Page 67 of Sweets and Sycamores
But she decided to let nothing take away from the weekend’s festivities. Mia had told Allie that the town businesses and residents were going to put up Hallows Eve decorations during the next couple of days. Allie loved decorating for Hallows Eve, but doing it in Pearls Fields or Green Creek had lacked a certain charm, with all the crude greens, the bright colors, and the heat.Of course, she had never noticed these shortcomings before coming to Sycamore Falls and being surrounded by the auburns, the reds and oranges, the sycamores with their burnt colors that painted the perfect Hallows Eve atmosphere. So when the weekend finally came, she and Ekko sprinted out of the studio room into the bakery fifteen minutes earlier than usual.
Allie made two cups of coffee, fixed the hair she’d hurriedly pinned into a sloppy bun, and started cleaning. Ekko brought her cloths and anything else he could carry between his claws while Allie hopped between tables, humming a song she vaguely remembered hearing during her time in Green Creek. She was so focused on her task that she didn’t notice until an hour later that, well, her boss was an hour late.
“Wait here,” she told Ekko after she peeled a pear for him and tossed a bunch of almonds and raisins in a bowl.
Allie stood in front of the staircase that led to Dominic’s floor. There had been no reason for her to go upstairs so far, and now she considered whether she was crossing any boundaries by climbing up uninvited. She perched on the third step and shouted, “Dominic?”
Silence was her only answer, so Allie jumped up a few more steps and tried again. “Dom?”
Nothing. Maybe he wasn’t home? But Allie had been up for a while, and that would mean her boss had left in the middle of the night. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.
Worry trickled into her heart, and Allie gripped the wooden stair railing until her knuckles went white. She called for him one more time, and when the same quiet echoed back to her, she damned all protocol and climbed up to the end of the stairs.
The floor was open plan, with a den on the left that hosted a surprisingly tidy desk, the mostly empty living room except for a blue sofa and a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, and a small kitchen identical to Allie’s by the window. Between the living room andkitchen space was a closed white door. Allie walked to it and knocked softly, her heart pounding in her fist’s rhythm.
“Dom?” Nothing. Allie knocked again, louder this time. “Dom, are you in there?”
A muffled groan.
That didnotsound good. Allie shouted again, but no other sounds followed. By now, she was filled with dread thick as molasses, so she pounded at the door and yelled, “I’m coming in!”
As she turned the doorknob, Allie remembered Dominic had uttered the same words during her first night here, when she’d lost the fight with her sofa bed. The time when they were strangers seemed so long ago, and Allie didn’t miss it one bit.
The bedroom was dark with the curtains drawn and the sunrise an hour away. Allie made out the form of the bed between two low nightstands, but she accidentally kicked the dresser next to the door. A standing lamp swung on top of it, and she caught it and turned it on. The warm light revealed a messy bed with a tall and broad form in it.
Dominic was still asleep.
That didn’t seem right. In the mornings, he was energetic in his own broody way; for sure, he didnotsleep in.
“Dom?” Allie said softly. The cover shifted with the weight under it, and Dominic groaned again. If it was her name, or a plea to the gods, Allie couldn’t tell. She inched closer to his bed until she distinguished his face.
Sweat trickled on his forehead down his neck, messy locks of chestnut hair plastered to his temples and cheeks. Dominic had a mild frown, nothing like the one Allie was used to, the serious and threatening one that was seared into her memory. She called his name again, undoubtedly close enough for him to hear her now. When Dom made no sign that he’d heard her, Allie kneeled next to the bed and touched his skin with the back of her palm.
“You’re burning up,” she whispered. Allie went into caretaker mode as if she had flipped a switch. Sam was a sickly person, and she’d taken care of him during their years together. With the Silverbarks, it was considered part of her chores to attend to her sisters who had fallen ill. Allie’s mind raced, already lined up with ingredients she needed for the medicine potions and the healing food Petra had taught her to make for these times.
She propped her hand on the edge of the bed to hoist herself up, but stopped when Dominic grabbed her by the wrist. His skin was scorching hot, yet his grip was firm, desperate. Allie used her free hand to remove Dom’s hair from his face.
“I’ll be right back, I promise.” She caressed his spiky, unshaven cheeks for a moment longer, a selfish moment, then gently loosened her wrist from his fingers. This time, he didn’t resist, his hand falling limp over the blanket.
“Hello?” Allie recognized Mia’s voice coming from downstairs and rushed out of the room, back into the bakery. She found Dom’s sister scratching Ekko between his wings as he lay sprawled on his chubby belly, looking as if he was in dragon heaven.
“Hi, Mia,” Allie said, a little out of breath.
“Allie—what’s wrong?”
“I think Dom’s sick.”
Mia’s brows furrowed. “Sick how? He never gets sick.”
“He’s running a fever, and he’s not exactly…lucid,” Allie described. Mia’s head jerked back.
“That has never happened before. At least, not that I know of. Dom’s healthy as a horse, and the only times he gets sick it’s just a mild cold.”
Huh. Thatwasstrange, indeed. Allie inventoried their last couple of days, went through every moment that could have led to this, and found nothing.
Except…
“Mia, how much do you know about Dominic’s power?”
