Frost & Bothered (13 page)

“Miss Jones?” An elf with unusually short hair had opened the interior door. “Welcome. If you’d come this way, please?”

“This way” wasn’t into the opalized Coat Room, but led directly into a short, bland, beige hallway.

“I’m Merlandon, and have the honor of managing Dreamland for my Prince. My office is,” he hurried past me to open a door. “Here. Please, come in and have a seat.”

His office was little more than an over-sized closet. Also done in all beige, it held a desk and five chairs. They were molded plastic, four of them lined up against the wall to face his small, student-style desk, the fifth behind it. Not exactly the most comfortable seats in the world, but we wouldn’t be there long enough for that to matter. I hoped.

“We’ll cooperate to the fullest extent,” he said after sitting down. He leaned forward, giving me full eye contact. His were a muddy brown. “Anything you need, Miss Jones, anything at all, please just tell me.”

“Thank you.” Something was way off about him. I noticed a tic start twitching in his left cheek, and watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. He was extremely nervous. “We’d like a tour of the employee areas.”

“Of course.” Merlandon jumped to his feet, his thighs bumping the desk edge. That unbalanced a glass of water sitting near the side edge. It tipped over, spilling water, and rolled off the desk top. The office was so small, Dane simply leaned forward to catch the glass before it hit the tile floor.

“Goodness.” Merlandon’s ears reddened, and he came close to dropping the glass when Dane offered it to him. “Terribly clumsy of me.”

I’d never seen a clumsy, or nervous, elf before. “Merlandon.”

“Yes, Miss Jones.” His hands fluttered away from the glass he’d placed on the desk.

“Do you have something to hide?”

He paled, and for a second, I seriously thought he was going to faint. “No, Miss Jones. Nothing to hide. It’s...this is my first true opportunity to prove myself to my Prince, and it was going so well. Now this terrible thing is happening to our guests, who are my responsibility, and I wasn’t even aware of it until his Highness called me earlier.”

His pupils were enlarged. The poor dude was in full-on panic mode. What the hell kind of boss was Thorandryll, to instill such terror with a phone call? “Okay, do me a favor?”

“Anything, Miss Jones.”

“Take a deep breath, and let it out slowly.” I’d never thought I’d feel sympathy for an elf. Merlandon obeyed, but his hands were trembling. “And another one, same thing.”

“Terribly sorry.”

“It’s okay, just calm down. We’re not the Spanish Inquisition.” My attempt at humor failed as he gave me a blank look. “We’ll figure out what’s going on and handle it. I’ll personally make certain Thorandryll is told how very helpful you were.”

“You will?”

“Yes.” That calmed him down. He even managed something resembling a smile. “Now, that tour?”

“Of course. Please come with me.”

T
he tour was a bust, aside from being a peek into a world I’d never been a part of. I didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing I hadn’t had any other jobs prior to working at Arcane Solutions.

I had to drag Dane away from the casks of Weirding Pale in the stockroom. “But there’s so much of it. Can we take a break now? I’m thirsty.”

“No, now we need to question the employees.” I aimed a smile at Merlandon. “One at a time, please. We’ll set up in the break room.”

“Of course. Bartenders or servers first?”

It didn’t matter, but an elf being so eager to please was a novelty, so I pretended to give it a moment’s thought. “I think the waitresses first.”

“Very well, but we do prefer ‘servers’ here at Dreamland, Miss Jones. It’s the PC term.”

“Sorry.” Ah, political correctness from an elf, when his people referred to shifters as animals. “I’ll try to remember that.”

“Thank you.” Merlandon half-bowed before striding away, leaving us to make our way to the break room alone.

“Either of you notice anything weird?”

“Yeah, casks of ale with my name on them,” Dane said, casting a longing glance over his shoulder before walking out of the stockroom.

I rolled my eyes. “It was a serious question.”

“Nothing, aside from Mr. Nervous,” Logan said, and Dane agreed. “There’s magic everywhere, but as far as I know, it’s because of the location. Pocket realms are magic.”

Not helpful, but since we hadn’t come across any signs with arrows and “This way to the bad guys” painted on them, I hadn’t expected a different answer.

Ginger was in the break room. I hadn’t seen her since the mini-drama with Danielle. She crawled around on the walls and ceiling the entire time we questioned the employees.

It was really distracting.

“T
hank you for your help. We’re going to walk around the club and look things over. I’ll let you know if we discover anything.”

“You’re quite welcome. Remember that your, and the gentlemen’s, refreshments are complimentary.”

Nice to learn I hadn’t ticked off Thorandryll enough to have the free-drink offer rescinded. The mention put a smile on Dane’s face while he gathered the missing people’s photos into a neat pile.

“And if you’d like, you may leave your coats and whatnot in a locker. That exit,” Merlandon gestured to the door at the end of the break room. “Is the door that opens into the club, next to the bar. Just return through it to reclaim your belongings.”

“Thanks.” The lockers had stubby little keys, making it simple to determine which weren’t already in use. We dumped our coats, the folder of photos, and my purse before hitting the bar.

Dane drank his first ale before the bartender finished mixing my mojito. Thankfully, the mojitos were served in more normal-sized glasses.

Irritated by our lack of progress, I didn’t notice the change in décor until I turned away from the bar. The underwater grotto was gone, replaced with a jungle. The coral columns had become huge trees, their uppermost branches forming a canopy over the dance floor. White mist wafted along at ground level, swirling with the movements of dancers. The tables, chairs, and bar stools had changed to bamboo creations.

Instead of flashing, neon fish, there were glowing birds roosting and flitting about. “Wow, now I’m getting the name.”

“Hate to say it, but I like the place.” Logan sipped his ale. “Do you want to circle around?”

“That’s as good a plan as any,” I agreed. It was also a plan that netted nothing before last call. We collected our belongings, and one of the bartenders helped us shortcut from the back rooms to avoid the exit line.

Out in the parking lot, Logan stopped short halfway to his truck. “Damn.”

“What?”

“I completely forgot to figure out a place to stay.”

“Oh.” I covered a yawn. It’d been a busy day. “It’s late. You can both stay at Mom’s tonight. She won’t mind. I have a trundle, and there’s an airbed we can pull out too.”

“You’re already crowded enough.”

“Dude, it’d be like five AM before you dropped us both off and found a motel. They kick you out at noon.”

Logan glanced at Dane, who shrugged. “I’m good with whatever you decide.”

“Well, if you’re certain Sunny won’t mind.”

“She won’t. Come on.” I was tired and cold. “Forward march, then home, Jeeves.”

“Yes, madam.” Logan jingled his keys the rest of the walk to his truck.

M
y first peaceful night’s sleep in weeks was destroyed by the sound of my bedroom door rebounding off the airbed with a deep boing, followed by a high-pitched shriek. That second sound sent me rolling over, off the edge of my bed, and directly on top of Logan, who’d won the coin toss for the trundle bed.

He grunted when I landed on him, a wince following as I tried to scramble off and managed to hit a sensitive spot.

Dane snickered.

“Ooh, sorry. Let me...”

“Yeah, just don’t,” Logan sucked in a breath, and I stopped moving. Well, everything but my head, which I turned so I could see who was at the door.

Grandma Jones stood there, her brown eyes wide and her jaw slack. Her short, white hair trembled as she closed her mouth.

“Hi, Grandma.”

Mom appeared, looking over her shoulder. “Good morning. I’ll set two more places for breakfast.”

“Morning, Sunny,” Logan said after spitting some of my hair out of his mouth. I settled for giving the best deer-in-the-headlights impression of my life.

My mom winked at me. “Let’s allow the children to rise, Estelle. You did want coffee?”

“I...yes.” Grandma about-faced and followed her to the kitchen.

Tonya stuck her head around the edge of my door to survey us, a grin immediately blooming. “Did you see her face?”

I groaned. “I hate mornings like this.”

T
wenty minutes later, everyone was dressed and in the kitchen. Grandpa Jones, a burly man of over six feet with hazel eyes and a shiny pink, bald head, bear hugged me. “There’s my little doll.”

“Hi, Grandpa.”

He released me. “Now, who are these two, and do I need to have a talk with them?”

“Logan Sayer and Dane Soames, and no. They’re working with me.”

“In your bedroom?”

“Grandpa,” I whined. How did grandparents do that? Make you feel about ten years old, and act like it too? “It was snowing last night and they live all the way across town.”

“Ah.” He ruffled my hair before shaking hands with them. “Theodore Jones. Call me Ted.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.” Logan smiled and glanced at my mom. “Did you need any help, Sunny?”

“No, have a seat.”

Hah, no escape for him. We all sat down under Grandma’s thin-lipped, narrow-eyed gaze. The morning didn’t improve as Leglin, Bone, and Diablo burst into the kitchen. My grandmother uttered another loud shriek when Diablo planted his front paws on the table’s edge, right next to her.

“Dude, down.”

“
Bacon.
”

“No bacon. Get down.” Grandma was leaning away from him and about to fall into Dane’s lap.

“
Bacon
,” he repeated with a snap of his teeth, and she cringed.

“
I’m sitting
,” Bone said. “
Can I have bacon for being a good boy?
”