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Cracked, stained concrete walls hemmed them in, imposing and uncomfortable. Rusted mechanical boxes and thick pipe clusters stuck out of the blocky buildings above their heads, like garbage spilling off a high shelf. Haphazard stacks of crates, pallets, and barrels lining the street added to that vibe.
It's like walking through a trash compactor, Luci thought.
The grimy metal doors were all set into recesses in the concrete with razor-sharp edges. Most of the lights inside them didn't work, which threw the alcoves into shadow. Like caves with monsters inside. The buildings rarely stood above three stories tall, but somehow they felt so much taller. Occasionally, an elevated walkway bridged them and briefly turned the street into a dark underpass.
When they had to cross through the shadows, Luci edged so close to Rsh that his coat brushed her face. Her head twisted around, peering at the shadows to make sure nothing rushed at her, but she could not see anything except very dark gray on black.
It wasn't much better when they emerged, either. The narrow paths between the buildings were lined with junction boxes and pipes so they looked like teeth. The sideways maws of space worms, which lay in wait to gobble her up for daring to walk too close.
Every town had a few dark alleyways, but this settlement seemed like one big dark alleyway with a bunch of even darker alleyways branching out on both sides.
If she disappeared, would the others even notice?
They didn't even realize how fast she had to walk to keep up with their annoyingly-long legs. 'Wait for me!' she wanted to yell. But something in her gut told her that showing weakness in this place was a bad idea. Gulping, she pumped her legs as hard as she could and ignored the pain flaring up in her joints.
Rusted metal boxes rattled ferociously, the motors enclosed inside on their last legs. Squeaky fans behind grimy grilles issued steam into the air. The mist filled the street, making the path ahead seem more mysterious … and more dangerous.
The closer they got to the heart of the settlement, the more people they passed. Rogues and scoundrels hung around, boasting to each other and trading growls. Rough-looking men and women stalked down the street, but one look at Rsh was enough to convince them to keep their heads down and keep walking. Others stared down at them from the elevated walkways and the buildings' balconies like gargoyles.
A fuzzy feeling make pins and needles break out on Luci's skin. Stopping, she twisted her head to the right and saw a skinny little girl, about twelve, watching them from the side of the street. She wore a ratty T-shirt that was once baby blue. The girl was pretty, with red apple cheeks under the dirt that clung to her face and fair hair that flowed where it wasn't tangled.
Ay caray, I can't even imagine being a twelve-year-old girl in this dump—
Staring Luci down, the girl raised her hands. She held switchblades in both. The blades whipped out with a metallic click and flashed as they caught the light. She narrowed her eyes at Luci.
Time to get moving! Luci thought.
She hurried after her co-workers.
They reached the center of the settlement. The intersection where the two main roads met widened into an octagon, creating a small plaza with some open space in the center. Neon signs advertised a bunch of seedy shops, including a greasy spoon so dirty it wouldn't have shocked Luci if their spoons were actually made of solidified grease.
When Rsh came to a stop, Blaze and Luci followed his lead out of instinct. On the other hand, Philomena continued to stride forward, her eyes fixed on her omnitablet, not looking where she was going.
"Hold up," Blaze called.
The cool beauty twisted around and stared at them. Then her eyes wandered across the plaza, causing a sneer to lift her lip and show her teeth. She always acts like she's got a force field around her, Luci thought. One that keeps her from getting hurt, but not from getting dirty.
I wish I had her attitude …
I will! I'm going to get tough and stop being so meek!
She straightened her back and lifted her head up, but she remained frustratingly five-foot-two. Even Blaze's cocky cowboy stance was more imposing than hers, and that was Blaze! What hope was there for poor Luci Ramirex, then?
"What is it?" Philomena asked.
The bright rectangle of her omnitablet glowed on her face, making it stand out from the seedy, grimy buildings behind her.
"We must ask for directions," Rsh said.
Blaze turned to the greasy spoon. Through the filthy window, the place's decor was piss yellow with off-white accents. The counter and the booths all looked flimsy and cheap, with peeling padding and chipped laminated surfaces.
"Ship's out of food," Blaze said. "How's about we grab some chow and ask the locals?"
Rsh crossed his arms and thought it over, then shrugged. His stern expression didn't lift in the slightest. Both of them then swiveled to face Luci, staring expectantly.
"I've eaten at worse places," she said, shrugging.
Philomena recoiled from the sight of the greasy spoon. "I am not setting one foot inside—"
Blaze and Rsh headed for the entrance.
"Alright," Blaze said. "You can wait out here for us, then."
Luci lingered at the threshold, holding the door open for Philomena, who looked like she was about to be marooned on a deserted planet. Her eyes swept all over the place like the filth was alive and would creep up on her when she wasn't looking. A scowl twisted her lovely face at first, but her arched eyebrows and lips flipped into a gloomy sigh of resignation. She launched herself forward and hurried across the plaza to the dingy light spilling out of the open door.
Warm comfort filled Luci's heart as the cool beauty slipped past her.
They stuffed themselves into a booth against the wall. Blaze went in first, against the wall. Philomena dropped down on the other side. A confrontational glare turned her gorgeous face to stone. He matched it with an exaggerated, mugging scowl.
Luci inched towards the side Philomena was sitting on, but Rsh — unaware of Luci's stealthy approach — brushed right past her and heavily dropped onto the bench. As the jolt made Philomena jump, her head whipped around to him. A panicked expression lit up her lovely eyes and made her pert lips drop open. Rsh's bulk slid down the bench towards her, and she stared it down like a meteor about to strike the ground below her feet. She threw herself against the wall. A grimace pulled her teeth back and caused a sharp rush of air to suck into her mouth, like a cornered cat hissing at danger. Rsh stopped short of crushing her, but it still looked awfully cramped.
Y-You can sit on my lap, if you want …
Luci's cheeks started to burn. She quickly dropped into the seat next to Blaze and busied herself looking at the menu. It was being shown on a cracked, crusty display screen that hung askew on the wall, just above the tray of expired condiments. Occasionally, the screen filled with garbage data and then reset itself.
They studied it in silence until a haggard waitress approached their table. She had a gaunt, bony face that made her look like she was in her forties, but it was entirely possible she was a twentysomething who'd aged very poorly after living on this craphole for a few years. Heavy makeup went around her eyes, but the big black bags under her eyes were heavier. They caused the makeup to crack and stood out horribly. Frazzled hair stuck out of her ponytail. Her puckered mouth barely moved, as if she had just sucked a dozen lemons in a row.
"What do you want?" she asked.
Luci looked at her co-workers, and they all looked at her. The same expression went across all their faces — cringing uncertainty with a hint of revulsion at whatever would be scraped off the stove.
She looked at the menu again and ordered the first thing she saw.
"Uh … steak and fries?"
Rsh growled, Blaze grunted, and Philomena groaned in agreement.
The waitress typed their order into her omnitablet. "Four steak and fries."
She started to move away, but Rsh called out to her. Obligated to answer, she twisted her upper body around to look at him, but from the way she remained leaning forward, it was clear she was itching to get going.
"We are in need of … supplies," Rsh said. "Wholesale."
She raised her hand towards the road through the window like she was brushing a fly away.
"Selman's Bazaar. East end of town."
"Thank you."
She went back to the counter, leaving them to wait in silence. After about five minutes, the front door opened, and that twelve-year-old girl wandered in. Luci glanced at her as she sat down at the counter.
"Midge," the girl said. "Gimme a beer."
The waitress stood on the other side of the counter, her fists on her hips. "Don't you think you've had enough? You're twelve."
"Ain't no law here but 'Do what the posse says.' You wanna drag 'em out here to ask for permission?"
Sighing, the waitress fetched a beer from a small fridge on the counter against the wall and put it down in front of her. The little girl pulled a wallet out of her pants pocket. When the waitress saw it, her eyes shot open. Flakes of makeup sprinkled like colorful snowflakes as they fell down.
"Whose wallet is that?"
"Don't worry about it," the girl said.
"If the owner comes looking, I'm not covering for you, Valia."
"I can take care of myself. Just gimme the beer."
Huffing, the waitress dropped a beer bottle on the counter in front of the little girl with a bang. Unfazed, the girl swiped it off the chipped laminated surface, tilted it back, and chugged it.
Maldita sea, Luci thought, averting her eyes from the sorry sight. This is one rough place.
Ten minutes later, the waitress slapped four plates of disgusting slop in front of them. They stared at the lumpy, charred meat, drizzled in an oily film, sitting on a pile of blackened fries. The waitress walked off without a word.
"Looks like something you'd find caked on an engine," Blaze said.
"As an expert in that area," Luci said, "I agree."
Their stomachs rumbled as one, but none of them dared to touch their — well, calling it 'food' was a bit of a stretch. More like 'plate of mush charred into brittleness'.
Tough, Luci! Be tough!
Summoning all her courage, she dug in first. It didn't taste great, but the oily film helped it slide smoothly down her throat. It rested in her stomach without making her want to hurl, so her expectations were exceeded. Blaze, perhaps goaded into action by her courage, scarfed the first bite of his meal down like it was no big deal. Rsh soon joined him, chomping the steak with his typically inscrutable expression. The burnt fries were worse. They broke apart when she chewed them and stabbed her throat on the way down.
Philomena was the lone holdout. Trapped in the corner, she stared at them like they'd keel over dead any second, even though a very loud rumble came from her stomach.
"It's not that bad," Luci said to her.
"Yeah," Blaze said. "It's so overcooked that any germs would've burnt up faster than being tossed into a sun."
Her eyes dropped to her plate, and she started picking at her meal. She put the first piece in her mouth, shuddered, and swallowed it like the most bitter medicine in the galaxy. She gulped hard and swayed dizzily on the bench. A nauseated gurgle came from her throat, but she swallowed it back down.
She's so pretty, Luci thought. Just look at the way the muscles in her slender throat squeeze together to push that food down …
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Oh, I'm staring too much!
Luci buried her eyes in her unappetizing plate of slop as she picked at it. Every so often, Philomena sighed. Luci snuck a peek her way, and saw she'd pulled out her omnitablet.
"What do you keep sighing for?" Blaze asked.
Philomena's eyes flicked up and stared at him over the top of the omnitablet. A look of pure revulsion burned in her eyes. Then, she summoned her poise and put a haughty lilt in her voice.
"I'm doing some complexicated math."
"Ah. And, uh, how's that going?"
"Great!" Philomena said, stuffing her strained voice full of forced cheer. "It's going great." Twisting her head towards Rsh and Luci, she remarked, "After all, I'm not useless like Corvo—"
Taking advantage of the opening, Blaze shot his hand across the table and plucked the tablet right out of her hand.
"Hey!" she cried.
Glancing at the screen, he suppressed a giddy grid. Then he turned it around and showed it to the rest of them. It was a starnet site to help kids practice basic math. Luci thought, I want to say I didn't expect that, but … She cringed on Philomena's behalf and gave the beauty across the table a smile, though it felt pitiful and weak on her lips.
Fuming, her cheeks redder than normal, Philomena ripped the tablet away from Blaze. He didn't put any effort into keeping it away from her. The big smile on his face let everybody else know he'd had his fun. She hid the omnitablet from view and slumped against the wall.
"I-I am an amazing executive," she said. "I just decided to breeze through the basics first, that's all."
She stared at the wall instead of at them. Her plaintive protest hung gloomily over the table. Luci drummed her fingers on the table and searched her mind for something to say that'd comfort her beautiful boss. When Rsh beat her to the punch, annoyance stabbed her. She shot a dirty look at the side of his face.
I wanted to lift her spirits!
Rsh sucked air through his nostrils, roused his massive body so it straightened up on the seat, and turned towards her.
"Philomena," he said. "Give me your omnitablet."
She placed it on the table and slid it over to him with a single long finger pushing it. Her eyes remained glued to the wall. He picked the tablet up, pressed his finger to its screen, and then growled as had to press it harder. All touchscreens were calibrated for use by human beings, and they didn't work very well with his biology. After using it for a minute, he flipped it around and aimed it at Philomena. She peeked at the glowing screen out of the corner of her eye. Once she got a look at what was on it, her eyes lit up. Her face shot forward until it was two inches from the screen, its glow lit her whole face up too.
Breathlessly, Philomena said, "That's a Versuca Itero dress! It's the hot new executive style this year!"
"Look at the price," Rsh said.
"14,495vx," Philomena said.
"That is the price … for one. If you wish to have ten—"
"Oh, I do!"
"Then what is the price?"
Philomena had craned her neck forward to bring her face close to the omnitablet's screen. She tilted only her head back, putting her neck at an unusually-crooked angle. Her pert pink lower lip lagged behind the rest of her face and drooped open.
"Huh?" she asked.
"What is … the price for ten of these?"
Her eyes searched his face blankly. Then, she jerked upright. Her jaw snapped shut with a loud click when her teeth came together. She shrugged her shoulders like she was just getting comfortable.
"That's easy," she said. "It's …"
This is your chance, Luci!
Sitting up, just as Philomena had done, Luci cleared her throat and announced, "I-I always just add a zero to the end."
Without moving the rest of her body, Philomena's eyes rolled round to look at Luci.
"Take the price and add a zero after the last number," Luci said.
Without moving the rest of her body, Philomena's eyes rolled back to look at the tablet in Rsh's hand.
"Wait," Philomena said, squinting. "If there's a dress for 14,495vx … and I want ten, then … add a zero … 144,950vx?"
"Correct," Rsh said.
Philomena sat up rigidly, her eyes shining like supernovae and her lips twitching uncertainly. Then the brief moment of shock passed, and she scoffed while waving her hand through the air between them.
"Of course it's right. This is easy."
Blaze paused with a chunk of steak in front of his lips.
"Sure is! That's why most people learn it when they're five."
Popping the chunk into his mouth, he chewed it with an exaggerated munch and grinned at her. She glowered back, then flapped her hand at him and turned back to Rsh while rolling her eyes in huge orbits around their sockets.
"Ramirex's way is just a little faster than doing it the way I'm used to, that's all," Philomena said.
Rsh studied her before speaking. "Philomena. This would be more … effective … without an attitude."
Scoffing, Philomena said, "I don't need to 'learn anything', mother. I'm already a genius executive."
He dared, "Spell 'genius'."
"Ha! G-E-N—"
Her eyes fluttered a few times. As she sounded the word out under her breath, the confident smile slipped off her lips. Then, she pulled it back up into place.
"—E-U-S. Easy."
Snickering, Blaze dipped his head to avoid looking at her.
Shifting in his seat, Rsh dug around in his robe and plucked his wallet out while consulting the menu on the wall next to Philomena's head. But, midway through thumbing through their petty cash, he tilted his head to the woman sitting next to him. She tensed up, her head rising, under his discerning gaze.
"Philomena. If each plate is 38vx … what is the total?"
"Um …"
"Go on," Blaze said. "Show us what you got."
"It's, um … I can do this, but, um … Can we go back to talking about executive fashion?"
"If you wish to balance the books … then answer."
With a groan, Philomena slid down into the corner between the booth's back and the wall, staring at Rsh like a prisoner staring at their jailer through the bars. His hefty frame's shadow darkened her face, and the 'cornered' look of desperation making its muscles twitch.
"If it's 38vx, then obviously the answer is … Um, 38vx, um …"
"Round up," Luci said.
"Huh?"
As Rsh watched, Luci walked Philomena through the mental math required to calculate out the cost of lunch. Round 38vx up to 40vx, trim the 0 off, multiply by 4, add the 0 back on, and then subtract 8. Although it was slow going, by holding her hand — Oh, I wish I could hold her hand for real! Luci thought. — Philomena at last turned to Rsh with a triumphant cry.
"152vx! Lunch costs 152vx!"
Despite Blaze's continued snickering, Philomena met Rsh's scouring expression with a smug, self-satisfied fire burning in her eyes.
"Wrong," Rsh said.
His blunt reply made her cringe like a hammer had slammed into the top of her skull.
"What do you mean 'wrong'?!" she protested.
He nodded at the menu next to her. "Our meal cost … 34vx. I have scammed you."
She stared at him, then at the menu, then at him again. Her lips wriggled around until they turned into a scowl. The fire in her eyes had turned from triumph to fury. While Luci's heart ached for Philomena, Blaze hid his mouth behind his hand and chortled.
"Check the price … before you buy."
She flung her arms up in the air and then folded them like she was stabbing somebody.
I'm here, Philomena! Luci thought. I helped you! I can keep helping you! I won't judge! Get as tsundere as you want, I'll love it—!
The entrance door creaked. The sounds of the city spilled into the long, narrow greasy spoon. Behind the counter, the waitress lifted her head. She moved so lethargically it seemed like the big bags under her eyes were weighing her down. A dirty look of distaste popped onto her face, like she'd sampled the diner's own food.
Then she went rigid.
The muscles in her bony arms tensed up. Her fingers dug into the laminated counter like she was getting sucked out of an airlock. Her head snapped up alertly. She hesitantly stepped toward the staff door in the back.
What the hell …?
Luci looked over her shoulder, at the front door.
And then she went rigid too.
Three men trooped into the greasy spoon. One was extremely lanky and had irregular patches of stubble on his pointy chin, one had a hefty pear-shaped bulk and a neat ring of beard around his mouth, and one was morbidly obese and had a puffy, scraggly mess of hair dangling off his chin. All three wore baggy, ragged shirts with manufacturers' logos on them. The pear-shaped one had his sleeves cut off. The men were surrounded by a noxious cloud of body odor, grease, ionic exhaust, syndolene, and a bunch of other smells Luci's nose picked out instantly. They shared the same look. Smug, dreamy, self-satisfied. They entered the restaurant like they were taking their rightful place in the universe.
That's the same look Philomena has.
Reminds me of that saying: When you head out into the vast universe, you either shrink back in fear, or you grow an ego big enough to rival it. Philomena … Blaze … the sky-blasters … You need to have a huge, swaggering ego to cope with how incredibly tiny you are, out here.
All three were armed. They had gun belts slung around their waists and blaster pistols on each hip. Or two gun belts, in the case of the large one, buckled together over his stomach.
Ay caray, Luci thought. Her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in and made her tremble.
They walked past the booth on their way to the counter. The overpowering stench made Luci's eyes water and the taste of vomit rise up the back of her throat. Woozy, she gripped the divider to support herself. Flustered, the waitress hid her grimace behind a fake smile. The little girl clutched her beer and shot them a nasty look, but as they came closer she gagged from the stench and doubled over in a coughing fit.
"H-Hello there,"the waitress said. "What can I—?"
The large one hollered, "Get us some of them beers, Vytus!"
"You got it!"
The lanky one leaned across the counter and groped for the fridge with the beer bottles, despite them clearly being out of reach of the customers. His elbow hit a stack of plates and knocked them all over. They crashed to the floor behind the counter, making the waitress jump back and slap her hand over her heart in fright.
"'Scuse me!" the lanky sky-blaster shouted.
He yanked the fridge open with a victory hoot. The door swung open so hard it hit the edge of a microwave. The glass cracked instantly, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. He plucked beer bottles off the shelf and tossed them to the other sky-blasters. They clumsily caught half of them. The other half sailed past them and shattered on the floor.
Out of the corner of her eye, Luci spied a brown blur speeding at her face. She threw herself sideways and accidentally snuggled up to Blaze. The broken chunk of beer bottle whizzed across the table, twirling and catching the light. It shot through the empty space next to Philomena's head and exploded in the next booth over. Philomena, who had her head turned sideways to glare at the sky-blasters, snapped her neck back. She rolled her eyes around like she was trying to track a buzzing fly.
Luci looked up at Blaze, who squinted down at her with his head cocked. His arm hovered uncertainly in the air over her.
"Don't get the wrong idea," she said.
Slamming her palm on the table for leverage, she pushed herself sideways and sat up. Then she sank down in her seat and hid most of her body under the table for protection. She watched the cabrones from afar, like a wildlife photographer hiding behind a rock.
"Mmm, don't that just hit the spot?!"
"Sure does!"
The sky-blasters swaggered to the counter next to the street urchin and dropped into the swiveling stools. The waitress had her back to them. They couldn't see what she was doing, but from where she sat, Luci could just barely see that she was tapping something into her omnitablet. Alerting the planet's posse, probably.
Huffing, the little girl started to slip off her seat. But, in a scene that made Luci's skin crawl, the pear-shaped sky-blaster hooked his arm around her and forced her to sit back down.
"Now just where do you think you're going, you little cutie?" he asked. "Have you ever heard the whalesong of His Holiness?"
"What?" the little girl spat.
The waitress turned around and straightened up, like she'd just grown a backbone. "Listen here. You k-keep your hands off her. She's only twelve."
Speaking slowly and clearly, with a dangerous undertone, the sky-blaster said, "The prophet, Boe-Job Cliggs, has handed out a fat wad of rules for those who walk the path of righteousness. And one of them fatwads is … 'age ain't nothing but a number.'" He pulled the urchin closer, even though her scrawny frame wriggled to worm out of his grasp. "And he has shown many a young bride the path of righteousness."
Rsh's hands, resting on the table, slowly clenched into fists, and Blaze's arm shifted so he could pat his blaster pistol. We'll just make things worse, Luci thought, her stomach gnawing itself into knots. We'll just … m-make things … Oh, Maldita sea!
"Get off me, you creep," the girl said, her hand sliding towards her pocket.
"Now, now, little missy," the sky-blaster said. The other two leaned around him and leered at her. "Don't you fuss like that! When His seed fills up the whole universe in the Second Cumming, its purity will burn all the nonbelievers like fire. And the righteous folk will float wherever we want in the blink of an eye and breathe freely of the infinite air that He has ejaculated. Don't that sound nice? Ain't that something you want to be a part of—?"
The front door opened again, and several pairs of boots stomped across the threshold to the greasy spoon. Everybody turned to stare. A handful of indie mercs, badges pinned to their chests, stood in front of the entrance. They were also heavily armed, although they didn't make any aggressive motions … yet.
"Hey, Midge," the leader said. "Me and the boys are in the mood for a beer."
"Well, there's some on the floor at your feet," she joked.
The mercs looked down at the shattered bottles and puddles of booze covering the floor in front of the entrance.
"Now look at that." He raised his head and smirked at the sky-blasters. "Who'd be so thoughtless to smash a bunch of bottles on the floor and leave them there?"
The sky-blasters, shooting dirty scowls at the mercenaries, swiveled their seats to face them. Behind their backs, the waitress nodded at them. Meanwhile, the urchin took advantage of the distraction to scurry away from them and rush for the door. She slipped between the line of mercenaries, but the leader — not looking back — called out to her.
"Hey, Valia. Jekkerson Talde lost his wallet. You seen it?"
The girl paused in the doorway.
"Nope," she said.
Then she shoved the door open and slipped away.
The mercenaries slowly advanced, their arms hovering tensely at their sides and their fingers curled up like they wanted to rip their guns out of their holsters. They stood over the sky-blasters, who stared back with a strange mix of defiance and dreamy confidence.
Groaning, Luci thought, I don't like the look of this …
"You boys going to clean up your mess?" the lead merc asked.
"The Second Cumming will cleanse the universe of all impurity," the obese sky-blaster replied. "The only mess to worry about … is the mess inside the heart of nonbelievers."
"Really?" the merc smirked. "Because, uh … you should probably be more worried about your cholesterol than me, big boy."
His face flushed, the sky-blaster opened his mouth wide, which made the scraggly beard sprouting from his double chin shake.
"You dare mock one who has bathed in the seed and eaten the blubber of His Holiness?!"
The merc leaned over him, getting right up in his face, and asked, "Suppose I do?"
The sky-blaster gasped. Although Luci couldn't see the mercenary's face, judging by his posture he wasn't flinching in the slightest. An act made all the more impressive due to the sky-blaster's incredible smell. The scene froze, time slowed to a crawl like it was undergoing time dilation, moments stretched out for an infinity as the two men stared each other down …
And then the ground started to rumble.
The mercenaries, and everybody at Luci's table, twisted their heads around hunting for the source, their faces creased with worry they'd be buried in an earthquake.
Sounds almost like a … a stampede?! Luci thought.
And then the front door burst open, and a horde of sky-blasters poured into the restaurant. Red-faced and sweaty, they crammed themselves into the narrow restaurant. Dozens of them stuffed themselves between the booths, and more were piling up outside. Their obnoxious, screeching voices filled the room with a deafening roar that made Luci's head ring. The mercenaries' stern confidence had totally flipped into panic as the human tidal wave surged around them. Wide-eyed from fright, the mercs sank like they were drowning and vanished from sight in the ocean of insecure, narcissistic manchildren. The sky-blasters screamed endlessly about how all the non-believers would burn, about how they'd been gifted with 'freedom', about the fatwads their crazy leader issued that let them execute people for making fun of them. The roar of fifty whiny morons yelling at once pounded a headache into Luci's tiny, fragile skull, and there were even more clamoring outside.
Ay, caray! she thought. Where did these cabrones even come from?!
Rsh rubbed his temples. A Zantauran's hearing was even sharper than a human's, and he looked like he was being stabbed right in the eardrums. Slamming his palms on the table with a resounding boom that filled the room like a bomb, he shot to his feet. It instantly cut through the din. The crowd froze, and every eye turned to him. He scowled at the table, drawing a series of breaths to steady himself.
Luci gripped the table, tense from head to toe, Is he … is he gonna do something crazy …?!
Then Rsh raised his head, swiveled it to the side and stared through the crowd at the waitress behind the counter. Wedged against the wall, she gulped as his large golden eyes glared right at her. He opened his mouth, his sharp teeth gleaming in the light, and he said …
"Check, please."
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