Though Gelbus technically had his back.
Everyone in the room collectively gasped, then laughed and clapped their hands once they realized Gelbus was okay.
“Let’s go get that milkshake,” Maria suggested.
Gelbus nodded. Sherlock walked forward, the crowd parting for them. Many people whistled and yelled, ‘Good job!’ when they passed, and for the first time in a long time, Gelbus felt like he was important. It had been a rough couple of months. First the drinking and the removal from his station at the Light Elves’ library, then the wandering and more drinking, and then the abduction and imprisonment, then the battle where he had to step up or die…
It was good to finally win one, for a change.
Chapter Eight
“Good job, Gelbus,” Frieda said once they were clear of the crowd.
Gary gave them the back room that was usually reserved for large parties. Gelbus unzipped his hoodie, taking in the sweet, cool, grease-filled air. In front of them all—even Sherlock—were milkshakes. Frieda and Gelbus had three small glasses in front of them, one of each flavor: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Maria said it would be easier to find out what they liked this way.
Each milkshake was topped with whip cream and a small red fruit that was sweet and juicy when Gelbus bit into it. It was called a ‘cherry.’ Gelbus realized, after he’d tried all three flavors, that he loved them all, and would’ve been fine with any single flavor by itself—but he kept sipping them, nodding, and making grunts of approval or distaste, as if he were still weighing the options.
Hey, I deserve it, after all I’ve gone through. Not to mention he was the new pinball champion at Low Way Family Fun Center.
They all sat around the table with smiles on their faces. Sherlock was near their feet, lapping at the bowl in front of him. His flavor was vanilla. Maria had said that chocolate was poison to a normal dog, but a laxative to Sherlock, and right now wasn’t the time to be ruining Gary’s carpets.
Agnes had laughed.
They talked of everything but the impending war that was floating above them like an anvil ready to drop…at least for a time.
When the lively conversations died down, they all went quiet and stared at their empty milkshake glasses. Maria nervously fingered the crystal around her neck.
“It’s all right, Maria,” Agnes said. “Ignatius is not one to lose, and with Salem there, they’ll be fine. If you want, if it’ll make you feel better, go ahead and use the crystal to contact them.”
Maria thought of the side effects, the craziness that stole over one’s mind when using the communication crystals, and she hesitated for a moment. Until she remembered all the craziness she had already been through. Compared to all that, using a communication crystal is nothing.
“You know what? I think I will.” She went outside, away from the others. If something had gone wrong—and she had a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach saying it had—then she didn’t want to be around the others, worrying them. Sherlock followed her, though. He seemed to almost always follow her, unless there was food waiting for him elsewhere. Currently, his bowl of vanilla milkshake was empty.
“I’m not going to get anymore food,” Maria said to the Bloodhound as she went out the door. Sherlock didn’t stop.
I know. I can hear, Maria. I’m curious, too, wondering what’s taking Ig and Salem so long.
“You mean it? You’re not just using me to get to a dead squirrel or Gary’s dumpster?”
Sherlock shook his head. Is that what you think of me, Maria?
She shrugged.
I’m appalled. I’ve told you, I’m a changed Bloodhound. I care about our family.
Maria eyed him suspiciously. They strolled past the arcade, where Gelbus’s picture was already up on the wall. He looked quite silly in his dinosaur hoodie—well, technically her dinosaur hoodie—but it beat having a Gnome plastered there, scaring away all the customers.
I should’ve been in that picture, Sherlock said, noting Maria looking at it. I saved the Gnome from a broken neck. Oh well, at least we all got milkshakes out of it.
“Yeah, so much for that diet,” she teased, pushing open the doors.
The weather was nice. Not too hot, not too cold. There was a slight breeze, and the sun hung in the sky without any clouds around it, its rays warming the two wanderers.
It’s my cheat day! You knew that.
“I did?” Maria chuckled. “How the hell did you expect me to know that?”
Uh, I ate a floor waffle… Wasn’t it obvious?
“You always eat floor waffles!” she protested. “Among other things from the floor. Pretty much anything edible…or non-edible.”
I guess you’re right, Sherlock said, his claws clicking on the paved parking lot.
Maria found a nice spot to the left of the fun center. There was a pavilion, and a row of picnic tables that were mostly used for larger parties when the weather was steadily warm enough to warrant Gary bringing out his inflatable bounce houses and various contraptions so cleverly dubbed ‘Gary’s Inflatable Madness’.
There was no one under the pavilion, but it had been used recently, according to Sherlock, who sniffed madly around the trash barrels.
Maria took the crystal in her hands and held it up to her mouth. Power thrummed within it, power and madness. It called to Maria, and she wanted to answer it, but she knew if she did, terrible things might happen.
“Control. Control it, Maria,” she whispered.
Sherlock heard her and replied, I don’t have control! Dammit, Maria, why do you have to make me feel so bad all the time?
Because he held something in his mouth, his speech was still muffled once it reached Maria’s head. The thing in his mouth was either a moldy jelly donut or a flattened tube of cinnamon toothpaste. Two vastly different items, but that’s what it looked like to her.
“I’m not talking to you,” she snapped.
Sure sounded like it.
He lay down and munched on the thing. Maria did her best not to look at it,
