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“A-hem!”
Habibi yelped with a start and slammed the human’s locker door shut in the process. On the other side of it were his teammates, Chéri and Záchari, trying to suppress their giggling. Behind them, King floated with his arms folded and his face host to a most disapproving look. He shifted his gaze to the incriminating evidence in Habibi’s paw.
“Okay, I’m caught,” he said, holding up the sock he had just pilfered from his prospective human. His face took on an I-dare-you look that was kind of his trademark. “Bust me.”
“Must you be so childish?” King asked.
Habibi looked as if he were seriously considering the question for a moment, then nodded. His tart expression remained in place. “Yes, I must. A faerie’s gotta get his kicks where he can with this job.”
King clucked his tongue in disappointment and shook his head.
Habibi looked at the sock, then his eyebrows went down. “You snitched on me, didn’t you Chéri?” he accused as his head popped up and his smirk sharpened into a glare.
Chéri held up his paws. “I did no such thing!”
“He didn’t,” Záchari said, trying to disarm his brother.
Habibi turned his ire on the wolf. “So it was you, then?”
“Oh please!” groaned Záchari as he rolled his eyes. “You know me better than that!”
“All of you, be quiet!” King ordered. “The important question is not who, but why. Why are you doing this? And please give me an answer that doesn’t involve something wholly selfish on your part, Habibi!”
“I’m testing him to see how attentive he is,” huffed the little fox. “And also to see how he responds to minor inconveniences.”
“And?” King asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Luckily, he’s the kind of guy who has no qualms about wearing two different socks,” Habibi answered. “Of course, he’s getting annoyed, which doesn’t speak well of his patience. But he does notice it every time and it makes him more determined to get to the bottom of the problem. That speaks volumes about his level of passion, believe it or not. So to test it even further, I thought I’d try taking them from his locker here at Cabaret Bara a few times to see what he would do.”
“And?” King’s tone was harsher.
Habibi snarled at him. “And he’s also not shy about wearing one sock home either,” he shot back. “It is pissing him off though, and he’s beginning to wonder what magical trick he has to do to make it stop.”
“Well, it sounds like you’ve collected enough data,” King said coolly. “You can put that one back and start thinking about how you are going to reveal yourself to him now, can’t you?”
Habibi smirked again. “I can see from the look on your face that there’s a correct answer to that question. So yes, I can.”
“Very good,” King said with a nod that closed the matter as far as he was concerned. “Now let’s please return to our trinket forms before the humans’ shift is over and they come back to clean up and go home!”
He flew off and vanished into Alek’s locker. There was a quick flash of yellow-gold light. Habibi scowled after him.
“Killjoy!” he grumbled.
“It wasn’t me who told him,” Chéri insisted. “I promise.”
Habibi looked into Chéri’s cerulean eyes and sighed. “Fine, I believe you. Feel better now?”
“You shouldn’t have accused me in the first place.”
“I said I believe you, Chéri!” Habibi cried. “What more do you want from me?”
“Both of you cool it,” Záchari said, twisting his lollipop. He gazed at the wall opposite him, a gimmmer of intensity shining in his yellow eyes. “This is why I prefer to work alone.”
“Prefer to work alone…” Habibi mimicked as he opened up the human’s locker and tossed the sock back into it. He looked pained to do it. A moment later his brow darkened. “What are you two doing here anyway?” he demanded.
“Our humans work here!” Chéri said in a tone of voice that also communicated his wish that Habibi would wise up. “So does yours!”
“No no no,” Habibi said, waving his paw impatiently. “You two were laughing when King was yelling at me.”
“We were laughing because we were having fun watching you do it,” Záchari told him. There was an edge to his voice. “King caught us too, you know! And I’m sure he’s going to give us an earful about it later!”
“And to be truthful,” interjected Chéri, “I was dying to see what you did with them after you took them!”
Habibi’s features softened as he absorbed his compadres’ words. Then a slow sneaky smile appeared on his face. “You wanna see?”
Both Chéri’s grins and Záchari’s matched Habibi’s as they nodded. Habibi flew to the locker at the end of the bank, lifted the handle, and opened it. Inside was a good-sized hill of mismatched socks. Chéri and Záchari took one look and burst into peals of laughter.
“I’ve been hiding in here with them,” he told them with a small air of pride. “You know… kinda waiting to see if he’d check around somewhere else in here for them. That was going to be my ultimate test! If he found them, he would have also found me.”
“That’s genius!” Chéri cried, clapping his paws together. “Diabolical, but genius!”
“Guess these are now going to Xerxes for his collection,” Záchari said, getting his laughter under control.
“That poor kid,” Habibi said, shaking his head. “He still thinks there’s a magical land of mismatched socks that these are coming from. I guess these will make him happy.”
“No, don’t do it!”
Both Záchari and Habibi turned to Chéri, looking a bit surprised.
“Huh?”
“Stick with your plan,” Chéri said with a wink. “It’s brilliant!”
Habibi’s sly grin resurfaced. “You know what, kid? For all your seriousness, you can be pretty cool sometimes. I’m beginning to like you better.”