CHAPTER TWO: Needs must

CHAPTER TWO: Needs must

She needed a tar-black coffee and a freshly-baked bagel, in that order.

Nika groaned as she locked up her house – just one of the many rooms underneath this particular tree cavern – and stumbled out into daylight. Making her way though the alleyway and out onto the main road, Nika headed straight for the only place that could sort her out.

It was a tiny hole-in-the-wall establishment, really. It was one of those spots in the meadows where those who didn’t know it existed walked right past it, but those who did know of it would always stop by. The sign overhead was old and battered, covered in cobwebs, and in desperate need of a lick of fresh black paint. But Nika could still make out what it said; KNEADS MUST.

“Needs must alright,” Nika scoffed as she knocked on the open window-frame that connected the customers with the store. There was a door, to Nika’s right, but no one ever came in or out of it. The owner – a big, burly, bald daemon – was the only one in his shop, and he operated right out onto the street.

He appeared at the window and smiled at Nika. “What will it be today, darling?” Christos grinned at her, as he looked her up and down.

“Don’t even think about saying whatever it was that was about to come out of your mouth next,” Nika warned.

Christos’ grin widened further. “Rough night, huh?”

“It’s about to be a rough day if I don’t get that delicious coffee you make.”

“Coming right up.” Christos turned his back to her for a moment and flicked the coffee machine on, the mechanism yawning through the steam wand and getting to work.

Christos turned back to Nika. “Another early morning shift for you? I’d have thought Garth would just keep you on the lates.”

“Oh, Garth is quite happy to put me on double shifts lately. Courtesy of his new favourite Arae, Rae, aka Sunshine.”

“She can’t be that bad. It’s been, what? Three months of lunchtime shifts? She’s got to be bringing something good to the team if your lunch service has picked up.”

Nika scowled at Christos, who was clearly baiting her. They’d had this discussion several times over the last few months. Nika grumbled about how well Rae was fitting into the team, and Christos gave her a hard time about it – and then usually gave her a coffee for free.

“That’s exactly my point. She’s far too good. There’s a whole new bloody lunch menu – as if I needed any more dishes to memorise and sell. Garth says it’ll help profit margins, but right now all it’s doing is adding to my workload and lack of sleep.”

“Someone’s grumpy this morning.”

“At least when I had three pm lie-ins I had a chance to sleep off dreaded headaches like this one.”

“A headache, huh?”

“You know what? Why don’t you throw in one of those bagels too, huh? Maybe I want to be taken pity on and taken care of. You ever thought of that?”

Christos laughed. “You don’t need anyone taking care of you. You do just fine for yourself.”

“Does that mean I don’t get my bagel?”

Christos turned again, Nika assumed only to grab her rich, double-shot coffee with three sugars – but when he came back, he presented her with a brown paper bag, the grease stain on it growing by the second.

“Here you go. Something sharp and something sweet, just like you.”

Nika didn’t particularly care what was on the bagel, only that she desperately needed something to soak up the rest of the alcohol in her system. It took a lot to get a spirit like Nika drunk.

Gods, had she opened the spiced liquor when she got home? The memory of it was fuzzy, but now Nika thought about it – definitely there.

“What do I owe you, Christos?”

“Put in a good word for me with your mother? I’d like to go home to visit my folks.”

“You want to go back to Tartarus? Why in Hades playground would you want to do that? Why not just get your folks to come out here?” Nika began shaking her head even as she finished her sentence. “You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to know. Sure, I’ll put in a good word for you next time I speak to her.”

Christos nodded. “Appreciate it, Nik.”

She nodded, waving her goodbye, before taking a sip of deliciously hot coffee and opening the bag. The smell of sharp chilli jam and roasted onion with garlic cream cheese on a warm bagel wafted to her thin nostrils. She sighed, and ripped a chunk out of it with her teeth.

***

“Oooh, did you get that from Christos’? Go on, give me some!” Lexie beseeched her from across the room, as Nika wandered into the team meeting and took one of the remaining restaurant chairs that had been pulled out from neatly-set tables for lunch.

“Get your own!” Nika said, tearing off a small chunk and throwing it at Lexie’s head.

Lexie cricked her neck and managed to catch the piece in her mouth. Swallowing, she moaned. “No fair. Christos always gives you the best bagel combos.”

“What can I say? I’m a charm-and-disarm kind of Arae.”

Lexie snorted at that before a cough interrupted them.

“If you two are quite done, can I get on with the briefing for the team? Or are you going to be interrupting us the whole time just because you were late again, Nika?” Garth asked.

Lexie and Nika threw a pointed look between them before Nika smiled saccharinely at Garth and mimicked zipping her mouth. When he went to turn back to the team, she deliberately mimicked unzipping her thin lips and turned to Rae beside her.

“Well, Sunshine, whatever you’re doing when you take him home at night clearly isn’t working …”

A blush spread across Rae’s cheeks. “I haven’t, we haven’t, he just walks me home. We’re friends!” she hissed, stressing the last word.

Nika raised an eyebrow. “If you’re sure.”

She could feel Garth glowering at her. They’d had their ups and downs over the years, and the team knew them to butt heads on occasion. But this rift between them was opening up to a chasm. Nika just couldn’t reconcile herself with Garth’s decision to forgo the libations. Sure, she saw his point, they would be better off in the long run. But to risk losing the place that had become her home because he’d been so bullish and headstrong, forging ahead with the plan despite no fall-back in place, that she couldn’t forgive him for.

This had been the first place she had found happiness when she left Tartarus all those years ago.

At first, she had regretted her decision to leave. The small cramped room she had rented in the meadows had black mould instead of the black veins of marble she had grown up with in her parents palace. She’d been able to hear her neighbours through the walls, as if the crinkled wallpaper was deckle-edged cotton paper in its place. In an effort to get away from the four walls, she’d locked up what few possessions she had in the room and gone to explore the leafy suburb around her.

Nika had never seen trees like it – they didn’t grow in Tartarus. The nature she had known had been mining, the constant burring of a drill somewhere in the distance, the clang of metal on metal.

Here … the trees had space to whisper to each other.

Then she’d seen it. The pub on the corner that glowed internally with fire. It was the first thing Nika had seen that reminded her of Tartarus – that inner glowing fire. Desperate for a taste of home, but not ready to head back and admit defeat, she’d walked in … and never really left.

Zeus’ Watering Hole had changed over the centuries, of course. They’d had a few makeovers. Then there was the fire of 250 BC that had cost them for the following decade in tokens; the pieces of parchment with favours and offerings that all Souls and creatures were willing to barter and trade with as currency here in the Underworld.

Nika had never expected to become a waitress, let alone stay in one place long enough to be considered part of its history now. Her mother had birthed and raised her to be a true Arae, cursing those who deserved it. That had been the lesson drilled into her over and over as a child; she was to be of service. She was born for a purpose.

She just hadn’t wanted to do that. Not after she’d seen what happened to those who were cursed. After she had visited the caves where they were kept, and heard them scream at her, begging to be put out of their misery, clawing at her skirts as they crawled along the ground like worms.

Instead, after that first night she had wandered into the Watering Hole, she had fallen in love with the hustle and bustle of restaurant life. She watched the waiters darting in and out and around tables, delivering drinks and food, and hounded Garth until he’d offered her a trial run, despite the fact she had no experience.

She’d been a natural at it, working her way up until she was the best in the team, until this place had become her home. Gone were the large cold floors with high ceilings and cold draughts from her childhood. Gone were the screams from the caves far below. Instead, her days were spent in the restaurant with warm hearth fires, cosy armchairs by the windows, the smells of rich foods, and the busy sounds of happy people.

She didn’t want to lose that.

Nika was pulled from her reverie when she heard her name mentioned by Garth.

“Nika and Tomas, in between the lunch and dinner service tonight, I want you to go out into the streets and see if you can corral some of the Souls to come and join us for dinner this week. Tell them they will get a bottle of Savvas’ homemade wine on the house should they order any three courses with us.”

“You can’t be serious,” Nika butted in.

“Of course I’m serious. We’re moving into a quieter season,” – and what a convenient excuse that was, Nika thought – “so we may as well put an offer out there.”

“I’m not walking around the streets like a common harpy to try and drum up business just because you made a rash call with our Olympic Investor.”

There, she’d said it.

The entire team went silent, waiting for the tension of the room to dissipate and see what wreckage was left behind from Nika’s words.

“Oh come on, Nika. It’ll be fun!” Tomas tried to break the tension – tried and failed.

He was sent a scathing look from her for his efforts.

Garth’s words, on the other hand, found their mark.

“You can either help the team drum up new business or you can leave.”