Amber groans. “If anyone shouldn’t be here, it’s you.”
“Yes, I should. Zoe’s my friend.”
Amber raises an eyebrow.
Mini raises one right back. “I’m Agent Tiptoe’s handler. I have to stay.”
“Agent who?” Amber frowns.
Mini holds up the mouse. Which really doesn’t help.
“She can talk to animals,” I tell Amber.
“Since when?” Amber examines Mini, who pulls a stick of bubble gum from her pocket—the same pocket where she keeps the mouse, which can’t be hygienic—and pops it in her mouth.
“Hey, what happened to your manicure? And your hair?” Amber asks her. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m trying on a new look.” Mini pops a bubble with her gum. “Do you think I could talk to you for a moment? Alone?”
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Liam calls as they step away. Except for me, no one else pays attention.
Ghost and Leith are trying to figure which supes they both know—something they’ve been doing on and off since they realized Ghost had visited Leith’s Canadian hometown. The two Violets are chatting away happily, and some of the guys—though I’ve lost track of who’s who—are talking about hitting up a bar once we’re done.
“Hello?” Liam shouts. “Violet? A little help?”
“Sure.” The younger Violet steps to his side. Then she shifts into the other, older Violet, and shushes everyone into silence. “Now pay attention, dears. My mate has something to say.”
I kind of wish Zoe was here, because I just know she’d tell me this is why she loves Silver Springs.
Liam plants a kiss on Violet’s lips and then turns to face the crowd. “Since it looks like everyone’s staying, I want you all to find places to hide. Bert and I scoped out the main floor, and the shelves by the window make the best hiding spot. Especially with this many people.” He pauses, like maybe he expects someone to volunteer to leave. No one does. “All right. Let’s go, then. We don’t have much time.”
We get in position. The two Violets grab one bay, and their non-cop mates squeeze into another. Amber’s mates stick together, as do the two cops, while Ghost, Leith, and I take the shelf by the window, since there’s enough room for me to ice block. Then Mini and Amber come back from their talk and go their separate ways. Mini joins our little group, while Amber goes to sit with her mates.
We try to stay quiet, but with this many people it’s nearly impossible. Someone sneezes. Someone else clears their throat. The younger Violet whispers something and the older one chuckles.
Then, Mini sends her mouse skittering across the floor toward the buffet, and one of the renaissance men nearly knocks over a shelf. Ghost, who’s sitting next to me, shakes his head. I couldn’t agree more.
Time seems to move backwards after that—which is never the case when I’m in therapy and paying by the hour. Also, thinking about therapy makes me think about my ongoing issues with anxiety, which makes me anxious, which makes me ice block. Amber sees me, panics, runs clear of the shelves, and ice blocks, too.
“We really need to rethink this,” Ghost hisses at Leith.
There just isn’t any time. Because Amber and I barely have the chance to shift back before Zoe steps inside the library and turns on the lights.
I peek around the shelf and watch her push in her cart of cleaning supplies. Even though she knows this is a setup and a thief might be on the loose, she seems completely relaxed. She even starts humming Blood Witch by Not a Vampire—that supe band everyone in Silver Springs is completely obsessing about—like there isn’t a crowd watching her from between the shelves.
To be fair, Zoe thinks it’s just Ghost, Leith, Mini, the two cops, and me. Not half the town of Silver Springs. But if I had to be in her shoes, I know I’d ice block.
I watch her cross the foyer and glance up at the ceiling. Glass snowflakes hang down, twinkling under the fluorescent lights. Zoe bites her lower lip as she watches them, and Leith shifts into a bee. Which is a lot less conspicuous than an ice block, I’ll give him that. Then Amber shifts into a bee, not to be outdone, but the buzzing’s drowned out by Zoe’s rolling cart.
She reaches the front desk and starts taking out supplies. Duster, check. Spray bottle, check. Paper towels, check. Then she flicks her wrist and they get to work, while she leans against the desk and grins.
You’d think with sixteen of us watching, someone would gasp. Or there’d be a sharp intake of breath—from the non-vampires among us, at least—but somehow we all manage to stay silent and still.
The only noise is the echo of Zoe’s soft humming, mixed with her duster hard at work, and my heart pounding in my ears. There’s no sign of the thief, and I glance at Liam from between the shelves to see if he spotted anything I missed.
The cop’s eyes dart from the desk—where I assume the cash register is—to the buffet of treats. Searching for the thief. Who, after watching Leith’s hockey game, I’m pretty sure might be two inches tall. Or invisible. Or a bee. I just can’t think of any other reason they’d never gotten caught.
I scan the floor, the ceiling, and everything in between. Beside me, Ghost watches the desk, a frown on his face. Leith zeroes in on the food. And as Zoe cleans, and cleans, and cleans, I start losing hope.
The smile on her face as she works… it’s everything. This is what she was meant to do. With her life. With her time. And if this thief doesn’t show their face, she might lose it all.
I don’t even care about my job at this point. Maybe I could blog. Or apply to the Gazette. But what about Zoe? What would she do?
When she suddenly stops cleaning, my heart drops. We didn’t catch the thief. We failed.
I catch the moment of doubt on Zoe’s face, and it hurts. So does the way she looks around one last time, hoping against hope the thief will turn up.
Then she resumes humming and crosses the floor towards the bathrooms, giving the thief the perfect opportunity to strike.
At first, nothing happens. And then the duster Zoe left on the library’s front desk shifts. Into a man. A mailman, to be exact. And not just any mailman. But a hungry one at that.
He rushes to the table with leftover foods and starts stuffing his mouth. Not even sure how he has enough time to chew. But that’s not what shocks me the most. It’s the fact that I’ve seen him before.
“Zachariah?” I blurt out his name. I know I’m supposed to stay quiet. Probably. Actually, Liam didn’t really say what we were supposed to do once we caught the thief. But saying that I’m shocked is an understatement.
I haven’t seen Zachariah since I left Shifter Bay. And I don’t think I ever knew what the guy shifted into. We’d had a few classes together, sure, but it’s not like we ever really spoke. I was the kid who sat in a beanbag chair in the back row and ice blocked whenever a teacher noticed me. And he sat in the front row, disinfected his desk, and turned in all his homework on time.
How does a guy like that end up a thief?
The instant he hears his name, he dusters. Just like my brother cakes. And I ice block.
One second, he’s standing in front of the food table. And the next, a duster is lying on the floor. Or I assume it is. Can’t see the floor from here, but that’s how this whole shifting thing works.