“An accident.” Sam stared down at his plate, as if he’d lost his appetite. “We’d gotten a shipment of medicinal whiskey for the drug store. Dad invited the driver to have lunch with him, while Jake and I unloaded the crates marked for the pharmacy. I was eleven and Jake was fourteen and a lot bigger than me. He got into the back and started handing down boxes.” Sam blinked rapidly. “He opened the first one up, while Dad and the driver were distracted, and talked me into drinking from one of the bottles with him.”
Oh no. “Does this have something to do with the fact you don’t drink?”
“Yeah.” Sam took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. “I got sick and dizzy pretty fast. I thought I was going to throw up, so I walked away from the cart, and that’s when it happened. Something spooked the horses—I don’t know if it was the train going past on the tracks nearby or something else. They bolted, and all the cargo in the back toppled, with Jake in the middle of it. By the time they got the horses back under control, he was under a bunch of heavy wooden crates, unconscious and bloody. He never woke up.”
“I’m sorry,” Alistair said. “I can’t imagine.”
Sam’s throat worked as he swallowed convulsively. “Jake was so much better at everything than me. Of course my parents wished I’d died instead.”
Alistair’s nails dug into the varnished tabletop. “And they said this to you?”
“Yes?” Sam shrugged, as if it was nothing. “Lying is a sin, so they always tell the truth, even when it…well, it doesn’t matter.”
The cold rage that swept through Alistair shocked him. “If they ever contact you again, tell me right away,” he said, and the words came out with the edge of a cheetah’s growl. “Promise me.”
Sam eyed him uncertainly. “All right.”
“They shouldn’t have said that to you—to anyone. And I don’t care about whatever bullshit they spouted about not lying. There’s a difference between being honest and being cruel.”
“Oh.” Sam looked surprised. Had anyone ever bothered to defend him before?
“You’re good company,” Alistair said. “And you’re kind, and you’re brave.”
Sam winced. “I’m not though.”
“You left the only home you’ve ever known, got on a train by yourself, and came to a city you’d never been in and a cousin you’d never met.” Alistair shook his head. “Besides that, do you know how many people are afraid of familiars who can turn into large predators? You sat in a room with a tiger last night, for God’s sake, and it didn’t even phase you.”
“Why would it?” Sam frowned, obviously puzzled. “You’re still people, aren’t you? I don’t mean humans, but, you know. People.”
“You’d be surprised at how many don’t see it that way.” Alistair took a deep breath, then let it out, letting go of some of the tension knotting his shoulders. He was going to do something nice for Sam, because Sam deserved nice things, and if Alistair ever met Sam’s parents he was going to make them sorry. “Look, let’s just…just finish our meal. Then we’ll catch an elevated train down to the Loop. We can go to the movies before work. Have you seen The Thief of Bagdad yet?”
10
An afternoon of sitting beside Alistair in the dark, watching the handsome Douglas Fairbanks on the flickering screen, had set Sam’s heart to pounding. He’d been almost painfully aware of the darkness, the man beside him, and the sparse crowd of a Wednesday afternoon. Wild fantasies of Alistair sliding an arm around his shoulders played out in his mind, as impossible as the scenes playing out on the screen in front of him.
He wasn’t entirely certain how to feel about their lunch-time conversation. Alistair had seemed so angry, but not at Sam. He’d been mad at Mom and Dad, said they’d done the wrong thing, that they’d been cruel instead of honest. He’d called Sam good company. Brave, even.
Sam hadn’t felt brave, getting on the train in Gatesville. He’d felt scared, and sad, and desperate. But he had done it. So maybe he could be a little brave, when he needed to.
When they reached The Pride, Sam paid attention to how everyone, especially the Gatti siblings, interacted with each other. They were so comfortable, without any of the underlying tension that had infused the house Sam grew up in. There was no sense of walking on eggs, just waiting for the shouting to start.
Even more amazingly, when he accidentally broke a plate while doing the first round of dishwashing that night, Reinhold only shrugged. “It’s bound to happen sooner or later,” he said, as Sam scrambled to apologize. “Just be careful of the sharp edges when you clean up.”
He couldn’t help but contrast it to Dad’s fury the last night at the pharmacy, when he’d berated Sam for breaking a bottle of soda syrup. It wasn’t even as if syrup was that expensive or hard to obtain. If Dad had been right, if Sam deserved to be thrown out for it, why didn’t Reinhold react the same way?
When Norman Rose came in shortly after Sam’s second break, he ducked into the back to find Alistair. The hallway to the office was built to impress, since this was where Wanda conducted her business. A long runner of deep red lay atop the parquet flooring; the wainscoting was polished oak, the plaster above painted to match the rug. The first door to the left opened onto the office, which was decorated to match the hall. Inside where two desks: Wanda’s near the door, and the huge roll-top covered in books and papers where Alistair worked.
They both looked up when Sam stuck his head inside. “Norman Rose is here,” he said in a hushed voice.
“Why on earth are you whispering?” Alistair asked.
“I don’t know…we’re sort of doing something secretive?”
Alistair rolled his eyes and stood up. “Come on, let’s see what Norman can tell us.”
Norman’s attention was on the dancers, and he didn’t notice them until Alistair sat down at his table. Feeling a bit nervous, Sam followed suit.
“Alistair,” Norman said warily, before turning a warmer look on Sam. “And Sammy—how are you doing? I’ve been meaning to check in on you, but things at the office have been so busy lately.”
“I’m fine,” Sam said automatically. “How are—”
“We’re not here to chit-chat,” Alistair cut in.
Norman’s expression grew uneasy. “Then why are you here? Because I’m just looking for a good time and a drink—”
“Eldon was involved in something he shouldn’t have been.” Alistair leaned in, and Norman reflexively leaned back. “And now Sam’s inherited that trouble. You and Eldon were in here quite a bit together, so if you know anything, now would be a good time to tell us.”
Norman was already shaking his head. “I don’t know anything.”
“What about where he might have hidden a hex he was working on?” Sam asked. “We haven’t found anything in the house. Did he have friends, someone he might have left it with? Or did he leave it with you?”
“No—I might come to clubs and speakeasies to have fun, but I don’t get involved in the business of those who run them.” Norman glanced nervously at Alistair. “I’m sure Eldon had other friends, but I never met them.”