Page 18 of Goblins Don't Count
“Very weird. Almost impossibly weird.”
She gasped and tugged me close so some of my water spilled up my wrist. “You think it wasn’t a suicide? Whodunnit?”
I blinked at her. “I can’t talk about work, but if you know anything about the judge…”
She flashed a wild, unstable smile at me. “I’m your man. If there’s a murder, we’ll solve it. I’ll investigate incredibly subtly, asking all of my lawyer co-workers exactly what they think about the case.”
I snorted and then gave her a quick side-hug. “You’re definitely going to hurt yourself. Thanks, Gabby.” I pulled away and kept busy until nine o’clock and the sushi bar closed, then ten o’clock when the last customers were ushered out. Finally, it was just me and my broom, and a box of sashimi in the fridge.
The knock came while I was putting away the broom and pulling off my apron. Was it later than usual? Earlier? Something. I opened the door, and there were gold eyes glimmering back at me, reflecting light from the kitchen’s bright fluorescence.
“What can I get you?” I asked in goblin, keeping the opening only two inches wide. Goblins were not to be trusted.
“Sashimi.”
“If you’d like to wait at the alley table, I’ll bring it out to you. Otherwise, you can have it to go.”
“I’ll wait at the table.”
I blinked at him, but he was gone the next instant. Wait a minute. Sashimi never sat at the alley table. It made my mom feel less weird to have a goblin picking up sushi from the alley if there was a table and chairs, but he never used it. My dad sat there with his paper some mornings, though, so it wasn’t a complete waste.
I got his sushi, and then went outside, a chill breeze running over my bare arms as I walked over to the small table in the shadowy corner of the building between two brick walls.
Sashimi was sitting in one of the chairs, legs extended, as relaxed as he’d been cuffed on Lieutenant Joss’s couch.
I put down the box and then stared at him, not that I could see him in the dark. “I can’t see in the dark,” I said, because that was my first defense against the idea that I was turning goblin.
He opened the box and took out a piece, popping it in his mouth with his fingers. “I can. Although not in color.”
“Oh. That’s interesting.” I hesitated and then pulled out the other chair and sat down.
“Weren’t you supposed to be at a coven meeting tonight?”
“Was I? How would you know?”
“Hm. How would I know? Didn’t you mention it?”
“I don’t think so. Maybe. I guess we have talked a lot lately.”
“Do you want one?” He held out a piece of raw fish, and I ate it without thinking. I didn’t eat with customers, particularly goblins, but it tasted so good, and I was suddenly so hungry. I ate it too quickly and wanted more. There were cartons of all kinds of things in the refrigerator, but that was so far away. He fed me another piece, but it was too weird.
I shook my head and grabbed my own from the box, eating it out of my fingers instead of his. “I’ll pay you back,” I said, once my mouth was empty. Why was I so hungry? “But I have been craving raw fish, and I can hear very well, and see very well, and also, at the coven meeting, I was in a circle, and accidentally took control of it. Apparently, now I’m some kind of power source that everyone wants to use. It makes me wonder if you’re not wrong about the goblin thing.”
“Does it? And if I’m not wrong about the goblin thing? What will you do?”
I leaned my elbow on the table and took another piece. “Do you mind?”
He gestured at it. “Not at all. It’s my fault for being so civil to you. Once you start trusting goblins, it always ends in disaster.”
I devoured the roll and licked my fingers. “So, there’s no way to undo it? That’s what they said, that if Magga actually turned me into one of her vessels, there’s no way to undo it. I guess it’s good that I do have a witch coven that can claim me, even if I’d rather not be used by anyone.”
“Ah. Well, there is probably one way, but it definitely includes being used by someone.” He took another piece of raw fish and held it out to me.
I shook my head, but he put it right in front of my mouth, and I snapped it up against my will. “Sorry. I definitely like sushi too much. What’s the one way? Who’s going to use me? The Magga? She can undo it?”
“Not her, no. Are you sure you want to undo it? All that delicious power.”
I snorted. "Power? For somebody. Not me. Of course I want to be human. I'm happy how I am."
