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“Thanks, it’s kind of awkward,” said Decker.
“No one wants to shake my hand,” said Essence. “It’s some kind of guy thing to shake hands, I think.”
“No, it’s just that everyone already knows you, since you’re always here,” said Decker.
“Oh,” she said, nodding. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Is anyone tending bar?” said Lucian.
“We’re not getting beer,” said Laird, snapping his fingers in front of his brother’s face. “Focus.”
Lucian turned to him. “Fuck you, man. Maybe I want beer.”
“You want anything that flits in front of your face,” said Leo dryly.
“Fuck you, too,” said Lucian, sounding downright sulky.
“Look, we’re just here to cut off some handcuffs,” said Laird. “On the bar. Hands.”
“Thanks,” said Decker, putting his hand on the bar.
Essence followed suit.
Laird fitted the bolt cutters underneath the cuff, the smooth metal sliding against her skin. “So, I’ll snip off yours and then his. And you don’t care if we ruin these?”
“They’re not really ours,” said Essence, looking at Decker.
“True, you think they’re expensive?” said Decker. “You think Hollis is going to mind if we cut them off?”
Laird hesitated. “You guys didn’t think about this before you had us dig these out of our shed and drive all the way here?”
“Sorry,” said Essence.
“Sorry,” said Decker.
“Cut them,” said Essence.
“Okay, then,” said Laird. All four of the cerberus arms came up to hold the handles of the cutters. They brought them down on the metal and—
Nothing happened.
Well, it was sort of like the cutters went right through the cuffs, almost as if the cuffs turned into a hologram or something. That was how it looked, anyway. But then the cuffs were still whole when it was over and the cutters had done nothing.
“Magic,” said Leo softly.
“Let’s try again,” said Laird.
“Maybe the chain,” said Leo.
“Right, okay, the chain,” said Laird, moving the cutters.
The same thing happened. The cutters came down, but the cuffs were unharmed.
They tried it twice more, once on Decker’s cuff and once in the middle on the chain again.
Then, the cerberus set the cutters down on the bar and lifted all four of their palms. “Yeah, those aren’t coming off.”
“Probably need magic,” said Leo.
