Page 104 of (Mostly) Human Resources

Herself?

“Alexys?”

As far as actual creatures, she’d only encountered a few. It was the people, they were therealmonsters. But how was she supposed to tell Kristin that?

It was easy to describe the horrors of the Jackalope’s cruel vocal mimicry or the Hollow Walker’s moaning corpse, but the peoplescared her so much more. The witch in the woods that fed beasts and stole bones. The devil in a suit that traded lives with careless ease. The young boy trapped in an endless cycle of loneliness and fear.

The woman who sacrificedeight peoplefor the sake of one. The woman whose carelessness cost a young man his life. The woman whose hands were stained with blood. So much blood that it …

“Alexys?”

Her head jerked up.

Kristin stared back at her with so much pity it made her nauseous. It wasn’t unkind, but Alexys hated how it made her feel. “Do you need a minute,” Kristin asked, “or some water?”

“No, I’m fine. Thank you.” Alexys rubbed her eyes and tried to focus on the present. Tried to ignore the acrid stench of copper lingering in her nose. She took a sip of her coffee. It had grown cold. “You asked about the creatures we encountered?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Kristin gave her a lingering, unreadable look but returned to the report. “Just names are fine. The R&C team can fill in the details with their follow-up report.”

Alexys choked down her fear and managed to list off the different supernatural creatures she’d seen on the trip: Jackalopes, the Hollow Walker, a Black Dog, and a Haint.

With each one added to the list, Kristin’s frown deepened until she was all but scowling at her computer. Her fingertips thumped aggressively on the keyboard as she typed.

“The fact that so many of these things are running around unchecked,” she grumbled to herself. “They need to be screening candidates more thoroughly. Not everyone is cut out to be a Warden, and most of them need far more training than they receive.”

Alexys couldn’t agree more. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes.

“They found him, didn’t they?” Alexys couldn’t help but ask, even if Kristin wasn’t able to tell her. “I just … It was him, right? They found him?”

Kristin hesitated. Alexys could see the conflict warring in her expression, the rule-abiding indecision that finally broke into acquiescence.

“Yes,” she answered softly. “They found Elliot.”

The dam burst. Tears broke free, Alexys’s chest shuddered, and her breath slipped out in a ragged gasp. She was relieved, so completely overcome with relief that it left room for nothing else. There was only white noise, tears, and the repetition ofthank Godover and over in her mind.

They found him. She went to hell and back to try and bring Elliot home, and they had brought him back. It wasn’t how she’d wanted it to be, but it was better than thinking about him being up there, alone, tucked beneath that godforsaken mountain. That was the most she could hope for.

Kristin offered her the box of tissues. It wasn’t the first time she’d cried in her boss’s office, as embarrassing as it was.

“You did a good job, Alexys,” Kristin said. “Considering the circumstances.”

Then why is he dead, Alexys wanted to ask. Why was Elliot dead while she sat in that office and explained all the ways she hadn’t been able to find him in time? Hadn’t been able to save him?

Instead, Alexys asked, “Will I be fired?”

Kristin laughed. “Fired? Why would I fire you?”

She shrugged helplessly. “I lost an employee, went off the grid trying to rescue him and got some people killed. Plural.” Her hands tightened around her coffee. Her shaking fingers leached whatever warmth was left from the cup. “Feels like at least one of those would be a fire-able offense.”

“Normally it would be.” Kristin scowled. “Truthfully, Alexys, things could have been handled differently,shouldhave been. But I know you already know that. And I’m sure you’ve already punished yourself enough.”

Alexys nodded, a horrible combination of embarrassment and misery rushing through her. Her eyes burned with new tears, and she tried to hide them behind her coffee cup as she took another sip of the unappetizing, cold liquid.

“That said, an exception has been made,” Kristin added.

Alexys screwed her face up. “But why?”

“Because, despite the missteps and theclearbreak from protocol, the circumstances reallywereextenuating, and you did a surprisingly good job out there.”