Page 76 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
Merida turned around, ran backward and spelled, “She’s… odd.”
He slowed to a walk to watch her. “Clean sheets?” He obviously thought it was funny.
Merida did not want to go there. She spelled, “Probably some new wrapped slivers of soap, too.” She faced forward and took the right into Virtue Falls. They walked through little pocket neighborhoods, past tiny shotgun houses built in the thirties that were now worn from constant exposure to the winds off the ocean and the salt in the air.
“Soap would be good. Yesterday she forgot to leave towels. I had to call before I showered.” Exasperated, he asked, “What kind of maid forgets to leave towels?”
“As I said, odd. And not too bright. Don’t leave out any belongings you don’t want her to investigate.”
“Right. Thanks for the warning.”
As they got closer to the Good Knight Manor Bed and Breakfast, the houses got bigger and usually better kept. Although not always—there was that mansion behind the hedge next to the B and B…
She gave the place a wide berth, stepping into the street and tugging at his arm to steer him around.
“Is it haunted?” he asked. “That house? Is it supposed to be haunted?”
She looked skeptical.
“I wondered. At night, I’ve seen lights over there. Vagrants probably, rather than spooks.”
Sure. Vagrants. Good cover story.
“You going to partake of Phoebe’s excellent breakfast?”
Merida rolled her shoulders uncomfortably.
“Come on. I’m starving and if I go in by myself, Phoebe sits on one side and talks to me and that Palmer woman sits on the other side and talks to me. Phoebe chirps about everything being delightful and Lilith bitches about everything in Virtue Falls including the unceasing sound of the ocean. She seems to think it should be on a sound machine with an off switch.” He perfectly captured the two women’s personalities.
Merida signed, “Wow, you know how to sweet-talk a girl into getting your way.”
He waited.
“All right, I’ll come to breakfast.”
“And lunch.”
“And lunch. But in between, I have to work.”
His voice went from amused to grim. “So do I.”
She glanced at him.
Helookedgrim. Good. Maybe he sensed the shift in the ground beneath his feet, the violence of the oncoming earthquake, his inevitable destruction.
She hoped so. She hoped he had started to worry.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Kateri woke. She lay on her side. Her arm was asleep, dangling off the cot. Her mouth was dry and tasted like cotton.
All in all, she felt better.
She opened her eyes. She didn’t remember falling asleep, didn’t remember anything after promising Rainbow she would stay, but now she rested on a cot in Rainbow’s hospital room, a weight on her waist held her down, and if she was supposed to be keeping Rainbow company through the night, she had been a miserable failure.
“You awake?” Stag’s deep voice spoke in her ear; he was spooning her on the narrow cot. Nice. Comforting. Poor guy must be cramped as all hell. The weight at her waist—his arm—disappeared.
“Yes. Better.” She lifted herself onto her elbow and looked across at Rainbow—who was still unmoving, unconscious, barely breathing.
