Just as I got back to the bar, there was a low growl and then a scream. Then a hush filled the place, along with the smell of burning hair.
Zark, the only one I could see, had his lips parted and his eyes wide open. He hit his forehead before dropping his hand and smothering his face for a moment.
I turned, knowing there was no avoiding the situation. The customer, the one who’d received my drink, was sitting at his table, and his full beard had become stubble.
He stared right at me, perplexed.
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
Zark had finally started moving. He dashed in front of me. “Go wait behind the bar. I’ll handle this.”
I nodded, doing as I was told.
Zark went over, trying to smooth the customer’s feathers as I tried to take in the rest of the customers’ reactions. They looked more amused than anything else. Still, I was going to be fired for sure. The only job I could get and I hadn’t lasted an hour. It would be all over Xest by tonight. He’d know. He’d probably make a special visit to see me and tell me I should go back to Salem. I was sure he’d known this was how it would turn out all along.
I stood as far back from the crowd as possible. Maybe they’d forget I was here.
The second Zark walked behind the bar, I said, “I’m so sorry. I really am. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I’ll do it again, as many times as needed to until I get it right.”
He threw up his hands. “No, no, don’t do that.”
“Then I’m fired?” I looked at the floor, waiting to hear the words. “Of course I’m fired. I blew up your customer’s beard. How could I not be fired?” Don’t cry, you big ninny. Do not cry. You’re not a crier, remember?
“Now, I wouldn’t go as far as firing you.”
“You wouldn’t?” My head popped right up and my spine straightened like I was a jack-in-the-box.
Zark looked at the crowd, none of whom had left, not even burned-beard guy.
“It wasn’t a good showing, but I don’t want to be hasty, either. Maybe you do some of the manual stuff and leave the magic to me for now, until you get settled in. It’s probably only nerves. There can be magical flare-ups due to nerves.” He waved a hand toward the bottles. “But, you know, maybe don’t touch too much, and don’t do anything magical at all. I mean nothing at all. Don’t utter a magical word or have a magical thought, all right?”
The nice Zark was still there, just like all his customers.
“I won’t do a thing. Absolutely nothing.”
He nodded. “That’s good.”
“You’re going to stay back here with me?” He was hiring me to tend his bar and he couldn’t leave? How long would things last like this? “I could maybe just call you if there’s a magical drink.”
“It’s your first day. I don’t want to overtax you.”
He was afraid to leave me back here alone, even as he took a step away from me, just in case.
“But if I don’t learn, what about next time I work, or the time after that?” There was no way he wouldn’t end up firing me.
A couple of people were examining the burned beard, smiling and nodding. Even burned-beard guy was nodding, as if this was somehow good.
“We’ll figure something out,” Zark said, looking out at the crowd as well.
This place was strange. Maybe this could last?
I’d just fallen asleep when the door swung open, slamming into the wall and jolting me awake. I scanned the entry for a herd of something bigger than grouslies heading over to eat me.
Instead, there was Zab, bouncing around. “I found you a place!”
“You did?” Even my sleep-deprived brain registered how fast he’d managed that. From what I’d known, he did like to entertain the ladies a lot. A homeless friend on your couch was definitely a deterrent to sexy times.
“Yes. Come on. I’ve got the keys.” He was nearly vibrating, like he’d been plugged in.
“You’ve got the keys? They just gave them to you?” I shoved the hair out of my face.
“Of course. I already gave them payment. They have to. That’s the way it works.”
That cleared all the sleep cobwebs from my brain like a shop vac on a miniature dollhouse. I sprang up from the couch, grabbing clean clothes from the bag I was living out of.
“You told them I’d take it already? You paid for it?” How much had I made yesterday? This place better be really cheap.
“That’s how things work here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Places don’t open up for years sometimes. As soon as one is available, you take it.”
“Oh, okay, then. Good work! How many coins do I owe you?” I asked, heading to the bathroom to get myself together.
“You’ll never believe it!” he yelled after me.
It was small, but not more so than my Salem place had been. It had a wood stove in the center, which probably warmed the whole place nicely.
I was just about to tell Zab how much I loved the place when a dust bunny shot out from behind the stove and dashed across the room before disappearing. Then reappeared, dashed to another corner, and disappeared again.
Zab groaned beside me. “He should’ve told me there was a dust bunny.”
“It’s just a dust bunny. I’m sure I can get it to leave. The place is amazing, and I can’t believe how cheap it is. You said five coin a month? That sounds ridiculous.”
Zab was shaking his head and groaning again. “That’s not a regular dust bunny. That’s an Elusive Rare Dust Bunny. They used to only exist in Rest to torment people after they swept and vacuumed their house. Someone brought one back through a puddle, and they’ve become an invasive species. In Rest, they never show themselves, but here they don’t stay invisible all the time. They don’t have to with no known natural predators.”
“Wait, they have predators in Rest?”
“Of course they do. Humans.”
“But what about here?”
“Oh no, you can’t chase out the Elusive Rare Dust Bunny. It was done once, and very bad things happened afterward to the chaser.”
I had to live with a dust bunny? I looked about the place with a new eye. There was a thick coating of dust everywhere. I’d figured a good cleaning would take care of it, but what if it had just been cleaned? Oh no. This was bad. This was really bad.
“How long is the lease?”
“Uh, um…” He covered his mouth with his hand, shooting little glances my way before he’d look back over the place.
Oh yeah, I could totally believe the price now. It was all making sense.
“How long, Zab? What did you sign me up for?”
“Just, you know, the standard term. Nothing seemed crazy about it at the time. I thought you’d just lucked out.”
And that was his first mistake. I didn’t have good luck. Hadn’t he figured that out yet? How long did you need to know me before that became apparent?
“What’s the standard term?” I asked.
“Like…one hundred and twenty moon cycles?”
He took a step away from me. It was becoming a trend, it seemed.