Page 104 of Thief of Night
Turning the key, she walked in to find that some staff member had turned down their sheets, lit a fire, and set out a complimentary bottle of red wine with a card from the management, along with two glasses.
Shivering, she went to sit near the flames, twisted the cap off the bottle, and took a swig straight from the neck. She felt fantastic and also on the edge of panic, entirely too vulnerable, everything uncomfortably close to the surface.
Grabbing a blanket from the couch, she took out her phone. She’d missed four texts from her sister.
Posey: thats archies room
Posey: why
Posey: pokepoke
Posey: Charlie!!!!!???????
With a sigh, Charlie started typing a response.
Charlie: am ok
Charlie: you at cottage yet
Her sister responded immediately.
Posey: just leaving bar
Posey: had drink with guy buying shadow like he was totally open about it & said friend did it last year& his appt is tomorrow night
Posey: holy shit
Charlie hoped that Malhar hadn’t introduced himself as Mr. Punch, but she supposed that would only be delaying the inevitable. He had a speech the following day.
Charlie: I think someone was hanging around your cottage, maybe the person who killed rooster
Charlie: and the gloamists archie hired as guards are in the cottage across from you
Charlie: come stay with us
There was a delay this time. Charlie watched the three dots as her sister typed and retyped.
Posey: at our place
Posey: it’s incredible!!!!!!!
Posey: Malhar borrowed onyx from department so we have lots. we can block entrances &windows. don’t worry about us
Posey: Malhar is sending you an email &says its info you need for tomorrow
Charlie sighed and took another swig from the wine bottle. She couldn’t make her sister’s decisions for her.
Charlie: ok. call if anything seems scary
She knew Posey thought that Charlie, who was not currently a gloamist, couldn’t protect her. Unless things were very bad, she wouldn’t call.
Charlie opened the message from Malhar. It came with three screenshots of a Google document. The email read:
Archie hinted around about the shadows. I didn’t entirely know what he was talking about, but he made it clear he was expecting more of something from me.
He has an assistant named Vera, who’s staying at a cheaper hotel closer to town so not here now. She’s bringing in gift bags, lanyards, and badges in the morning.
They’ll have extra green lanyards, which would be easy to get, but not particularly useful. Archie told me that “these people” need a whole staffto wipe their asses—his quote—and never think to register them. Staff aren’t allowed into the program rooms. They’re getting green lanyards, but the people who pay get purple ones. And Archie, myself, and the other speakers get red.
