10:17
There was no time to consider any other action as the tartlet zoomed right for Dempsey’s face. So, he opened his mouth and braced for impact. The tartlet hit his lips. Hoping to absorb some of the impact, he drew his head back at an awkward angle while carefully clamping his mouth closed around the pastry. By some miracle it didn’t splat or break but instead bobbled on his lower lip before settling.
He darted his gaze left and right, stopping on Patti’s startled look. She eyed the pastry. Met Dempsey’s gaze. Eyed the pastry again. And then she burst out laughing which drew Abe and Dan’s attention.
Abe lifted a hand to cover their mouth, giggling behind it. Dan strode over and gently extricated the tartlet from Dempsey’s mouth and placed it on the shield before backing away. His toothpick bobbed up and down in the corner of his mouth.
Dempsey knew Dan was suppressing a laugh and after a moment’s reflection he found himself laughing too. Lowering his head and shaking it, he grinned.
“That was ridiculous, wasn’t it?”
“What part of this isn’t ridiculous?” Dan canted his head. “I’m chasing pastries around a tea room.”
“You have a point.” Dempsey walked over to the closest table and looked for any gaps in the tea trays. Finding a few, he ran through the list of items in his head. It was large enough he was sure he was missing a few.
With that in mind he propped the shield on the table and pulled out his copy of the menu. Scanning down the list he determined lavender shortbread and a crème brulee tart were missing from the table.
He selected one of each and put them on the tea trays then moved over to the next table and did the same. All the way down the line until his shield was empty. Several pastries flew at him but Dan and Patti ran interference, so he didn’t get splatted or have to resort to using his mouth to catch anything again.
Once the shield was clear he put it back on the floor and stepped back to his position near the door. Sure they were being attacked by pastries but nothing said they weren’t the initial skirmishers and something worse would attack.
The image of the pastries as shock troops in little uniforms flitted through his mind and he snorted. Then considered what would follow an attack by baked goods? Gingerbread soldiers with fruit cannons? Fruit siege weapons? He snorted again. Apparently fairly loud as Abe looked over at him with a quizzical expression.
“Fruit catapults,” he offered in reply.
Abe started then tilted their head and studied him from beneath lowered brows.
“Fruit.” He paused to snort. “Catapults.”
Patti reached out and snatched a flying teacake, smacking it down on the table in front of her. “No. Just no.”
Dempsey made exploding motions with his fingers. “Boom.”
“No!” Patti started laughing. She turned to look at Prairie. “Dempsey has gone crazy.”
Prairie looked at him with a grin. “Gone?”
Dan cast a look at Abe. A silent communication took place. Then Dan walked across the room to the kitchen door and peered through the invisible barrier.
Dempsey snatched a pot of jam from the air and casually walked back to replace it on the table it launched from. “No jam,” he murmured to the jar or the table or The House or the universe. Or whoever was listening.
There was crazy, I’m talking to a table, and then there was crazy, I got clocked by a jar of jam and got a concussion. He was okay with enacting the first if it kept him from living the second. The jar jiggled on the table then fell still. Dempsey took that as an answer.
Once he was sure the jar wasn’t going to rise up and hit him in the head, he turned to look at Dan. “What’s up in there?”
Dan leaned a hand against the doorframe and peered into the kitchen. “Can’t tell. Wish we could talk to them.” He tapped his finger on the barrier. Tapped again.
Dempsey frowned. “I don’t think any sound is carrying. They aren’t going to hear the tapping.”
Abe strode over from their position at the window. They reached out and grabbed a flying scone, stooping to place it on Dempsey’s shield before stopping next to Dan.
“Move?”
When Dan looked down at them they added. “Please?”
Dan continued to stare at them for a mikro then shrugged and walked back to the windows. He grabbed a savory muffin out of the air as he walked, not even pausing.
Abe started jumping up and down, waving their arms. Questioning the reason for it, Dempsey wandered over to stand behind Abe, snagging a bun and a madeleine from the air and dropping them on the closest table before lining up to look over Abe’s shoulder.
He half-heartedly added a wave to Abe’s flailing at which point Siobhan looked over the gulf at them. She waved back and raised her hands in a large questioning shrug. Ceasing their bouncing Abe leaned on the barrier then raised their arm and pointed at the wrist as if gesturing to an imaginary timepiece. Then they echoed Siobhan’s large shrug gesture.
Siobhan tapped her finger against her temple then looked at Ben, Gwen, and Kim. Obviously they couldn’t hear anything but Dempsey was guessing she was asking the others for updates. Ben leaned out so he could see Abe and Dempsey through the barrier.
Something thumped against the back of Dempsey’s head. He reached back without looking and caught the baked good that had pinged him. Careful to not crush it, he waved it vaguely behind himself. A mikro later it was plucked out of his hand.
Returning his full attention to the kitchen he shifted to look at Ben’s station where Ben was waving his knife like a magician’s wand. Kim turned to look at Dempsey and Abe, then lifted her pan, put the lid on it, and waved to Ben. Ben jumped to the island with the cupboard and Kim jumped to Ben’s island. She placed the pan there, then jumped back to her island.
Dempsey reached his hand into his bag, envisioned a pair of binoculars, and waited for them to be called to his hand. Feeling impact on his palm he pulled his hand, and a set of binoculars, back. He lifted them to his eyes and focused on what was on Ben’s station. A stack of plates. A stack of sandwiches. The pan Kim dropped off. He shifted his attention across to Siobhan. She gazed intently at him then got an ‘ah ha!’ look on her face.
She held up a single finger to him, not the middle one which with this group it was important to note but Siobhan being a teacher and all usually she wasn’t the one flashing the bird though all the others in the kitchen were definitely known to. Then she looked down and dug into her bag. She pulled out what looked to be a piece of paper and something to write with.
Looking up again to ascertain Dempsey’s focus, she wrote something on the paper then held it up.
Why didn’t we think of this before?
Internally he rolled his eyes. Why hadn’t they thought of it before? Besides him not thinking of the binoculars?
Dempsey looped the strap of the binocs over his head so they hung against his chest then called, “Dan?”
“Yes?”
“I need paper.”
“Finally my purpose for being included in this group has been fulfilled.” Several mikros and the sound of approaching feet and a piece of paper was thrust into the hand Dempsey reached back. “Do you need something to write with?”
“That would help.”
Something else hit his palm, rustling the paper. He closed his fingers around both and brought them in front of himself. Holding the paper against the barrier he wrote in large letters with the pen Dan provided. Ivan is working on conveyor belt.
When he held it up Siobhan waved to Kim’s island and said something. Kim turned and looked at the barrier. Her mouth moved like she was reading out loud. Siobhan looked down and wrote something else on her paper then held it up.
Dempsey shifted the binocs up so he could read what she’d written.
Conveyor belt?
Flipping the paper over Dempsey wrote, The thing that connects to Ben’s island.
Again Kim read from the paper and Siobhan bent to write again then held up her paper. Genius!
Dempsey wrote, How much longer?, then held up the paper against the barrier.
Siobhan turned her paper and wrote along the edge then held it up so Dempsey could read it with the binocs. Done with the food. Were waiting for how to get out!
Dempsey held up a finger then turned to yell down the dining room. “How much longer on the belt?”
Ivan sat up and dinged his head, cursed, then pushed out from under the counter. “It’s Magick not Science. Well, its Magick and Science. But Magick, you know.” He waved his hands vaguely like that supported the point.
“I don’t.”
Patti jumped passed, snagging a savory muffin from the air. Then Abe sprang away from the wall next to Dempsey and grabbed a cookie sandwich. They crossed midair, Abe slightly behind Patti, managing to not collide though Dempsey wasn’t sure how because they came within a hair of each other.
At the end of the room Prairie shuffled to the left and snagged a petit four then ran around the room looking for where to place it. With the slowing down of the attacks they’d abandoned the whole shield as a tray thing since they had the time to locate where the items originated from and replace them.
Ivan watched her antics for a moment, his lips curled on an indulgent smile, then he turned back to Dempsey.
“It almost started a few meros ago. I think I have it. Maybe a little more application of Magick and a few turns of the wrench.” He waved the wrench in emphasis.
Dempsey nodded back towards the barrier. “They are ready when you are.”
Ivan waved the wrench again then lowered himself back under the conveyor belt.
Dempsey blinked when Abe and Patti reversed their jumps, Patti bouncing off the wall very close to him to retrieve a madeleine while Abe snatched a religieuse between gentle hands. This time their actions were a little less coordinated and Patti smacked into Abe, sending them stumbling towards a table.
Eyes wide they held the pastry out with both hands and did some fancy footwork which sent them spinning backwards to fall and land seated in one of the spindly-legged chairs pushed back from the table. The chair rocked slightly then settled with Abe firmly seated on it.
They drew a deep breath then smiled and gently placed the pastry on the table. Walking around the tables they found the one the pastry came from then returned to the table they placed it on and moved it back where it belonged with gentle hands. They looked down at the floor then leaned to grab one of the domes from where it rested next to a table leg.
Abe replaced the dome over the tea tray. Immediately it started rising into the air. Abe slapped their palm down on it. Then their features transformed into a picture of concentration and a mikro later ink flowed over the dome, obscuring its surface. When Abe lifted their hand the ink remained and the dome didn’t so much as rattle in its base.
Turning with a grin Abe looked at Dan then at Dempsey.
“Why didn’t you do that to start?” Dempsey asked
Abe shrugged. “I, uh, didn’t think of it.”
Dempsey turned to look at Patti and then down at where Prairie continued to shuffle in front of Ivan, ready for another pastry attack.
“We’ve got a way to lock down the domes.” He looked to Abe and waved a hand. “Go. Do the thing.”
Abe bounced on their feet, eager as a puppy, then darted to the far end of the room in front of Prairie and started replacing the domes on the tea trays. It wasn’t a fast process, but it wasn’t slow either. Still slow enough that the pastries kept flying randomly. Then picked up speed, like they sensed what Abe was doing.
Dempsey had to step away from the barrier to actively engage in the pastry chase again. He, Dan, and Patti ran around the room snatching pastries in both hands. They had to fall back to putting them on the shields as they couldn’t replace them and defend from the attacks. Even then there were a number of missed catches.
A scone clocked Dan in the ear and he barely caught it before it fell and was trampled under Patti’s feet as she ran past with a tartlet, a slice of window cake, and a madeleine hot on her heels.
“Ah!” she yelled as she ran towards Prairie, drawing the pastry fire in that direction. Prairie darted out and past Patti, snatching the madeleine and the tartlet from the air and running to drop them on Patti’s shield.
Patti swiveled and grabbed the slice of cake as it shot towards Ivan. She and Prairie quickly switched places, Prairie going back into her defensive shuffle while Patti ran down the aisle closer to the windows and snatched a sandwich cookie and a choux bun on a direct trajectory to Dan’s head. He didn’t see them because he was busy grabbing another scone shooting directly for his face.
Dempsey leaned forward as something impacted the back of his head. Seriously? He was facing the tables! Pivoting he caught the teacake before it fell to the ground and quickly lunged to drop it on his shield.
“Yes!”
Dempsey looked down the room at Ivan’s yell. Unable to be certain of what was happening as Prairie continued to make a very effective fence in front of Ivan despite her small size, Dempsey strode down the room to peer around her.
The belt was moving smoothly. Ivan extricated himself from under the device and regained his feet just as a religieuse got past Prairie’s defense. It unerringly flew directly into Ivan’s face, impacting his jaw with a splat of crème and red sauce.
Ivan reared back, his expression comically confused, and Prairie dipped in to catch the pastry as it fell towards the ground. Ivan wiped the cream from his goatee then examined it on the tips of his fingers. He started to lift it to his mouth but Prairie stopped him with a quick, “No!”
When he looked down at her, fingers poised right in front of his open mouth, she wrinkled her nose and pointed at his chin. “Potentially poison. Also paint residue.”
Ivan swiftly lowered his hand and looked around for somewhere to wipe it. Prairie held out the pastry. Ivan looked at it. Prairie raised it higher. “Put the cream back on the pastry.”
“Oh. Yeah. Okay.” Ivan dabbed the cream on the edge of the pastry after which Prairie turned and ran back through the tables looking for the one it had risen from. She had to dodge Abe who was already on the third row of tables, placing domes, and sealing them down with their ink.
Ivan smoothed his hand over his head while observing the mayhem in the room. It had slowed immensely as Abe capped off the domes, but pastries still flew.
Dempsey took a moment to be grateful that the salads had remained on the tables. The thought of snatching stray greens, tomatoes, and croutons from the air was an unpleasant one. Not to mention the dressing. How did you even catch dressing?
Yes, this was the stupid that played through your mind when you were defending yourself from flying pastries. But not salads. Dempsey suppressed a shudder. At least it wasn’t salads.
Movement near the hole in the wall where the conveyor belt emerged drew Dempsey’s eye. Turning he watched as a plate with a sandwich cut into fingers emerged from the hole, flowing forward on the conveyor belt.
He turned and looked down the room to where Abe was just finishing up the domes on the last row of tables. The air was thankfully pastry free. Made sense if they were all trapped under the domes.
“Abe?”
Abe lifted their head. “Yes?”
Dempsey eyed the rows of tables between them. “Can you lift your ink from multiple domes or do you need to go one at a time.”
Abe’s face took on a look of concentration as they looked from table to table. They shifted foot to foot and sketched out a pattern on the air with their finger. Then they nodded. “I think I can do more than one. Or did you mean all of them?”
“No!” The response echoed from both Dan and Patti. Patti was leaning over with her hands braced on her thighs, breathing heavily and Dan wiped his hand over his hairline like he was brushing away sweat though otherwise he appeared fairly unaffected by the mad dashing he’d done.
“Definitely no.” Prairie’s quiet voice came slightly from Dempsey’s right where she was resting her hands on the back of a chair and leaning into the press of her arms. She raised her gaze to Dempsey then grinned and rolled her eyes. “That was like a bad night in the ER. So many pastries.”
“So many pastries,” Patti echoed then Dan picked up the refrain.
“Why are there pastries in the ER?” Ivan’s expression was quizzical. Prairie turned, tilted her head, and gave a sad sigh.
“There aren’t pastries in the ER, Ivan.”
“That would be weird, Ivan.” Patti added to Prairie’s soft response.
Dempsey gave Ivan a sad look. “Pastry attacks are reserved for The House, Ivan.”
“That would be the TR, Ivan,” Dan added in a dry tone.
Ivan looked more confused. “TR?”
“Tearoom.” The look Dan gave Ivan questioned his intelligence. It also garnered a big grin from Ivan.
“TR.” He shot finger guns at Dan, then turned to look at the plates trundling out of the hole in the wall. “We should probably grab these.”
“Here.” Dempsey strode over, picked up his shield from the floor, and strode back to stand next to the conveyor with the shield held flat. “Put them on here.”
While Ivan stacked plates of sandwiches on Dempsey’s shield, Dempsey counted. When they hit eight plates on the shield Ivan started running out of places to put them.
“Patti?” Dempsey turned to look around the dining room.
Patti stepped in from where she was making faces at the people in the kitchen. “Yeah?”
“Shield?”
Patti looked at the conveyor belt. “Oh. Yeah. Sure.”
She retrieved her shield and moved to take Dempsey’s place near Ivan.
Prairie walked over to the conveyor and watched the last of the sandwich plates come out, followed by one of crepes. She shifted her attention to the shields then to the hole. “We aren’t going to be able to get all the plates on those two shields.”
Ivan looked around then reached and grabbed several sandwich plates from Patti’s shield. Squatting down and duckwalking, he placed them in a neat line along the wall the conveyor belt ran back through. While he did that Prairie grabbed the last three plates of sandwiches, holding one in each hand and balancing the third on her bent elbow.
Ivan stood and turned back to the conveyor, grabbing two plates of crepes and placing them on Patti’s shield. Counting with his finger, he nodded. “I think 6 plates of crepes will fit on Patti’s shield. Once its full you should replace a set of cucumber sandwiches and crepes on the first six tables then come back for a refill.”
“Or,” Prairie placed the plate in her left hand on Dempsey’s tray, freeing up her hand so she could quickly shift three plates of sandwiches from Dempsey’s shield to Patti’s shield. Then she placed her other two crepe plates on Dempsey’s shield. She turned quickly to grab two more plates of crepes from the slow moving conveyor and placed them on Patti’s shield before grabbing an additional plate to make it three crepe plates on Patti’s shield and three sandwich plates.
Meanwhile, Ivan grabbed the next two crepe plates and moved them to the ground in front of the cucumber sandwich plates. Prairie counted the plates on each of the two shields and nodded.
“Six and six. Take them to the farthest tables. Then Dan, Patti, and you,” she looked up at Dempsey, “Dempsey, can replace the missing items while Abe releases the domes. Ivan stays here to keep getting things off the conveyor belt and I can come along in case the domes fall off the tables again.”
Ivan continued to remove plates from the conveyor belt and move them to the floor. “Sounds like a plan.”
Dempsey nodded to Prairie. “A good one.”
She beamed then looked down the room. “Abe, you can do that? Lift a few at a time?”
“Maybe?”
A gentle smile of encouragement plumped up Prairie’s cheeks. “Of course, you can!”
Abe straightened and bounced on their toes. “Of course, I can!”
Prairie looked back at Dempsey and Patti. “Good?”
Speaking to her expertise at food service, Patti hefted her shield on one hand, holding it near her shoulder to use it as support for the weight. “Great!”
Patti, Prairie, and Dempsey walked down the aisle to the first row of tables. Dan walked over and picked up a sandwich plate and a crepe plate from Dempsey’s shield and then moved to stand next to the table near the window. Dempsey turned and stooped to place the shield closer to the next row of tables then scooped up his own set of plates.
Seeing what he did Patti placed her shield in a similar position and came up with two plates. She frowned down at the two cucumber sandwiches then rolled her eyes and replaced one while grabbing a plate of crepes.
While she hustled to the right table near the kitchen wall, Dempsey stepped up to the center table. When he nodded to Abe they walked in front of Dempsey’s table. They shook out their hands then raised them like a conductor. The ink holding down the three domes on each table receded from them, a ribbon rippling towards Abe’s hands from each. As soon as the ink was removed the nine domes all rose as if on cue, neatly clearing the tea trays beneath, then toppled to the floor with dull thuds partially absorbed by the thick carpet.
Prairie ran in and scooped up a dome, shoved it into her armpit region and clamped it against her body, then picked up another dome and shoved it into the hand of that arm before grabbing a third in her free hand. She hurried over and placed them in a line around the hem of the tablecloth on Dan’s table then rushed around to grab three more.
Meanwhile Dempsey, Dan, and Patti quickly placed their plates in empty spaces on their tea trays. Dempsey’s were on the bottom row of two of the trays. He couldn’t say where the others fit but he did know by looking left and right that they’d been placed as Dan grabbed two domes from where Prairie placed them and hastily set them over two of the trays.
Abe held up their darkened right hand and a ribbon of ink flowed out of it and towards the two domes. While Dan retrieved the third dome and placed it Abe covered the first two domes with ink, locking them down to the table. Once Dan’s third dome was placed, they did the same to it.
Prairie came around Dempsey’s table with three more domes.
“Here!” She thrust the one in her free hand into Dempsey’s hand then grabbed the one under her left arm and handed that to him too. The third one she placed herself over one of the trays on Dempsey’s table then looked over her shoulder at Abe. “Ready!”
As soon as she did that Prairie went over to help Patti retrieve the third dome next to her table. Dempsey hastily placed his two domes before Abe unfurled more ribbons of ink to drape over the domes.
“We’re ready!” Prairie held down one dome with her own hand while Patti clamped her hands over the other two. When Abe turned and sent ink that way they both removed their hands from the domes so the ink could replace them and hold the domes down to the table.
Prairie looked over Patti’s table at Dempsey. “That worked great.”
“It did.”
“Next?”
“Sure.”
They repeated the process on the next row of tables then returned to Ivan to refill the shields so they could do it on the next two rows of tables. The last row was finished in the same manner though one of the domes on Dempsey’s table tried to escape and he had to clamp both hands around the base to keep it held to the table while Abe poured ink over it.
Stepping back from the table he rubbed his hands together then turned to look at the rows of tables with a sense of accomplishment. It wasn’t your average battlefield but what one in The House had proven to be?
He sure never thought he’d be fighting pastries. His life had taken an interesting turn since he’d approached this group with the sole intent of taking their Magick items off their hands and stashing them in his vault where they’d be safe and eventually forgotten as most of the items he acquired were. Except for the ones like the shield and the cards and a few weapons which he chose to use. The less volatile and dangerous ones. Not that anything he acquired was ever what you’d call safe. But safer. Less dangerous. In his hands at least. He trusted his hands.
He’d kind of shocked himself giving first Siobhan and then Gwen an item from the vault. He guessed he was starting to trust them. Not that he was ever, and he meant ever, going to give Ben a single thing from the vault. That one was too sharp. He wouldn’t just accept that Dempsey carried around a supply of Magick items in his bag. Ben would make the connection between the vault and the bag and Dempsey couldn’t let that happen. Siobhan and Gwen wouldn’t question the weapons’ provenance where Ben would.
Which reminded him, he definitely needed to get those weapons back before Ben had the time to wonder about them. The short sword he’d given Siobhan had a storied history that someone like Ben probably had heard.
Damn. He frowned. In the heat of the fight he hadn’t considered which weapon came to his hand. He’d just asked for a weapon a woman could wield comfortably. And that one came to him.
Oh well, he’d just get it back from her. Gwen could keep hers. It was Magick but it didn’t have a major history someone might know about like Siobhan’s did. Maybe he could swap her for it? He ran his mind over the many options in the vault. Yeah, there were some weapons in there that would swap out okay.
Without thinking about it he flipped the flap on the vault – uh, that was his bag – and called a light-weight sword with a basket hilt to his hand.
Extracting it from the bag he held it up to admire it. He hadn’t seen it in a while, not since he’d stashed it a few anos back. What he put in the vault rarely came out unless like the shield or the cards they were useful to him. The basket was interwoven with small, enameled flowers. He turned it in his hand and smiled. Siobhan would like it. Should be easy enough to switch it with her.
Patti frowned at the sword. “Where did that come from?”
“Bag.”
Squinting at the bag on his hip, Patti gave him a dubious look. “That bag is pretty damned deep.”
“It is.” He swished the sword to draw Patti’s gaze. “Think Siobhan will like this?”
Patti lifted her brows. “Why?”
“The sword I gave her has a dull blade.” Dempsey spun the tale from the ether, leaning on many, many years of such storytelling to make it seem absolutely mundane. “Better she have a good blade in case we encounter any other attackers.”
Patti shrugged and then turned to stare at the door at the far end of the room. “Is that a message?”
Dempsey turned to follow her gaze. It did appear there was a message above the door. Guess they’d passed the test.
“Excuse me.” He turned from Patti and walked to the kitchen door to check the barrier. She hurried to catch up then passed him, heading for the door and the message.
As Dempsey reached the kitchen door he heard Patti read out loud, “A Perfect Bride can juggle multiple priorities.” She snorted. “Juggle.” Snorted again. “Anyone else think they would not make a Perfect Bride?”
Ivan, Abe, and Prairie responded almost in unison, their voices overlapping, “Me!” and other ‘me’ like answers.
Dempsey leaned the hand not filled by the sword he planned to swap Siobhan for against the doorframe and leaned into the doorway. His face did not hit a barrier. Also he could hear sound from the room. Specifically Gwen, Kim, and Siobhan singing No Scrubs.
He looked to the left to see Gwen fists up shaking her torso and shoulders in time with her words. A smile quirked the corner of his mouth even as he shook his head in mock exasperation. Fact was it was damned cute. She was damned cute.
A quick look to the left confirmed Ben was sitting on his island again, legs idly kicking in time to the song while he drummed his hands on the edge of the counter. As the song ended, Ben looked over to Siobhan. “What’s up with that song?”
“It’s our hype song. We sing it before derby bouts.”
“Why that song?”
“Because, as Abe says, it slaps,” Gwen answered.
“Even the covers slap,” Kim added. “Maybe even more than the original.”
“I heard the Bastille cover at Concerted.”
Kim turned to look at Ben. “That’s your club? The one Patti goes to?”
“Yes.”
“Is it cool?”
“It is. Some might say it slaps.” Ben grinned.
“Can I go sometime?”
“Sure. If you promise to not get drunk and unruly.”
“Oh,” Gwen grinned with her tongue caught between her teeth. What? Was it possibly Dempsey was looking specifically at her? It was possible. “I promise to be not drunk but unruly!”
She made a chest thrust that was comically suggestive.
Yeah, Dempsey could definitely see Gwen being unruly. Gwen came across as an affable idiot but he suspected hidden depths. No one with her bullshit Magick had an unsullied soul. He’d thought that when she’d mentioned doing roller derby with its inherent outlet for excess energy and he thought so now.
Many of the people Dempsey knew with her gift ended up living alone eating ramen and staring blankly at walls, but not Gwen. He admired that about her even as he winced sometimes at what he saw as antics intended to cover up her vulnerabilities.
Okay. He doubted that Gwen would want anyone, including him – especially him – reflecting on the things she sought to hide. So, moving on. Dempsey leaned in through the doorway. “Door’s open. Anyone want to leave?”
“Uh,” Gwen barely looked over at him before casting around for the weapon she’d laid on the column’s top, “Yes.”
“Then let’s get out of here.”
Dempsey stepped back so the others could exit the kitchen. Siobhan looked around at the fallen chairs and the domes covered in ink. “What happened out here?”
“Not sure you want to know.”
“I do!” Kim said with enthusiasm.
“Maybe The House will give us time in the next area for the story.” Demspey frowned. “Stories.”
“Yeah,” Ben shoved his hands into his pants pockets and walked towards the door. “Somehow I don’t think that will happen.”
Enter The Woods 