The others exchanged glances. Griffen realized the hesitation. They were still major players, and Tammy a follower. Still, a truce of sorts had been made, and no one seemed willing to break it by excluding her.
She made it unnecessary.
“Oh… poker. No, thanks, but would it be all right to watch?”
This time Griffen glanced about, checking reactions. He didn’t want to upset things either, now that they were settling down. Everyone seemed to have no problem with that, having relaxed and refocused on their cards.
“Sure thing, Tammy. Glad to have you,” he said.
And turned to her to smile.
Which, from the sudden light in her eyes, was a mistake. She gave off another half squeal, and as Griffen turned back to the table, he felt her stand directly behind him. At first it wasn’t distracting. Till she leaned over to look at his cards closer. Brushing his shoulder with her breast might have been an accident. Whispering into his ear was not.
“Wow, you are really… good,” she said, in a tone that despite his best intentions made his temperature spike a bit.
“Thanks.”
Griffen was an experienced player, thought of himself as very good. He wasn’t one to let distractions change his expression, or mess up his game. He had played in harder, and hotter, situations before.
She bit his earlobe, and he almost dropped his cards. “Uh, Tammy, a little space please?”
“Sure thing.”
She leaned back, and laid her hands on his shoulders. He was too polite to suggest she move farther. Or perhaps take a chair.
Griffen watched his other players, and they watched him. For the most part they seemed… amused. Kane was practically leering. Margie had a smirk on her face. Lowell was looking a little too closely at his cards, in that way one did when he wanted to be obvious about
Tink looked nervous. As if he would get blamed for the other changeling’s behavior. Tammy started to idly run a finger through Griffen’s hair.
“So, Griffen,” Tammy said as the game went on, “I really like New Orleans. I was even thinking about moving here. Say… do you know where I might find a place to stay? Or, maybe have some place I could… sleep. For a while.”
No, if gangsters felt like this, they would shoot all the molls. Tammy was as subtle as a brick.
“I’m not sure that would be such a good idea, Tammy,” Griffen said.
Her hands tightened against him.
“What isn’t a good idea?” she said.
The card game had all but stopped. This was far better entertainment.
“Uh… would you excuse us? Tammy, can I talk to you, privately?”
“You can talk to me now! What isn’t a good idea? Moving, or being close to you? Don’t you like me?!”
He wished he had moved her away from the table earlier, but it was such a sudden shift that it caught Griffen flat-footed. He had forgotten how damn mercurial the changelings could be. And that last question was almost shrieked, and there just wasn’t any good answer to it.
Griffen, in the tradition of brave, i.e. stupid, men throughout history, tried to answer anyway.
“It’s not that, Tammy, but I already basically have two girlfriends as it is, and—”
It was not the time to think on whether or not Fox Lisa or Mai would mind the changeling girl for a night. Besides, with Tammy, he doubted it would ever be just “one night.”
“Two! Two?! Well, then what’s one more?”
“Tammy, relax, let me explain.”
“Explain… I thought you wanted… I thought we had… YOU BASTARD!”
Tammy slapped him, and it hurt. It actually hurt as if he had been hit with a baseball bat. He looked down and saw that her hand was the color of wood. Though there was a slight crack in it, and tears streaming down her face.
“Ow!” she said, whirled, and ran away.
Griffen instinctively started to rise and follow.
“Stop.”
Griffen looked over at Tink, who was shaking his head.
“I’ve seen her like this before. If you follow her, it will mean you love her, and you will never be rid of her.”
“I didn’t mean to…” Griffen said.
“I know. Nothing you did, or said, would have happened with a sane, normal girl. But our Tammy—she’s something special, even for a changeling,” Tink said.
He shook his head and stood.
“Cash me out, will you? I can follow her at a distance, and if she catches me… Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. Trust me, Griffen, you don’t want to follow, I learned that one the hard way,” Tink said.
Tink collected what was left of his stake and strolled out into the night. Griffen watched him go, knowing Tink was right but his instincts telling him what a brute and fool he had been.
“Relax, McCandles. That truly was not your fault. That one is unbalanced,” Lowell said.
“No one could have done better at that point. You made the right choices,” Margie said.
“Yeah, we spread it round. You in da clear. She just crazy.” Kane nodded vigorously.
Somehow that didn’t comfort Griffen. He could only imagine what the rumor mill would make of this one.
And he certainly wasn’t in the mood to play cards anymore.
Forty
Flynn knew there was someone in his room.
He had been out for an evening stroll, reviewing in his own head where things stood. Griffen seemed sufficiently distraught, the pressure of the conclave blending nicely with the pressures he had been heaping on. All that was needed was one last plan, one last push. Something from within the conclave itself perhaps. Flynn already had a seed of an idea, and the walk had been just the thing he needed for it to blossom.
Then, a few feet from his door, he knew someone was inside, waiting for him. Flynn wasn’t sure which of his senses had provided the information, nor did he care. The first thing a dragon learned, a proper dragon, was to trust the gestalt of data that showed more of the world than any single sense. It was a trick that the young McCandles seemed to have grasped only barely, but then Flynn knew he wasn’t a proper dragon. Not yet.
Flynn paused for only a moment before opening the door. The matter was rather straightforward. If whoever lay in wait was in his class, they already knew he was in the hall. If they weren’t, there was no threat, and he might as well find out who’d had the stupidity to break into his room.
Of course, he hadn’t considered the possibility of someone in a class all their own. He regretted opening the door as soon as he saw Lizzy, sprawled on her stomach on his bed, flipping channels on his TV.
“A hundred channels, and the funniest thing on is the news,” Lizzy said, not bothering to look up at him.
“Perhaps you should go to a movie?” Flynn suggested.
“Hey, that’s a great idea!”
Lizzy bounced off the bed and was reaching for a tattered leather coat that had been draped on a nearby chair. Her hand stopped a few inches from it, and she turned back to Flynn.
“Say, that was almost clever. You are almost as good at glamour as little Nathaniel.”
