“Ah, the boys!” He beamed.
“Just the one this time,” said Annie.
“Tinn,” said Tinn.
“I thought the two of you were a package deal. Ah, well. Come to see your mother work, young man? She’ll be running this shop in no time!”
“You’re very kind, Mr. Zervos. I’m still just happy to have work. Tinn is going to wait out front for me to take my lunch. He won’t be a bother.”
No sooner had she said it than Tinn’s sleeve caught the swiveling mirror and it slapped glass-down against the countertop with a sharp crack.
“Ooch!” Mr. Zervos winced.
“I’m sorry!” Tinn righted the mirror. “It didn’t break. It’s okay!” A small stack of pomade tins toppled over as his elbow swung wide. They rolled onto the floor with a series of bangs. “Shoot! I’m so sorry! I’ll get them!”
Annie caught a teetering jar of lather and righted it. “I told you not to touch anything.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m always screwing stuff up.” He deposited an armful of pomade tins back on the counter. A glimmer caught his eye and he bent down to retrieve a discarded penny, too. “Here,” he added, holding out a coin to Mr. Zervos.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Mr. Zervos shook his head. He was smiling beneath his bushy beard. “None of that. Breaking a mirror is very bad luck, yes. But you did not! So that is lucky! And finding a penny is good luck, too. Double lucky. You keep that. Don’t fret so much about the bad luck that you forget to see the good. Eh?”
Tinn allowed himself a smile, but his ears still felt hot with embarrassment. He tucked the penny into his pocket.
“I’m all done with inventory,” Mr. Zervos said. “Why don’t you go ahead and take your lunch, Annie. Ah—but wait.” He plucked two strips of jerky from the jar on the counter and slipped them to Tinn with a wink. “One for that brother of yours. Stay good for your mom, now.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh,” said Annie. “That’s terribly nice of you, sir. Are you sure? I can stay.”
“I have managed on my own before, believe it or not. This town has seen more buildings explode in the past month than it’s seen rushes on flour or baked beans. I’ll be fine for an hour.”
“Thank you very much.”
Annie slipped off her apron and hung it neatly on a hook by the door to the back room. She and Tinn stepped out into the sunlight together.
“Sounds like work’s going well,” said Tinn. He munched on a strip of jerky and avoided making eye contact.
“Yes, other than your fidgeting fingers, I’ve had no problems so far,” said Annie. She rapped a knuckle on the siding as she passed. “Knock on wood. What about you? How was the overnight? Did you get scared?”
“Naw. It was fine,” said Tinn. “I’m learning a lot, and I’m starting to understand the changes a little more. We did songs this time, too. Well, Kull called them songs. There are lots of noises involved. I practiced my howl.”
“We’re howling now?” Annie said. “Okay. You didn’t have to hang off the side of a cliff for howls. If I had known you wanted to howl, we could be howling at home.”
“Mom.” Tinn rolled his eyes.
“We can howl right now, if you like.”
“Stop, Mom. It’s special howls. Never mind.”
“I’m only teasing. I’m glad you had a nice time. I’ll have to thank Mr. Kull for bringing you all the way back. Now if only I knew where your brother ran off to—”
Shouts rang out behind them. Mrs. Stewart stood up from her rocking chair to see what was the matter. A pair of stable hands nearby dropped the bags of feed they were carrying and jogged up to a commotion stirring in the town square.
“What in heaven’s name is going on?” Annie held Tinn’s hand tightly as they both turned toward the hubbub. “Is that . . . is that Cole?”
Three haggard figures staggered to a stop in the center of town. Cole and Mr. Hill carefully eased Oliver Warner—now as white as a sheet—down onto a bench. Hill didn’t look much better. He collapsed at the foot of the bench, running his hands through his dusty hair. Amos Washington from the post office ran to summon Dr. Fisher and Old Jim.
Annie and Tinn pushed through the gawkers. “Cole! Are you all right? What happened? Where have you been?”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Cole said through his mother’s sleeve as she pulled him into a hug. “I wasn’t even there.”
“Tell us what happened, Hill!” a voice from the crowd barked. The square grew silent as all ears leaned in to listen.
Jacob Hill lifted his face from his hands. He considered for a moment before speaking. “The thing was six stories tall,” he said at last. “A giant, ladies and gentlemen! It was on us in an instant. Smashed the drill site to pieces. The rest of the crew took off running, but I went back for Mr. Warner. I owed him that much.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
“What was it?” called Helen Grouse, from the back of the group.
“It was an unnatural thing, my friends.” Hill took a deep breath. “There and not there, all at once! It made my eyes ache just to look at it, but it was solid enough. I can still hear the sound of the metal twisting under its grip, bending like it was taffy. It was a brute to put Goliath to shame, a veritable mountain of muscles and rage, an unbelievable sight to behold.”
“There’s no such thing as giants,” somebody yelled. “He’s lying!”
“It’s all t-t-true,” spluttered Oliver Warner, propping himself unsteadily on an elbow. “It was a giant. A
