History of Fire by Alexia Purdy Page B

the downtown casinos seemed more established and held onto their workers longer. I think. It seemed to be so with this man. He looked utterly human, like someone’s uncle, or even someone’s grandfather. Who knew, really? I sat on the stool right next to Sary and Braelynn. The bar was crowded, too. The entire place was one huge people magnet.
    We finally caught the attention of the bartender, and he headed our way. I wondered if this was the guy we were looking for.
    “What can I get you, and can I see your I.D.?” The guy extended his hand as he studied our faces. I pulled out my wallet and confidently plopped down my fake I.D. Hey, it helped to have one when I was frequenting bars all over the place looking for Unseelie escapees.
    The man studied it, scrutinizing it for what seemed like forever. He didn’t even ask the girls for theirs and seemed to avoid looking at them. “What can I get you?” He handed the card back and drilled his eyes into me.
    “Can I have a coke? And I need to ask you something.” The bartender narrowed his eyes and began his routine of plopping a napkin onto the counter, filling a glass with ice and squeezing the tap to fill it with soda.
    “Sure thing. What can I help you with?” He placed the soda before me and waited. “That’ll be four dollars. What can I answer for you?”
    “We’re looking for Lorell.” I studied the guy’s nametag, feeling disappointed to find it said ‘Larry’ on it.
    “Who’s asking?”
    “We’re from the Scren Palace, under the authority of Queen Shade of the Southern Realm,” Braelynn answered with a hushed voice before I could. I glanced at her and slipped the money onto the counter before sipping the cold beverage. I offered some to Sary, who shook her head at me, making a face at the bubbly drink.
    “There’s no Lorell here.”
    Braelynn held out the crystal Elvis and set it on the counter. “I have something he needs.” She let the crystal flash under the bar lights, which were sparsely spread across the ceiling, keeping the atmosphere dimly lit but bright enough to not trip over anything. The bartender’s eyes widened as he became entranced with the figurine. Rainbow colors pepper his face and illuminated the glamour he was wearing in tiny, fractured wisps of faery light.
    Ah, a faery bartender. Nice.
    “Where did you get that?”
    “You know where.” I’d never seen Braelynn so determined as she tried to break the man into confessing who he really was. I guess she wanted to find out more about Oran than any one of us. Still, I watched Larry’s venomous stare as he matched her eye for eye. His fingers twitched, like he was ready to snatch the figurine right out of her fingers.
    “Give me that.” His tight-lipped mutter made no difference to Braelynn as she withdrew the crystal and pocketed it once more. This didn’t bode well for Larry, who reddened even more.
    “If you find Lorell, we’ll be waiting for him by the pool.”
    She stood and waved for Sary and me to follow. I downed the remains of my soda and slammed it on the bar as we left. I glanced back to make sure Larry wasn’t going to hop the bar and rampage toward us. Seeing him glued to his spot, I saluted the guy as we continued on and eventually disappeared into the crowd.

Chapter Twelve Unraveling
Unraveling
    I focused on the variety of bikini-clad ladies hanging in and out of the pool. I felt overdressed in my jeans and T-shirt, but I was sure to give them something to notice with my laid-back rocker look, nonchalant with sunglasses on. I was having a grand ole time, and I hoped Larry wouldn’t rush to meet us poolside. A glass of Guinness was sitting next to me on a tiny table. I probably shouldn’t have been drinking, but I wanted to relax. It was a vacation spot, and the magnificent pool facilities were resort worthy. It literally felt light years away from the dark battle I’d been waging against the escaped Unseelie and was definitely several steps up from