Page 23 of Her Wicked Knights (Their Hallowed Queen #3)

Marley

I sigh, scrubbing my hands over my face to try and combat the exhaustion that seems to have invaded my bones at this point. I wish I drank coffee, because I could really use it to make it through the next three hours of my shift.

The Dive is slow tonight—slower than usual for summer.

Everyone's partying at Audrey's aunt's this weekend, and normally I'd be with them.

Except Hadley's coming home for the weekend tomorrow, and I'm dying to see her.

We haven't really got to talk since she was home for Christmas, but even then, we'd been so busy running around doing holiday things that I feel like we didn't even get a chance to see one another for something more than a surface-level conversation.

I'm craving a sister date, or even a girl's night with mom and popcorn and cheesy summer slashers.

Audrey being gone is why I decided to work the double.

She's barely ever on the schedule, but when she is, she forgets she's supposed to work and makes other plans.

I think the only reason she still even has a job is because it's been slow enough that it hasn't impacted business.

Good for Audrey, not so good for me. When we're slow, time drags by. .. like tonight.

"Eat." Hector commands, sliding a plate onto the counter before me.

The seductive scent of a greasy burger reaches me before I even glance down at the plate to see a burger dripping cheese onto the fries beside it. There's a small cup of ranch nestled in the middle of the fries, and I can't help grinning as I turn to him appreciatively.

"You made me dinner?"

"I had to cook something." He shrugs. "I feel useless back here. Your only customer in the place is drinking coffee."

He's not wrong. I was excited when the guy came in. He grinned as I walked toward him with the menu and stared at it for a few minutes before telling me he was just going to have a cup of coffee, black. I've refilled it twice for him, but he's on his phone, so I haven't bothered with small talk.

"Thank you." I tell Hector honestly, dipping a fry in the ranch and sighing in contentment as the warm potato seduces my soul. I didn't realize I was hungry, but all of a sudden, I'm famished.

"Don't mention it." He winks and heads back to the kitchen, leaving me alone with the man down at the end of the bar.

He can't be much older than me, and thankfully he doesn't seem keen on making friends.

I take the opportunity to dip around the corner of the bar, so I can enjoy my dinner without my only patron looking up to find me shoving a double cheeseburger in my mouth.

But seriously, I don't think anyone could hold it against me.

For a place called the Dive, we serve some pretty amazing food.

I guess that's what happens when you work for the fun of it rather than when you work to survive.

Hector owns the place and does the cooking, because he's passionate about feeding people good food.

Luckily for me, I'm pretty passionate about eating good food.

I am not passionate about waiting tables.

I don't really have any purpose in life, no dream that I'm working toward.

It used to bother me that I never had a calling toward anything, but now I figure I'll find it eventually.

My mother is obsessed with her shop and dedicated to helping people align their energies, and my father's pretty passionate about keeping the town safe, which is strange, since nothing bad ever happens in Serenity Hollow.

I suppose that's why he cares so much to keep it that way.

As for what I want to do with my life, I imagine I'll just be a housewife once I get married, so I'm not too worried about figuring out a long term career.

At the thought of marriage, my stomach twists, trying to imagine myself as Mrs. North.

Jake's mother goes by that title, and I don't care to be anything like her.

She's stuffy and boring and seems to make it her mission to keep people from having fun.

I'd rather cut off my pinkie toe than be the next Mrs. North.

I could keep my name, I suppose, but that doesn't make me feel much better about it.

We've been dating for over a year now, so of course we talk about the future and what it will look like.

I've never told him I can't actually picture it.

My parents have a good marriage, I suppose, but watching Colton's parent's divorce when we were young definitely made me feel weird about the idea of marriage.

I was so scared of ending up like them even back then that I'd made Tripp promise me he'd marry me if he wasn't already taken before he turned thirty.

It's ridiculous, and yet, thinking about it makes something in me flutter.

The sound of the door opening has me straighten, dropping the last bite of my burger and wiping my hands on my apron.

A middle-aged woman with her blonde hair in a low ponytail stalks toward me fast, a tired-looking man following slowly behind her.

"Please," She rushes out, brandishing a sheet of paper and shoving it under my nose.

The action is so sudden I recoil a bit, expecting.

.. I don't know what I'm expecting. But it's not a picture of a smiling girl with her brown hair hanging around her shoulders.

The photo looks like it was taken at a carnival or something, given the multi-colored lights in the background.

My eyes track to the word printed above the picture: Missing.

My throat tightens uncomfortably as I glance back at the woman before me, with desperation in her eyes. "My daughter." She says. "Jennifer Clark. She's missing. Have you seen her?"

Jennifer Clark?

The name rings something in the back of my head, and I turn back to the picture again, taking in the girl's round face. She's got an air of innocence about her that makes her being missing feel especially brutal when I realize I do know her. "Jenny?"

Excitement lights in Mrs. Clark's eyes. "You know her? Have you seen her?"

"We go to school together," I explain. "I haven't seen her since the end of last year, back in May."

A sense of unease washes over me as I study the missing poster. I have a lot of questions, but I don't know if it's rude to ask, so I clear my throat. "What is it?"

"I just... I haven't seen her. But maybe I can help somehow? When was the last time you saw her?"

"Yesterday morning. I had a conference in Boston, so I drove into the city.

She was supposed to meet me for dinner at Brew Club for dinner because she loves their pretzels, but she never showed up.

I reported it to Boston PD, but they said they can't do anything cause there's no proof she ever made it to Boston. "

I bite my lip, trying to wrap my head around that information.

Jenny's always seemed like a good girl; I don't think she's stand her own mother up for dinner.

But then, I don't really know her. We just have a few classes together, and she lent me a hair tie once in gym.

It's hardly enough to make a judgement about whether she'd possibly run off with someone for a few days.

I mean, kids our age run away all the time, right?

Audrey's slept over at my house more than a few times without us ever planning ahead; maybe Jenny's just with a friend and her phone's dead.

"I know my daughter. This isn't like her. Your father's on the case, but I can't just go home and wait without her..." Mrs. Clark's voice cracks, and the man I presume to be her husband slings an arm around her shoulder to pull her into him.

"I'm so sorry." I tell them helplessly. "I haven't seen her, but I'll keep an eye out and give you a call if I hear or see anything."

I take the flyer and snap a photo of it on my cell. But Mrs. Clark places her hand over top of mine before I can push it toward her. "Keep it. Please. Share it with someone... I need to find her. I need..." She sucks in a deep breath, shakes her head. "Please."

"Of course." I agree.

"May I take a look?" The customer from earlier asks.

I'd forgotten he was even here still, and his voice makes me startle as Mrs. Clark snaps her head to him. "Yes, please!" She rushes over to where he's sitting and presents another paper in a flourish, hope in her eyes. It quickly dies as he makes a soft humming noise and shakes his head.

"Sorry," he frowns, looking up at her carefully. "I haven't seen her."

"Keep it." She tells him earnestly. "And call me or the police if you do?"

"Sure." He agrees, tipping his head to make it clear that's the end of the conversation as far as he's concerned. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ten-dollar bill,, flashing it for me to see before turning to go.

"Your change!" I call after him, but he's already nearly at the door.

"Keep it."

I turn my focus back to Mrs. Clark. "Can I get you a coffee?" She looks like she hasn't slept in too long; her eyes are red and makeup is smudged beneath her eyes, the remnants of what didn't wash off with her tears. "On the house?"

"No." She shakes her head. "My stomach couldn't handle it right now. Just... keep an eye out. Please?"

I nod, and she leaves me with a stack of papers to hang up around The Dive.

Hector decides to go home early, and I agree to lock up since everything is pretty much done anyway.

When I step out into the balmy summer night and lock the door behind me, I turn back to hang the missing flyer right beneath the diner's logo. And as Jenny Clark stares back at me from that flyer, a chill passes over me.

Surely nothing bad happened to her. Nothing bad ever happens here.

But the feeling deep in my gut tells me otherwise.