I was told that if I can’t accept that, I should ask for a ticket back to Lakeside or some other human community that’s large enough to provide a buffer from the truth—that no place on this world is free from the Others who are called Namid’s teeth and claws. Their existence is just more obvious now in a place like Bennett.

I met my boss, Sheriff Virgil Wolfgard. It’s one thing to mentally prepare yourself for harassment and bullying by your coworkers because your body doesn’t have the same equipment as theirs; it’s quite another thing to have your boss look at you like you’re an item on the menu. I guess he needed a deputy more than he needed a meal. So I have a shiny new badge and a gun. And I have a horse, which a couple of the Simple Life men helped me choose—an easygoing bay gelding with a high tolerance for human foolishness, to say nothing of putting up with a novice rider. Driving around town is discouraged, as a way to save gasoline, so I am the horse patrol within the town limits. No one has explained what I’m supposed to do if I arrest someone and have to take the person to jail. I guess I’ll find out when it happens.

On a lighter note, I’m glad I brought a couple of the Crowgard cozies you recommended. They’re great fun and nothing I would have found in a strictly human bookstore. I’m loaning them to Jesse Walker after Barb Debany has a chance to read them. I liked Barb the moment I met her, and I think we’ll be compatible housemates, especially since she’s okay with me adopting one of the young orphan dogs as long as the dog gets along with Buddy the parakeet.

I’ll write again soon.

—Jana

CHAPTER 14

Thaisday, Messis 16

Standing on the apartment building’s walk, Monty watched Lizzy and Grr Bear go next door to wait with Sarah and Robert until it was time for school. He knew the routine. Before the school day began, his mother would give the efficiency apartment/schoolroom a quick dust and sweep before going to her job at the consulate. Ruthie would pick up the food from A Little Bite or the Market Square grocery store for the children’s midmorning snack and get ready for the day’s lessons. Then the children would arrive. Just the three of them again, now that Sierra and her girls were gone.

He thought Fanny wouldn’t mind going to school as a way to spend time with the other girls and have something to do. But she’d helped Clarence shoplift by acting as his lookout and she’d tried to stop Meg from going to Sam’s aid when the two boys were fighting. Even if he could talk Simon into letting Fanny into the Courtyard just for school, allowing the girl to go in when Clarence was banned would only make things hard on Fanny when she got home.

Lizzy smiled at him and waved. Grr Bear’s wooden paw was moved in a bye-bye motion.

Monty waved back. Then Lizzy bounded up the steps to the Denbys’ porch, rang the bell, and went inside, not waiting for Eve or Pete to come to the door.

Watching his little girl cross that short distance was simply a father’s caution. Not that he was the only one who watched Lizzy walk from one yard to the other. By now, one of the Hawkgard was perched on the porch rail of the apartment above his, another was riding the air currents and keeping an eye on the apartments and the Courtyard’s business district, and a couple of Crows were on Kowalski and Ruthie’s porch, enjoying the food that had been left for them. He didn’t think Jenni and Starr ventured out of the Courtyard anymore, but from what Kowalski had said, Jake Crowgard stopped by for breakfast most mornings before taking up his position on the brick wall that separated Henry’s yard from the delivery area—an ideal place to watch the humans coming and going, and keep an eye on Meg.

Now that Sissy was gone, the Sanguinati weren’t guarding the apartment building during the day. At least, not where they would be seen. But he suspected they had quietly taken over the apartment above Jimmy’s. After all, it did offer them a vantage point from which to hunt, and anyone who was out on the sidewalk or street after dark was considered fair game. In a weird way, the Sanguinati became a kind of neighborhood watch. Wrongdoers weren’t arrested and their fines weren’t paid in money, but the blood that was taken seemed in proportion to the wrongdoers’ misbehavior.

Monty returned to his apartment to finish getting ready for work. Grandma Twyla had decreed that anyone dawdling in the morning and making other people miss work or school forfeited the cookie or muffin that would have been included with the midday serving of milk. Lizzy had tested that decree just once, since Eve supported Twyla and Ruthie was willing to enforce their decision. Now Lizzy and Grr Bear were waiting at the door before he could put the breakfast dishes in the sink so that any tardiness wouldn’t be their fault.

He stepped out of his apartment a few minutes later. As he locked his door, the other downstairs door opened.

“Hey, CJ,” Jimmy said. “You got a minute?”

Monty turned to face his brother, who had been conveniently absent yesterday, as if a day was enough time to erase everyone’s suspicions about Jimmy’s involvement in the attempted abduction of Theral MacDonald. “A minute.”

Suspicions but not proof. Jimmy was still alive because there wasn’t any proof.

Monty studied the “aw, shucks, I didn’t mean nothing” expression and wondered what sort of flimflam Jimmy was going to try on him today.

“Been hearing about folks looking for a place to live,” Jimmy said.

Monty nodded. “A lot of people have come to Lakeside recently, hoping to find work in a human-controlled city. Stands to reason that those who do find work also need a place to live.”