“Suggestive? Rude? Ostentatious?” Luc was happy about that, too. That statue made him cringe, which was why he never went down to the front desk for anything.
“A bit over the top,” Nic agreed. “Good advertising material, but probably not the sort of thing that would make our mate feel comfortable.”
He’s trying,Luc realized with relief.Nic’s trying.“You grab the computer, I’ll call our pilot and tell him there’s been a change of plans.”
Chapter Five
Sage
Sage smiled automatically as George held the door open for him. It was ten to eleven, and Sage had had a disjointed sleep. He’d forgotten to put his phone on silent when he’d gone to bed about nine o’clock in the morning, and his phone started ringing about lunchtime. It didn’t stop until he answered it.
Determined to put the thoughts of the ugly conversations he’d had with his parents out of his mind, it took Sage a moment to realize the massive statues of Nic and Luc were missing. He had to look twice, although they were hardly something that could be missed. They definitely weren’t there, and they weren’t evident anywhere else in the lobby.
“Evening, Barry,” Sage said, hurrying over to the desk. “Is everything all right? Did something happen here today? Is the lobby being renovated over the holiday period?” He waved at the spot where the statues had sat. Someone had put a large empty flowerpot in the space as if to make up for them, but Sage could still see the indents in the carpet where the statues had been.
“Evening, Sage, I am really glad you are here,” Barry said, looking up from the computer screen. “Er…yes, there have been a few changes, but look, I need to ask you something important. When Marty showed you through everything on your first night, did he take the time to walk you through your employment forms? I was a bit worried, because I’m not seeing them on the computer.”
“Er…er…”
Clearly seeing his shock, Barry laughed and ran his hand through his dark hair. “Sorry, that was probably a bit abrupt. It’s just been one of those days. Not many check-ins, thank goodness– when the hotel is full, that’s always a positive. But the bosses arrived back unexpectedly and there seems to be some issues with some of the employment records. Nic and Luc are checking in with every department.”
“They’re here? In the hotel?” Sage’s heart started beating much like he would imagine a startled rabbit’s would. What was worse, Barry was paranormal, so he could probably tell. Sage tried to control his breathing in an effort to slow his heart rate. “It’s only the twenty-ninth. I didn’t think they were due back until the thirty-first.”Marty promised me.
“This is totally out of character for our resident krakens,” Barry agreed. “None of us knew about it. They are always away from Christmas Eve until New Year’s Eve – it’s the one major vacation from our benevolent overlords the staff can rely on.” He chuckled. “It’s caught us all on the hop, not that it’s a bad thing. Just unexpected.
“Anyway, that’s why I was asking you about the employment forms. Apparently, Nic and Luc have been around every department in the hotel, demanding to know if anybody has been employed temporarily to help cover staff vacations.” Barry’s mouth snapped shut, and then he looked to one side and then down at the desk. “They were specifically looking for humans, and I immediately thought of you,” he said almost apologetically. “I’m not sure there are many humans on staff, if any.”
“Oh, my goodness, do you know why they’re looking?” Sage immediately started worrying about his friend. “Is Marty in trouble? Wasn’t he allowed to suggest me for this position? It’s only for five nights, and he said he’d asked everyone else he could think of before getting in touch with me.”
Sage had another concern. “Didn’t he tell you I was a non-para when he suggested me for the temp work? My goodness. Did you want me to leave? Am I even allowed in the building?”
Barry smirked. “Non-para, yes. I can understand why you don’t use the term human. Some paranormals can be a bit uppity when they come across non-paranormal people. I’ll apologize now, if any of my kind have treated you in that way.”
That was unexpected. Sage frowned. “You’ve been nice to me, although I don’t know what type of paranormal you are, so it’s not like I can say the same about anyone else like you. I never thought it was my business to ask about a person’s species designation, and if paranormals are rude to me for whatever reason…well, that’s just people being people. It happens just as often among non-paras, too. I don’t think species has much to do with it.”
“I wish more people felt the same way,” Barry said, nodding. “I’m a cat shifter – jaguar if you’re interested. You prefer the term non-paranormal?”
“Yes, purely and simply because for some reason those people who are just being mean seem to use the term human as a slur. They can’t get the same amount of sneer when they say non-paranormal.” Sage shrugged. His cheeks were getting warm. “It’s probably silly, but it’s just something I’ve always done.”
Then he had another thought. Honestly, his brain was bouncing about like a yo-yo – nothing like his normal state at all. “Back to this employment issue though, you said the owners were looking for human records specifically? I remember reading an article quite some time ago about the owners of this place who apparently objected to having humans in their hotel.”
He clutched his backpack more firmly to his chest. “Do I need to leave before the five nights are up? What will happen to Marty?This isn’t his fault. I don’t want him to lose his job – he loves working here. I don’t think he even sees me as non-paranormal because we’ve been friends for so long.”
“Please don’t worry,” Barry said quickly. “It’s nothing like that. That article is old news and has been debunked a dozen times. It’s just that Marty was supposed to get you to fill in a whole stack of forms so that you can be covered by the hotel’s insurance, and so that you’ll get paid when you finish doing your shifts. It’s not very fair if you don’t get paid for all the hours you’ve been putting in and the good job you’ve been doing.”
“I’m not sure about the doing a good job part.” Sage caught his lower lip in his teeth and then quickly stopped what was a nervous habit. “Did Mr. Diamant get in touch today? He said he was going to file a complaint with you and the hotel owners about me.”My gods, maybe that’s why the bosses are looking for me. Maybe Mr. Diamant knew I was human somehow.
But Barry laughed. “Mr. Diamant is known for his complaints, and yes, he was on the phone this morning ranting about how you wouldn’t give him a room in a fully booked hotel. Don’t worry about him getting in touch with Nic and Luc – he doesn’t have their number, and they wouldn’t listen to him anyway, especially if he was grumbling about something happening at the hotel or the staff.
“It’s just something Diamant does every year. He gets an invite to the bosses’ party – goodness knows why - and suddenly thinks that makes him special. In reality, he's just one of the two hundred and fifty other guests the bosses invite every year.”
“Okay,” Sage said slowly. “Well…that’s…I’m glad about that. I couldn’t do anything about the hotel being full. I did fill out the papers that first night with Marty. He said he was going to give them to you…”
Then Sage remembered. “Marty put them in a drawer for safe keeping.” He didn’t think Barry needed to know Sage had been trying to get them back at the time. Working at the hotel really hadn’t been that bad.
“That one, I think,” he added, pointing to the drawer under the counter. “Marty locked it when he put the papers in there and I don’t have keys, so I assume they’re still in there. Marty said he was going to give them to you before he left for his family time. Didn’t he do it?”
“No, but that’s not unusual for Marty.” Barry unclipped a large group of keys from his belt loop. Reaching down, he unlocked the drawer, and Sage saw his papers sitting on top of a pile of other papers.
