Page 90 of Welcome to Fae Cafe
Thelma held tightly to his arm. She stayed that way until the rapid beating of her human heart slowed back to normal. Finally, she looked up at Cress and said, “You know I am.”
There was no banter in the woman’s tone anymore. It was a tone that told Cress a detailed story her mouth didn’t.
Thelma slid off him and shambled to the kitchen counter. Cress watched her with fresh eyes. He said nothing as she moved from the sink to the cupboard, to the table, then back to the counter.
“Do you have a car?” she asked with her back turned.
Cress was about to tell her no, but he thought of Shayne’s chariot on wheels back at the café. “I know of one,” he said.
Thelma nodded slowly. “Maybe we should go for a drive. I want to see the lake.”
Cress thought long and hard about that. After moments of staring at the old woman’s back, he grabbed the hunting jacket off the hooks, and he strutted out into the snow.
Cress crept around the café, certain his brothers would catch a whiff of him if he got too close. He headed out back where the ugly red human chariot on wheels was half covered in snow.
He used his sleeve to clean it off. When he opened the door and slid in, it was bitter cold. Thankfully, Shayne was foolish enough to leave the keys inside.
Cress had never commanded a human chariot, but on his first day with the officers, he rode in one briefly with Officer Larrens, and he’d studied the machine. Cress turned the key as he had seen Officer Larrens do.
The chariot squeaked to life. “That’s right, wake up,” Cress instructed, and he patted it on the wheel so it would know he was a friendly rider, not a cruel one. “Take me to Thelma Lewis’s dwelling place,” he commanded.
The chariot didn’t move.
Cress looked around, wondering if he was meant to use a whip. There were no reins.
A second later, the other door opened, and Shayne slid into the vessel. “Are we going for a drive, Cress?” the white-haired fairy asked.
“I need this chariot. Tell me how to use it. That’s a command.”
Thirty minutes later, Cress rolled the chariot up to Thelma Lewis’s house. She came out the front door immediately with a bag on her shoulder, and her coat zipped up. Her face was bright with a smile as she rushed to the opposite door and got in.
“Yes, this is perfect!” the old woman said.
“I don’t know the way to your lake,” Cress admitted. “And this is my first time riding a human chariot.”
Thelma released a raspy laugh. “You’re full of surprises, Cress. I’ll show you the way.”
Cress nodded. “First, I’ll need you to explain how to back the chariot up. I’ve only gone forward thus far.”
Thelma chatted the whole drive, which she claimed took hours longer than it should have since Cress’s vessel“was barely creeping along”because he“drove like an old lady.”Human drivers made loud noises with their own chariots as they passed. Some offered rude human gestures, but Cress glanced over at them, releasing rumbling power from his veins and the threat of death in his eyes. Most of them backed off with startled faces.
The snow was nearly melted, but a chill clung to the air as Cress helped Thelma out of the vessel. Wind rippled off the water, sliding up a sandy ledge and tossing the old woman’s white and gray hair.
Thelma smiled when she saw the lake. They walked down to the water’s edge arm-in-arm. “Oh, to be able to swim one last time,” she said with a long-drawn sigh.
Cress raised a brow. “Shall I toss you in?” he offered.
Thelma’s cackle echoed down the beach, and he grinned.
The sun was high in the sky, partially blotted out by misty clouds. Thelma seemed to take it in—the heavens, the sand, the glowing patches on the water. After a while, she whispered, “Son, you have made my last moments legendary.”
Cress’s face changed, but he hid his surprise as he turned to face her, his arm sliding out of hers. He took her shoulders instead. “Grandma Lewis, when are we heading back?”
“We just got here.”
“Yes, but…” He dropped his hands to his sides as it dawned on him. “Thelma,” he tried her real name. “I had a mother once, and I didn’t get to be there when she passed.” He shook his head. “Don’t do this to her.”
“To whom?”
