A Feral Darkness by Doranna Durgin

Author:Doranna Durgin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Celtic, Epic, Science Fiction, Gods, Contemporary, Fiction, Fantasy, Plague, General
ISBN: 9780671319946
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2001-05-22T01:12:59+00:00

Chapter 12

HAGALZ

Destructive Forces

Brenna grabbed a few minutes at the end of the day to look at the half-dozen groomer applications they'd received, sorting swiftly and setting all but one aside--and knowing that one was likely wishful thinking. Well. At least they'd had this many applications so quickly, although most of them were from high school students who wanted a quick summer job and thought that fooling with dogs was a great thing for which to get paid.

"No good, huh?" DeNise said, taking a noisy and well-earned slurp of her soda; she too was overdue to go off shift. Elizabeth was already working in the back, with enough dogs left to finish so she'd be lucky even to grab a snack from the undercounter stash. Like Brenna, DeNise still wore her smock, but hers came down to her knees and looked pretty much soaked through from her shift of heavy bathing. From the neck up she was impeccable, with a complexly molded hairstyle that only African-American hair could accomplish.

That was the secret behind their easy amiability, Brenna had always thought--upon first introduction, DeNise had said, "Your hair is awesome!" and Brenna had said, "How do you do that?" and despite the difference in their ages--DeNise would still be in high school, if she hadn't qualified for early graduation and was now saving up tuition for the community college--and backgrounds, they'd formed an immediate connection.

Brenna fanned the applications in the air. "No good," she confirmed. "You've got more qualifications to groom than any of 'em." She gave an automatic glance around the storefront and said, "Don't tell Roger I said that. He'll decide I should train you, as if I can do that and carry a full grooming load."

"No worries," said DeNise. "No offense, but I got plans."

Brenna gave her a wistful look. "Smart you."

DeNise shrugged. "Hey, girl, it's not too late."

Brenna made a quick scrawl of a note on the borderline application. "Yeah, well," she said, as if that were saying anything at all. She let the pen drop into the plastic mug pen holder with a decisive clink. "I'm going to get while the getting's good." Half an hour over her shift as it was, but that was hardly worth noting. She shed the smock and tossed it on a hook in the grooming room; Elizabeth came breezing out of the tub room and followed her back out. She went straight to the schedule, flipping through it with a frown. "Gonna be even tighter tomorrow," she said. "Maybe I'll see if Roger'll let me clock in half an hour early."

"Be a good idea if you can handle it," Brenna agreed, leaning against the door into the store proper and bumping the push bar with the small of her back. She spotted a woman with a small carrier--cat or rabbit, had to be--on her way in from the parking lot, and lifted her chin to alert Elizabeth. "Nails, I'll bet. Nothing on the schedule that would fit in that one."

"Shit, it's a mess back there," Elizabeth said, and hastily cleared the upper level of the counter.

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