She gulped and turned a little pale, making the freckles across her nose and cheeks stand out.
“For now, we’re providing food and lodging at the town’s hotel and boardinghouse as part of your wages. I believe there is still a room available at the boardinghouse, so you have a choice—if you decide quickly,” he added, seeing the four young men approaching.
Barb glanced over her shoulder. “Any other girls at the boardinghouse?”
“Not another human girl like you. There aren’t many females of any species here yet.”
She gulped again. Then she smiled. “Part of the adventure, right? And something I can tell my family. My brother is a police officer in Lakeside. He handed me a package of labels, already addressed to him and our folks, as well as a variety of stamps, and said, ‘Write once a week or else.’ I don’t think the ‘or else’ is much of a threat, do you, not when I’m all the way out west?”
Tolya smiled. “I believe I met your brother when I visited Lakeside. I know I met a Lieutenant Montgomery. Doesn’t your brother know him?”
“Oh, forelock! The long arm of the law is really long, isn’t it?”
He laughed because she sounded so annoyed and because her version of a swearword amused him. He hoped this human female stayed around for a while.
He led his new residents to the pickup truck, where Tobias Walker waited to take them to their designated living quarters. He watched them drive away, Barb and one of the males in the cab with Tobias while the other three males rode in the bed with the baggage.
He looked at the station, considering his duties. Then he headed toward the center of the town. Other Sanguinati, as well as a couple of Wolves and Eagles, would deal with the train’s personnel and any deliveries. He wanted to see how Jesse Walker and her gaggle of volunteers were doing with the inventories of several of Bennett’s stores, as well as collecting all the perishables from all the houses. They needed to know what they already had in order to figure out what the town’s new residents would need. Until they hired shopkeepers for the stores that would reopen, Jesse was coming up from Prairie Gold two days a week, leaving her own general store in the paws of the inquisitive Rachel Wolfgard.
As he reached the building that would become Bennett’s general store and carry everything except groceries, he saw an unfamiliar truck driving in from the north. After it parked in a space near him, a Wolf and a human male got out.
“Howdy,” the man said, brushing the brim of his hat. He looked haggard, but his voice was firm—and familiar.
“I remember you,” Tolya said. “You and your men helped Joe Wolfgard load the bison into a livestock car.”
“We did, yes. I was sorry to hear . . .” He shook his head. “That was a bad day. I’m Stewart Dixon.”
“Tolya Sanguinati.”
“Tolya is the leader of this town now,” the Wolf said, sniffing the air and scanning the town square for what wouldn’t be seen.
Tolya studied the Wolf. <Are you alone?> Some Wolf packs had been wiped out completely, but in other places, a few of the Wolves survived.
The Wolf slanted a glance at Stewart Dixon. <The ranchers who live around us don’t like those HFL humans, so my pack wasn’t attacked. Besides, the Wolves sometimes hunt elk with Stewart Dixon to bring down enough meat to feed both our packs. He is not an enemy.>
So there were some alliances between Others and humans. Perhaps those alliances could be expanded. After all, the ranches between Bennett and Prairie Gold still had animals but no humans, and Tobias Walker and the hands at the Prairie Gold ranch couldn’t deal with so much on their own. But if the work— and the profits—could be split with ranchers who were already trusted by terra indigene, they might be able to tend all the herds and keep the cattle alive until they were needed for meat.
Tolya looked at Stewart Dixon. “You have come to town for supplies?”
“I was hoping to get some of what’s available.”
“Jesse Walker is handling the stores today.” Tolya offered a smile. “Some of us are wearing many hats right now. That is the phrase?” He knew quite well it was the proper phrase, but the question put the man at ease.
“That’s the phrase.” Stewart rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I’m looking for gas and grub. Those are the immediate needs.” A blush stained his checks. “And some female things for the wife and daughters.”
Tolya wondered if the man was usually uncomfortable speaking of such things or if it was something that wasn’t talked about with strangers. Interesting. He would ask Jesse Walker. “I think we can accommodate all of those needs. Follow me.”
As he led Stewart Dixon and the Wolf into the store, a howl rose from the train station—and was answered by Stewart’s companion.
We are here, keeping watch. We are here.
As the Wolves’ reassurance filled the air, the earthy tang and odd silence that had filled the town square faded away and headed for the untouched land beyond the town.
To: Vladimir Sanguinati Barb Debany arrived in Bennett and is settling in. Her brother supplied labels and stamps. We supplied postcards and stationary as a welcome gift. She was more excited about being given the use of a horse than she was about the postcards.
—Tolya Dear Michael, I’ve been working all the daylight hours since I arrived because so many small animals need care until I find new homes for them. I’m living at a boardinghouse, see address below. Will write more later. Love to Mom and Dad. Barb.
P.S. They gave me a horse!
CHAPTER 55
Sunsday, Sumor 17
Meg smiled at Simon and Vlad.
“There is something behind that smile,” Vlad said.
“Like the first time you see a striped pretty and don’t learn what it is until you poke it with a paw and it sprays you,” Simon said.
She wasn’t smiling now. “Did you just compare me to a skunk?”
Now they smiled.
“To be fair, you don’t smell like one anymore,” Simon said.
“What?”
“Why did you want to see us, Meg?” Vlad asked.
Having witnessed a scene with Twyla Montgomery and some of the children earlier this morning, it was clear to Meg that throwing what Merri Lee called a hissy fit didn’t get you what you wanted. And if doing that didn’t work with Twyla, it certainly wouldn’t work with Simon and Vlad—especially if they didn’t understand what she was doing and she had to explain it. Which would be embarrassing. And not mature.
Amused at herself, which made her feel steadier, Meg laid some cards on the table.
“Meg?” Sharpness in Simon’s voice. Sharpness in Vlad’s eyes.
“I’m not drawing cards for a vision,” she explained. “I’d like a favor. Two favors, actually.”
“That must be why you asked for two of us to come here,” Vlad said.
She pointed to the cards she had taken out of a deck on the sorting room table. One card was a smiley face. Another was a sad face. The third was the question mark she’d drawn once before when she asked about Lakeside’s future. “These cards are from a game. Some of them got mixed up with the prophecy cards.”
“How did that happen?” Simon asked.
She shook her head. She wasn’t going to be a tattletale. She knew that Merri Lee and Ruth had already talked to Eve Denby and Twyla and Sierra Montgomery about the importance of the children not going into the Liaison’s Office unsupervised and, especially, not playing with the cards.
“That’s not important. The important thing is that I think these actually are useful for revealing prophecies without me making a cut.”
She had their complete attention now.