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be; in fact, just the oother day, I was tellin’ Gander ... ”
    I tuned Gilly out while I put a few things on my plate.   The rambling gnome didn’t even realize I wasn’t listening.   I didn’t want to be rude or anything, especially when manners were some sort of issue for her, but I wasn’t going to shortchange my brownie and risk not having a maid.   If I had to choose between having a gnome as a friend and a brownie as a servant, the brownie was going to win every time.   I had to finish my breakfast and get back to my room pronto.
    “ ... and he says to me, ‘Gilly’, ye gotta stop with the ... ”
    I cut her off.   “I’ve got to go eat now, Gilly.   Enjoy your ... truffles.”
    I walked away as she ignored my departure and continued talking to whoever walked up to the buffet behind me.
    “Who was that?” asked Spike with a big grin on his face as I sat down.
    “That is Gilly.   She’s a gnome, and she eats dirty truffles and wears a mini-kilt that is waaaay to short in the back.   I suggest that you never look directly at her ass-end, as she is prone to bowing – and then bad things happen with the kilt I’d rather not talk about right now.”
    Everyone around me laughed, including one of the werewolves I remembered seeing last night standing next to hot werewolf guy – the one who had planned to eat Becky, Tony and me in the forest just a couple days before.   I pushed the thoughts of Tony away quickly before they could ruin my morning and thrust me back into the world of never ending sadness again.
    I looked over at Chase’s plate.   “Holy shit, Chase, no wonder you’re so huge.”   His plate had enough food for five people on it.   It even had some of the moving meat on it.   “Um, not sure if you realize it or not, but some of your meat is still alive.”
    Chase speared the squirming meat with his fork and stuck it in his mouth, watching all of us as he chewed.  
    We stared at him, both repulsed and curious about what was going to happen.  
    He swallowed, licked his lips and said, “Salty.”
    Finn and Spike started laughing loudly.   Becky smiled.   I just shivered.   I had to stop watching the others and just focus on finishing my sausage and eggs.   I poked my sausage a few times to make sure it was good and dead.
    “I see you like the angulas, Chase,” said Jared, sitting down next to him.
    Chase shrugged.
    “The tiny eel you just ate.   Angula.   They’re good.   A little salty for my taste.”
    “Oh, ugh!   Chase, you just ate a live eel,” I said, disgusted all over again.
    “No, it wasn’t alive, just moving as if it were,” explained Jared.   His explanation was a typical fae answer – clear as mud.  
    Whatever.   I didn’t feel like talking to him yet.   I guess I partially blamed him for Tony and me being apart right now.   Maybe if Jared had been honest from the start, Tony wouldn’t have felt so overwhelmed and ... I don’t know ... out of his element or whatever.
    “Come on, guys.   We have to go gift our brownies and get to training.”
    “Gift our what?” asked Finn.
    “You have to give a little token of your appreciation to the fae who will be cleaning your room and clothes and stuff.   There’s a basket of tokens over there on that table.”   Becky gestured to a wicker basket full of wrapped things.   They looked like candies.   “The brownies can’t touch that basket – it’s spelled – but we can.   We’re supposed to take one thing out per day and put it on the silver tray on our dressers.”
    “Spelled?   How’s it spelled?   B-A-S-K-E-T, right?” asked Finn, obviously confused.
    “No, goof, spelled as in ‘enchanted’ – a witch put a spell on it.”
    “Oh, okay.   Gotcha.   Whatever you say, boss,” said Finn, amiably.
    We all went over and grabbed a token.   Mine was wrapped in shiny, bright purple foil, about the size of a big gumball you can get from a machine at a pizza place for twenty-five