Tim-tam had stopped to talk to the guy at the very end of the bar but was now coming back in their direction with the empty glasses from Tristan and Sebastian.
“We have until the basajaunak arrive until—”
Ulric cut himself off as glasses shattered, Tim-tam having dropped what was in her hands. She started screaming, joined by both Dick patrons, who scraped back on their bar stools. Ulric, Jasper, and Niamh all looked around in confusion.
“That is no way to greet a paying customer,” a deep voice said by the door.
The basajaun secretly called Phil stood in the doorway in his kilt, hard hat, and reflector construction vest.
“It’s okay, folks.” Ulric stood and raised his hands. “It’s fine. He’s with us. A real nice guy once you get to know him.”
“Is that a Bigfoot?” asked someone down the bar.
“I find that offensive,” Phil said, making his way into the bar to stand behind Edgar. “But I will happily forgive you if someone pours me a drink. I’m parched.”
“Thank you for coming,” Edgar told Phil, standing. “Here, have my stool. I will now happily stand just behind you in the corner. That would suit us both well.”
“See?” Jasper said. “We’re out of time.”
“The shifters in charge said we all need to head back,” Phil said. “I’ll just have a really quick one while they get organized to leave. Oh, and there seemed to be some sort of presence at the motel. Her felt it the best, and so she chased after it, but she forgot to look both ways. We keep trying to tell her, but she never listens. Don’t worry, she’s fine, but someone will need to work out insurance for the dent and cracked windshield. Needless to say, by the time she started running after the scent, it had gone. Smelled magical, she said. Probably a mage that tucked into a car and away they went.”
So they’d missed another of them.
Probably for the best. There were too many pack members loitering around for Niamh to make an easy snatch and run. Someone would get in the way, they’d probably miss their target, and then the mages would know their invisibility spells weren’t so invisible.
This way, the mages only knew to stay away from the basajaunak, something they likely would’ve done anyway. Niamh’s little crew could make a return trip and grab the three odd dressers in this town, no problem—they just needed to come at the right time.
And the other towns bordering the territory? They’d probably all hosted some of these bad-dressing mages. They could round them all up. It would just be a matter of getting to them before word got out that some of their brethren had gone missing.
No problem. Niamh had gone up against tighter deadlines with a lot more dangerous creatures.
This detail was gearing up for an epic bar hop.
FIVE
Jessie
I STOOD beside one of the vans that would transport the basajaunak as the people who’d gone to the bar returned to the parking lot. It took a moment for me to realize Sebastian had a cape on, and I spent another moment blatantly staring.
“It wasn’t my idea,” he said.
“But why…” I turned as he passed a grinning Nessa and climbed into his van.
“I think it really suits you,” she told him, leaning against the edge of the door. “Can you flutter it?”
“Shut up,” he said from within.
“Nice and slow,” Dave said as he tried to help Her fit into the interior. They were nine-foot-tall creatures with a lot of girth. We hadn’t really thought the transportation angle through. “Pull that leg
—”
“Do y’all need some help?” a man called.
I turned to find a man in his late forties or early fifties at the edge of the parking lot, a plastic bag in his hand from the quickie mart down the street. He wore a thick flannel coat and dirty blue jeans with work boots and a beat-up old trucker’s hat.
“Only, I saw you strugglin’。” He half turned to point down the sidewalk at a pickup truck parked by the curb. “They’re awful big creatures for that little bitty van. Where y’all headed?”
I hesitated for a moment, not sure if I should answer. There was almost zero chance this character could be a mage, not in that outfit, but I didn’t know how the pack was perceived in the border towns.
I didn’t want to spark any animosity.
Dave didn’t have any such qualms. “We are going to the shifter pack a half-hour away,” he called.
“Oh yeah?” the man replied. “Well, I got a camper that would probably help. It’d give y’all a little more legroom, at least. How many are ya?”