Read Online Liquid Fire by Anthony Francis - Free Book Online Page B

good people to stay with,” Jewel said. “I doubt Daniel knows where they live, and wouldn’t take on the whole commune even if he did.”
    “All right, all right,” Dean said. “We’re just trying to give you some options. Not everybody gets assaulted every day; sometimes it rattles you. Makes it hard to think.”
    “Amen to that,” I said. “Thank you, Officer Dean, Officer Illowsky.”
    As the officers drove away, Jewel rubbed her nose at me.
    “What?” I asked, thumbing my nose back at her. “Cops have a hard job. Why make it harder than it is, when they’re here saving our butts?”
    “And what did they do for us?” she asked, putting her hand on her curvy hip.
    “Secured the scene, cleared the neighborhood, so we can have this conversation in peace, without worrying that the bad guys are gonna regroup,” I said, thinking it through. “Put out their description, so said bad guys have to lay low while we hightail it out of here.”
    Jewel swallowed and looked around nervously. “OK, you have a point. Look . . . I just got a little freaked again, thinking about them hiding in the bushes somewhere, waiting for the cops to split. Can I give you a ride to your car so we can all get outta here?”
    “We took a cab,” Cinnamon said.
    Jewel stared at her, then me. “Oh, no,” she said. “Uh-uh. You’re not waiting around here for Daniel and crew to get another crack at you while I drive off in safety, not after you provided the safety. Where am I ferrying you two tonight?”
    “I . . . don’t know.” I laughed, pulling out my smartphone. “We never actually made it to the hotel, so either we’re heading to the airport, or . . .” I raised an eyebrow, reading the curious text from Vickman. “Sounds like we have been cleared for . . . a hotel on Cathedral Hill.”
    “That’s . . . a bit of a ride,” Jewel said, “but I’ll do it gladly, skindancer.”
    Back on the Bay Bridge, crawling toward downtown San Francisco, I glanced at Jewel.
    “So . . .” I said. “You live in a commune?”
    “No!” she laughed. “I’m not quite that granola, even if I did go to Berkeley. I’m just staying in a fireweaver’s commune while I’m performing in the Bay Area this week. Back in my native Hawai`i, I’ve got a plush little condo, thank you very much—”
    “You’re from Hawaii?” I asked, even as I noticed the slight but precise catch in her voice between the last two I’s in “Hawaii” that I normally drawled out as haw-way-yee . Then, unthinkingly, I said, “You don’t look like a native—”
    “ Anyone born in Hawai`i,” she said firmly, “is a native Hawai`ian, whether they’re from indigenous Polynesian stock, of European descent—or a mix, as I am. And just because one of my ancestors was a Yankee invader doesn’t mean I can’t embrace Hawai`i as my home.”
    I was a bit embarrassed at having put my foot in my mouth, but Jewel had gotten a little too steamed, and I couldn’t let that stand. “I’m sorry,” I said, and for once Cinnamon didn’t correct me. “I misinterpreted what you meant by ‘native.’ I wasn’t trying to offend—”
    “I know,” she said, a bit embarrassed herself. “You just hit one of my hot buttons. I’m a hard core Hawai`ian activist, but even after years in the cause, Daniel and his crew of yahoos want to push me out because . . . well, because I have Western features and red-blond hair.”
    “That sucks—but I know how that goes,” I said. Daniel is native Hawaiian. Most interesting; I should have been able to place him. “Some people don’t want me to have a say in the raising of Cinnamon, just because I don’t turn furry once a month.”
    Jewel jerked in her seat. “Oh, hey—she’s a real werewuh—uh, werecat?”
    Cinnamon swatted at her, and Jewel laughed. Then her face grew serious.
    “Look, I didn’t want to talk with the police around,” she said. “Fireweaver business is supposed to stay within