“Took you long enough,” Lucky said when Celeste let herself into his building from the alley behind the bar.
“Investigating takes time,” Celeste said. She followed him down the stairs to the now-repaired basement, and noted that he’d set out supplies for exploring the tunnels: two pairs of hip-waders, two industrial flashlights, and two tool belts. The tool belts were loaded with various fairie-repelling items ranging from cold iron horseshoes to cucumbers to shakers of salt.
She picked up the closest flashlight and turned it on, accidentally shining the powerful light into Lucky’s face. With a huff of annoyance, he shoved the light upward and out of his eyes.
She winced apologetically. “No map?”
“Don’t need one, Kid,” he said, tapping the side of his temple.
“What if we get turned around?”
“We won’t. I know those tunnels like the back of my hand.”
“What if we get separated?”
“Years ago I marked every intersection from here to the waterfront. If you get lost, just follow the signs back,” Lucky said.
“How many years?” Celeste asked.
“What did you find out while you were investigating?”
Celeste grinned at him for changing the subject. “Whatever it was hit two other basements. It came in through a grate and hit a textile dragon in the garment district. Then it made a hole in the wall of a thrift store’s storage room. I can’t find a connection between them, other than that whatever it was came into the basement.”
Lucky picked up the smaller set of waders and handed them to her. “Were you actually expecting to find some connection?”
“I hoped.” Celeste kicked off her shoes and stepped into the waders. “If I could have narrowed down what we were dealing with, then maybe we wouldn’t have to pack a toolbelt’s worth of cucumbers down into a sewer. This is the weirdest thing that I’ve ever done for a paycheck.”
“You’re young.” Lucky said as he strapped his tool belt over his own waders. “There’s plenty of time in your life to do weirder things. Besides, I’m technically only paying you to barback for me.”
“That’s reassuring.” Celeste held the salt shaker up to her ear and gave it a good jiggle to make sure that it was full. Satisfied, she tucked it into her pocket and clipped her flashlight into a loop. “Let’s have this ill-advised and unsupervised adventure.”
“It’ll be fine,” Lucky said. “Just keep thinking about how glad you are that it’s too cold for sewer gators.”
“Yay.” Celeste cheered weakly as she followed him through the basement door.