“We were,” I sez. “But Tananda has her own ideas on the subject.”
“Well it sure put Spyder’s nose out of joint. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so mad. Unless it was the time …”
“Hey … Abdul!”
It was Junebug, standin’ right behind us tryin’ to get Frumple’s attention. He has his arm draped around Tananda’s shoulders, but if you look real close youse can see that she is actually holdin’ up most of his weight.
“Yeah? What do you want?”
Though he wasn’t particularly pleasant about it, the speed with which any of our crew could get the Deveel’s attention was evidence that he hadn’t forgotten we all knew his secret.
“I … we need … a room.”
“There aren’t any available.”
Frumple starts to turn away, only to find his movement is restricted … specifically by my cousin who has reached across the bar and taken hold of his shoulder.
“Give him a room,” Nunzio sez, soft-like.
Now, when Nunzio talks quiet like that, it usually means he is about to lose his temper … which, in this case, is understandable. I mean, we have put an awful lot of trouble into this setup to have it thwarted by anything silly like room availability.
“But there aren’t any …”
“Give him the room you keep for yourself. You’re going to be too busy down here to use it for awhile.”
“I’m not that busy,” the Deveel argues, tryin’ to twist out of Nunzio’s grip. “And if …”
“You could be a lot busier … if you know what I mean,” Nunzio sez, startin’ to tighten his hand.
“All right! Okay! Here!” Frumple sez, producin’ a key from his pocket and passin’ it to Junebug. “Last door on the right!”