Death by Chocolate Read Free Page B

as she stepped
behind the counter.
    "Everything all set?" Maurice fluttered down from his usual perch on the shelf behind
the counter, and came to rest on Angela's shoulder. "Lanie was just getting my help plotting evil
tricks to pull on her shipmates at the spring rites."
    "Spring rites?" Epsi decided if Lanie could see Maurice and talk to him, and Angela
recommended the two of them talk about a touchy subject like Need, then she definitely wasn't
an ordinary Human. Even without the natural four-wheel drive of her wheelchair.
    "My Star Trek club's annual spring picnic. We go out to the quarries and have a
treasure hunt and war games among the pits and streams. Maurice suggested a tug-of-war battle
with the rope stretching across the river, which is such brilliance, I'm surprised nobody every
thought of it before." Lanie tipped her head to one side and narrowed her eyes. "Okay, I know
nobody would have a Trek convention in the area without contacting my ship, so you
must be another visiting Fae."
    "How could you tell?" Epsi glanced at Maurice and Angela for clues.
    "The ears give you away big-time." Lanie grinned and raked her long-fingered hands
through her tangled mane of dark hair. "What brings you to town?"
    "Epsi is house-sitting for Lori and Brick during their honeymoon," Angela said. "I
thought the two of you might hit it off."
    "Might be fun. I could get the lowdown on Maurice, at the very least. All the deep, dark,
dirty secrets he hasn't spilled yet." She stuck her tongue out at Maurice, who responded by
shooting a streamer of green sparks that turned her hair and skin green for a few seconds.
    Epsi stared, fascinated and a little stunned by the easy teasing between them.
    "When are you free?" Lanie continued, not reacting at all as her coloring faded back to
normal. "I'm on my lunch break. Got to get back to work soon."
    "Epsi's along your route. Why don't the two of you walk together?" Angela suggested.
"Don't say it," she added quickly, and shook her finger at Lanie.
    "Say what?" Epsi asked, after the two of them had made their farewells and headed out
the front door. She had been fascinated to learn that Lanie had some telekinesis. She opened the
front door of the shop by "remote control", and used it to slide her wheelchair down the shallow
steps of the front porch of Divine's Emporium.
    "What do you-- Oh, you mean Angela telling me not to say it." Lanie gave her
wheelchair a hard push and glided for a dozen squares of sidewalk as they headed into the center
of town. "What she said, about walking together. I usually shoot off a smart-alec remark about
'don't you mean walk and roll?' And that usually gets me a slap on the back of my head or
someone groaning or whatever. Since you're new here, she probably wanted to spare you getting
your brain bounced around the room." She pushed again, and this time Epsi felt the tingle of
power at work that kept the wheelchair going without physical effort. "That's my specialty,
actually. Playing with people's minds. I have a regular gig at a local comedy club, doing a
sit-down routine." She gave Epsi a sideways glance, obviously waiting for something.
    "Sit-- Oh, I get it. Instead of stand-up." Epsi chuckled with her.
    "What did Angela want you to ask me about?"
    "How long do we have until you're back at work?"
    "I'm just a couple streets over, at the Neighborlee Tattler . Maybe ten minutes at
a brisk roll. I usually try to get out of the office on gorgeous days like this and zip around town,
just to get my blood pumping. How big is this thing she thinks we should talk about?"
    "She said you're the expert on alien mating--"
    "I learned a little about Need last winter, when Will and Phill were going through their
crisis. Is that it?"
    "Kind of."
    By the time they reached the door of the local newspaper, Epsi had barely begun
explaining her mixed feelings about Need and choosing a lifemate versus having one chosen for
her, the pros and cons, the happy couples she had seen on