Page 39 of Up in Smoke

Sandro pointed down the hallway. “The kitchen is that way.”

Heading in the direction he indicated, I walked until I discovered the kitchen, spacious enough for two people to work together without tripping over each other, with a small table perfect for two. “Oh, this is nice.”

“You probably don’t remember much from when you were hurt.”

“I remember liking the chair in your study.”

“I’m willing to share it with you. I’m sure we could fit two on it with a little work.”

My fox loved the idea, and I set the cans on the counter, pricking my ears forward. “This is such a nice little house, though.”

“It’s huge for Asylum, too. Mansfield wants people to be aware of their station, and even the lowest of the low should be grateful for salvation.”

I frowned. “Every house but this one is monitored, Sandro.”

“And this one is monitored every time I leave, and I recite a new poem to make that problem go away. But I think I’ll leave the one outside for tonight. I’ll recite him a nice poem tomorrow.”

“Can it be the same poem? I enjoy Edgar Allen Poe.”

“Sure. There’s never enough glue and glitter, and I’m sure they could use a little more.” Sandro pulled out one of the chairs. “You get to sit while I cook. Dad makes Mom sit with him, and they talk. It seems to be working for them, so I want to try it out. Also, I usually cook alone or with one of my brothers begging to be fed faster.”

I laughed and sat, turning my chair enough so I could watch him work. “If there’s anything I can chop, I can do that. I’m handy with a knife.”

“You’re just handy to have around in general. Does using your magic tire you? Do you need anything to drink?”

“I’m all right. Did I make you wait long?”

“No. You stiffened, and I only had long enough to start getting worried before you snapped out of it. I’d say no longer than a few seconds.”

“You got that worried that quickly?”

“Well, it wasn’t like you, and I’ve never seen you use your magic before. I had no idea what was going on. But you came back before I went from worried to panicked, so it’s fine.”

I could only guess he’d assumed I’d been somewhat present in New Orleans, when in reality, I’d been in a different time and place. “Honestly, I’ve never really been around anyone when it’s kicked in. I just blanked out for a few seconds?”

“Yeah. You stood like a statue with no expression on your face, although your ears turned back. You were looking at the can, but I don’t think you were seeing anything at all.”

“I was seeing the past, and I didn’t like what I saw. Or heard. What do you think he meant by exporting the scryers?”

“It could mean a lot of things,” Sandro admitted, lining up the cans on the counter and pulling out several pots and pans and putting them on the stove. “I’m worried it means killed because dead scryers can’t tell his secrets, and he doesn’t like when anything delays his plans.”

“And he values things that makes his plans move forward faster. You have the magic that can help him accomplish his goals faster. I’m valuable only because he values you and you value me.”

“If it protects you, I will be the most doting suitor to have ever pursued a woman. I hope you like to be romanced, Jade. I have many plans to romance you.”

“What the hell does that mean? You’re going to romance me?” I blurted. “You’re not going to put me in a dress and prance me around, are you?”

“No.” Sandro picked up a can opener, grabbed the can of tomatoes, and went to work on transforming my hope of salsa into reality. “I will wait patiently for you to decide to wear a dress so I can take you out of it, but I have no intention of prancing you around. That’s ridiculous.”

The idea of wearing a dress so Sandro could strip me out of it appealed, but beyond that, all Sandro managed to do was confuse me. “I don’t get it. How am I to be romanced, then? Isn’t that when people get dressed up and put themselves on display in fancy restaurants or something?” I’d seen couples do that in the East and the South, and it’d baffled me.

“Once we’re in one of the other quadrants, we can do that if you’d like, but I figured I’d feed you, pamper you, and do some studying on how long our condom stash will last before we must venture elsewhere or we decide we’re having flocks of children.”

My fox demanded we skip straight to the studying portion of romancing, and after a vicious war with my animal half, I convinced her we might both perish if we didn’t get to try the canned variant of Sandro’s salsa before we showed up for class. “How many children are in a flock?”

“Judging from my family, it seems a flock is a minimum of three. My mother had a flock of children following her around like little ducklings for a while. I was the head duckling, and honestly, I resented that I had to share my mother.” Sandro sniffed the opened can of fire-roasted tomatoes. “This won’t be precisely the same salsa I made for you before, but it’ll be good enough, and I’ve gone through the spices you had scavenged, so while it won’t be as good or as hot as the stuff I make at home, you should like it. In better news, a can this large makes a lot of salsa, so you shouldn’t run out right away. All things considered, I don’t think the fridge will be at any risk from any power outages, and if it lasts longer, well, I have a poem to solve the problem.”

“Evocation poets can chill fridges?” I blurted.

“Poets can do a lot. The smart poets don’t let anyone know they can do more than just evocation. Poetry is a lot like singing in the South. With the right skills, good concentration and focus, and determination, poets can do almost anything. Evocation is just the easiest skill to learn.” Sandro went to the far counter, crouched, and opened the cabinet door, pulling out a bag of onions, and retrieving two before putting them away. He murmured something under his breath. “I can also use my poems to do things like prevent onions from going bad while they hide in my cabinet. The last time I came here, I loaded a suitcase with produce, and after I arrived and cleared out the latest wave of bugs, I preserved everything. I basically eradicate the bacteria associated with decay that makes my produce go bad, which falls under evocation. Once I realized that evocation is really just changing something’s state, I became a lot more versatile here. Most just believe evocation is good for blowing things up.”

“Well, to be fair, it is.” I put my hands on my lap so I wouldn’t fidget while waiting for Sandro to perform his salsa-making ritual. “When do you think Mansfield will show up?”

“Around supper time so he can inconvenience me. And he’ll have someone watching the house to try to figure out when dinner is about ready. In bad news for him, I’m making something that can simmer or stay warm on the stove without issues. And I’ll make just enough to feed him if he insists on being a dick. He might come at the tail end of dinner if he’s trying to keep from annoying me. If he wants to get on my good side, he’ll bring stuff for the fridge and freezer.”

“Is the stuff safe?”

“He’d be an idiot to kill me off at this stage, especially since he needs me alive and well for his plans. But will he resort to trickery? Absolutely. The trick is making sure I identify when I’ve outlived my usefulness before he does. That’s when we’ll act. What we’ll do? That’s to be decided. But mark my words, Jade, should we find evidence of his wrongdoing, he will pay.”

“And if we don’t?”

“We’ll make certain he can’t hurt anyone else.”