Howdy, Neighbor
Who: Echo Bishop and Celeste Henry Where: El Rey Motel, Terrible's Roadhouse When: Before Samhain Rating: Low
A motel room full of weapons and magical materials was a motel room that a maid did not need to be snooping around in, and as such, Celeste paid housekeeping a weekly ‘tip’ to keep them out. She promised she would take care of the cleaning and maintenance herself. Every Friday morning, a stack of neatly folded, freshly laundered towels and bedding waited outside the door of room 104.
The brunette was inside, getting ready to face the day. She stepped out of the steaming shower and began getting dressed, donning her typical uniform of a tank top, shorts, and sneakers. The temperature in Searchlight was still in the low 90s, even in the middle of October. Celeste thought about asking Nesryn on another excursion to Cottonwood Cove for some swimming.
It turned out that the laundromat opened at eight in the morning, earlier than she’d expected. Echo packed half of her clothes into a duffel bag and carried it across the parking lot at seven-thirty, just as the doors were being unlocked, then loitered around until the manager waved her inside. A hour and a half later, she had clean laundry for the next week or so.
She hauled the bag back to her room, put a few things away. She had a loose plan to check if the city had an arts and crafts store, since she needed more supplies for drawing. At least if she didn’t order things online, though as far as she knew the El Rey didn’t have a mail drop for tenants. She’d figure something out, though.
The day was just starting to heat up when she stepped outside, sunglasses on against the glare of the sun on the white rocks at the edge of the lot. Call James. Find out where Phanuel lived. Either today or tomorrow. It was nice to have goals.
Celeste opened her door after getting dressed, looked down at the small pile of fresh towels and bedding. She spotted movement in her periphery, and turned fully to see a woman with sunglasses standing a few doors down from her. The brunette offered a little wave before kneeling down and picking up the fresh laundry.
She had been living at the El Rey for months, had seen other guests come and go. It felt odd, like standing still in the middle of other people’s lives. Celeste was usually the one roaming. “Hey, new neighbor,” she joked weakly, addressing the other woman.
“Hey, there.”
The sentence was somewhat protracted, because Echo was in the middle of her start-the-day stretch, up on her toes with both hands on the small of her back. The soles of her shoes made noises on the concrete as she added, “I forgot maid service was doing the rounds. Good reminder.”
She snaked one hand back inside, fumbled around until she found the plastic sign requesting room maintenance hanging on the other side. Re-locked the door.
“Didn’t think anyone else was staying on this side.”
“Yeah,” Celeste nodded, “I’m here.” She looked down at the small mountain in her arms. “Hang on,” she told the other woman, dipping back into her room to set everything on her bed. A second later, she was back outside, putting on her own pair of sunglasses.
“I haven’t seen you around before,” she said, her tone friendly. “Not that I’m like...the El Rey sheriff, or anything. I’ve just been here a long time. I’m Celeste.”
“I’m Echo. Still shaking the road dust off.”
The shifter took two steps off of the concrete and onto the sand, checked her watch. Closing in on eleven, and her stomach suddenly growled, as if to remind her that there had been no breakfast yet. “Was gonna go grab something to eat. If you were heading in that direction too, you’re free to come along.”
Celeste laughed a little at that. There were like four places to eat in the whole town, she would hope she was free to do so. “Yeah, I could do with some lunch. Breakfast. Whatever. You heading to Terrible’s?”
“Yeah, I heard it was good.”
Newly filled water bottle in tow, Echo started off across the parking lot again, waiting a bit for Celeste to catch up. “How long have you been here? I get the sense this is kind of a...way station? Something like that, anyway.”
“Let’s see...maybe a little over 3 months? I was in Vegas for a while, first.” She looked down at her black boots as they walked over sand, dirt, and cracked pavement. The toes were scuffed and worn, deep creases in the leather.
“I like it here,” Celeste added. “I guess the terrain just agrees with me.”
“A lot quieter than the city, I’m sure.”
Loose dirt gritted under Echo’s shoes, and she watched the lights in the motel sign turn off for the day. Put her hair into a loose ponytail as she considered getting it cut short again. If it was this warm even at the near end of October, she should accustom herself to the climate.
“Pretty country,” she said. “I was thinking it was all cactus and sand, and then I saw it up close. Sounds corny, but that first sunrise was like magic.”
Celeste smiled to herself. “Yeah, it is magic,” she agreed. “And it’s not as quiet as you’d think.” That last part was a little more cryptic as she weighed whether to ask the next question on her mind.
“How long have you been in Searchlight, Echo?”
“Tomorrow it’ll be a week and a day.”
She suspected that Celeste already knew about the radio-static vibe that hummed just under the surface, maybe about whatever else went on besides house pets coming back from the dead. If she’d been here long enough, there was no telling what she’d seen.
“Probably not as familiar with some of the goings-on yet, but I haven’t decided if I’ll stay or go.”
She nodded. She had seen the name Echo before and without verbally confirming it, Celeste had a feeling this woman was one and the same. “Well, this is pretty much the welcoming committee,” she said, gesturing around them. “But I came here with no intention to stay, and here I am.”
“I have it on what seems like good authority that weird shit just kind of...happens here. More than you’d think in a place this size. Maybe that’s part of why. Weirdness magnet, or something.”
They’d reached the door of Terrible’s by then, and Echo waved Celeste in ahead of her before stepping into the cooler confines of the roadhouse. The sole other customer glanced at them, then back towards her paper. The shifter took up space in a booth, plucked a breakfast menu out of its holder.
“Where were you planning to go?”
Celeste took the seat across from Echo. She didn’t know how to explain there wasn’t any particular destination in mind because she had planned for the world to end. “Nowhere really,” she answered. “I was kind of a nomad. Whenever things got boring, or rough, or complicated, I could always get in a car and leave it behind.”
She picked up the menu, even though she already had an idea of what she wanted. “But I found reasons to stay.”
“Yeah? What’s his name?”
It was a guess, but Echo wasn’t unfamiliar with the way you could find a person who could become an anchor, a grounding force. When she’d told Derek that wolves did not always mate for life, she’d been including herself. Attraction was primal, and while she had yet to find The One, she wasn’t naive on the subject.
The waitress trundled over, and she ordered coffee to start with. “Running off is easy. It’s running toward that’s difficult, I think.”
Celeste let out a surprised laugh before ordering a coffee, as well. It looked like Nesryn was off that day, or maybe her shift hadn’t started yet. “James. His name is James.” She nodded, smiling.
“You sound like you speak from experience. Are you running from something, Echo?”
“Towards. I think. It depends on how it shakes out.”
Because the sister she was looking for was an unknown quantity, and she didn’t know if the knowledge of her existence would make things better or worse. For either of them. Her mother’s concerns, while not enough to dissuade her from doing this, weren’t groundless. You did not just barge into someone’s life and upend things, not without repercussions. Even backlash.
“Family stuff, y’know? That’s always a piece of business, and I’m pretty sure the one I’m looking for has any idea I’m alive. Literally.”
“Ah. Family stuff.” Celeste nodded as she sipped her coffee thoughtfully. “Always complicated.” She wondered what it was like to want to seek out a family member. She’d be perfectly happy never seeing a single one of them again.
“Have you started your search here, or is this just a stop along the way?”
“Just starting.”
Echo paused long enough to doctor her coffee with some sugar, and a light bulb came on. “James. Tall guy, kinda scruffy, fixes cars? I think I met him when I was having some engine trouble the other day. Nice guy.”
Celeste wouldn’t agree entirely with that description, but it didn’t seem the time or place to correct the simplicity of that assessment. “Yeah, that’s probably how you would meet him here,” she agreed, drinking her coffee black. “He owns the shop just down the way.” The server came back to take their orders, and she decided on a simple burger and fries.
“So, how is this search going?”
“Fits and starts. I sort of left without an actual plan in place, before I could get talked out of it. I’d been following a trail that led me as far as Nevada, but it went cold after that. Either she left the state or she figured out somebody was looking for her. I dunno.”
She’d asked for pancakes, and the waitress brought a bottle of syrup back with her when their food arrived. Speared up a sausage link with her fork to wave it around a little, a half-circle.”James said he’d help me look. Long distance, sort of. You probably already know about the magic stuff. I wouldn’t have even thought of it if he hadn’t offered.”
She poured out a dollop of ketchup next to her pile of fries. “Yeah, I know about the magic stuff,” Celeste confirmed with a smile before dipping a French fry and bringing it to her mouth. After she was finished chewing, she added, “It’s a good idea if you want something found quickly. Or someone. I hope it works out for you. James is amazing at what he does, so…” The brunette trailed off with a shrug.
“You wouldn’t know of a place to find a job around here, would you? I have some money saved up, but I don’t want to dip into it too much.”
The pancakes were very good, and Echo wiped her mouth on a napkin before adding, “Rent around here seems reasonable, and I doubt I’d want to live in the city, anyway. You seem like you’ve got some stuff on the ball, so if you could suggest somethin’, that’d be great.”
Celeste thought about that for a moment. “I work in Las Vegas,” she said, “but I know that the coffee shop here is hiring. And the El Rey is looking for another front desk person, I think. You could try there.” She picked up her burger and took a bite, even as a slice of pickle fell out of the other end and landed on her plate. She set it down and wiped her hands on a napkin.
“If you like water, there’s also Cottonwood Cove. It’s a marina.”
“Yeah, I actually went out there the other day, before the truck died on me.”
She looked out at the quiet street while finishing off a few more bites, then said, “Seems busier than you’d think. The whole town, I mean. I almost missed the exit because it’s just a dot on the map, but when you get closer, it’s got this...vibe . Or something. A little weird, but I like it.”
“That’s what a lot of people say,” Celeste agreed. “They’ll have to change the population on the sign soon, if people keep coming here.” She dipped another french fry in ketchup. “Not that it’s a bad thing,” she added. Being in Searchlight had brought out a side of herself that she didn’t even know existed. For one, she actually had friends. That was a new experience.
“Like somethin’s gonna happen, but you don’t know what it is yet.”
The shifter had finished most of her breakfast, and she pulled out some cash from her pocket as she said, “I should probably get going, but I can cover your check. We’re neighbors now, so I figure we’ll see each other again soon. Nice to have met you, Celeste, and thanks for the job search advice.”
She gave a friendly wave before exiting the roadhouse, putting her sunglasses back on against the glare of the early morning. She still needed to get in touch with that mechanic James had mentioned. Just in case.</cut>