Chapter 198: He Could Be Useful Outside

Ash took the place Thorne pointed out beside the damaged shed, planting his boots on the firm strip of concrete. The badger-eared restaurant worker was only a few feet away, but a bent door and a hanging sheet of roofing filled the space between them. Dove kept the light on the joint above his head while hot dust stung her face above the cloth she had tied over her mouth.

Thorne touched the twisted upper bracket from the safe side and used his power to straighten it a fraction. Edrik kept his palm on the sound metal below, reinforcing it while the load shifted. Neither of them tried to drag the whole mess free. The roof needed support before they could open a path beneath it.

"Tell me before it moves," Ash said, taking the loose edge the maintenance men had secured with a long board.

"You’ll feel it," Edrik answered. "Don’t make that interesting."

Dove would have enjoyed his tone more if the worker hadn’t been staring at them with grit stuck in the wet tracks beneath his eyes. She crouched behind the covered threshold so he could see her face.

"What’s your name?" she asked, keeping the beam steady.

"Ben. I work in the kitchen."

"Then I’d really like you back in there. Your chicken is one of the few things around here that hasn’t disappointed me. Can you move both feet?"

He tested them and nodded. That was useful. She didn’t tell him nothing could happen, because something was clearly happening and he wasn’t stupid. Instead, she told him where the clear patch of ground was and that the men were making room for him to reach it.

An empty crate slid into the exit path. Dove caught its handle and dragged it inside, then aimed the light at the clear ground where Ben needed to step.

Thorne gave a short warning. The bracket shifted under Thorne’s power with an awful scrape. Edrik maintained contact and reinforcement below while Ash lifted the supported roof edge. The remaining worker pulled the door outward. It opened far enough for Ben to turn sideways and step through.

Dove moved back before he reached her, giving him room rather than becoming another thing to climb over. She handed Ben a towel while the men lowered the roof.

"I was trying to save a bag of onions," Ben admitted.

"Please tell me they were very expensive onions."

Ben laughed shakily into the towel. His boss came through the yard and took him into the kitchen, promising a chair and something to drink.

Once the roof section was safely on the ground, Thorne came straight to Dove. He caught her shoulders, then loosened his hands when she touched his wrist.

"I’m fine," she said. "You’re the one who just argued with a building."

"It listened eventually."

She squeezed his wrist, and some of the strain left his face. Edrik joined them under the overhang, rolling one shoulder. Dust streaked his shirt and darkened the sweat at his collar. The bruise on his cheek from Ash’s fist made her want to drag him inside and inspect everything, which he would probably enjoy far too much.

"Both of you need clean clothes," she said. "And food before you start pretending that wasn’t tiring."

Edrik looked down at her grit-streaked sleeves. "You first."

"I’ll wash first if you both stop watching me like I’m about to run into traffic."

Ash stood a few steps away with the maintenance men. Dust had settled in his black hair. He looked past her toward the rear room until Edrik stepped into that line of sight. She lent the workers the spare light, pointing out her counter so they knew where to return it.

A crack came from the shop. Dove hurried through the passage as a loose sign skidded past the window. One lower pane had broken, leaving glass across the inside sill and floor.

Her stomach dropped. Their owned goods had been moved earlier, so the sign hadn’t struck them, but grit was now spraying through the hole.

"Nobody step there," she said, setting the light on a shelf where it lit the floor. "Edrik, the old board behind the counter. Thorne, can you fix it to the frame without making the rest of the window worse?"

He checked before answering. "With the existing brackets, yes."

She fetched gloves and the brush they’d brought back from the road. Ash appeared at the side entrance carrying a spare metal bracket from the maintenance kit. He turned it in his hand, and a second bracket formed against the first, the same short arm and pair of screw holes catching the light.

Dove stopped with the brush halfway to the floor. "You can copy things."

"Objects," he said, holding the duplicate out to her. "I can make what you need."

She almost laughed at the choice of words. All that power and he still thought the missing thing had been a bracket.

"Give it to the repair crew. Thorne has these." She pointed at their existing fittings, then went back to the glass. "And don’t stand in the doorway."

Ash looked at the copy as though it had failed him. One of the workers took it before he could try again. Dove heard the man call him back to the damaged shed, using his new security assignment as a reason to get him moving. At least someone else knew what work looked like.

Thorne shaped the existing brackets around the board while Edrik held and reinforced them. A gust tore the loose edge toward Dove, and Thorne flung out his free hand. Fine silver strands flashed between his palm and the board, catching it just long enough for her to step clear. Then they broke apart.

She stared at him. He looked just as startled, his hand still raised. Whatever that had been, it had vanished before he could repeat it. Edrik caught the board, and together they fastened it without another flash. Dove swept up the glass and marked the damaged corner. The shop looked worse with a board across it, but the shelves were dry and the bedroom curtain still hung where it belonged. Thorne drew her briefly against his side while Edrik checked the repair.

"Your room’s fine," he said quietly.

She hadn’t realized she’d been looking past him toward the bed. "I know. I just wanted it to stay that way for a little longer."

His mouth touched her dusty hair. He didn’t promise that nothing would ever break again.

Outside, the maintenance men called everyone back from the open drain behind the restaurant. Beneath the dust, water still ran through the concrete channel from the creek toward the lower service road. The pumps hadn’t failed. Something was moving against the current.

Dove heard scraping beneath the wind. She leaned toward the doorway, and Thorne caught her shirt before she went any farther.

A dark, flat head pushed above the water. Hard plates scraped the channel, and a mouth full of small teeth closed around the metal grate.

"Thorne," she said, stepping back beside him. "The drain has a much worse problem than leaves."