Page 38 of Zachary

“Uh-huh.” Garrett nods again. “I know, and while I love that plan, I can’t help thinking of all those tourism dollars lost. Plus, for as long as we’re doing that, we’re only going to be catering to academics. Not the family tourists we really want to attract to the town. The ones who might fall in love with the place and decide to move here to raise their kids.”

I have a sudden, horrible feeling that he’s going to bring up the ski resort again. Fuck. How am I going to blow it off this time?

“But there’s nothing we can do,” Micah’s saying patiently. “Hotels take time to build, even small ones.”

It’s Zoe’s turn to speak, and her voice is pure honeyed sympathy. “Yeah, and we know you’ve done so much work on getting the plans for them done so fast, Micah. Cam’s told us how hard you’ve been working. We’re just thinking… and this isn’t a reflection on youat all… but there are designs for a medium-sized hotel and two small ones all worked up, right? Priced, approved, ready to start construction this summer?”

Micah nods warily. “Yes.”

“Why aren’t we thinking on a bigger scale?”

“Because the construction season here is short. We need to focus on getting the buildings to weatherproof stage before winter,” Micah explains patiently. “And we can only get so many crews and supplies and equipment up here at a time. Even teleporting things in takes a lot of demons and effort.”

“Um.” Cam half raises his hand. “You’re thinking like a demon.”

Even I turn away from my pancake batter at that. He does know we’re demons, right?

Under our bewildered stares, he shakes his head, curls flopping around. “What I mean is, you’re thinking like a demon who’s used to living in a secret village that nobody else comes to.”

“It’s not secret,” Asher protests.

“And people come here,” I add. “You’re here. So are Garrett and Ronan and Zo—” I shut my mouth when I realize where he’s going with this.

“Me?” Zoe smiles. “Yep. The sorcerer who specializes in snow manipulation.”

My cousins and I look at each other, then Micah clears his throat. “Are there… sorcerers who specialize in construction? Who, if they were in a place that no humans had access to, could use their powers to build something a lot faster than usual? Just hypothetically.”

“I might know some people who know some people.” Zoe shrugs innocently.

“If we can get the hotels done faster, we should also thinkbigger,” Garrett hurries on. “Instead of just a few hotels in the village, why aren’t we looking at expanding? Maybe family-style self-catering accommodation behind the village? I know it’s steep, that slope, but could we terrace it or something? Do the excavation work this summer while the other hotels are going up, prefab the cabins or whatever somewhere else, get them in next spring, and be open for at least part of the summer next year.”

“The museum will be running by then,” Ronan adds quietly. “And the first wave of academics will have been and gone, probably over the winter and spring. It would be an ideal time to show off the village.”

“And,” Zoe’s excitement is clear, “winter is when this place could reallyshine. I can make it the ultimate snow fantasy. Kids will be begging to come here in winter—and it would besafefor them. No humans. They can show their horns or fangs and be faster or stronger than humans expect. It would be the same haven for them that it has been for everyone who lives here; except for them, it would be a true vacation. Not just relaxing, but no hiding. No pretending.”

She does make it sound good. If I didn’t already live here, I’d want to visit, just based on that pitch.

I check the pan on the stove, then ladle in the first lot of batter.

“It sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this,” Asher says. “But it’s not that easy. Like you said, the land behind the village is steep. We’d need to get some surveys done before any decisions could be made.”

“That makes sense,” Cam says—a little too quickly.

“It does,” Garrett agrees. “Can we do that? Who do we need to hire for something like that?”

“There are companies that specialize in it. Micah? This is your field.” Asher passes the ball neatly.

“I know some people,” Micah says slowly. “But they couldn’t do the survey with all this snow and the ground so frozen. It would be late spring before they could even begin, and then the reports would probably take a few weeks. I’m assuming you don’t want to pitch it to the village council until you know it can be done?”

“Uh… yeah.” Cam nods quickly. “Not until then. In fact, we don’t want anyone to know except the people in this room.”

I flip the pancakes. That’s not suspicious at all. But at least the heat is off me. I try not to feel bitter that Garrett might get his family cabins while my resort is going to molder in my desk drawer.

“That’s not possible,” Asher’s saying. “People are going to notice the surveyors.”

I glance up in time to see the freaky four exchanging glances. “There’s no way to keep it secret?” Garrett asks. “And no way for the survey to be done sooner?”

Even Asher and Micah are getting suspicious now. The rose-tinted lenses of love don’t make them completely stupid. “Why’s it so urgent?”

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