The Shifter woman glanced back to me, but she quickly looked away and nodded to him. They disappeared into the tiny kitchen. Only the bitty table was visible from my viewpoint.
When Elder Farrar reappeared, he murmured, “She said you can have one of her shirts. I’ll try to find one small enough for you.” He disappeared again, leaving the front door accessible for me to leave without notice. But I only stayed seated, not sure where the hell to go even if I left. “Here…” He came around the corner holding a white t-shirt out. “I washed it incorrectly the other day and it shrunk. It should fit you.”
I graciously took the offering and stood, walking to the bathroom like my feet were made of bricks. “I don’t know what to do,” I stated from behind the closed door, discarding my bloody shirt and washing the blood from my chest at the antique sink. “I don’t know…anything.”
He was standing directly outside the door. “Think about what you did for a living in your time, and apply it here.”
I snorted. I didn’t think that stating I was the Prodigy Elemental would be a grand announcement, and it was definitely not necessary. Plus, it would land me in a mental institution if anyone else heard it. “I don’t really think that’ll work here.”
A pause outside. “Are you good at anything else?”
My lips pinched. I had been a criminal before my ascension to the Royal life.
I stalled in my actions…before I laughed outright.
“What?” he asked instantly. “Are you okay?”
I snorted, laughing with a bloody, soapy hand in front of my mouth. “Yes, I was just remembering the other advice you gave me this morning. Other than the towel thing.”
Another pause. “Seeing as how that was accurate, I would probably run with that other advice.”
“I guess so,” I mumbled. “I don’t know what else to do, that’s for sure.”
It looked like I was going back to my ‘roots’. To the criminal I was at heart.
I had no clue what to say when Elder Farrar asked where I wanted to live.
I just kind of blinked. Eventually I decided Choep, New York—a place I knew.
At least the landscape, anyway.
Elder Farrar told the Shifter woman he lived with that he would be back before she had dinner ready, and he flashed us from inside his apartment to the alley I had disappeared from only an hour ago. The ride was much quicker and less desolate than Philip Masterson’s. When I stared at Elder Farrar with frightened, wide eyes, alone in this damn world, he didn’t abandon me. He gently led me down the sidewalks of the stores and helpfully supplied his input while I, for the second time that day, tried on clothing. I attempted to find something that suited my tastes but that also fit in with the norm.
I chose a bunch of holey jeans, and some black and gray and white t-shirts to layer. I was not really able to wear hot pink with my hair color being neon red. I stopped at the cashier’s stand and pulled out my credit card.
Elder Farrar coughed. He was reminding me it wouldn’t work.
“Shit,” I muttered, putting the card away before the cashier could take it. I stared down into my purse wide-eyed, not knowing what the hell I was going to do for instant cash. I mean, I could rob the place since I did have weapons in my purse…
Until my gaze landed on Elder Farrar’s envelope.
“Here, let me,” Elder Farrar stated, pulling his wallet from his back pocket.
I held up a hand, smiling. “You already did.” I lifted the white envelope from my purse, and for the first time I read the address line.
It read: Of course your credit card wouldn’t work. Duh.
Elder Farrar snorted, reading over my shoulder. “Apparently, I did.”
“Hush,” I murmured, opening the envelope. I kept it tucked close to my body so only he and I could see the contents. And yeah, it was a lot of cash. At least twenty grand, as I had guessed.
Elder Farrar whistled softly. “I must really like you.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” I muttered grumpily, lifting what appeared to be an odd-looking license from the middle, staring at it. “Until you started making sense about the damn towel.”
“That was excellent advice.” He chuckled and bent to read the license. I was pictured with neon red hair and it stated my address and that my name was Sadie Farrow. I lived in an apartment in Choep, New York. “I was actually going to suggest those apartments.”
“As you can see, you did,” I muttered. I dropped the license back into the envelope, next to what appeared to be some kind of auto insurance card with my name on it. I handed a few of my gifted bills to the patient cashier. “Thanks for the money. You know, an advance thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He grabbed my bags after the cashier loaded them up. “Let’s see about getting you transportation next.”
I stared like he was a loon. “That’ll take more money than I have.”