I Went Down (NaNoWriMo Read-Along)

22 Cal

The musicians were tucking the instruments away in their velvet lined cases. Harper was carrying the last case of emptied bottles out into the alley. Jimmy Primrose and his henchmen had all left hours ago but Cal still sat in his place at the bar. The liquor bottle and the glass in front of him were both empty and he let the bar tender take them away. The hard alcohol would do little for him; Minnie was waiting upstairs with her endless monologue, simultaneously hopeful and hopeless. The green bottle from Reuben was empty again.

The chorus girls had all left the stage. Except for Emiliana, who had been gone for several hours already.

Cal bit his lip and curled his hands into fists, letting his fingernails press painfully into his palms. If he hadn’t chewed them down to the quick already, they might have drawn blood.

Emiliana, Marietta, Minnie—all these girls, eaten by Delta Mouth, one way or another. How to save them when they were so determined to walk into the Mouth that would swallow them?

No, that was not fair. He’d seen the look in Emiliana’s eyes. She had not wanted the attentions of Jimmy Primrose. She had a beau, an Ibai man of her own kind. He had been sitting right here not twenty-four hours ago, feeding her pomegranate seeds and both of them smiling shyly at each other. Would he still want her, now that Jimmy Primrose had had her?

Reluctantly, Cal slid off the barstool and stood up. He should go backstage to check on her. Would she be in her room, crying? Hopefully Jimmy Primrose hadn’t hurt her too badly. She might be in the dressing room, with the other girls. When he opened the door, they would all stop what they were doing, set down hairbrushes and washcloths and their eyes would all turn and pierce him with a look as fierce as any of Minnie’s.

Harper came back from the alley and Cal caught his arm. “Would you go back and…” How to phrase it? “See if Luessa will come talk to me.” They were friends—Luessa would be the first to know the extent of Emiliana’s insult and injury.

“Sure,” Harper said. There was a soft note of hesitation in his voice. “I’ll go.” He set the empty crate down on the bar and hopped up the steps to push through the heavy velvet curtains that separated the stage from the warren of rooms behind it.

Cal sat down again and reached for the glass which had already been cleared away. After a few minutes Luessa appeared.

“Is she…” ‘Is she okay?’ was not the right question, for surely she was not.

Luessa went behind the bar and took a bottle of liquor down from the bar. It was an Angiers brand, flavored with sweet grass, that Cal had long ago lost the taste for. She poured herself a shot and drank it down before she turned to reply to Cal’s still unvoiced question. “Isn’t there anyone who can do or say anything against him?”

“Perhaps Baccarat,” Cal said wryly.

Luessa leaned her arms on the bar and let her head drop. Her hair slid forward to cover her face. “That’s the same as no one. A Pel never helps anyone but himself.”

“Did he hurt her?”

“No.” She did not move; her face was still hidden. “No more than is usual for a first time, I suppose.”

Cal let out a long sigh. There was that, at least. No outward bruises. “Is there anything I can do?” Now, when it was too late, when he should have done something before.

Now Luessa lifted her head. “Do you know where Marietta went?”

“To the Wave.”

“Before that. Somewhere in Old Tarn.” There was the look he had been expecting, the one that let him know how deep his failure was. “To not have a baby.”