"Yes, we're looking for Broth Riversteel," Beth stated directly, her tone leaving no room for interpretation that we were anything but serious.
The bartender paused, setting the glass down. "Who's asking?"
"Beth Ari," she replied just as plainly.
"You a cop, Beth?” he asked, eyes flashing with anger.
Three men at the bar top near us suddenly went silent, and their eyes locked on us. I swallowed around the lump in my throat, praying that these women had the right kind of spell to deal with the situation we’d found ourselves in. If not, we were in trouble.
"He asked you a question,” a man with an eye patch growled, and the music from the jukebox seemed to swell.
"We aren’t cops,” Beth told them, her voice only shaking a little.
"I don’t believe you,” the man with the eye patch said, getting up from his stool and taking a step closer to us, his two big friends right behind him.
Deva pulled a bag out of her pocket and set in on the bar top. It was a baggie filled with cookies. "Would cops havespecialcookies on them?”
Eye patch leaned in and snatched the bag, opening it and sniffing it before letting the other men sniff it too. Then, they all pulled out a cookie each. "I’ll be the judge of thesespecialcookies,” he said, glaring with his one good eye.
The three men started eating them, and I instantly knew they liked Deva’s cookies by the way their faces relaxed. But I also knew that these cookies had to be special in a way far different from the way the men expected, and I wasn’t wrong. All three began to smile, goofy grins twisting their faces into far less dangerous looking ones.
"I love this song!” Eye patch said, starting to swing his hips.
"Me too,” one of the burly men said.
Suddenly, all three of them were dancing, but not regular dancing. They were dancing like kids wanting to be swan princesses, swinging their hips in exaggerated movements, spreading their arms above them and around, even tiptoeing between tables.
"Whoa,” the bartender said. "That’s some strong stuff.”
Deva grinned. "You have no idea.”
He gave her a long look, then nodded slowly. "Wait here. I’ll get Broth." He turned and disappeared into the back, leaving us standing awkwardly at the bar.
I exchanged a glance with Carol, sensing her fingers still lingering near the pockets of her sweater. I tensed, I guess she was right to still be cautious, we were hardly out of this yet. We waited in silence, the buzz of the bar's patrons filling the void left by the bartender's absence. Trying desperately to not make eye contact with anyone, but unable to help looking away from the three men who continued to prance about the room.
FIFTEEN
Emma
A few painfully long minutes passed before the bartender reappeared behind the bar, his dark eyes taking us in with curiosity tinged with pity. I’d thought he’d be feeling annoyed by us. The fact that he pitied us made me even more worried about meeting his boss.
"Over here," the bartender motioned with a nod toward the back.
I followed, with the other ladies at my heel. We walked past table after empty table but didn’t stop until we reached the very back corner of the bar. I eyed the dimly lit corner table he pointed us to with apprehension. This seemed like the kind of place where terrible things could happen, and no one would even notice.
"Sit,” he commanded.
I didn’t particularly like being spoken to like a dog, but it seemed stupid not to do as he said. The worn leather of the seat squeaked under me as I slid in, followed by Beth, Carol, and Deva. The only table’s occupants that could see us in instantly stood anddisappeared out of sight, fleeing as if being near us would be enough to put them in the line of fire.
"Is this really necessary?" I glanced at the other empty tables around.
"Privacy." He wiped his hands on a rag. "He'll be here soon."
Beth shot me an uneasy look but said nothing. We sat in silence, waiting.
"Don’t push too hard,” Deva said softly. "We might have the powers to back up a fight, but we don’t want a fight. Not with Broth. Winning one fight against him would be easy, but making an enemy of him would make all our lives harder. Just remember, we have to keep living here.”
"Agreed,” Beth said.
