“Fuck off.”
“Don’t you want a french fry? Why are you naked? Are you a Shifter?”
A scuffle ensued, and I cocked my head to discern what might be happening.
“Try all you like, it’s not like you’re going anywhere,” Willie said. His footfalls approached until he appeared in front of my cell, a sack of food in his hand. “Hey, I remember you. Maybe if you had ordered something, you wouldn’t be in here. What did you do?”
He reached in his bag and ate a french fry. While amiable, this guy seemed to get off on questioning criminals.
“Why are you here?” I asked quietly.
He ambled up to the bars. “My uncle owns the building.”
“The cop?”
“Yes’m.”
“Isn’t he a…”
I didn’t dare say the word.
“Mage?” Willie finished. “Uncle Al doesn’t like me here, so I made a copy of the key when he was drinking one night. They have those neat little key machines at Walmart, you know.”
This kid seemed to be a few cards short of a deck. “You’re a rebel, aren’t you?”
He grinned, revealing a mouthful of crooked teeth. He was a gangly-looking guy, probably eighteen or twenty if I had to guess.
Willie wiped his greasy fingers on his dark work shirt. “My uncle got me the job at McDonald’s and invited me to stay here, but he doesn’t trust me. It’s not fair that he doesn’t let me work here. I could be a special deputy.”
“You sure could.” I took a seat in front of the bars so that we could talk more privately.
Willie had a thumbprint of hair below his lower lip that wasn’t well groomed. “Want some fries?”
“Sure.” I reached through the bars and pulled out a couple. I wasn’t hungry, but this wasn’t about hunger. I was playing a game, and the object was to get the hell out of jail. “So you’re a Mage too, huh?”
“No,” he said, acting like a teenager who didn’t get what he wanted for Christmas. “The Mageri doesn’t like nepotism and turning family. I’m just a human.”
I ate a second fry. “I thought humans weren’t supposed to know about us?”
“He got approval to make me a trusted human. I guess ’cause he’s law and all. My dad died a few years back, and I didn’t have any other family to take me in. I was already sixteen, so I guess they didn’t think it was a big deal. That’s why we moved to the middle of nowhere.”
“So you wouldn’t have any friends to tell?”
He reached for a small sandwich and unwrapped it. “Do you really want to know? Nobody ever asks me questions.”
“Sure I wanna know. You’re the most interesting person I’ve met in this town.”
He sat up a little straighter and chomped into his chicken sandwich. “I grew up in Parkersburg. My uncle thought it would be safer if we lived somewhere that didn’t have a lot of Breed. I guess he didn’t take into account all the Shifters. It keeps him busy. We could have moved since I’m over eighteen now, but he likes it here.”
“If you’re not a Mage, how come I felt energy when I went into the restaurant?”
“Uncle Al was in the drive-through. That’s how he gets when he’s hungry and has to wait for us to cook up his order. He flares his anger like some kind of food demon.”
While Willie was yapping about his job, I took notice of his pockets and belt as I searched for keys. The ones that opened these cells were different from the key that opened the main door.
“What do you do around here for fun?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Rainelle is only a thousand or so people, and I ain’t got any friends. That’s why I like to come up here and visit the prisoners. Uncle Al doesn’t usually lock up that many people. Mostly drunk Shifters, but once he busted a Vampire sipping from one of the ladies who works at the thrift store. I still come up here every day after work. It’s my excitement. Tonight’s a busy night! Two of you. Are you together?”
