Chapter 10 The Town Starts Watching

Bram had been working at the mayor's residence for three days now.

The window was fixed, the hinge was replaced, and the leak in the roof no longer dripped onto the desk. Simple work, all of it. What he couldn't stop noticing was the rhythm of the place.

Edric woke early, read through papers at the desk, went out into town, and came back with notes.

Lyra was there every day now, and the way Edric treated her was different from what Bram had seen from mayors before.

He didn't order her around, He asked her opinion, He listened when she spoke, neither did he argue when she corrected him on something she knew better.

Garrick had fallen into a routine as well.

He was always there, always watching, always ready with whatever Edric needed.

Papers, reports, information that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Bram had been in Hollow Crest long enough to know when someone was being useful, and Garrick had become essential.

Bram was fixing a loose stair tread when he heard voices from the office. He paused, his hammer in his hand, the wood half-secured.

"The arrangement isn't random," Lyra was saying. "Someone placed those fragments deliberately."

"Perrin thinks Marlow knows," Edric replied. "He's been on the council for thirty years. He was there from the beginning."

"Then why hasn't he done anything? Why wait?"

"Because he's patient. He's been waiting a long time. Perrin said it himself."

Bram moved away from the door, his work forgotten for a moment.

Marlow, the quiet one on the council.

The one who never spoke much but always seemed to be present.

Bram had never thought much about him before, but now he couldn't stop.

He finished the stair tread and tested it with his weight which was solid.

He gathered his tools and moved to the next task, but his mind stayed on what he'd overheard.

Later that afternoon, Bram walked through the lower district on an errand.

The streets were quiet, the usual chill in the air. He passed a coal store where a group of workers were standing outside, their breath fogging in the cold.

One of them was holding a notice.

"Another one," the worker said, shaking his head.

"What's it say?" another asked.

"Open town meeting. Next week." The worker read from the paper. "Says he wants to hear from the residents."

"He's actually serious about that?"

"Seems like it."

"I don't know." The first worker folded the notice and stuffed it in his pocket.

"The last mayor made promises. This one's just asking questions. I don't know which is worse."

"He's been going into Shaft Seven at night," another worker said quietly. "My cousin saw him. Him and the girl."

"That's Lyra Venn. The mechanic."

"She's the one they locked up."

"They let her out. He let her out."

The first worker shook his head. "That's what I'm saying. He's different. He does things."

"And you think that's good?"

"I think it's better than nothing."

Bram kept walking, but the words stuck with him.

A man who asks the right questions before making promises might be exactly what this town needed.

He wasn't sure the town knew that yet, or if he knew it yet. But he was starting to wonder.

He thought about the way Edric had looked at him when he offered the job. Not like he was being used, but like he was being seen.

Like Edric actually wanted to know what he thought about things, not just what he could do with his hands.

Bram wasn't used to that, Most people in Hollow Crest only cared about what you could do for them.

At the inn on the east road, Bram noticed the Blackwater Ridge man again.

He'd been there for days now, always present, always watching.

He didn't seem to do much, just sat in the common room and listened.

Bram had seen men like him before. He was doing his job and can't leave until their job was done.

The innkeeper caught Bram's eye and nodded toward the stranger. "He's been asking about you," the innkeeper said quietly.

"About me?"

"Wanted to know who's been working at the mayor's residence. What you've been fixing. How long you've been there."

Bram felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cold. "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing. I don't know anything." The innkeeper shrugged. "But he's been watching. He's been watching everyone."

Bram nodded slowly and left the inn. He thought about what Edric had said about the town being murdered, the population countdown, the mining rights transfer.

The walk home felt longer than usual. Bram passed the darkened houses where families used to live, families that had packed up and left when the mines started failing.

He passed the church where the bells hadn't rung in months. He passed the boarded-up storefronts that used to sell food and tools and hope.

The town was shrinking, and everyone could feel it.

He reached his house and stood outside for a moment, his breath fogging in the cold air.

He looked back toward the center of town, toward the residence where Edric and Lyra were still working.

He could see a faint glow in the window. They were still at it. Still asking questions. Still refusing to let the town die.

He opened his door and stepped inside. The fire had gone out hours ago, and the room was cold.

He set his tools down by the door and lit a candle, watching the flame catch and grow.

The light pushed back the shadows just enough for him to see the familiar shapes of his small home, the table where he ate.

The chair where he sat. The shelf where he kept his father's old tools.

He sat down and stared at the flame, letting his mind wander. The workers at the coal store had been afraid.

He could hear it in their voices, the way they talked about Edric like he was something they didn't understand.

They'd been hurt before, how they'd been promised things before, they'd watched mayors come and go, and nothing ever changed. Bram understood that fear. He felt it too.

But he also felt something else.

Something that had been growing since he'd started working at the residence. Edric didn't just make promises, he's a listener.

He treated Lyra like she mattered, he treated Bram like he mattered. And that was different. That was new.

He blew out the candle and sat in the darkness. He'd show up tomorrow. He'd keep showing up, And he'd see what Edric Hale was really building.