"Tess. How's your family?" He was tall and thin and—even in his bus driver uniform—as elegant as the champion Borzois he showed at dog competitions.
"We're good," I said automatically and then realized how ridiculous that was. "Well, other than the possible evacuation and destruction of Dead End on the horizon."
He nodded, frowning. "Yeah. We've got a meeting to discuss evacuating the kids on the buses."
"On buses?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't they evacuate with their parents?"
"Not if their parents don't go anywhere," Sally DeSario, the Brownie who owned Dead End Daycare, called out. "Not to eavesdrop, but I guess this is all that's on everybody's mind. Is that really your ancestor, Jack? And is it true about the threat?"
Before he could answer, she opened her purse and pulled out a knife that looked like it was made from bone or ivory, but with a steel tip. She flinched back from it but stood firm. "We're ready to stand for our town. I can wield the Bane for short periods of time. You tell that Fae queen she better stay away from Dead End, or she will be sorry."
A rousing cheer went up, and I noticed many people were patting their bags or coat pockets. There had probably never been a donut shop in the history of time with more customers packing heat.
Dead End hometown pride—there was no way we were going to let any random Fae queen take our town.
"You won't stand alone," Jack said firmly, and another cheer went up.
"We're Americans. We don't hold with no royalty, anyway," Granny Josephine called out. "Let me at her."
Good-natured laughter mixed with cheers, and it served as a catharsis and got things moving along again. We chatted with a few people, but just kept repeating that the sheriff and the mayor would make a statement at eight.
When we got to the front of the line, Mellie Popov, dressed in a green and white sweater and jeans, and as blond, pale, and blue-eyed as her Russian name suggested, gave me a serious look. "Tess, as one business owner to another, what are you thinking? Should we pack up? Is there a real chance this thing can destroy Dead End?" She blinked, clearly fighting tears. "This shop is everything I have. I'm not even sure if my insurance will cover 'destruction by Fae queen.' I called my agent, but he doesn't know. Said he'd check with corporate. That probably means they're finding a way to decline coverage. I'm really freaked out."
I walked behind the counter and gave her a long hug, and we held on tight. (I'd known Mellie since grade school. My gift didn't kick in with her.)
"I'm in the same boat," I murmured, not wanting to freak out anybody nearby. "I'm scared too, Mellie, but we're doing our best to figure this out. Give us a day or two before you leave town, but start prepping, just in case. That's what I'm going to do."
She nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. Dallas and Austin are going to help, so I'll be fine. We're also working with the mayor to figure out a sign-up system to be sure all the older people in town are paired up with evacuation buddies."
"That's a great idea," I said, feeling ashamed that I hadn't thought of it.
"Lorraine," Mellie said, grinning. "Once a mayor, always a mayor. She was on the phone to your Aunt Ruby right away."
I was surprised I hadn't heard from either of them. Then I remembered that I'd been avoiding my phone.
"Okay, let's do this thing," I said. "A dozen donuts for now, and three coffees, and two dozen for the shop."
"You're open today?" She looked surprised. "I'm closing after this to go to the town hall meeting, and then I'm not opening back up until we get the All Clear."
"Well, I have my tour bus people coming in, so I have to at least be there for that, and then maybe I'll have a Going Out of Business sale." The words stuck in my throat, but I tried to smile bravely.
Mellie flinched, so I figured my brave smile was as unsuccessful as my other "smiles with meaning" and resolved to work on that as soon as I was sure my town would not be destroyed by an angry and vengeful Fae queen.
Jack and I dropped off the extra donuts at my car and then took the rest over to the sheriff's office and gave Susan a cup of coffee, which she downed in three gulps.
"Bless you," she said. "It has been a long night. Your Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike should be here any minute, and Andy's already outside figuring out crowd control. Our temp guy called in 'sick' the moment he heard about the crisis, and Andy said he saw him speeding out of town last night."
"Coward," Jack muttered. "Better not to have him around when things get dicey, if that's who he is."
"Agreed, but it makes things more difficult here. We may have to ask for help or deputize some of the townspeople," she said, eyeing Jack. "I don't suppose you—"
"No," he snapped, and then, more gently: "No. I'm sorry, but no official duties. I'll help with everything, Susan, but nothing official. My days in law enforcement are over."
She sighed, but nodded. "I understand. Carlos has told me some of what you went through, and I have to say I don't blame you for wanting nothing to do with a badge ever again."
Andy, dressed in official Dead End deputy gear today, poked his head in the door just then. "It's almost eight."
"Let's do this," Susan said, raising her chin.
