Crystal walked in with a white mug of tea wearing the classiest cream pajama set and smiled. "Where is Carol?"
They looked around.
"She checked in. We gave her her own room," Tilly said with a furrowed brow. "Maybe she wants some alone time?"
Jen pushed herself up from the floor and set her tea down. "Screw that."
"Jen," Tilly and Kelsea warned.
Jen turned to them and put her hands on her hips. She was wearing a cranberry red satin pajama shorts set that showed off her spectacular legs. "That woman is staring down the barrel of shame. And frankly, we can be a lot. So, I will be a lot of gentle and good as a new friend."
Kelsea and Tilly took on a look of being chastised and looked at each other before Tilly asked Jen, "A gentle and good friend to the woman who tried to ruin our reputation?"
Jen sighed. "The woman just experienced some serious female bonding. Sisterhood. The kind that binds souls and creates lifelong ride-or-dies. If we let her into that fold then we have to invite her into our space and give her the chance to experience it all. Including damn sleepytime tea and scones in a room that looks like American Girl Doll was born from. Plus, she helped us in a big way."
Crystal smiled into her tea.
Tilly smiled wide. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
Jen gave her a sassy look. "You have not."
"I'll be sure to work on that more," she replied and cheersed her mug of tea.
But before Jen could go find Carol they saw the journalist peek her head from around the wall, wearing thick black glasses that gave her face a cute scholarly look, in pajamas with cherries on them. She looked unsure. It was mind-altering to see someonewho their previous experience with had been nothing but bold, loud and uncaring showing up in a state of vulnerability.
"Hey," she said. Even her voice was soft.
Jen turned and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to her side and into full view of the room where everyone was in various states of lounging. Carol looked awkward and stiff against Jen's tall intensity.
"Welcome to our weird little group. You want a couch that looks like it ate a garden twenty years ago or the floor? I'll go grab you some tea. You a chamomile girl or are you feeling mint?"
Carol, who looked much like a frightened animal, took stock of the room and finding it friendly relaxed the slightest. "Mint. Though I heard you mention sleepytime and that's my favorite."
Jen pointed at her. "You got it. Go relax. They don't bite."
Crystal patted the striped seat cushion next to where she was sitting. "Come here, darling. Grab a scone."
Once she was seated, Kelsea asked the group, "Do you think Ursula is doing okay? I don't feel great about leaving her there."
"She needs to be near her friend, honey. Being here with us wouldn't have felt great for her," Crystal said. Jen was back with tea for Carol and then she sat on the floor in front of a no-longer functioning fireplace.
"Okay, but what do you guys think is happening at the house right now?"
All eyes looked around at each other, uncertainty painting faces.
Then small smiles of hope and mischief were shared.
"What's going on?" Carol asked. Then their festivities at the graveyard came back to her. "Oh, right. Our uh, the..." she wiggled the fingers of her left hand, worry clouding her face and voice.
"Our hex," Kelsea said for her.
"Our lovely little trap," Jen added.
"Let's see what she thinks about us being silly and sad now," Tilly said into her cup.
Twelve minutes from The Crescent Inn, where five women were sleeping soundly, Cassidy made her move through darkness. She'd waited all day, as dark magic preferred the still of night.
Eight invisible souls flanked the woman who could not sense their presence and would have taken pause if she could. She would not find a friend among these souls.
