"Hey, how did it go last night?" Carol asked. "I heard a lot went down.”
I sighed, suddenly feeling more somber. "It’s a long story. I'll fill you in once Deva gets here."
"Fair enough." She sipped her coffee, her gaze drifting to where Rose was now laughing at something Michael had said.
Time ticked by. Rose brought out my coffee and water. Carol and I chatted about how her business, Yarns and Yards,was going. Hazel, the ninety-three-year-old woman who worked for Carol, continued to be both a blessing and a curse.
"A lady tried to buy a nice quality of yarn for ‘her cat to play with’ and Hazel just about threw her out the door. But at the same time, a group of teens have gotten really into knitting, and they seem to find Hazel to be an amazing resource. They keep showing up just to pick her brain and get help with their current projects. She huffs a bit about it, but clearly loves every second of it.”
I took another sip of my coffee. "That’s amazing. It sounds like she’s worth taking the good with the bad.”
"Oh, definitely.”
We didn't have to wait long before Deva emerged from the doors leading to the back, holding three plates piled high with food. Her presence seemed to quiet the room, even if just a bit. Setting down the plates, she slid into the booth beside Carol. "Hope you're hungry." Deva pushed one of the plates toward me.
"Starving," I admitted, the sight of bacon and biscuits momentarily distracting me from last night's revelations.
We ate in silence for a moment, the only sounds being the clink of cutlery and the chatter of the front-of-house customers. It was strange that just a short time ago this place had caught fire, and now it was back to being a pillar of the community. A place people could go to in order to connect.
"Rose and Michael seem close." I nodded subtly in their direction.
Deva chuckled. "Those two? It's been brewing since the holiday party."
"Good for them." Carol watched the pair banter through the pass-through.
Deva set down her fork, lifting a brow, her dark eyes curious. "So, are you going to tell us what happened?”
I took a deep breath, the warmth of the restaurant soothing my tense muscles. "Okay, so about last night..." I dove into the details. Deva and Carol would have insights, or at least a listening ear.
As I finished, Carol's fork clattered against her plate, eyes wide as saucers. "Holy crap." She blinked rapidly, processing the information.
"Yep." I fiddled with the napkin in my lap. "Beth and Wade have been up all night treating her."
"Is she... I mean, will she be okay?" Carol leaned forward.
"Looks like it." I tried to offer a comforting smile. "They're pretty sure she'll pull through. They want to talk to her when she wakes up, to see if she can tell us anything."
"Talk to a unicorn..." Deva murmured, almost to herself, her mind evidently racing with the implications. "This is... wow." Her gaze drifted off, likely imagining the scene at the psych office, the mysterious creature lying there amidst the familiar setting.
"Wow indeed." It wasn’t every day that mythology walked into your workplace, after all.
"Enough about unicorns, though it may be related," I said, as Rose came and refilled all our coffees. "We've got another issue on our hands, the werewolf case."
"Right," Carol said, picking up her mug. "What's the latest?"
"Beth is trying to catch a few hours of sleep this morning." I sipped my own warm coffee and relished the bitterness. "As far as we know, there are only two werewolves in Mystic Hollow. We visited Andrew already.”
"Oh, Andrew had nothing to do with this,” Deva said, with a wave of her hand.
"Absolutely not,” Carol said. "He and his husband come into the store all the time, and they’re an absolute delight.”
"We figured that out,” I said with a smile. "But we're planning to visit the other werewolf later today. We need to see if he's involved."
"The other werewolf?" Deva raised an eyebrow, folding her arms as she leaned back in her chair.
"Yep." I nodded, pressing my lips together. "He could be connected to the recent attacks. It's a shot in the dark, but we’ve got to check all leads."
"Be careful," Carol warned quietly, a complete change from a minute ago when she was talking about Andrew. "Werewolves are unpredictable."
