Free The Clockwork Fairy Kingdom by Leah Cutter Page A

they’d bought used, the mournfully empty bookcase built into
the far wall, then down the hall into Nora’s room. They stood there awkwardly
for a moment. “ Uhm . You want a washcloth or something
to clean up with? And some Band-Aids?”
    “Bandages are unnecessary,” Kostya told him. “But a washrag would be nice. You wouldn’t happen to have an old
shirt that would fit me, would you?”
    “I’ll check,” Dale told him. “I’ll be right back.” He left
the room in a hurry. The dwarf seemed unreal standing in Nora’s messy bedroom.
Even though Dale had seen Nora do a little magic, it wasn’t until that moment that
he believed Kostya wasn’t human. He didn’t fit in Nora’s
room or in their house in some essential way, like a gear with a broken tooth,
almost running smoothly, just catching now and again.
    First Dale grabbed a couple of T-shirts from his room that
were way too big for him, that he also didn’t care if they got ruined. Then he
went into the bathroom. While running a washcloth under warm water, he got
distracted looking at his neck. Bruises already blossomed in a line across his
throat. He swallowed. No wonder they were starting to hurt. They were going to
take a while to fade as well.
    Kostya had removed his shirt when
Dale got back. The guy had muscles everywhere. Dale’s anxiety renewed. Kostya could really hurt someone. He handed the dwarf the
washcloth. Kostya sighed in contentment at the
warmth, quickly cleaning the blood off his cuts. They looked to be healing
already. Yet another reminder that the dwarf wasn’t human.
    When Dale came back from rinsing out the washcloth—his
mom would have freaked at finding it so bloody—he found Kostya looking around Nora’s room. He’d put Dale’s old
compass T-shirt on but tied it at the waist, because otherwise it would have fallen
to his knees. He looked so out of place, like frosting on the back of the couch.
    “Ah, sorry for the junk everywhere,” Dale said. Unordered,
unlabeled bags lay scattered across the floor. The plastic box containing Nora’s
knitting needles was open, half the contents spilled out. Dirty clothes lay in
piles, as well as collections of rocks, books, papers, and other miscellaneous
things.
    Kostya smiled at Dale. “No apology
necessary. This feels like home.”
    Dale shook his head. Great. Another freak. The door opened
and Dale froze, but it was just Nora.
    “Dinner’s in five minutes.” Nora looked critically at the
shirt Kostya wore. “I can cut that down later, if you’d
like.”
    “Tied is fine. Thank you, miss,” Kostya said.
    Then Nora turned to Dale. “I have an idea.” She dove into
her closet and produced the black-and-white scarf she’d knit for Talk Like a Pirate
Day. “Put this on,” she instructed Dale.
    “Mom’s going to ask just as many questions if she sees me
wearing this,” Dale said, holding it reluctantly.
    Nora shrugged. “You lost a bet. You have to talk like a
pirate for the rest of the night.”
    “Nor!” Dale complained. Then he got an idea. “Only if you
lost a bet as well.”
    Puzzled, Nora nodded.
    “Give me two minutes, and a hairband,” Dale instructed. Nora
handed him a wide plastic hairband. Dale wrapped the scarf carefully around his
neck, then snuck down the hall to his room.
    Precisely two minutes later, Nora knocked on Dale’s door. He
presented her with mouse ears made out of spare clock parts and attached to the
hairband. “Your crown, my lady.”
    Nora rolled her eyes, but put it on.
    “Perfect,” Dale chortled. “Let’s go get some grub, argh,” he
continued in his best pirate’s voice.
    Nora laughed and led the way.
    The pair of them maintained the pirate and the mouse
princess routine all through dinner, making their mom laugh. They had leftovers
again that night, spaghetti from two nights before, with fresh garlic bread and
broccoli. Dale had two glasses of milk, as well as three servings of bread. He
was hungry all the time again—his mom