented to the other city-states, who voted unanimously to move forward with his arrest and trial. Without bail, in maximum security prison. Due to the severity of the accusations, he’ll be held in maximum security in Moonriver until it’s time for his trial—and Moonriver requested law enforcement from another world to make certain everything was done correctly. Unfortunately for the mayor, his aides began singing like canaries at the first sign of pressure. They don’t want to face genocide charges, and they might get away with just being accessories. They did what their boss told them.”

I could accept staying in a hospital in Moonriver if I had company in the form of my neighbor. I eyed the room, which had a second bed. “He’ll be my roommate?”

“That’s the idea. His concussion was much worse than yours, but you’re a bruise from head to toe, so you both need about the same amount of monitoring. This prevents any mistakes. And if he’s suffering from a minor amount of blood loss, he’ll be more inclined to cooperate with us.”

That I could understand. “What day is it?”

“It’s Friday.”

I sighed at the thought of having lost almost a week of my life. “I know the storm lasted two days, but how long was it before I got dumped?”

“Roughly a day. Then you walked for another day after the storm ended, leading up to when you tripped over Coraline. The rest of the time was here eating fruit, sniffing the roses, and undergoing testing.”

“I really can’t judge you luna moths about the roses now,” I admitted. “That was a really good nap.”

“It’s true. Roses induce the best naps. Considering the circumstances, our work isn’t dinging us vacation or sick days for this incident, especially once they learned that the mayor attempted to have you murdered for revealing he was having refugees killed. Madeline has freaked out, and my bosses are making sure she has access to therapy. I think she realized she might have been one of the next people to die.”

“She’d been told to go hunt berries, hadn’t she?”

“That’s correct. She’d been told to by the same aides who had grabbed you and hit Joel. The police came to question her, and she recognized your assailants. A lot of the refugees are being questioned, and a lot of them had gotten the same advice from the same people—and the aides are responsible for the guides who’d given Gabriella such poor instructions.” My boss scowled. “Once Joel is here, I’ll be headed back to Stonecreek. There’s going to be an emergency election for a temporary mayor, and there are more than a few problems.”

“What do you mean? I mean, beyond nobody having a chance to run, showcase their stance, and so on. That’s going to be a problem, but the mayor is only going to be temporary, right?”

“The mayorship for the elected individual will only be a one year period.”

“What are the problems?”

“The main one is that you’re on the ballot.”

My eyes widened. “What did you just say? ”

“You’re on the ballot.”

“How is that even possible?” I blurted. “I know some people on my street, I know Joel, and I know some people at work! How did my name end up on a mayoral ballot?”

“Your neighbors blabbed to some reporters about how you’re a hard worker, had risked your life to save Gabriella, and manage to bring peace to a street known for conflict. Some of our contacts know of you, too. Then there’s the issue of Joel.”

“Why are you blaming Joel? Nobody on our street even knows his last name! Well, except for me.”

“A reporter cornered Joel and asked for his personal opinion about you. Joel’s well known up the hill, so while you weren’t aware he runs Sampson Sigils, the people in power were—and Joel surrounds himself with smart, educated people. He wasn’t thinking clearly at the time due to his concussion, and I wasn’t there to kick him to shut him up, so he’s on record about your resourcefulness, kindness, and tendency to help others however you can. This translated to someone proposing you end up on the ballot. In emergency situations, the person added to the ballot need not offer their approval to be on it. It’s an emergency measure to get the best person for the job elected.”

I spluttered. “Surely, someone will look at my background, realize I lack a degree, and remove me from that ballot. That’s utter nonsense!”

“You’d do a good job. You don’t need a degree to organize a government. You need common sense and the ability to resolve conflict, which you have. And it would only be for a year, long enough to keep the city-state together before there’s a proper election with qualified people willing to bring change to Stonecreek.” My boss shrugged. “And because it’s an emergency position, you’d only be expected to work a few hours a day, just long enough to keep the ship floating. Allasandro would help, too.”

I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know Allasandro would help?”

“We talked about it while you were napping. Allasandro is going to be a problem, too. He’s already announced, rather publicly, that if you become the mayor, you’ll have the organizational support of the Hunters and Moonriver.”

“That wolf pays for this,” I grumbled.

“He’s going to be playing in that gaming tournament. I’m sure Coraline would love to help you eliminate him in a ruthless and merciless fashion.”

“Please tell me there’s no other bad news.”

“That was the big piece of bad news, and I don’t think it’s bad. Honestly, if you have to deal with the city-state for a year, you’ll manage to make good change happen before you can run away—or you get elected to the actual mayor.”

“Bite your tongue, Humphrey!”

My boss snickered. “I see you do know my name.”

“Sir, you are a terrible, horrible person. Why would you even propose I become the mayor? Or hint at it? That’s just wrong.”

“Honestly, I think you’d be a fabulous mayor, the city-state would be run efficiently for a change, because you’d want to spend no more than two or three hours a day on your mayoral duties, and you’d quietly organize everything from the shadows and assign the people best for the jobs they need to do. Corruption would plummet; you’d still work for us, and you would not be doing the job for the paycheck. The former mayor? Nobody is under any delusions. He was as corrupt as they get. He was just the only contender. And now that we have proof of his machinations, there are many people speculating that he was eliminating possible candidates for the mayorship.”

What a bastard. “You’re still a horrible person for suggesting I might get elected to be the mayor.”

He laughed at me. “Hey, just think about it this way. I’m going to vote for you during the election. I know what you’re capable of, and if anyone can ride two horses, it’s you. It’s not like you have to give up your career or schooling to be the mayor. If anything, you’ll be more determined to get the job done quickly and well so you don’t have to deal with it as often. And anyway, with how often the former mayor took off? You doing fifteen hours a week would be a major improvement overall. The refugees also adore you. They know about Gabriella, and then you took in Madeline, too—and a lot of refugees met you during the job fair. You were kind, you gave everyone equal time and opportunity, and they know it. They’ve told their friends, both refugee and local alike. This is a bed you made for yourself. However, if you are elected, I expect our company is going to hire a few extra bodies to help you out. We know you. You’ll excel at this type of work. You hate everything to do with politics and love people. That’s what would make you an excellent mayor.”

I huffed, kept my arms crossed, and refused to look my boss in the eyes. “Only if I don’t have to give up my job. I like my job, I’m paid well, and I don’t want to lose it. Also, I have bonuses to earn, because I need to buy Shifter Five’s silk.”

“Joel is Shifter Five,” he informed me .

My eyes widened. “What?”

“I spoke to Yolana about four hours ago, as I wanted to get you some yarn from Shifter Five to keep you busy until you’re released. She informed me of the truth: Joel is Shifter Five, and she thought it was absolutely hilarious you fixated on him to the point you identified his silk by touch. Also, Joel’s going to think your silk is the absolute best thing on this planet, and it doesn’t matter what the actual texture is. That is a thing we luna moths do. But since you’re from the neighboring town, she suspects you’ve been packing luna moth genetics all along, and it just took some exposure from an interested gentleman to fully activate them. She’s going to confess to Joel what his number is next time she talks to him. Then she’s going to renumber everyone, use letters, and allow family to purchase the silk of their family members without informing them of their numbers.”

I did the math: Joel lived next door, he produced my obsession, and I’d already extorted him for a percent a year of his goods. “This is not good. This is not good at all. Not for my wallet, my sanity, nor anything else. I’ve already extorted him. And kidnapped him. And once he steps into this room, his status as a captive luna moth is resumed. Except now that I know he is the provider of my precious silk, he’s never leaving. ”

“You have to let him go to work, Valerie.”

I did some more huffing. “I don’t see why I have to. He can be a kept luna moth, allowed to play with my sewing machine, garden to his heart’s content, and get absolutely skunked on my roses daily if he’d like.”

“His house is wretchedly expensive to maintain, and you need him maintaining it, else the other houses in the row will get in worse condition. While you’re making good money, you need him to be maintaining his place.” After a moment, he added, “But there’s no reason you can’t hold him hostage in your home and use his as a place to store your excess crafting supplies and your silk stock. And if you’re keeping him hostage, you can coerce him out of however much silk you want. He’s a prolific producer.”

“But will I have time to worship his silk if I’m having to do that mayor gig? This is an issue.”

“I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to worship his silk,” my boss assured me. “You’d still get weekends off except during emergencies, and you’d only be working an extra few hours a day during the week. Your hobby time will not be hugely impaired.”

I had my doubts, and I grumbled over the thought of more work. “And the onboarding for his company?”

“Considering their owner got hit in the head with a baseball bat, it’s safe to say his employees are anxious and are doing a ridiculous amount of work to keep busy rather than fret over him. He’s going to go back to work ahead of schedule, upset he’s ahead of schedule, and unable to express being upset he’s ahead of schedule on everything because everyone’s going to be fawning all over him. On our side, Madeline’s organizing everything into various penalty boxes, so you won’t be behind when you go back to work. It’ll be fine.”

I could only hope he was right.

A rather crabby Joel bickered with Calden, and it took me a moment to realize the two men postured over the upcoming gaming tournament. Coraline shoved past them both, rolled her eyes at their dispute, and said, “I’m supposed to be on my husband’s side, but at this point, you’d be doing me a favor if you shot him on the first day of the game.”

“If I catch him alone in an alley, I’m shooting him in the game,” I promised. Then my eyes widened. “Are there alleys?”

“There are alleys, yes, and they make excellent places to ambush people. I’ve watched him play a few times before he decided I’d be his uneducated gaming partner. Unfortunately, the first two days of the tournament will be spent building our outposts, towns, and preparing our ships. They’ve decided we’re locking the game at the start to player versus environment so everyone can have a good chance to build their empire.” The woman heaved a sigh, grabbed her husband by the arm, and dragged him away from Joel. “See, Joel? She’s fine. The hospital is making her stay in bed due to bruising and the requirement for blood. You should be happy you were deemed a tolerable donor and they were willing to wait for your arrival. Honestly, I think that’s only because they want you filling the other bed and containing her. Do not let her shift. She will eat us out of every fruit in the city-state, and then we’ll have to rob other city-states. She’s a fruit fiend.”

My boss laughed, got up from the seat he’d been warming, and shooed Joel my way. “I’ll go let the nurses know you’re here and then head home. Thank you for bringing him, Coraline.”

“Glad to help. Valerie, we’re going out to dinner before you leave. The men wish to battle in a gaming format, and Joel’s upset because you don’t have a huge stash of silk to play with. We limited him to a bag of silk, clothes for you, and clothes for himself. He brought your project folder. He doesn’t understand your cross-stitching will take hundreds of hours to complete.”

“You can have a date night with Calden, Joel. I’ll go out to dinner with Coraline. If I’m lucky, she’ll let me pet her when she’s a wolf.”

Joel came over with a bulging bag, sat down, and sighed. Once settled, he pulled out my project keeper and handed it over. “I didn’t quite understand the ban on driving until two hours into the trip here. Apparently, dizziness is an issue, as is motion sickness. That should go away within a week. They’ve told me I can’t play computer games until then. Calden agrees with the doctors. He should be my ally in this.”

That explained a lot. While I hadn’t seen Joel’s gamer side in earnest yet, I bet he couldn’t play with his camera, either. As I’d done most of the work in my garden, he couldn’t drive to take himself to the garden store, and I was willing to bet his flutter refused to take him to the store, he likely suffered from boredom on top of being in pain. “Calden is probably right. And with the level of headache you’re likely suffering from, would you really want to deal with flashing lights or movement?”

“I don’t, but they’ve also taken away my sewing projects. I’m irritable enough they don’t want me handling scissors. How are you doing?”

With a contented smile, I accessed my project, pulled out the silk cloth, and replied, “Better than you are, apparently. However, Humphrey wouldn’t let me fly.”

Outside in the hallway, my boss laughed before poking his head into the room and replying, “Your wings were barely unfurled, and you need to get your transfusion first. You’ll be flying soon enough.”

“How bad were her wings?”

“She had a lot of bruising damage, but a few oranges and some time with a bouquet of roses did a good job of containing her. If left to her devices, she would fly off, likely to never be seen again. She was down to slow beats of her wings when I made her shift, and I hadn’t seen any brisk flutters for at least twenty minutes.”

“Good. How did she handle the roses?”

“She’s a napper. She stuck her nose in a bloom and went right to sleep. She only woke long enough to find a new rose to sniff before passing out again. She won’t be getting into trouble anywhere. You’ll find her still on the roses napping, so that’s something.”

“I can no longer judge luna moths for passing out on my counter, and I question how they made it to my counter to have a snack before passing out.”

“We’re used to sniffing roses, and while we enjoy the relaxation portion of our sniffing, we also tend to get the munchies. You provide excellent snacks, so we go to your counter to enjoy them,” Joel informed me in a solemn tone. “Humphrey, drive safe, and please try to convince the flutter I can handle a single trip to Moonriver without all of them hovering. Make sure they stay home!”

“I’ll try, but I’m not responsible if they remember they have wings and are willing to use them,” my boss replied before leaving again.

“They could at least try to stay in Stonecreek,” Joel complained .

Calden and Coraline laughed at the beleaguered luna moth, who sulked. As I had everything needed to stitch, I opened the app to track my pattern, marked off everything I’d already completed, and resumed work, taking care to keep the precious silk from tangling or my fabric from shattering while I created art using thread. “At least you get decent accommodations and company. But seriously, how are you doing?”

“The headache is no joke, but I’ll recover. I’m off work for two weeks at a minimum. My company rebelled.”

I could understand why. Everything I’d seen of the man indicated he was a compassionate person, liked by those blessed enough to know him. After a moment of thought, I realized the reason for Joel’s distress.

He needed to feel like he accomplished something.

“If you’re in need of work, you can start with keeping me company. I’ve been told I’ll be in here for a while for monitoring. You could also use some monitoring. I can stitch while you use a notebook and pen to plan your latest conquests. Nobody said you couldn’t plot and plan against them. I’m sure someone can get you a notebook.”

Coraline giggled, waved her hand, and headed for the door. “I’ll go get the poor moth some office supplies so he can do something productive. But you really can’t use computers for a while, Joel. And we’re even going to delay the tournament until you and your partner are cleared. It’s no fun if we can’t all participate, and you earned your spot in the tournament.”

“I appreciate that. I’ve been really looking forward to it.”

“Are there any other problems I need to solve?” I asked.

“Hospital food is terrible,” he grumbled .

“Maybe if you ask Calden nicely, he’ll rescue us with illicit food brought in from the outside.”

Coraline’s husband raised a brow. “You will survive hospital food for a few more days, Joel. It’s not like you’re up for cooking or eating out anyway. And, if my sources are correct, it’s a coin flip if you get sick on what you do eat. While bland, you were able to keep the hospital food down.”

Judging from the fact Joel refused to meet the wolf shifter’s eyes, there was a disconcerting amount of truth in his statement. “I’ll make sure he eats his hospital food and doesn’t try to coerce people into bringing things that make him vomit,” I promised.

“Thank you for being sensible, Valerie. I’ll see about bringing back something for Joel to do. He wasn’t going to raid your stash of fiber, his yarn is all at his parents’ place, and he can’t sew in his current state. I think he can handle some crochet and that’s it.”

“Just don’t get any rabbit yarn, however soft it is. He’s allergic to it.”

Calden’s eyes widened. “He’s allergic to rabbit?”

“Only their fur. I get my revenge eating it.”

I snickered at Joel’s disgusted tone. “Get fingering weight yarn in pale colors and ask the store for recommendations on hook size. That’ll keep him busy.”

“Fingering?” Joel protested. “Why fingering? Do you know how long it’ll take me to crochet anything in fingering weight?”

“Exactly. You’re not going to let some yarn defeat you, right?”

“You, woman, are evil.”

“Shop online for a pretty blanket pattern, Calden, and bring it along with the supplies over. I’ll pay you back for everything.”

“I’ll do that, but paying us back won’t be necessary. Keeping the hostages happy is a good use of funds, and maybe he’ll feel indebted after the crafting supplies, thus opting to lose when it’s time for the gaming tournament.”

“Keep dreaming,” Joel said. “I will not lose to you.”

No, they’d lose to me and Coraline, but I’d let both men learn the bitter truth of that in the days to come.