EXCOLO

Verdandi smiles at me when i say I'll send Will over to talk to her about the job. This calls for another toast. Send him over, Verite, and I'll make it worth his time. I'm so excited, Then she's sliding one of the ciders to Melania for a toast while she takes another for herself.

Melania take the cider and clinks it against ours sayin' To new things, Then she goes on to ask how long the carnival's been in town and I'm reminded that she's new to town, doesn't know the story 'bout why we're stuck here.

Take another long drink of cider to get the bitterness out of my mouth, before saying, "A long time, months. Been here all summer." I take another drink, one that practically empties the mug. "An it looks like we'll be here all winter as well.

I try a smile but I ain't sure it works so well. I lift the mug again to hide my expression.

Verdandi's gone serious as well as she explains about the danger. Excolo's attracted a lot of unusual people lately and some of them are very dangerous. I'm not telling you that you shouldn't go walking at night but you should understand that you might attract the wrong kind of attention.That wrong kind of attention could you get killed. Try not to go out alone at night. During the day is fine but we've had some murders that haven't been solved yet and the killer or killers are probably still around.

I nod. "It ain't so bad early in the evening when there's lots of people round, but later on it gets nasty."

Melania, that's such a long name, wonder if she'll mind if I shorten it? She's wondering what's so bad bout Excolo, I can tell she doesn't think it's any worse than other towns by the way she raises her eyebrows and says, So pretty much like most towns then," I smile. "I'll be careful,

I smile back but The good cheer of earlier seems more distant now. I finish my cider an look thoughtfully at the whisky or maybe I should ask to try the other bottle? what did verdandi call it? Violet Charm?