I blinked, confused for a second before remembering Jonah had just gotten here two weeks ago. “We calculate interaction GPAs. Grades to make sure we’re not being too weird to people who were better socialized than us as kids. Being on the road without many peers will do that to a kid—December, why didn’t I see any of these?”
Her gaze still bore holes through Nico, but she answered nonchalantly, “I started filtering them after the first one.”
I frowned and craned my neck to get a look at her. “What?”
“The claims are exaggerated to get to the front of the line.”
“And how do you know that?”
December blinked, her stiff spine somehow becoming far more rigid. I raised a brow and turned so my legs dangled over the cloth armrest.
“There are red flags everywhere. His writing started formal and devolved into desperation as he tacked on more to their story. And you saw that woman today. Who would wait hours to see someone only to criticize them for being a ‘gimmick’? A person who wants to stand out from the crowd and be picked is what I think.”
“She was too invested in something,” Nico agreed.
“Thank you.” December gestured to him. “See, I’m not wild for flagging the request…I should get a bump to at least a C for that.”
Nico shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t. It has nothing to do with it.”
“Guys, focus.” I shut my eyes for a second, trying to center my own off-balance. My lightheadedness returned.
“Rae?” December’s voice softened, paired with the gentle click of her laptop closing. “Are you okay? You’ve been closing your eyes like that all day. How’s the blood sugar?”
“It’s not my blood sugar. It’s the…point,” I muttered. I wasn’t looking forward to being on the endless road again. Showing up to the next job while wondering, whatwasthe point? Why were we investing in job after job when whatever progress we made in helping people seemed to last two seconds before another crisis?
Hunting wasn’t about permanently ridding the world of evil, a truth my entire family managed to stomach. I’d always had a difficult time internalizing that fact.
When I stepped away from the Guild, my original hope was that was when my true work would begin. And maybe the needle would finally begin to shift after I broke away from all the Guild’s strict guidelines. But every new job had gotten more dangerous. The paranormal felt far more hostile compared to when my parents were in thefield.
Each year, things seemed to get worse, not better. Inside the Guild or out, it didn’t matter.
“The point?” Nico’s tone lowered with worry, too.
I blew out a breath, ignoring Jonah’s curious sideways glance. His hands kept moving between ten and two, and seven and five on the wheel. My mood was a weather forecast for the team. I was the weatherperson in control of how to put a spin on it. A rainy day can be “much needed” and not “should stay indoors.”
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “Just, December, you’re an assistant, not my boss. Don’t add filters to my email if I don’t tell you to.”
“You asked me to organize,” she said. “So, I organized.”
“Not to where you’re hiding shit in folders I don’t know exist.” I twirled my finger in a circle. “Communication. If this is going to work long term, we all need to get better at communicating.”
“Fair,” December said begrudgingly. It was silent for a second before she added, “You’re a B plus, by the way. I like the straightforward feedback.”
I smiled at the gentleness of the compliment. “Thanks.”
“Of course.” December reopened her laptop. “I don’t allow personal feelings to color my ability to form an opinion of a situation…unlike some individuals.”
“That’s why I pay you the big bucks,” I teased.
Nico chuckled. He muttered something under his breath only December could hear. I tuned out their fresh back-and-forth, zoning in on Wilson Daniel’s first email.
Dear Rae Jones,
My name’s Wilson Daniel. My sister, Octavia, and I own a horse ranch that’s about eight hundred acres in Alpine Peak, Colorado. It’s called Elmwood. And though my name’s next to hers on the deed, the place belongs to her.
As kids, we moved around a lot. Her more than me since she lived with our father. AndI with my mother. And because of that, she doesn’t know what roots feel like. How deep they can go. But I am determined to change that. Elmwood lights her up. She wants to open a boarding and retirement stable for horses. A safe place for them to find the peace she’s found in them.
Things were fine the first week after signing the deed. But once we moved into the house and hired a few employees, accidents started happening. The first ranch hand (and I) got burned on the eye of an unlit stove. The second impaled his leg on a fence post. The last one’s hand got nailed with a nail gun that wasn’t plugged in.
