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Lucas and Mack trailed along beside the women. They had insisted on acting as “protection” for the relatively short trip down Willow to and from The Grizzly Den. Dax and his men hadn’t found any bodies in the river, so everyone was still on edge.
“Dax is just worried about the town,” Mack said, as his eyes continually roved the street. “You have to realize that protecting Fae Crossing is his highest priority. That’s just how it is and how it’ll always be. What’s the saying? ‘Don’t get between a dog and his bone?’ I think that goes double for wolves.”
“So, I guess you’re saying that applies to dragons too?” she said.
“Times three I’d wager,” Mack said with a laugh.
She thought of what Finch had said about Dax’s father. She wished it were just the two of them so she could ask Mack about what she’d heard.
She tried to play it off casually, but Mack’s words cut deeper than she was prepared for. She understood that his job was important. Of course it was. She was just afraid of the lengths he would go to to protect it.
“I get it, but he needs to tone it down,” Bloom said.
“No, Dax was right, hon. We should have said something before,” Chris said miserably. “And now you are pawning us off on the ladies who own that shop. I don’t blame you.”
“Hold on a second,” said Bloom, turning toward the mother and daughter as they walked along down Willow.
“First of all, I am notpawning you off. I just think it could be a good fit. They may have jobs for you, and can help you get settled better here if you wish, or in another town if that’s your desire. Besides, tell me you aren’t going just a bit stir crazy cooped up at The Tree.”
She looked from the mother’s face to the daughter’s and then back again.
“They areveryconnected.”
That was the understatement of the year.
Oh and they are also witches who think you two may have the sight! So, there’s that too!
“And secondly, you have been put in an impossible position,” she said. “I can understand not wanting to put an even bigger target on your back than was already there. Dax may be a little rough around the edges sometimes, but I am sure he knows that.”
“You’re sweet, Bloom, and you’ve done a lot for us, but he’s right. Maybe if we had spoken up, those men would still be alive.”
“I don’t see how your speaking up could have averted their fate. Sounds like they were already hooked and taking the drug for a while. From what I understand, both of them were out west recently.”
“Still…”
“Look, what matters is you spoke up now.”
“According to Dax, they didn’t find any bodies in the river, so we have to assume one of those men is still out there,” said Mack.
“And with word getting out about the nastiness of this drug, he must be more desperate by the day to unload it before it becomes worthless,” Bloom said.
“I don’t know, even knowing what it does doesn’t seem to stop some people from doing it.”
“Maybe not, but I doubt they intend to wait and see.”
Finally, they hooked a left at the Four Corners and arrived at the curio shop soon after.
“So, what’s in it for these friends of yours?” Kim said, rejoining the conversation.
“Maybe they need some help at their shop,” Chris said.
“Maybe. But I have just been thinking. This town is weird. Very weird.” She looked around while Bloom did her best to keep an innocent look on her face. “Like freakishly weird,” she said, narrowing her eyebrows as she looked at Bloom.
“It is quirky, and Curioser and Curioser is the quirkiest,” Bloom said, brushing aside the comment. “So I think you’ll like it.”
She would let the witches handle it from here. Would they wipe their memories? Or maybe bring them under their wing?
Brushing aside her doubts, she pushed open the door to the shop, eliciting the soft tinkle of the door chimes.
