That definitely wasn’t an option. There was no way of knowing if Mike had caught onto us and was watching her. Maybe it was my paranoia talking, but I always had the feeling that Mike knew I was seeing Wendy again.
I didn’t know what else to do, though. A hundred dollars wasn’t going to be able to get me to San Francisco even if Peephadbeen running.
As my fingers hovered over the number of my phone, I tried in vain not to spiral into an anxiety attack.
Then my eyes caught on one of the fliers pinned to the bulletin board.
It was a picture of a brick wall with a neon sign proclaiming it as ‘MONSTROUS INK,’ underneath in big letters was: ‘LOOKING FOR CAPABLE RECEPTIONIST - IF YOU’RE WEIRD DON’T APPLY.’
I wasn’t sure what constituted ‘weird’ in a town primarily made up of supernatural creatures, but it felt like serendipity that I would notice the posting just as I had started to panic.
Glancing down at the address, I realized that the shop was also on the Wharf, so I wouldn’t need to walk that far to get to it.
Downing the rest of my quickly cooling coffee, I typed out another message to Wendy.
‘GONNA GET A JOB,’I wrote, sending it off.
My phone buzzed almost immediately.‘WHERE? HOW? DAPHNE.’
I didn’t want to tell her until I managed to secure the job. It had been ages since I worked any job, let alone as a receptionist. So, I ignored the text and dropped my empty mug off at the counter.
“Can you tell me how to get to the Monstrous Ink tattoo parlor?” I asked the lizard man, hoping he knew of it.
His yellow eyes seemed to twist and dilate as he stared down at me, sizing me up. “It’s at the end of the Wharf. You can’t miss it,” he finally said, coming to some kind of a conclusion about me.
“Thanks,” I shouldered my bag and offered the shop owner one last wave as I stepped back onto the bustling Wharf.
It was even busier now that it was firmly lunch time. A little boy with horns ran past me, a cotton candy clutched in one clawed hand as he squealed about the carousel.
I dodged differently sized monsters who, for the most part, paid me no mind. Ducking under the arm of what I was pretty sure was a golem, I hurried as fast as my feet could carry me to the end.
Finally, after what seemed like hundreds of shops, my eyes saw a purple neon sign hanging in front of a completely black building.
Monstrous Ink Tattoo Parlor.
It looked strange amongst all of the other brightly colored buildings, like the one goth sibling in a family full of preps.
Most people passed by it without a second glance, but as I stood staring up at it, I felt a little bit nervous.
I couldn’t use my old work history from college. Mina had worked those jobs, not Daphne. I was hoping that I came off capable enough that they could ignore some of the things about me that didn’t add up.
Pulling the door open, I winced when the bell above the door tinkled, announcing my entrance.
The front area of the shop was small. A couple of chairs lined the shop window that looked out onto the wharf and art lined the black walls, pasted into almost a collage.
A large receptionist desk took up most of the space and even from my vantage point by the door I could tell it was a complete disaster.
There was an open doorway with a purple beaded curtain hanging down from it, swaying in the breeze I’d just created by coming inside. It led off into a long hallway, shadowed with darkness.
Swallowing the sudden lump in my throat, I waited a minute, and then another, for someone to come.
A shiny silver bell sat on the top part of the desk with a note next to it that said‘ring for service.’
Not wanting to be annoying to whoever was in the back, I stood awkwardly for much longer than I needed to until, finally, I tapped the bell with a sweaty hand.
Nothing.
After another couple of minutes I was about to turn and walk right back out of the shop. But Peep needed to be fixed and I needed money. I wasn’t sure about the other places on the Wharf, but if anyone wasn’t going to eyeball me too closely it would be a tattoo shop, right?
