“Would have liked it if you spoke up earlier,” I said.
“We did,” Right Ned said. “But the second Abraham walked over your doorstep, you were done hearing us.”
“That’s not true. I’m listening right now.”
“A lot of people are listening right now,” Right Ned said quietly. “How about we go get a coffee?”
“Where?”
“Out,” Right Ned said. “Let me take you out for a cup. So we can talk.”
He seemed sincere and Left Ned seem annoyed, so basically they were acting normal.
I wondered if I should check in with someone—tell Abraham we were leaving, or let Oscar know he could find me down the street.
No. I’d spent too much of my life making decisions on my own to stop and get a committee vote for coffee.
“I’ll meet you by the elevator. I have to get dressed and grab my coat.”
I did just that, and slung my duffel over my shoulder. The rifle would have to remain behind, but I hesitated over the handgun. I dropped it into my duffel.
I could hold my own in a fight, but sometimes the presence of a gun went a long way in making sure that fight never happened.
I shrugged into my coat as I strode down the hall, a little surprised no one had stopped us yet. The big windows in the main room showed the darkness of night hadn’t cleared yet. It was very early morning and the sun wouldn’t rise for about an hour.
Here and there across the city, little winks of light glittered in strings, streets and buildings cupping the glow.
Neds waited for me by the elevator door.
“We can just go out the way we came in?” I whispered.
“Unless you’re under House arrest. Are you under House arrest?” Right Ned asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Then we can go,” Left Ned said.
Right Ned held his hand out to the open elevator door while I walked in. He waved at whatever camera was watching us from the room, got in the elevator, and pushed the button for ground level.
“I’d understand if you want nothing to do with this trouble,” I said.
He stared up at the line of buttons as they lit, one by one. “You don’t think I took the job on the farm because I thought it was boring, did you?”
“Not a lot of excitement in planting and cleaning up after critters,” I said.
“A dragon, a unicorn, pocket sheep, those things in the pond . . .”
“The leapers.”
“. . . the leapers, and the flock of cockatrice out back. Unusual. When I first saw the place, it crossed my mind it might be a little trouble.”
“Like me.”
“Like you.” Right Ned shrugged. “I know I can walk out. We both know. And you don’t see us leaving, do you?”
“No,” I said, “I don’t suppose I do.”
The elevator let out a sweet little bell sound and the doors opened wide.
