Page 42 of Suncatcher

“And there’s one around?” the commissioner asked, looking up at the sky, as if expecting to be set upon at any moment.

“No, of course not,” Mayor Wallace said confidently. “There’re no gargoyles nearby. I’ve never seen or heard of one here in my life.” And Pearl wondered if he actually believed that. Had anyone told him?

On Pearl’s other side, Steve shifted and opened his mouth. She swiftly stepped on his foot to shut him up.

“Yes,” Sheriff Oak said, her eyes never leaving Mayor Brooks. “It sounds like you’ve been listening to baseless rumors.”

Everyone stared at each other in tense silence. Except for Mayor Wallace, who didn’t seem overly bothered.

“So you’re here for Ronny?” Sheriff Oak finally said. “He’s in our cells for trespassing and destruction of property.”

“Destruction? You said the fields are fine,” Mayor Brooks retorted.

“He broke one of the locks.”

“You can’t know it was him.”

“He confessed.” Sheriff Oak folded her arms, staring the man down. “You saying you don’t believe in the empire’s law, Brooks?”

The mayor’s friendly facade cracked again and he glared back.

“Of course we do,” Sheriff Langly said, placing a hand on his mayor’s shoulder and glancing at the commissioner. “We’re here to bail him out. That’s within our rights. He’ll be transported and his punishment handled in Faltsprings.”

The side of Sheriff Oak’s mouth lifted. “Naturally. Bail is three hundred.”

Mayor Brooks bristled. “That’s outrageous.”

“We’ve got costs to repair the lock, along with housing and the paperwork. You know how it is.” She waved her hand.

“Two hundred,” Mayor Brooks countered.

“Three hundred.”

He glared harder. “That’s not how this works.”

“You’ll find it is. Because you’ve got nothing else I want.”

“Fine,” Mayor Brooks gritted out. “But I won’t forget this.”

Sheriff Oak’s smile broadened. “I hope you don’t. Right this way, gentlemen.”

14

The Grotto

Pearl hadn’t decided if she was doing the right thing by meeting Driz again. Her emotions and thoughts were all jumbled up in her head, and she was having a hard time sorting them out. And right or not, Pearl walked into the ravine in the fading light of dusk with an old harmonica she’d wheedled out of Spencer.

Driz wasn’t there. Pearl walked up and down the ravine, even checking in the nooks.

Disappointment flashed through her. Which made no sense. She’d told Driz to leave. But she hadn’t expected Driz to actually do it.

Pearl lingered. Should she wait? Should she leave the harmonica?

When a shape swooped behind her, Pearl spun around. Driz landed on the lip of the ravine before jumping down, her wings flaring to help her glide. Her long limbs were graceful in the air, and Pearl appreciated the lines of her form, and the strength that wasn’t only for show.

“I thought maybe you’d left,” Pearl said, trying not to sound accusatory or hurt by that thought.

“I went farther away to sleep,” Driz stated simply, her voice extra gravelly tonight. “So it would be safer.”