Crowbones

CHAPTER 29

Them

Thaisday, Novembros 1

She had learned long ago how to pitch her voice in such a way that it corroded another person’s willpower, making them malleable. And the beauty of it was that the people she molded into such lovely monstrosities never realized what was happening. She was just an annoyance, an irritant other people were convinced didn’t do any actual harm.

If only the fools in this village knew what she had already achieved.

There was only one person who was immune to her peculiar talent, because he had the same skill. That made him a rival—or worse, a potential enemy. And he was here. He shouldn’t be. They never overlapped their experiments. On the occasions when they met to compare notes over dinner, they met on neutral ground.

This wasn’t neutral ground. This was hers and he knew it.

All those fancy-pants men from the colleges would be packing up and going home by tomorrow, except . . .

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

She’d noticed Pops Davies readying a couple of orders when she walked into the general store. Nothing odd about that, except . . .

On impulse, she grabbed two packages of toilet paper off the shelves, prepared to complain that he wasn’t carrying the brand she preferred—something she’d asked him to do several times already.

“Only one package per household,” Pops said, putting the other package behind the counter.

“But I need two,” she whined, pitching her voice in a way that should have drilled a hole right through the damn man’s brain. “Theodore is having tummy troubles, and it’s so messy.”

She saw him waver. He should have given in.

Pops shook his head. “You and Theodore will have to cope. Only one package per household.”

He watched her until she walked out the door, which denied her a chance to slip anything interesting into her purse or coat pockets.

No matter. She would send in one of her lovelies. They knew she always had special treats for them.