Of course I knew that voice. I heard it every time something went bad at work. That voice narrated every embarrassing moment at school, every time my life was about to go from bad to worse.

Kim.

I looked past the big bodies of Smoulder and Charming. She left her group and the three of us watched her sashay toward the counter. Once she was right in front of us, she did her signature hip pop. She gave her head a tiny shake and her hair fell perfectly over her shoulder.

I have no idea how the men reacted because my eyes were too busy rolling in their sockets. But honestly, the hair control was impressive.

“A tour guide?” she asked with a big smile. “Her?” She looked over at her friends to include them, as if including them in on a joke.

Her small clique of social climbers, mostly from cadet branches of the high families, laughed obligingly.

“How much is she charging you?” Kim asked. Her tone had this perfect pitch of disdain. Like she was doing these guys a favor. Silly tourists. Let me save you from the grifty clutches of lowly clerks.

Smoulder looked… I don’t know. Politely impatient? But Charming was obviously intrigued. He kept his left elbow leaning on the counter, but rotated his body to take in more of Kim. Another amused smile formed on his face.

“How much is your tour?” he asked.

Kim grinned like she’d won. “Where do you want to go? And what kind of car are we driving?”

Won? If she wants to go into the forest with some strangers, be my guest. I decided to sit back and see how far down the idiot path she was going to go.

Charming said, “Well, what kind of car do we need?”

Kim shrugged. “It depends where you want to go. If you want just the city highlights, any car’s fine.  But it needs to fit…” she glanced back at her pack. Two of them raised hands. “The three of us plus you two.”

Ah. Smarter than I thought. Still risky. But not a total idiot.

Charming nodded. “What would you show us? Give me a sample itinerary and a price.”

Having to make up an itinerary on the spot obviously caught Kim off guard. At first, she’d probably just been doing this to mess with me. But now she wasn’t going to back down. Her eyes searched around Shay-D-Mart, her face exuding palpable relief when she saw the rack of tourist maps next to the cash register.

“Well, if it’s just in the city,” she said pretending to put a lot of thought into it, “a haunted buildings tour plus the town’s hot spots… a hundred bucks, plus you pay all the entry fees.”

Charming made a bored face. “What if I want something more interesting? Every place has a haunting.”

I expected Kim to come back with the truth. A haunted house isn’t so unusual, but every story behind the hauntings is unique. 

No answer. No comeback. Silence.

I bit back a grin.

“Hey, the springs are pretty nice,” said one of her pack. Kevin. Gangly and ostentatiously (and I use the word deliberately) spectacled. The extra-large tortoise frames scream gaudy and expensive. I know he doesn’t need them, so it’s a choice not a necessity.

 Charming didn’t give him a glance.

Smoulder noticed Kim’s attention on the counter. He turned around and plucked the Haunted Spots of Rivershade map off the rack. He looked at the price and pursed his lips. “I could just buy this map for $2.50.”

I found myself liking this guy for calling out Kim’s bullshit. I didn’t expect my reaction to his mouth. It was visceral. Made me think of things.

Kim didn’t even flinch. “Yeah, but you wouldn’t have local inside knowledge.”

Charming’s smile turned; the amusement shifted to a predator ready to play with its prey.  “Really? Tell us some secret knowledge about this place. Something that’s not on the map.”

My reaction to this smile was different. My gut clenched. I wanted to warn Kim. I don’t like her, but I don’t need a guilty conscious. Couldn’t she recognize the danger?

Kim laughed. Undaunted? Or oblivious? “We can go to the Siren. I know lots about her.”

I almost snorted. Every elementary school student endures a field trip to Rivershade’s horrifying version of the Little Mermaid, then revisits the horror with school reports. I reached over to the wire rack from which Smoulder had picked off the Haunted Places of Rivershade map and held up a book titled Complete Visual History of the Siren — basically a comic book edition. “Look! This is only three dollars.”

Kim glared.

I smiled back.

Normally I don’t mess with anybody’s money, but Kim’s rates were outrageous. She barely knows any local legends. And she looked determined to get in over her head.

Is that why I’m stuck at Shay-D-Mart? I have too much sense of self-preservation?

She tossed her head in the classic whatever shrug, then turned back to Charming; she was locked into him, dismissed Smoulder completely. “How long are you going to be here? I can take you to the next full moon party. It’s exclusive, but I have an invite.”

Charming shrugged nonchalantly. “So do we.”

Did they now?  How interesting.

This intrigued Kim, too. She gave the blond man a slow look, focusing, like I had, on the quality and fit of the clothes. The newness. Where I thought it looked like a new costume, Kim obviously read something different.

“What about the Squirrelman?” said Smoulder, holding up the keychain.

She laughed but didn’t bother looking away from Charming. “That doesn’t exist.”

It irritated me that Kim came in with her clique to rub it in my face that I missed my night’s investigation of the lights because she went to a party. It pissed me off that she inserted herself into a topic I love, with her arrogance and lack of knowledge. But mocking Squirrelman? She has no right.

At that point I was done with the whole thing. Let her go off and take her chances, and hopefully she doesn’t end up on the evening news. I’d wiggled my way out of dealing with these two.

Kim was probably proud of herself for stealing a job from me. Little did she know, I didn’t want it. If she wanted to go get herself murdered, better her than me.

But then she did the unforgivable.

She spied the salted caramel brownie. A sly smile formed on her face, and she snatched it up.

“You gotta pay for that,” I told her. I knew I should have hidden it.

She looked at the date and smirked, confirming it was fair game. “Not according to this expiry date. I’ll do you the favor and take it instead of you having to throw it out.”

Seriously, she needs to revisit the definition of favor.

She unwrapped it and took a bite.

I didn’t say anything, not wanting to give her ammunition that she’d annoyed me. I’d keep it a secret.

Well… probably not so secret. I’m sure my fury showed all over my face. Fifi would tell me to be grateful to Kim. She’d highly approve of Kim saving me from the calorie horrors contained in that slice of delicious heaven.

Kim took a big bite. She chewed slowly, moaning excessively. She licked her fingers, looking at me. Basically just making sure I was jealous.

“Ah, Max’s pastries are always so good,” she said with a smirk. “I could eat these every day, couldn’t you?”

That evil, brownie-stealing bitch.

She stared at me and took another bite — smaller — to eat it slower. Making my torture last longer.

She ate it because she knows it’s my favorite. She ate it so she could rub in my face that I can’t afford it.

It’s wasted on her. All that soul-healing goodness wasted because she doesn’t have a soul.

So, I made a bad decision.

I decided to take a hundred dollars out of her pocket. 

“I’ll guide you,” I said turning to the pair of men. “Come back tomorrow during the daytime and I’ll have an itinerary drawn up.”

“Well, what kind of credentials do you have?” Charming asked. His head tilted. His eyes twinkled with amusement.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Now he wanted credentials?

I guess I was talking about my projects after all. “I’ve got a website where you can check all the stuff I’ve been tracking. What are your credentials?”

“I’m writing a book.” He said smugly.

I rolled my eyes. Almost every cryptid hunter I’ve met was writing a book. 

“You’ll take us to the Siren?” Smoulder asked, taking my attention off his companion.

Kim laughed. “Yeah, that should be good. She hates the water.”

Smoulder looked at me, interested. “Really? Why?”

I rolled my shoulders and neck, and sighed. “I don’t hate the water.”

“The rocks around the Siren are slippery and covered with kelp. There are rogue waves sweeping the rocks all the time. It’s dangerous. If you fall in, it’s almost impossible to get enough leverage to get out of the water. People drown there every year. My advice? If you want to see the Siren up close, get a telephoto lens. But I can take you there.”

Smoulder nodded. “Makes sense.

Kim scoffed. She actually scoffed! Who scoffs? You know who scoffs? Evil, brownie-eating bitches!

“It sounds good,” she said, as if guiding someone away from a bad deal. “But I know for a fact that Bohdie believes all the lies… excuse me, the tales about the Sirens.”

Kim made air quotes. “If you go there on a full moon, you’ll get sucked into the water, or the Siren will call a rogue wave to sweep you into the ocean.”

I glared at Kim. “Maybe when I was six. We all did. I don’t think that now.”

I turned to Smoulder and Charming. “I think people who go out to Siren Rock mistake a lump of floating seaweed for someone drowning. Or maybe some fool imagines they spotted some Siren hair. They rush to check it out, slip and fall in.”

Kim smirked and tilted her head as if saying yeah, sure. Nice story.

 Charming hadn’t listened to my explanation at all. He was looking at my shirt. At my name tag — Barbara. His eyes were intense. I found myself taking a step back.

Then he turned his head, like a raven eyeing a small mouse. “Bodie? I thought your name was Barbara.”

Never show fear.

I rolled my eyes. “Of course it’s a fake. If you already know me, the tag doesn’t matter. If I don’t know you, you don’t need my real name.”

Kim’s posse had grown restless. Pauline, one of the cadet branches of the elite families, squealed when a message pinged her phone and everyone crowded around to see.

“We have an invite to The Ember,” she announced using the club’s nickname as if she were a regular. “My cousin just texted me.”

Kim’s eyes light up. She took a step toward Charming, forcing his attention back to her. With a tilt of her head, hair framed her face, giving her a waif-like appearance. She smiled and asked, “Would you like to join us? It’s after the after-hours club closes.”

I’d caught her practicing that smile, a combination of shy and seductive, in the backroom once when she was supposed to be doing inventory. I was curious if it was going to work on Charming.

“Very exclusive,” she added, looking directly at me. 

As if I’d assume I was invited. As if I’d bail on a shift.

But Ember Honey is the most exclusive club in Rivershade. It’s below the Linden (or the Linden Honey Dinner Club if we’re being fancy). As if the Linden’s prices don’t eliminate the riff-raff, Ember Honey is member only. Invites are unheard of. I’ve heard whispers about what goes on there. I used to think that if I could get in there, I’d really be able to dig into Rivershade’s dark side. But being realistic, not going to happen. I’ve shifted my investigation focus elsewhere.

Family is everything in Rivershade. Money. Connections. Even Pauline’s broke cadet line has some cachet, though I highly doubt anyone from the main family on the hill knows who she is. Her getting an invite is both impressive and suspicious—as in, what would anyone at The Ember want with this group of nobody adjacents even if it’s very off hours?

Smoulder declined for them both.

“Too bad,” she said, giving his arm a touch. “Maybe next time.”

Kim and her little posse of backstabbing social climbers left. Snickering and excited for their next adventure.

Which left me stuck figuring out what to do next now that I’ve got this job I didn’t want, all because Kim ate my brownie.

Looks like Bohdie’s got a new job…
Is this small victory over Kim going to be worth it?

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