Page 39 of Immortal Sun

What is with this place?

I should be more freaked out. I’m not. I blame Cyrus and how calm he suddenly is.

I take a long, deep breath and walk with Cyrus, slowly, purposefully toward his car and notice that Enki is leaning against one of the crosswalks with an empty plate.

“Ride back?” he asks.

Cyrus curses.

Enki waves at me with two fingers. “What? I need to return your plate.”

“Ah, so it was a good day, yes?”

Enki sobers a bit and nods. “It was, brother. It was. Most were escorted exactly where they needed to be.”

Cyrus swallows and looks down. “And the others?”

Enki shakes his head and then looks over at me; it’s an odd look of sadness and loss.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, curious as to why the mood shifted from tense to teasing to morose.

Cyrus opens the car door for me. “Don’t worry about it.”

Enki draws a breath as if to speak, but Cyrus shakes his head and opens his door too.

We’ve both been silenced, but over what?

The drive back isn’t as tense as the drive in. The mood feels more like everyone has lost hope, and I don’t like or understand it. One minute they’re joking around the next minute they look so depressed they could cry. The tension in the air is thick, palpable.

Even the sea is calm next to us, and I’m oddly unsettled. Since when did I ever prefer the chaos of storms to the light? I’ve always been petrified of them, until I got here. Frowning, I tuck away the alarming thought and fold my arms across my chest.

When we pull up to the bar Enki exits the car without a word and walks down the sidewalk. Cyrus says nothing, just grabs the plate with a sigh and walks into the house.

Frowning, I stroll through the bar and take a seat at the Mahogony bar top, but something tickles my nose. Every hair on my arm starts to rise up, and I try to place the odd smell that seems to linger in the air, warning me that somethings not right.

“Cyrus.’ I whisper his name as understanding dawns on me. He wasn’t going into the kitchen, right? One spark…I gather my wits and stand up from the bar. The stool scrapes along the floor and I wince, no friction, no sparks. There’s a gas leak somewhere I’d bet my life on it.

“Cyrus!” I shout, taking purposefully strides toward the kitchen, then finding it empty, I take hall toward his office. The thick door is closed tightly and I knock a panicked rhythm.

“Come in.” His deep voice is muffled by the door, and I slowly open it, careful to not create static, not create any friction. “Cyrus, don’t you smell that? It’s a gas leak, we need to get out of here, and oh no! Cat!” I panic and turn, looking for the him .

When I turn back to Cyrus, I expect some sort of urgency in his expression, but what I see is exhaustion, and then reluctant acceptance. Does he not care? His bar could blow up at any minute, his cat’s missing, and what about other employees? Tenants?

“It’s probably better this way.” He mumbled so lowly I almost missed it. I do a double take. Is he insane?

“Did you want your bar to blow up? Am I missing something? I mean, I kind of have a will to live.”

His eyebrows rose, then he gives me a scornful grin.

I try to stay as calm as possible. “Call the fire department, isn’t what were supposed to do? I can’t remember, I?—”

He actually as the audacity to flip the page he’s working on and keep reading. “Thinking under pressure isn’t your strong suit, is it?”

I cast him a baleful glare, then sober. “I’m leaving and grabbing Bast. I’m saving myself.” Turning I was about to leave when I hear him murmur,. “If only.”

Whatever I’m not going to stay for any more cryptic remarks. I start towards the front door. “Bast! Kitty kitty!” I call . When I open the front door of the Pub its to find the naked cat waiting for me on the porch. “Ah, so you’re the smart one, unlike your owner.” I reach down and pick him up. His warm skin presses against my hands. The sound of fire engines fill the air. Maybe Cyrus decided to live another day and call the authorities.

An hour later, I decide that maybe moving to Deer Harbor wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made as I watch the Fire department put a sign on the Bar’s door that it’s closed for the next few weeks while the gas company does repairs.

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