“Hello?” I called out, not wanting to spookanyone.
The shuffle of rubber soles had me jerking my face toward the back office. Emmy, one of the women who worked at the inn before it was annexed, froze on thethreshold.
“You’re stillhere?”
I’d imagined she’d handed in her letter of resignation after the night the Creeksarrived.
She crossed her arms nice and tight. “Are you expected?” Her tone was so sharp that both my eyebrows joltedup.
“You’re mad atme?”
“I’m mad at a lot of people and things right now.” We stared at each other in silence for a long beat. Then, “Are you one,too?”
The desire to shake my head almost won over my desire to confess the truth. “Yes.”
She shuddered, and the row of tiny silver hoops adorning the shell of one of her earsglittered.
I moved toward her, and her body seized. She even took a step back. She was afraid ofme?
“Why are you still workinghere?”
“Because I signed a contract.” Her gaze snapped to the entrance of the livingroom.
We were stillalone.
“Emmy, you’re not trapped, areyou?”
Her eyes gleamed with unshedtears.
“Are you?” I repeated a little moreinsistently.
“Michaels offered me twice what your uncle and aunt were paying, so I signed on the dotted line. Skylar, she said the new management gave her the creeps, so she didn’t renew her contract. After I found out—” Her voice cracked and then tapered off. “After I found out what you all were, I told Mr. Michaels I didn’t feel comfortable working here anymore. I told him I wouldn’t talk, but he said it was too late. He said I should’ve read the fine print better.” She sniffed. “You know what the fine print says? It says that if I leave my place of employment or speak about my new employers’ nature, I would be taken into the woods. Andnotfor a naturehike.”
Without even realizing it, I’d moved closer to the bell desk, closer to her. “They threatened yourlife?”
She nodded. “Along with the lives of everyone I hold dear.” She snorted. “Serves me right for not listening to mywife.”
“Have they hurtyou?”
“No. As long as I make up their rooms and clean their clothes and pick up their dirty dishes, no one bothersme.”
I rounded the belldesk.
She uncrossed her arms and shot out her palm. “Don’t come anycloser.”
“Emmy! I’m not like them. You don’t have to be scared ofme.”
“You just said you were one ofthem.”
“Just because I can shift doesn’t mean I’m likethem.”
“That’s exactly what itmeans.”
I sensed there was no reasoning with her. “How many humans workhere?”
“Four. But the other three are thrilled. I don’t think they’ve gone home once since thepackarrived. You should hear them talk. They’re all so freaking dazzled. Even your aunt. I swear. It’s disgusting how attentive she is to her newemployer.”
“Emmy!” The snap of a familiar nasal voice had me whirling around. “If you’re done gossiping, Linda could use some help setting outbreakfast.”
