Page 22

Her brow furrowed. The box man, Henry, had seemed perfectly friendly in his interaction with Sylvie and Eula, and she had no reason to distrust him… but there was something about him that was setting her more and more on edge the closer he got to her.

Across from her, she noticed Ethan suddenly stiffening, going on his guard.

So there is something about Henry. I didn’t just imagine it.

Chloe’s heartbeat started to pick up. She didn’t think that this Henry guy would be likely to start something, but her instincts were definitely telling her to take a moment to identify her nearest exit.

Henry stopped suddenly, Eula almost bumping into him as she followed.

“What is it, Henry?”

Henry slowly, carefully, put the boxes down by the wall, before straightening back up to his impressive height. He didn’t advance, but he didn’t back away, either – he just stood there, as if assessing the situation.

At the same time, Ethan stood up – not threatening or giving any sign to the other patrons that something was amiss, but protective .

Chloe’s heart fluttered.

He would protect me with his life if I needed it. I know it.

“Shifter,” he murmured. “Hellhound.”

Chloe supposed that she should be shocked, but at this point it was just middling surprise at most. It seemed like this was the kind of thing that she just needed to get used to, if she was going to live in Girdwood Springs.

“Is that bad?” she whispered.

“Depends.”

The tension was thick in the air… but then Eula’s voice rang out.

“Boys, boys,” she said cheerfully. “No need to fight. There’s plenty of ol’ Eula to go around!”

Chloe supposed that it was hard to maintain a high level of tension when Eula had just said that , and indeed it seemed to have had its intended effect, if the way that Ethan and Henry both seemed to relax a bit was any indicator.

They weren’t completely dropping their guard, though.

“I think we’ve got some things to discuss,” Henry said, and Ethan nodded.

“Agreed.”

Chloe turned to Curtis, to see what he was making of all this – but he was just staring, eyes wide, face pale as… well, a ghost.

Are ghosts and hellhounds natural enemies? This could be bad.

Chloe opened her mouth to sound a warning, but then she followed Curtis’s line of sight – and he wasn’t staring at Henry.

He was staring at Eula.

And Eula was staring right back at him.

At the ghost that nobody else could see.

There was a clatter as Eula’s keys fell from her hand, tumbling to the floor.

Her mouth worked silently, opening and closing several times. Finally, words came out, though at so low a whisper that Chloe had to strain to hear them.

“G… Great-Great-Grandpa Curtis?”

It took several moments for the words to actually properly register in Chloe’s brain… but when they did, her stomach did a long, slow roll in shock.

Curtis is… Eula’s great-great-grandfather?! But how can that be possible? And how could she know that, even if it was?! No one’s met their great-great-great… however many greats… grandfather!

She watched, entranced, as Eula stood there, eyes locked on Curtis, who was still sitting stock-still in his chair.

Eula had said that Curtis was her great-great-grandfather, and Curtis hadn’t disagreed.

Though he hadn’t agreed, either. He hadn’t said anything at all, in fact. The two of them were just… staring at each other.

Meanwhile, Ethan was looking back and forth between the two of them in shock, while Sylvie and Henry were just staring in a more generally confused sense, looking around, clearly trying to work out what was going on.

So Eula was the only one of them who could see Curtis, then. She supposed that it made sense, if Eula really was his – his great-great-granddaughter.

“I take it there’s something weird going on here that I can’t see,” Sylvie said, her voice cautious but calm.

Chloe suspected that she might have more experience than the average human with the supernatural, given that there was a witch resident in her town and she also apparently sold fresh produce to hellhounds.

“That’s one way of putting it,” Chloe said. “I, uh, think this might take some explaining.”

“The ghost of my great-great-grandfather is sitting right there,” Eula said, pointing at Curtis.

Sylvie and Henry’s heads swiveled to look at the empty chair.

“I recognize him from the old family photos. That’s definitely him.

There’s no fooling these old eyes, even if they’re getting on a bit.

And the photo has been on the mantlepiece since I was just a girl. I’d know that face anywhere.”

“Or,” Chloe amended, “maybe it won’t take that much explaining after all.”

Sylvie glanced around the store, which was about half-full – it was obviously in a bit of a lull at this point, not too busy.

Seeming to come to a decision, Sylvie quickly went over to the counter, where Emily was restocking the display case.

She asked Emily whether she was able to take over for the rest of the day; when Emily replied in the affirmative – with an added Do you think I’d say no when I’ve been trying to get you to rest all week? ! – Sylvie came back to the table.

“I feel like there’s a conversation we all need to have, in a place that’s not here,” she said, in a tone that brooked no argument.

“I agree,” Ethan said.

There were nods all around, with Eula still looking a little dazed, and Henry just looking confused.

“Where should we have this conversation?” Sylvie went on. “We can go back to my place, if you don’t mind sitting among boxes of diapers and a half-finished changing table that neither of us has been able to assemble.”

“No,” Eula said, starting to sound more like her old self. “We’re going to my place.”

Curtis seemed to snap out of his fugue state at that. ~I would also like to go to Miss Eula’s house. Perhaps there will be some answers there.~

“I’m still not even sure what the questions are,” Sylvie said. “But we can work all of that out at Eula’s house.”