EVA

THE LIBRARY SWARMED WITH ACTIVITY.

When Eva held the front door open for a few chatty teenagers, her jaw fell open at the sheer volume of people. Folks of all ages milled about to peruse the books and socialize. Their voices, though hushed whispers, bounced off the walls with reckless abandon. The crowds were better than they had been for months—which made her feel even worse once she saw the line swarming the circulation desk and the flushed faces of her youngest employees as they struggled to keep up.

She tried to clear her thoughts with a deep breath. Few unrecognizable faces stood out among the mass. They were patrons. Neighbors.

Friends.

But even the most familiar faces may have been a disguise built for small-town surroundings. She took each step with caution as she approached the circulation desk, and numerous passersby caught her glance with a wave.

How many of them were Astraelan?

"Eva? What are you doing here?"

The bright—and utterly stressed—voice brought Eva's eyes to the circulation desk. Her youngest trainee, Melody, watched her from the first computer with a stunned expression.

Eva smiled at the girl, who had frozen with her scanner in one hand and a thick paperback in the other. "Just came to pick up something." She flicked open the swinging door and stepped behind the desk. "I can't stay long. Hope you don't mind, Mel."

"Oh, oh... of course." Melody snapped back to attention, as if remembering she had patrons to check out. She fiddled with her scanner for a moment before it lined up to the book's barcode. "Are you feeling better?"

Eva's face contorted in question.

"You know..." Melody lowered her voice, holding up the paperback to conceal her lips from the patrons. "After the burritos?"

Heat flashed to Eva's cheeks, her fingers hesitating before wrapping around the handle of her desk drawer. She made a mental note to ask Emrys if he knew any invisibility enchantments that would save her skin the next time he came up with their alibi.

If he had gone in instead, it would have saved a hefty amount of embarrassment, but whatever—or whoever—made him tense on the sidewalk had put a wrench in their plan. Though he'd brushed off his apparent nerves with an excuse about keeping watch, she knew he was trying not to unnerve her.

It didn't work.

"I'm better." Eva tried to give a reassuring smile. "Just staying home as a precaution. Thanks."

Before Melody could press the subject, Eva turned to the drawer. Office supplies littered the interior with no rhyme or reason to their placement. She had meant to organize it for months, muttering hollow promises about the task under her breath whenever Jensen teased her about the clutter. However, other duties had taken precedence... like slamming her head against the keyboard in an attempt to finish her novel. Rearranging personal junk had never been—nor would it ever be—at the top of her list.

After shuffling a mound of half-empty paper clip boxes, her eyes landed upon a green flash drive wedged between the plates of her stapler. Relief flooded her senses, and she snatched it frantically.

"Long time no see."

Eva startled at the voice from across the counter. When she lifted her eyes, a flash of blue hair and Kali's amused grin greeted her.

"Oh! Hey!" Eva broke her friend's gaze long enough to snatch her flash drive again. A totally-not-embarrassed smile surfaced on her lips. "What are you doing here?"

In her head, the question was totally plausible—until Kali held up a Danielle Steele novel. Eva's smile faltered, and the flames of mortification engulfed her.

"I've been trying to get a hold of you all day," said Kali. "Where have you been?"

Eva's façade crumbled. It hadn't occurred to her until then why the day came with minimal distractions, or why her back pocket felt a little lighter. The trance she had been in the night before had prevented her from snatching one important item from her apartment: her cell phone.

Sounds stumbled from her lips, but only random syllables and the occasional "um" came out until Melody's voice overrode the peculiar noises.

"She wasn't feeling well."

"Oh?" asked Kali, whose gaze never left her friend's face.

Blood hit Eva's tongue as she bit it without thinking. Whenever she got back outside, she was shoving one of Emrys' herbal rolls up his mischievous ass.

"I just... had some bad burritos last night." Eva hoped her words sounded more honest than they felt. "That's all."

Melody's lips twisted into their ever-giggly school girl smile. "Jensen seemed pretty concerned. Said you were sleeping the day away on his couch when he called us in."

If Emrys hadn't been outside, Eva would have sworn he was warming her face with enough intensity to blow every power grid in Pennsylvania. Sweat beaded at the nape of her neck and dampened the collar of her t-shirt. It didn't help that Kali stared even more intently, stormy eyes fixated on her twitching features.

"You were with Jensen." Kali's tone was laced with amusement.

Eva swallowed hard. "We had dinner together. That's all."

"And you stayed the night with him."

Eva's tongue strangled itself. While the easy lie was "no," it would only lead to a best-friend-level interrogation—and she knew there was nothing she could hide from Kali. They had been close for far too long, and Kali was far too good at seeing through her stories.

Guilt swam in her chest. She had already brought one of her closest girlfriends into this mess. She couldn't put anyone else at risk.

Before she could stammer an excuse, Kali beat her to the punch. "What happened to 'not my type?'"

The sound of rhythmic beeping came to a halt. Eva turned to find Melody frozen again, watching the scene unfold. As the two patrons pursed their lips impatiently, waiting for their books to be checked out by the flighty college freshman, Eva snapped her fingers and pointed to the couple. Melody's lips rounded into an "O" and she went back to her task.

Unfortunately, the diversion wasn't enough to distract Kali. Eva's mouth became void of moisture under her friend's stare.

"Look, it's been a long day, and I still feel pretty sick." Eva smiled half-heartedly, knowing by the flipping of her stomach that it wasn't entirely a lie. "I'll fill you in later, okay? Promise."

With a quick nod to Kali, who didn't look remotely satisfied, Eva shoved the flash drive in her back pocket and sped away from the circulation desk. Even over the hum of other library-goers, she heard a second pair of footsteps thudding toward her with unrelenting curiosity.

Eva hadn't gotten halfway to the front door when cold fingers wrapped around her wrist. A chill rattled up her spine. When she looked back at Kali, lines creased deep into her best friend's forehead.

"Are you sure everything's all right?" asked Kali. "I'm worried about you."

The solemn expression made Eva's heart sink, and for a moment, she pondered pulling Kali outside to explain her odd situation—or, at the very least, come up with a better excuse than what Emrys had concocted about her day.

Eva shrugged out of her friend's grasp. "I'm fine."

Though she tried to ignore Kali's wounded frown, Eva turned on her heel and made a beeline for the front door.

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