Silver Secrets

Chapter 3: Bree

There must be a dozen bonfires on the beach tonight, and I think I'm the only one here who isn't completely pissed. The smoke stings my eyes, but it'll be stinging everyone else's too, so I probably won't get caught.

I push and shove through the thick crowds. All around me is the jingle-jangle of loose coins in pockets, and I feel like a hungry dog when someone shakes a bag of biscuits at it. I won't take too much, not enough for Eddie to get mad at me for taking big risks, but I want a bit of that hog roast and nothing's gonna stop me getting it.

It takes a while because there's no rich people here. They're all up at Castle Alderth, and I bet they have something a lot nicer than a hog roast. My mouth waters when I think about all that food. Maybe they've even got them fancy sausages with the apple bits in. I love those. Last year Eddie saved up and bought me one for my eleventh birthday.

I look down at the pickpocketed coins in my hand. Six coppers. That should be enough, shouldn't it? For a bit of hog, not a sausage. But that would be nice too.

I go over to the corner of the beach, where the smell of meat is strongest, and get in line. There's a lot of people in front of me. While I wait I look over my shoulder at Castle Alderth on its little island. From here the whole thing looks like a big fat candle, all lit up in gold. With that light over there and all the smoke over here, there's barely any stars at all. I can still see the moon, though, round and full like a big white cheese balanced on top of a tower. If I close one eye, I can get it between my thumb and finger. That makes it into only a small bit of cheese, though. Barely worth eating, really. Better if it stays in the sky, then the werewolves can have something to howl at.

Before I know it it's my turn at the front of the line. I blink when my eyes start watering from the greasy smoke. I hope nobody thinks I'm crying.

"What do you want, boy?" the butcher yells over all the noise. He's a big man with blood dribbled down the front of his apron.

"As much as I can get for six coppers," I shout back. I don't mind being called a boy, even if I'm not. Eddie makes me keep my hair short for work, in case a target tries to grab me or something, so it's an easy mistake to make.

The butcher snorts. "What do you think this is, a bloody handout? Prices start at fifteen coppers."

"It's on the sign," the butcher's son adds helpfully, pointing.

"But I can't read. Can't you just give me a little piece?"

"No. Bugger off if you can't afford it."

I can't afford it so I bugger off, but not before I spit in the fire. It doesn't make a difference with all the fat sizzling in there, but Clay spits all the time because he says it gets your message across, even if you don't know what to say. Clay's not very good with words so he spits a lot. Or maybe it's just because he's a centaur.

I run away before the butcher or his son can come after me, my boots kicking up spurts of sand. I try not to be too disappointed. Six coppers isn't a lot. I shouldn't have expected to afford anything. Still, I'm really hungry. I'm about to go and start fishing for more coppers when a heavy hand lands on my head.

I get ready to run—did someone see me stealing and get the city guards?—but when I turn around I see that it's only Eddie, but he doesn't look very happy with me. Although, Eddie never looks very happy with anything.

"What do you think you're doing?" he growls. I can tell he's trying to tower over me, but I'm nearly as tall as he is so it doesn't really work.

"Nothing." It's the wrong answer, because Eddie knows that's what I always say when I'm doing something I shouldn't.

"I told you to stay away from these parties. Are you trying to get yourself put in the stocks again?"

I bat his hand away from my head. "Ed, I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

He presses his lips together. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm worried about. Come on, we're going home."

I groan, but follow him anyway. Me and Eddie have really different ideas of home. For him it's wherever he can go to sleep and wake up alive in the morning. I don't know where home is, but I know that where we're going isn't it. The room we rent above an old warehouse is small and crowded and people are always fighting. There's never enough food. Angaret hates me, River is creepy and even though I love Clay, he smells like a horse.

It doesn't matter what I think, though. Eddie is striding off towards the docks, and even if he is angry at me, I don't want to walk home at night by myself. After one last longing look at the hog roast, I run after him. 

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A/N: So I've finished the final draft and now I can start updating regularly! As you've probably noticed, this story will be split between two POVs, Mel and Bree. I know this is probably not a great idea, so if this story somehow gets popular enough, I'll probably rewrite it in third person. It's just that I already had 50k words drafted when I realised I needed a second POV, and I really didn't want to rewrite the whole thing. I hope it won't be too much of a problem. Since Bree's chapters are generally quite short, I'll be uploading 2 chapters whenever it's time to post one of hers.

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