Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

CHAPTER
11
On the thirteenth day of Wallace Price’s stay at Charon’s Crossing, two things
of note happened.
The first was unexpected.
The second was as well, though the chaos that followed could firmly be
placed upon Mei and no one could convince Wallace otherwise, even if it
was mostly his own fault.
Early morning. Alarm clocks would be going off soon, another day beginning
at the tea shop. Hugo and Mei were asleep.
And Wallace wished he was anywhere but where he was.
“Would you stop hitting me?” he snarled, rubbing his arm where he’d
been struck with the cane for what felt like the hundredth time.
“You’re not doing it right,” Nelson said. “You don’t seem like a man who
loves to fail, so why are you so good at it?”
Apollo woofed quietly as if in agreement, watching Wallace with a tilt to
his head, ears perked.
“I’m going to make myself a cane and then hit you with it. See how you
like it.”
“Oh, I’m so scared,” Nelson said. “Go ahead. Make a cane out of nothing.
It’d certainly be better than standing here waiting for you to figure out how to
change your clothes. At least something would happen that way.” He sighed
dramatically. “Such a waste. And here I was thinking you’d be different. I
guess the chair was just a fluke.”