| |
––––––––
McBrid yawned as he stretched. It was late and it’d been a very long day. After telling Charlie and Louis that Conguise wasn’t about to kill him, he’d spent the rest of the day modifying files. Today had been a close call and he wasn’t about to leave any trace of the secrets he’d discovered with Fersia and Glassick.
He’d finished in the Aranea lab several hours ago. He still had a few minor changes to make to the Brush-Men data, but it could wait for tomorrow. He was beyond exhausted but he’d promised his father and uncle that he’d stop by for dinner one day this week and the week was almost over.
“Charlie, are you about done?”
The Guard was wiping down the counters, again. Louis had left over an hour ago.
“Almost. You can go. No need to wait for me.”
“Nonsense. You’re done. The lab is clean enough.” It was almost sparkling. “Go get something to eat before the cafeteria closes.”
“Nah. I don’t want to leave the job unfinished.”
Charlie was a lot of things—kind, funny, loyal—but he never stayed late unless he had to.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” The Guard wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Come on. Let’s go.” He stood. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to go home and get some sleep.”
“Ah...yeah. You go. I’ll leave in a minute.”
Glassick peeked through Charlie’s hair.
“I thought you put him away.” The kid had pretended to put the Brush-Man to bed before Louis had left.
“Who?” Charlie’s eyes were huge and Glassick ducked into the Guard’s hair.
“I saw him.” He was going to thrash the kid.
“He doesn’t want to be alone. He’s scared. Anyone could come by.”
“The lab is locked. No one can get in here.”
“Parson did.”
“I told you that I changed the lock and have been checking the cameras.”
“But if someone does come in, it’ll be too late. Glassick could be dead.”
“He’s little. He can hide. No one would even know to look for him.”
“I guess that’d work.” Charlie didn’t sound very happy.
Glassick tugged on Charlie’s hair and chirped.
“What’s his problem now?” He’d been more than lenient with the little thing.
“H-he hasn’t been feeling well and he hates being alone.” Charlie glanced at the door.
“Have you been sleeping in here?” That was beyond dangerous. “Someone is going to notice that you haven’t been in the dorm.”
“No. I go to the dorm every night. I swear.”
“And you’ve been taking him. All this time, you’ve been pretending to tuck him into the little bed you made for him and instead you’ve been lying to me.”
“I didn’t exactly lie. You never asked.”
“It’s the same thing and you know it.” He’d thought they were better friends than that.
“He’s scared to be by himself and we make sure that no one sees him.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Please, McBrid.”
Glassick chirped and jumped up and down on Charlie’s shoulder.
“No. He has to stay in the lab. It’s not safe for you or him or any of us.”
“He stays under the covers. No one suspects anything.”
“No.” He couldn’t bend on this. It was too dangerous. “Put him down.”
Charlie frowned but picked up Glassick. The little Brush-man clung to his finger, chirping.
“Listen to me.” He walked over to them. “You either stay in here loose or you stay in your cage. Those are your only choices.”
Glassick bared his teeth but dropped onto the counter.
“He’ll be safer on the floor.”
Charlie held out his arm and Glassick climbed onto it, hopping off when he got close to the floor.
“Now, come on.” McBrid led the way to the door, waiting for Charlie to exit first.
There was a soft peep from Glassick. The Brush-Man pointed upward.
“The eggs.” Charlie hurried over and grabbed the small metal box. He put it on the floor and slid it under the counter.
Glassick pulled the little bed Charlie had made for him next to it and curled up.
“Get some rest, Glassick. We’ll be back tomorrow morning.” He closed the door and locked it.
Charlie was already moving down the hallway, shoulders slumped.
“I want your key.”
“What?” The Guard spun around.
“Your key.” He held out his hand.
“You think I’ll come back—”
“I have no doubt.”
“I won’t be able to check on him when I wake up.”
“Too bad. You should’ve thought of that before you started sneaking him out of the lab.” Damn, he sounded like his father.
“I promise—”
“I don’t trust you. Not about this.”
Charlie frowned but walked over and handed him the key.