The last of the daylight poured into the room through tall, multipaned windows on both the street and the courtyard sides. The walls were a deep yellow and the floor a dark natural wood, the wide boards probably original to the building. The furniture was large, overstuffed, and predominantly upholstered in dark brown velvet. A quick glance under the cushions proved both of the sofas folded out into queen-size beds. The scuffed rectangular table could easily seat eight. Ten with very little crowding. Twelve if manners weren’t a factor. Gran may have left the family behind, but old habits died hard. Fairy lights had been wound around both of the thick steel poles supporting the massive beam that indicated where the interior load-bearing wall had been removed.
Not actual fairy lights, Allie was relieved to see, although she wouldn’t have been surprised had Gran been dealing with the UnderRealm.
There were three doors on the far wall.
A double set of French doors, curtained in ivory lace, led into a large bedroom where the wood floor had been painted black and the walls were the same dark red as the heavy velvet drapes over the windows. Allie glanced in at the king-sized bed and tried not to think of minotaurs. There was a duvet on the bed, the red-and-gold damask cover safely purchased and charm free. Allie’d slept under family quilts her entire life, each piece of fabric placed by the aunties to fulfill multiple purposes—Gran had left that combination of protection and influence behind. Now, so had she.
The middle door led to a narrow bathroom with a shower centered in a claw-footed tub, shower curtain hanging in a circle from the ceiling. The rug, like the duvet cover, had been bought, not made.
The third door led to another bedroom piled high with boxes and larger pieces of junk in place of a bed. Peering into a box of bright green baseball caps, Allie realized no one in the family had known exactly where Gran had settled until the letter and the will arrived. She’d come home for holidays and rituals and stayed in touch by phone, but no one had ever visited her here.
That was sad. Even the wild Gales needed family around them once in a while.
There could be a clue to her disappearance hidden somewhere amongst the junk in the spare room.
Or in the junk downstairs.
Or in the medicine cabinet.
Or under the sofa.
“Where the hell do I start?”
Her stomach growled.
“Good answer.”
Pulling the door closed, Allie realized she’d have to sleep in Gran’s bed.
The sheets had gone into the dryer by the time the take-out Thai arrived. Allie’d picked the restaurant at random from the half dozen stained flyers stuck to the front of the fridge. The fridge itself held only the kinds of food that could last a week or even two; whatever had happened, Gran’d had warning. Or she’d lived on soy sauce, margarine, mustard, and extra old cheese—which couldn’t be ruled out. Auntie Ester had lived on gingerbread for the last two years of her very long life. Fortunately, as Allie hadn’t the faintest idea of where the closest grocery store was, the freezer and the pantry were better stocked.
On her way back to the stairs, mouth watering at the scent of the Pad Thai Talay, the mirror showed her the delivery boy naked.
“You go, Gran,” Allie sighed, taking the stairs two at a time. After she ate, she’d start in on the spare room and leave the store for the morning. Right now, skirting the edges of her grandmother’s life was all she could cope with, and that was only because she’d found ice cream in the freezer.
“Honestly, Michael, who needs that much variation?”
“Apparently, your grandmother.” He couldn’t stop snickering. “Anything look interesting?”
“I don’t care if one them looks like yours, I’m not even considering the word
“The family doesn’t have a charm for that?”
“Oh, yeah, of course we have a charm to keep garbage bags from breaking open and half a dozen dildos belonging to our grandmothers from spilling out onto the pavement.”
“Problem solved, then.”
“Ass.”
“You love my ass.”
“Oh, please…” Allie reached up and turned off the bedside light. “… everyone loves your ass.”
She could see him smiling, see him stretched out on one of their stupid perfect black leather sofas wearing a pair of worn gray sweatpants and an equally worn T-shirt, the tap tap of Brian working on his laptop the perfect quiet background noise. Stupid, perfect, quiet, background noise.
“Lonely, Allie-cat?”
She rubbed the ache in the center of her chest that told her how far she was from home. “A little.”
“Where’s Charlie?”
“Halifax. Working on a friend’s demo.” The heavy drapes blocked most of the city sounds. Allie pressed her other ear into the pillow and blocked the rest.
