“You have got way too much shit on your plate to even entertain that thought,” I muttered to myself, yanking the pile of files back in front of me and got back to work.
Between running away from Mike, being completely broke, trying to get my car fixed, and working for the first time in a long time… I had no room for anything else.
I just needed to keep my head down until I had Peep up and running again. Then I would leave Port Haven and everyone in it behind forever.
* * *
The shop was quiet by the time I flipped the sign on the door from open to closed.
It had taken most of the afternoon to deal with the Gorgons. They’d finally left a half hour before closing, their blonde haired, blue eyed glamours perfectly in place when they breezed back through the waiting room.
They didn’t even spare me a glance on their way out.
“Daphne,” Effie’s voice came from behind me, making me jump. “Sorry didn’t mean to scare you.”
After going back with Cash, Effie had argued loudly with one of the Gorgons before stomping up the stairs to her apartment and I hadn’t seen her since.
I didn’t say anything, waiting for her to go on.
“I was just going to say that you did a great job getting all of those files digitized. My tablet was dinging all afternoon as you submitted them,” Effie began, holding up her tablet. “And I was wondering if maybe you wanted to grab dinner? Just us girls?”
I wanted to say yes. Even two days in, it was clear that Effie would make a great friend to have and I found myself smiling more than I had in years when she would make jokes or gossip about people who I didn’t know.
With a sigh I shook my head. “I have something to do today, maybe another time?”
Effie seemed to deflate a little bit and I felt like I’d just kicked a puppy.
“Yeah, sure, next time.” Effie nodded, taking a step back so that I could grab my bag from behind the reception desk.
I shot her what I hoped was an apologetic smile before ducking out of the shop and into the bustling crowd of tourists.
Cash had told me to wait for him after work so that he could give me a ride back up to his farm, but after what happened earlier I was scared to even look at him.
“Mina!” An unfamiliar man’s voice filled my ears, causing me to freeze in my tracks.
The couple that had been walking closely behind me had to separate and jump out of the way so they didn’t collide into my back.
“Dude, you can’t just stop like that,” the guy grumbled, glaring at me as he grabbed his girlfriend’s hand again.
I was only briefly aware of the guy’s red tail lashing behind him as they continued on.
My brain was still stuck on the voice calling my old name.
“Mina, come back here!” the voice called again.
A shudder of fear vibrated down my spine.
Could I run? Not with how packed the Wharf was right now. I glanced left, and then right, trying to find a place to hide only to find nothing.
You should have just stayed in the shop and waited for Cash,my brain whispered unhelpfully as I willed my limbs to doanything.
Then, a little girl in a floral pink dress zoomed past me, throwing a cheeky grin over her shoulder. “You can’t catch me, Daddy!”
Squeezing my eyes shut I willed my clenched muscles to loosen.
“Gotcha, my little Mina Beana,” the original voice crowed.
When I opened my eyes again I found that the little girl had been scooped up into the arms of a horned man. The little girl had little horns too, I realized dazedly as I watched them walk away together.
