Page 5 of Demon and the Raven

“Sorry?”

“A place where you need to clock in, perhaps?”

I was supposed to be there at one, and it was currently five after. “Shit,” I groused, kissed her on the cheek, and was off.

“You would have been there already if you hadn’t nearly been killed!” she called after me, having to add some guilt to me already feeling bad. She was a mother, after all.

The good news was no one noticed I was late. Joanna Milton, the truly horrible woman who worked with me on the day shift at the library, had left precisely on time at one, with people at the counter, but there weren’t only the two of us during the day anymore. With more interest in all the historical happenings in Osprey from both locals and tourists alike, there needed to be more staff. One of the new hires was Danesha Stanek, a new resident of Osprey with her wife, Joelle, who was the new city manager, and their two sons. She worked the middle shift, from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon, so she could drop off her six- and eight-year-old in the morning and pick them up after school. So far, it was a perfect fit.

“Sorry I’m late,” I said, lifting the pass-through and then lowering it back into place so I could slip around the counter to help her with the small line.

“You’re fine,” she told me through clenched teeth.

After we got everyone checked out, I turned to her. “Why’re you grouchy?”

Her stare should have incinerated me. I smiled back, knowing it wasn’t meant for me.

“Seriously,” she snarled. “I’m a pacifist, but that woman—ohmygod, Xander, that woman could turn me into an axe-toting serial killer!”

“That’s a terrible thing to say about Nico,” I scolded her. Our colleague, and my friend, worked part-time. “You only have to see her on Tuesdays anyway, and you don’t even work on the weekends.”

“Xander!” she nearly yelled. “I am so not talking about Nico.”

I knew she wasn’t. “Shhhh,” I baited her. “This is a library.”

She glared harder.

“I’m sorry, are you speaking of Joanna?” I asked innocently, fluttering my lashes.

“Do not make me laugh.”

“Never,” I said, chuckling as she smiled back. “Now deep breath in.”

“Ugh.”

“Oh, come on, it’s funny.”

“What is?”

“That we have a troll working in the library of all places.”

“What the hell, Xander?”

I shook my head. “Listen, you have to understand she doesn’t just hate you, or all the kids who come here. She hates everyone equally.”

“I—”

“Don’t you feel better knowing that?”

“Xander!” she snapped. “How does she work here?”

“You mean, like, why is she still alive?” I asked playfully. “Because I think the answer to that is obvious, don’t you? She survives on hatred, plain and simple. How have you not picked up on that yet?”

“That’s not⁠—”

“And also, she’s been here the longest.”

“That’s not a good enough answer.”