Chapter 55
“There is something uniquely distressing in learning we might not be at the top of nature’s predatory hierarchy. It’s the reason people are so hesitant to study the truly dangerous creatures, the ones that just might be capable of taking our place at the top.”
Jaws and Maws: A Study of Carnivorous Cryptids by Makenna Petera
Kristin Satter’s office was the cosiest place on the planet.
Pictures of her cats were hung along the walls in mismatched frames, and the scent of freshly baked cookies permanently filled the air.
She refused to use her overhead light, so the soft light of her floor lamp cast a warm, golden glow to the room.
If the office belonged to anyone else, it would’ve felt cramped and cluttered, but she managed to make it inviting and homey.
With her coffee clutched tightly in her hand, Alexys slipped into her boss’s office and shut the door.
Kristin herself somehow matched the room. A warm smile and a kind heart, she had always felt more like a friend than a boss. Alexys respected her greatly, and the relationship they’d built over the last three years was better than any of the bosses she’d had in the past.
“Alexys, tell me, how are you feeling?” Kristin smiled warmly.
Alexys shrugged, taking a seat across from the desk. “I’m alright, I guess.”
Kristin nodded. Alexys couldn’t help but notice the box of tissues in front of Kristin next to her own very large cup of coffee.
Convenient. Hopefully unnecessary.
“You’ve been through a lot this past week,” Kristin said. “I completely understand if you need to take some time before we fill out your report.”
“No, it’s fine,” Alexys assured her. “These things need to be done sooner rather than later.”
Kristin’s smile took on an amused edge. “You know you’re my hardest working employee?”
That made Alexys crack a small smile in return. “You say that to everyone, Kristin.”
“Well, I mean it this time.” Kristin turned to her computer to pull up the reports, and Alexys was glad not to have her observant eyes on her.
She felt fragile, like she might crack if Kristin stared at her for too long.
Kristin was endlessly kind, but she could spot a lie from a mile away. She could tell you had a weight on your shoulders before you even managed to say hello, and she had a horrible knack for getting you to share it with her.
The last thing Alexys needed was for Kristin to pry out all the ugly emotions she was fighting to keep at bay.
She wished she’d been able to cry them out the night before.
The numb disconnect she’d felt at home would have made giving the report so much easier than the tumultuous sea of emotions boiling inside her.
“Alright, let’s start with the easy things.” Kristin’s focus was on the computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard with practiced ease. “What day did you arrive in West Virginia?”
“Wednesday.” Shock rippled through Alexys. It hadn’t even been a full week since it all started. “I landed at the airport on Wednesday morning. I emailed you my flight tickets and receipts.”
Kristin added all of the information to the incident report as they spoke. She asked for travel dates, hotel names, and rental car information.
The questions started out fairly routine. Dates, who she spoke to, what she did. Her expenses. But when they reached the section on the more Entity-specific business, Alexys stumbled.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she looked up at Kristin again. “Could you repeat that?”
Kristin nodded supportively. “Of course. Which supernatural entity or entities did you encounter, if any?” She shrugged. “In short, what monsters did you see?”
Monsters.
Alexys swallowed thickly. Images began to flash behind her eyes in quick succession. The Jackalopes.
The Hollow Walker.
Opal.
Waylan.
The cult.
Agnes.
Silas.
And …
Well …
Herself?
“Alexys?”
As far as actual creatures, she’d only encountered a few. It was the people, they were the real monsters. 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 people scared 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 sacrificed eight people for 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 of thank God over 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, should have 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 the clear break from protocol, the circumstances really were extenuating, and you did a surprisingly good job out there.”
Alexys couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“So what does this mean?” Alexys was desperate for things to just go back to the way they were. To keep her head down and try to make up for everything that’d happened. Kristin opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a new voice.
“You’re being transferred, Miss Keane.”
Alexys whipped around in her chair. The woman standing in the doorway was the most intimidating individual Alexys had ever seen. Her severe features and stiff posture reminded her of a captain ready to give orders. She commanded respect, expected it, and would accept nothing less.
“Delaney,” Kristin said by way of greeting, “you’re here early.”
“Time is precious, which I’m sure you can both appreciate.
” She made a point of looking right at Alexys when she said it.
Delaney’s eyes were the most unsettling shade of hazel that shifted in the soft office lighting, unable to choose a color.
They were probably the only indecisive thing about her.
“Sorry, but what’s going on? I’m being transferred?” Alexys asked.
“My name is Delaney Rourke. You can call me Rourke.” It wasn’t an introduction, it was an announcement. “And yes, that’s correct, you’re being transferred out of Human Resources.”
“Where?” Alexys blurted. Delaney grinned.
“To the Wardens department. Congratulations, Miss Keane.”