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CHAPTER NINE

T he pale golden Autumn sunshine pouring through the bedroom woke me. At first I didn’t know where I was or why it was sunny. I have blackout curtains on my apartment bedroom window to keep the bright Florida sun out. But I found I didn’t mind the sunshine here—it was milder and not as intrusive.

Half the time in Florida I feel like I’m Frodo and the sun is the freaking Eye of Mordor glaring down at me, but I could tell it would be different here.

I wouldn’t have to feel like I was melting every time I stepped outside, for one thing.

And I would actually be able to wear cute cool weather clothes like sweaters and tights instead of living in t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops, for another.

Bearing in mind that I was going to have to make the dreaded trip to the store to try and buy supplies, I dressed accordingly.

I decided to put on the dark blue dress and the black boots I had found in my closet.

I paired them with some black tights and the gray cardigan that still smelled like Grandma.

I even put on a little makeup and made an effort to pull back the front of my hair with a pretty golden barrette that had somehow appeared on my dresser overnight.

I was halfway hoping that the pantry and cupboards had been restocked while I slept, but no such luck—though I did find another can of tuna for Sebastian. But there was nothing for me—not even an old packet of instant oatmeal. So I decided that shopping was inevitable.

I consulted my cell phone—I had next to no signal.

There was a single Wi-Fi signature in the area, but it was locked.

Hoping that the roaming charges wouldn’t be too much, I finally managed to pull up a map of my surroundings for a minute.

And sure enough, just down the road and over the bridge was a town.

Or at least, a collection of businesses.

I tried typing in the address of Goodman Keeches Grocery and found that it was less than a mile away, so that was good. There was also a bakery called The Lost Lamb, a bed and breakfast called The Red Lion, and several other small businesses including a diner named simply, Goldie’s.

Well, it looked like I was going to see my new town, Hidden Hollow—and probably meet at least some of the people who lived there. At the thought, a knot of anxiety formed in my stomach like a fist clenched with tension.

I wished fiercely that seeing new places and meeting new people wasn’t so difficult for me.

If only my words didn’t always get stuck in my throat!

The worst thing was, I had a feeling that it hadn’t always been like this for me.

I seemed to have memories of myself as a child talking to people with no problem—even being friendly with strangers without fear—but those memories ended abruptly after Mom and I had moved away and I started school.

For the first time I wondered, what had happened to me to make me so tight and tense and shy? What had happened to stop my words from flowing? Had I experienced some kind of trauma that was still buried so deeply that even staying in my Grandma’s house couldn’t bring it to light?

It seemed to be a question without an answer, so I sighed and made my way to the front of the house.

The house seemed to agree with my plans to go shopping, because hanging on the knob of the front door, I found several sturdy canvas shopping bags—perfect for carrying groceries.

“Thank you, Morris,” I said, smiling as I hooked the bags over my arm. I opened the door and was about to step out when something caught my eye.

Sitting a few feet in front of the door was a perfectly enormous glass bowl and it was completely filled with the golden, red-speckled apples from Grandma’s tree in the backyard.

“Oh!” I exclaimed and leaned down to get a better look. The sweet scent of the fruit drifted up to me and I saw that a sticky note was stuck to one of the apples. In small, neat, masculine printing it said,

“Sorry for being an asshole.”

“Wow,” I murmured, examining the note as Sebastian sniffed it. “A guy who actually admits his mistakes? This Orc is better than most of the human guys on the dating apps back home!”

Sebastian mewed in response and watched as I lifted the glass bowl carefully in both arms and brought it back into the kitchen. It was extremely heavy and I was panting by the time I set it down on the counter.

“Whew—I guess apple pie is back on the menu. Providing I can buy cinnamon and the other ingredients,” I told my cat. “It really was nice of him to apologize,” I added, looking at the note again. An Orc with manners—who would have thought?

I set off for shopping a second time, but not before I had a conversation with Sebastian.

“All right,” I said, as I stood in the front doorway. “In or out? I don’t know how long I’ll be gone for, so you might be stuck either way.”

He mewed and jumped out the door and down the front porch steps.

“Okay, but don’t go too far from the house,” I told him. “I don’t want to have to go into the woods and start calling for you—promise you’ll stay close.”

“Mmmrow,” Sebastian declared, looking up at me with solemn eyes.

“All right—have fun then.” I stroked him several times, making him purr, and then set off on my mini adventure.

I had no idea of all the crazy things I would see in my new home town of Hidden Hollow.