The Last Coffee Shop

Chapter 15: The Kids from Yesterday

Eventually, Mads dozed off, and she was awakened by the low vibration of conversation. Luc had settled on the bench nearest them, and he was now respectably buckled in. Dirt, soot, and grime caked his arms, and his hair was a shaggy mess that obscured most of his face. He was explaining something to Indi, waving his hands around to convey an idea, and surprisingly, she was answering. Indi's face was cleaner than before, and she had a soft blue blanket wrapped around her narrow shoulders.

Mads studied the girl, since Indi was distracted, and thought that she might be even younger than Mads had feared. Maybe fourteen or fifteen, at the oldest.

Mads' heart felt like lead, but she forced her voice to sound cheerful. "Graynard, you two wouldn't happen to have any coffee in those stores, would you? I have a splitting headache, and I feel like you owe me coffee, at least."

Luc and Indi turned to her. Indi frowned at Mads, as if considering something, then she asked, "What's coffee?"

Mads blinked, taken aback. "It's a drink made from roasted beans."

Indi's nose wrinkled. "That sounds terrible."

"It's not, it's the best thing in the world. You'd love it."

Indi looked at Luc, who was watching in amused silence. "Is it really?"

Mads frowned, annoyed, but Luc tipped his head in her direction. "Miss Capot is the expert. She grows real coffee beans. On trees."

Mads glared at him. "Beans which might be dying because of you."

Indi's eyes went wide, and she cast a worried look in Luc's direction. 

Luc glared back at Mads, then leaned forward, his green gaze fixed on Indi, and his voice soft. "It's okay. I promise."

Indi watched him, her expression inscrutable, and Mads suddenly wondered how many empty promises the girl had heard in her short life.

Luc unbuckled his restraint and hooked two fingers at Mads. "You, me, storeroom, now." He let the door shut behind him, without a doubt that Mads would cooperate.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much of a choice. Mads placed a hand on Indi's smaller one. "We have to trust him," she said, more for her own benefit. "He's the only one who knows where we're going. But I promise that I'll protect you."

Indi's eyes were wide, deep brown, and they glistened with fear and mistrust. "Where are we going?" Her voice was still reedy, still desperate, but a little stronger than before. "Please, don't let them take Naia away, she's all I have."

Mads glanced at the sleeping Naia. She was thinner and more delicate than Indi, but she had the same tangled dark hair, light olive complexion, and determined chin.

Indi shivered. "They took our parents."

Mads waited, but Indi didn't offer any more information. "I promise, I won't let them separate you." She ignored the treacherous voice in her head. How can you protect them if you can't protect yourself?

"That's what Mr. Luc said too. He said he won't let anyone take her away." Indi's eyes seemed to grow even wider as they searched Mads' face, seeking a lie.

Mads smiled, and hoped it came across as reassuring rather than pained. "Okay." She rose. "I'll talk to him now. Stay with your sister."

Indi looked around the small cabin space and picked at a scab on her arm. Her gaze had gone glassy again. "There's nowhere else to go," she whispered, so faint that Mads hardly heard it.

Mads felt an ache in her chest, worse than that moment when she'd stabbed that man, worse than the moment when she woke up to realize that Luc had kidnapped her and people had died in her store.