“So, you’ll be home even less than you are now?” R’mahr asked, barely noticing when his wife elbowed him in the ribs.
“Probably, yeah. But like I said, I’ll still be around. You guys can’t get rid of me that easily.” Cheyenne pointed at the troll couple and chuckled, but they gave her thin, wan smiles in return. “Oh, by the way, I’m thinking about going to Peridosh tomorrow to grab whatever I missed last time. I know you normally head out there on Wednesdays, but do you wanna come with me tomorrow?”
Bryl’s book thumped onto the floor, and the troll girl leaped off the couch to run toward her parents standing in the doorway. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Maji, can we go with her tomorrow? Please?”
The halfling fought back a laugh as the kid tugged on her mother’s sleeve, a huge grin across her violet-colored cheeks.
Yadje deftly removed her daughter’s fingers to hold Bryl’s hand instead and shot her husband a sidelong glance. “What do you think, R’mahr?”
“Oh, please?” Bryl whined. “I have to have that calver fin to finish my Lightless Pike. And I want to go with Cheyenne. I can show her everything!”
“Hmm.” R’mahr glanced slowly at Cheyenne and winked. “If your maji says she wants to go, we will go.”
“Well, I can’t possibly say no now, can I?” Yadje stared at her husband and raised a thin scarlet eyebrow.
He chuckled and shrugged. “I leave it entirely up to you.”
The troll woman patted her daughter’s hand, glanced at the ceiling, and couldn’t keep a straight face any longer. “Yes, my love. If Cheyenne wants some company at Peridosh tomorrow, we’ll go with her.”
Bryl squeezed herself between her parents, her narrow shoulders bumping their hips. She didn’t say a word but slowly raised clenched fists, her eyes wide and hopeful and bursting with excitement.
“Oh, kid, you’re killing me.” Cheyenne laughed. “Nobody could say no to a face like that.”
“Yes! Yes! We’re going, we’re going, we’re going!” Bryl jumped up and down in the doorway, knocking her parents against the doorframe and each other.
The troll couple laughed weakly and shared a look that made Cheyenne think the kid would be bouncing like this for the rest of the night. Can’t win ‘em all, I guess.
“There you have it then, Cheyenne.” Yadje smiled and nodded once. “We’ll join you tomorrow.”
“Awesome. You guys know where the entrance is in Union Hill, right?” They nodded, and Cheyenne picked up her trash bag to sling it over her shoulder again. “Great. Meet you there at two?”
“An excellent time. Yes.” R’mahr nodded vigorously, his usual enthusiasm back. “We’ll see you there tomorrow.”
“Okay. Cool. I’ll be making trips back and forth to my car. In case it sounds a lot busier up here than usual, that’s what’s going on.”
“Are you sure you don’t want any help?”
The halfling nodded, smiling as she took off toward the stairwell again. “I’m sure. Thanks anyway. Looking forward to tomorrow.”
“Yes, so are we!” R’mahr leaned out into the hall and pumped a fist in the air. Snorting, his wife grabbed his arm and pulled him back into their apartment before quickly shutting the door. Her muffled voice followed Cheyenne until she started down the stairs and the door to the stairwell closed behind her.
She focused on her footing with the relatively heavy bag bumping awkwardly against her back. If they don’t know where I am, that’ll keep them safe too. A price for everything, huh?
Chapter Fifty-Four
On her sixth trip down to her car, Cheyenne finally had her clothes and all the pieces of Glen secured snugly in the trunk and the back seat of her Panamera. She dusted off her hands and turned to look up at the building she’d called home for the last few years. I could break the lease if I wanted. Better to keep the place as a decoy. For now, at least.
She got into the driver’s seat, started the car, and flexed her fingers around the steering wheel. “I’m not gonna miss this place even a little.”
Grinning, she pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward her fancy new apartment with an actual roommate, bringing everything she needed with her in the back of her fancy new car.
* * *
“Okay, I realize I already used the ‘Honey, I’m home line,’ so this time, I’ll just go with—woah.” Cheyenne turned around from closing the apartment door and found Ember sitting in her wheelchair in the center of the living room, surrounded by at least a dozen large boxes. “You went nuts on the online shopping, huh?”
“Did you know there are people out there who will pick your stuff up from any store in the area and bring it to you?” Ember grinned and swept an arm across the expanse of box-filled living room. “Like, it’s their business.”
“For anyone who wants it?”
“Yeah, I guess. I didn’t think to ask.” Ember laughed. “I mean, I’m not gonna make a bunch of phone calls like, ‘Hi, I’m Ember. I’m in a wheelchair. Can you do this stuff for me?’”
Cheyenne bit her bottom lip and swerved around the closest stack of boxes. “Obviously, you don’t have to.”
“I know, right? Guess we have a lot of unpacking to do tomorrow anyway.”
“Uh…” Cheyenne walked toward the kitchen island and showed her friend the pint of Ben & Jerry’s she’d picked up before setting it down on the granite countertop. “About tomorrow.”
“What happened now?” Ember wheeled herself down the aisle between boxes and went searching through the kitchen drawers.
“Nothing crazy. I told you about my troll-family neighbors, right? Well, ex-neighbors, I guess.”
“Yeah, the underwear crafters.” Ember snorted. “Holy shit. When they said fully furnished, they really meant fully.” She closed the drawer and held up two spoons. “Silverware and everything.”
“Look at that.” The halfling stepped around the island to take the offered spoon, then opened the pint of ice cream and handed it over. “So, my troll
