good thing the office was slow, because the only person helping anyone was Belinda, and helpful wasn’t her forte.
Rabbit shook her head. “But you have coins, too. I don’t see why you need both. Paper isn’t worth anything.”
Musso pointed his stirring spoon in Rabbit’s direction. “She’s got a good point.”
“How’s that tea, Musso?” I narrowed my eyes, making it clear he was going to get the boot out of this lesson if he made things harder.
He grunted but didn’t leave as he continued to sip.
Him in line, I turned my attention back to Rabbit. “It’s supposed to be backed by metal, kind of. Or it used to be. I’m not sure anymore.”
“Then why don’t they give you the metal?” Rabbit asked. “Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“Because the economy is too large, and that would be difficult.” This discussion was above my pay grade.
“What’s the economy? Does that pay for things, too?”
“Look, you’re going to have to accept that some things are very strange in Rest and it is what it is.” I scribbled a line through “money.” No way was I debating a financial system that I barely understood myself. Her current knowledge would have to do.
“It really is an odd place. I don’t know how anyone makes any sense of this,” Rabbit said, looking down at her notes. Musso and Zab nodded and grunted agreement.
I shot a glare over her head at the two agreers. They were really going to get the boot soon. Musso was already a two-time offender.
“I’ve known people who’ve gone to Rest and said it was so easy over there,” Zab said. “Most of our clients go back and forth for work, so how hard could it be?”
Good. Now I’d only have to kick out the old guy if he acted up.
Rabbit looked up and nodded. “You’re right. All those people that come in here, they do jobs in Rest?” The pencil tapping was slowing.
I grabbed on to the momentum. “See? You’ve got this. Now let’s move to the other parts. Another week or two, you’re going to have this down.”
She nodded and tapped her pad. “And lights go on with a twitch? How does one do a twitch? Is there a certain gesture or flair?” She was making swishing motions with her hand.
Zab leaned a little closer, studying her movements.
“Not twitch. They go on with a switch. And there’s a few different types of switches. Some look like little bars on the wall. Some are round things underneath the glass ball or squiggly things that light up. You physically touch them and turn them on by moving them.
“But don’t forget, you have to put the thing that looks like a fang into the matching holes in the wall or the switch won’t work.” I’d better draw some sketches, lots of them, maybe a notebook full.
“Because the magic is stored in the wall?” she asked.
Zab and Musso paused, waiting to see what I’d say, like they’d be making the trip with her or something. I tried to ignore them. There were too many things to cover.
Did I get into electricity after how well the currency conversation went, or did I do this in a way she’d understand? Was there even a debate to be had?
“Yes. That’s where the magic is in the walls, but humans call it electricity. Calling it magic is a big no-no in Rest. And be careful, because if you try to stick your finger in the hole, the magic will get very mad and try to kill you.”
Maybe I could get Hawk to bring me there before her, just an hour or so. I could make sure everything had fresh bulbs and that all the plugs were in sockets. I could child-lock the ones she wouldn’t need. And maybe turn the gas to the stove off while I was at it. It would be safer that way, and I’d sleep a lot better.
Rabbit gasped. “Humans let bad magic that wants to kill them live in their homes?”
Zab and Musso walked over and sat on the other couch, all pretense of not partaking in these lessons over.
“It’s not bad magic, because it does a lot of things for you. But if you poke at it, it gets mad. It likes to have its space, and no one likes to be poked. That’s pretty reasonable on its part, when you think about it. If someone poked you, you’d get mad too.”
Musso pointed at me as he spoke to Rabbit. “She’s got a very good