“Hey girlie,” I said as softly as I could, not wanting her to feel like her neighbors were listening in. “Would you mind if we came in?”
“Naomi?”
“Yup! It’s me. And, uh, Rowan is here too.”
“What are you doing here?”
“If it’s a bad time, I can go, but when you weren’t answering messages, I got a bit worried. Not like you, ya know? Are you okay, Carolina? You can tell me, honestly. It’s okay to not be.”
There was a long silence, and I grew even more concerned as I heard her heartbeat increase in rhythm rather than slow down.
“Carolina,” I said, using her real name again because Tweety didn’t feel right in this situation. “Are you safe? Is someone in there with you?”
“I, uh, no… I’m…” She heaved a sigh that was so heavy that I felt its weight through the door. “It’s embarrassing.”
I put my hand against the plywood separating us as if she could feel it. “Hey, that’s okay. Whatever’s going on, we’re here to help. And if you don’t want Rowan to come in, he’ll wait in the car. You’re my best friend in the world, Carolina, so whatever is going on, I wanna help you.”
“It’s stupid.”
God, she sounded miserable and angry with herself. I wasn’t used to my friend talking like that, and it made my need to get in all the more urgent.
I wasn’t an alpha, what with being a latent shifter and all, but maybe I should have been, because when it came to protecting my people, there was nothing I wouldn’t do, no line I wouldn’t cross, no door I wouldn’t kick down. If Carolina needed me to scrub her entire place with a toothbrush because she was having some sort of germophobic crisis, I would. I’d also help her find a professional who could help her with everything else.
“I’m sure it’s not. And even if it is, can it be any more stupid than the time I mixed up those dachshunds during my first month going independent and the clients had to call me only to find out the other clients hadn’t noticed yet and were on the way to the airport with their dog, so you had to navigate over the phone for me while I used an electric scooter to catch them?”
“I… okay, that was pretty stupid. They weren’t even the right color.”
“Exactly. And you helped me through that. So it’s only fair I help you now on whatever is going on.”
“O-okay,” she agreed shakily, but the door still didn’t open. “It’s bad in here.”
“That’s perfectly fine,” Rowan said in that soothing voice of his. I got the impression he was reminding Tweety he was there, in case she’d forgotten. After all, she still hadn’t given direct permission for him to enter. “I can even help clean while you and Naomi have some girl time.”
Another painfully long pause, and although I wanted desperately to kick down the door, I didn’t. This wasn’t like Rowan’s situation, where he was in mortal danger. This was something more delicate.
But God, I was glad I was there.
Finally, the door cracked, and I was able to see my friend. Whatever was going on, she definitely hadn’t been preening because her blonde hair was mattedandfrizzy around her head with little ungroomed pin-feathers sticking out, and the soft down on her cheekbones, ears, and décolletage was visibly greasy and sticking to her olive skin.
“Hi, Naomi,” she whispered through the crack, sounding like she was holding back a sob. And if that didn’t just make my own tears rise in response. Instantly, I had a hand through the door. Not invading, but offering it through the gap like a lifeline.
All she had to do was grasp it.
“I’m here for you, Carolina. No matter what.”
There was a creaky sort of nod and then the door opened the rest of the way for us to slip in, the harpy closing it firmly behind us. I was expecting all sorts of strange situations inside, from biohazard to hoarder-level of clutter, but that wasn’t what was waiting.
No, instead it was dark.Reallydark. The only illumination seemed to be coming from outside, streetlights and whatnot vaguely managing to make it through the windows. And it washottoo. Not as hot as the day, but just about as sweltering as one would expect an apartment baked in the summer sun with wind access from only a single side to be.
“Uh, do you want me to turn on the lights?” I asked cautiously, wondering if this was some last resistance to stop us from seeing what she was so embarrassed about.
“You can’t.”
“Um, I have my phone flashlight, I’m sure I can find the switch if you don’t know where it is.”
“No, I mean youcan’t.”
I sent my friend a quizzical look that I knew her sharp eyes could see. “Carolina, what do you mean by that?”
