finish cleaning on my own.
11
I went through the entire bag of clothes I’d gotten. Belinda had handpicked the worst possible outfits imaginable. Anything that would make me look ugly and frumpy was in the heap.
The lime-green pants that were two sizes too big were at least unstained. I also did have a belt, like she knew how bad she’d screwed me but didn’t want my pants to fall down. The tops were no picnic either. Did I pair my glow-in-the-dark green with brown polka dots or a sweater with moth holes? At least the eaten-up one was a tolerable grey and would possibly tone down the green. I threw it on. Nah, there was no toning down this green.
It didn’t matter. “Get through the day” was my motto of the moment. If it didn’t kill me, it didn’t matter. I wasn’t so optimistic to say it would make me stronger. “Didn’t matter” was as full as my glass was getting today.
I forced on a smile, walked downstairs, and stepped out into the buzz of the office in the morning.
Zab and Musso both stared a little too long at my attire. Belinda kept talking to the only client in the office at the moment. I wasn’t fooled into thinking her smile was for the client, though. She was enjoying my distressed wardrobe.
“So, tonight?” the short, stout woman said to Belinda.
I typically let my eyes pass over Belinda’s general vicinity, but my head jerked back in that direction at the familiar voice.
“Yes,” Belinda answered.
The woman stood and turned. “You!” she said, pointing a stubby finger at me.
I had the exact same reaction.
“You got me stuck here,” I said.
“Of course I did. Try to order a séance and not pay.” She sneered and turned for the door, muttering something about the kids these days.
“I didn’t know,” I yelled after her.
She didn’t reply as she made her way out the door. I was still watching her leave when Belinda stepped in front of me.
“Here. This is a list of things we need. Tell the shops to charge everything to the broker, and don’t take all day about it.”
She thrust the list toward me when I didn’t take it right away. It was at least fifty items long. As soon as I got over the shock of what she was sending me to do, the pluses quickly kicked in. It would get me out of here and away from her for the day, so maybe not so bad. Plus, with a list like this, I’d surely end up somewhere near the factory, and I could stop in and check on Rabbit.
I plastered a gloomy expression on as I made a show of looking at all the different items. I shook my head as I grabbed my jacket, as if every step was torture. If Belinda caught the scent of happiness, I’d never get out of this place.
I took my list and headed off.
Zab walked out of the shop after me. “Hey, I wanted to go grab a chocolate at the Sweet Shop. Come with me before you start. It’ll give you some sustenance.” He nodded in the direction of the store.
I looked beyond him to the shop he was talking about. I’d caught glimpses of its pink and white striped awning. Even from here, you could see sugar sculptures of all different colors in the window.
“Sure. That’d be nice.” I glanced back at the shop, wondering who he wanted to avoid hearing this conversation. I’d find out soon enough, as the chocolate place was only a half a block away.
We started off in the direction with Zab pulling his jacket tight around him. “The fifth wind is a killer today.”
“Fifth wind?”
“Yeah, it’s why it’s so cold here.”
Figured Xest would have to have even extra wind.
“Look, I wanted to put in a word for Belinda. I know she’s been rough to be around, but she’s got this complex, and you seem to be making it worse.” Zab shrugged, his hands tucked in his pockets.
“But why? What did I do?”
“Nothing you actually did. The thing is, I’m pretty sure that she thinks if she was more than Middling, Hawk would want something more with her.”
“I still don’t see what this has to do with me.”
He stopped on the side, halting before we got to the shop, but out of sight of the office.
“Well, none of us know your magic grade for sure, but from the look of things, the way Hawk is acting, you’re stronger than Middling.