“We have gardens where we grow vegetables,” Simon said. “We can expand some of them. We have fruits and nuts that we harvest. You do your share of the work, you get your share of the food.”
“Why are you doing this?” Kowalski asked. “You were pissed off at all of us yesterday.”
Simon sighed. “Maybe to say, ‘Sorry I almost bit you,’ to Ruthie?”
Kowalski stared at the buildings across the street. “We went out to all the farms yesterday, drove around for hours checking anyplace that might have been doing that to those girls. Lieutenant Montgomery, Debany, MacDonald, me. Even Captain Burke. And I’m pretty sure the captain had a quiet word with other patrol captains, because I saw men from other districts on the roads too, looking. It made you angry, hearing about what they did to girls like Meg, to the babies. It made us angry too. Maybe if I’d received a phone call like that, learned about it like that, I might have taken a swing at someone because I couldn’t think straight. Would have been sorry for it, and would have been glad that someone stopped me. What I’m saying is, we all understood why you lashed out. You don’t have to make up for being upset by offering Ruthie and me a place to live.”
He hadn’t expected understanding. Somehow that made him feel worse about snapping at Merri Lee and Ruthie.
“That’s not the only reason to do this. Maybe we want to find out if it can be done. The Intuits and the Simple Life folk have lived alongside the terra indigene for many generations, and each side fulfills parts of the bargain so that all sides have enough without constantly fighting for territory. But we haven’t made those kinds of bargains with your kind of human.” Wouldn’t have even considered making such a bargain until Meg started working for them and they had to allow for her need to have human friends.
“I’ll talk to Ruthie,” Kowalski said. “It’s a decision we need to make together.”
As mates should.
Kowalski’s mobile phone rang. A brief call. “Captain Burke wants to see me.”
Simon pulled the door open but Kowalski hesitated.
“Thank you. It means a lot that you would do this for us.” Kowalski went inside and headed for HGR’s back door.
Simon returned to the checkout counter and continued filling orders.
He’d said the words. Hopefully he hadn’t made a mistake that would threaten everyone in the Courtyard.
CHAPTER 16
Firesday, Maius 11
Meg sat at the top of the stairs leading to her apartment, a book beside her. Her porch provided shelter in bad weather and shade when it was sunny. It had latticework for privacy. What it didn’t have was anyplace to sit.
Some of the apartments in the Green Complex had porches; others didn’t. None of the other porches had the privacy latticework. They also didn’t have furniture. Too early in the season? Or didn’t Hawks, Owls, and Crows bother with furniture since the porch railing was a sufficient perch?
Tomorrow she would look through the ads in the Lakeside News to get an idea of what people might buy for outdoor furniture. This evening . . .
“Want to take a walk?”
She looked at Simon standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Okay,” she said. “Aren’t you going to shift first?”
“No.”
Not the answer she expected. Simon usually shifted to Wolf as soon as he got home, relieved to be out of the human skin.
Taking the book inside, she exchanged the soft house shoes for sneakers. A walk with Simon could mean anything from an amble to a muscle-burning pace, and just because he started out in human form didn’t mean he wouldn’t be trotting along on four legs by the time it was finished.
She closed her front door, then joined Simon.
“You need to read this first.” He unfolded a piece of paper and handed it to her.
Haven’t we all faced enough today? she thought as she refolded the paper and handed it back to him.
She started walking, needing a distraction from the prickling around her shoulder blades. Simon fell into step beside her, saying nothing for several minutes.
Plenty of Courtyard residents out and about. Many saw them and hesitated, but no one approached.
“I remember her,” Meg finally said. “I remember cs821. She was younger than me. I can’t tell you her age, but she got her first scar last year or the year before, so the doctor’s guess sounds right.”
“She said she wants to live. Jackson isn’t sure she will. What can he do? What would help you if you were in her place?”
“They took away the silver razor?”
“Probably.”
“Return it to her. Return the razors to the girls who had them.”
“They’ll cut themselves.”
“They’ll cut anyway.” She kept walking, kept moving. “So many things will cut skin, but those razors were designed for it.”
“She doesn’t want to die.”
“Neither do I.” Meg stopped and looked at Simon. He couldn’t quite pass for human anymore. “Neither do I, but I want to be the one who makes the choice.”
He started walking, a fast pace, as if he wanted to run away from the words.
She ran to catch up to him, then had to run every few steps to keep up with him.
“Simon . . . ,” she panted.
He slowed but didn’t stop.
The terra indigene had agreed that it was her choice, but they didn’t like the cutting. To them, fresh blood meant a wound, and in the wild country, a wound could be fatal. Add in the fact that cassandra sangue blood acted like a drug, and she understood why the Others weren’t easy about her cutting. Being thrust in the position of taking care of a girl they didn’t know—and who didn’t know them—would make everything harder for all of them.
“Tell Jackson to give her a room that contains as little as possible. Give her time to rest.” Meg thought about the girl called cs821. “Maybe leave one thing that has colors. She liked colors. She would describe training images first by their color and then by their shape.”
“I’ll tell him.”
They returned to the Green Complex in silence. Simon hurried into his own apartment and came out again a minute later. He shook out his fur and ran off, needing something she couldn’t give.
Sighing, Meg looked up at her apartment. She felt exhausted and restless, hungry and too listless to bother with food.
“Have you eaten?” asked a voice in the shadows beneath her stairs. Vlad stepped into the fading light, his form still shifting from smoke to human. “We picked up a couple of pizzas from Hot Crust. Tess made a salad. We’re gathering in the social room to watch movies.”
“Which movies?” Meg asked.
“Does it matter?”
She preferred being able to hide behind Simon during a movie’s scary bits—and most terra indigene movies had scary bits. “I guess not.”
“Then join us.” Vlad smiled. “I’ll tell Simon where to find you when he finishes his run.” He studied her. “Or I can bring you some food if you’d prefer to be alone.”
Did she want to be alone? Did she need to be alone?
“I’ll join you for the first movie,” Meg said.
His smiled widened, showing a bit of fang. “Come on, then. Let’s get the pizza while it’s still warm.”
As she and Vlad walked to the side of the Green Complex that held the mail room, laundry room, and social room, Meg heard a wolf howling. She thought he sounded lonely.
The efficiency apartments had shower stalls instead of bathtubs. After many assurances that he would be able to cope with her hair if she got it wet—and equal insistence on Lizzy’s part that she could wash herself and would be careful on the slippy floor—Monty left his little girl to shower by herself. While he listened for any sign of distress or, gods forbid, a slip and injury, he unpacked her suitcase, hanging up a few things in the closet and putting the rest in half the drawers in the dresser.