“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t like it,” I said.
Than nodded, frowned, took another bite.
Bathin hid a grin under his fingers as he rested his head in his hand.
“It is knitting,” Than said.
“No, my friend,” Bathin said. “It’s a sandwich.”
And oh, thelookThan leveled at him. I was amazed Bathin didn’t dissolve into dust.
Than turned toward me, ignoring Bathin as if he’d just been pushed off the cliff behind him. “It is knitting.” He pressed his fingers into the colorful square on the table in front of him. It was crocheted, I mean, knitted, in the shape of a cross-eyed chicken.
“Okay?” I had no idea where he was going with this. Bathin was the one who had called it quilting.
“The neighbor, Curt, confirmed that the yarn bomb is knitting, not crochet, no matter what the tongue might suggest.”
“Well, this just got interesting,” Bathin said. “What tongue, and what did it suggest? Tell me it was something dirty, I’ve had an absolutely boring day.”
“I thought you were following Delaney around all day.” It came out as an accusation. Yeah, everything about him annoyed me.
Bathin shifted upward out of his slouch and gave me a wary look. “She left to go to the casino to check on god mail. I don’t leave Ordinary, remember?”
“Afraid your father might find you?”
He blinked, but other than that, was absolutely still. “Who told you about my father?”
“Does that matter?”
“It does. Very much. To me. Anyone who would have told you he’s my father must also know where I am. That’s a problem.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Was it you?” he asked Than.
“If it were?” Than asked.
“If it were, I’m not going to be worried about it. You happen to like Ordinary.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.
“I like Ordinary too,” Bathin said. “And some of the people and creatures in it. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to any of them.”
“Did you just threaten me? Us? The town? Is that what I just heard?”
“No. You heard the truth and interpreted it in the worst way possible, like you always do.”
“You are a demon.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m evil.”
“Uh, yeah. It does.”
He winked. “Only if you want me to be. I’m not like the other demons.”
“Really? How nice. Give my sister back her soul.”
“No. But yes, really. I blame your father.”
