Page 43 of UNAwere

‘Oh. Um. One-oh-three,’ I say.

He holds up his ticket. ‘One-oh-four.’

I grin. ‘Beat you.’

He laughs. ‘You did.’

‘One hundred!’ the girl calls.

I can smell deep-fried potatoes and cooking onions. My stomach growls again, and I wonder why I’m so hungry.

‘You a Were?’ the man asks.

‘Oh. Um. Yeah.’ I play with the hem of my shirt.

‘Me too. What pack?’

‘Luminaire.’

‘Primrose,’ he says, pointing to his chest.

I raise my brows. Greenville must be a border town.

‘We’ll be in an alliance soon.’

He smiles. ‘What brings you here?’

‘Road trip.’ I shrug. ‘With my… work… colleague.’

He makes a noncommittal sound. ‘Travelling for work?’

‘Yep.’

‘What do you do?’

‘I help Were and human relationships in public and private spaces. I’m like a consultant. For both.’ I spin my pointers around each other. ‘Like “Hey, you’re having a problem with your human coworkers because they don’t understand you sometimes cough up hairballs? No worries, we’ll educate them!”’

The man laughs. ‘That sounds like a great job.’

‘It is.’ I smile sadly. I miss it.

‘What’s your name?’ he asks, extending a hand.

‘Sybbie,’ I say, taking it.

He grips my hand gently, shaking it, and it takes him a moment to let go, his eyes on mine.

‘One hundred and one!’

‘Isaac.’

‘It’s good to meet you!’ I beam.

‘You too, Sybbie.’ He glances at my smiling mouth. ‘Say, I know, um, this is kind of forward, but are you staying in town?’

‘Oh.’ I think about the pre-approved list Briggs has and wish I’d been made aware of his plans, to know if we were stopping in Greenville for another day or not. ‘I’m not sure. That’s up to my… colleague.’

‘If you are,’ Isaac says, letting go of my hand, ‘I’d love to take you out for a drink.’