Page 20 of Tortured Soul
“It is.”
“Okay, that’s good. We’ll work on it. Give us a few weeks?”
A few weeks was a lot. Too long to wait without any money. Too long to wait to buy any clothes and to rely exclusively on my shifting powers.
“Okay,” I said begrudgingly. “Do you happen to know of a place I could work? Something that wouldn’t require me to deal with too many people at a time?”
He seemed to ponder on it for a while. “Are you worried about something?”
“Well, if I could avoid throwing my pheromones at a crowd, it would be great.”
He seemed to give it a lot of thought as he stayed silent for a long time, staring into nothing, rubbing his chin with his thumb.
“I have a few options in mind, but I think you might want to pass on most of them…”
Not a good start.
“Tell me anyway?”
He stared at me, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the edge of his desk. “You could work at the Archives. It’s here in the City Hall. You wouldn’t see many people apart…Well, apart from the ones working here.” He paused, nibbling on his bottom lip anxiously, studying my reactions. I didn’t think I was showing any. “Including me. And Jeremiah. And Arc and Carter.”
My eyes widened. “Oh.Oh.” I chucked dryly. “Yeah, no. No, I’d rather not.”
“I get it.” He winced. “Children are not receptive to your pheromones, right?”
I wouldn’t be surprised if a town like this had a school, but it probably had only one regrouping all ages. Including older ones.
“As long as they haven’t gone through puberty.”
“Oh. Right.”
He paused again, looking like he was dropping the idea. “Aymeric owns a little bakery. It brings in a lot of people, but I’m sure he’d look over you. Would that be a possibility?”
Could it? Aymeric was a peach, but I was living in the same house as him. If the numerous past centuries had taught me anything, it was that I needed to separate everything to make sure the lines didn’t get blurred—or the pheromones didn’t blur them for me…
Spending too much time with someone was a risk, and I wasn’t willing to take it here.
“Maybe I should work in the archives,” I said, defeated. “I mean, how bad could it be? Stupid Carter coming once or twice a week to do whatever he needs to do there? I can handle it. It’s the safest bet, right? Wait, are there many people working there?”
He pulled his lips in a tight line. “Technically only Carter. You’d be taking his responsibilities. Which is fine, really; he always complains about it and the fact that he has more important shit to do.”
I’d be stealing Carter’s job. Carter,who already hated me’s job.
The hesitation must have been readable on my face as Kai hurriedly talked again.
“I’ll talk to Arc. Test the waters, all that. I’m sure he’ll say it’s fine and Carter won’t bother you up there.”
“What would I even be doing in the Archives?”
“Nothing complicated really.” He shrugged. “There’s a computer. We might come up to give you some physical files you have to sort in the right sections and add to the server. Once in a while, we might need to take a file out and you can help us find it or direct us in the right alley. Sometimes, we’ll even take care of the server part and you’ll just have to find the right shelf or drawer. ”
“Alley?” My eyes widened. There were fuckingalleysup there?
“It’s a big place.” His face contorted in a wince. “That’s why Carter complained it was a waste of his time. We’ve been considering getting someone to take care of it for a while now. But it’s an easy job and you won’t be bothered too much. Definitely no crowds.”
I hated to admit it but he was right. It was actually a good place for me, if we ignored the fact that Carter may be popping up a few times a week. At least I’d be alone most of the days. Less risks.
“I guess we could give it a try.”
