Page 44 of Somnium

The scrape of chairs followed by the sound of footsteps sent a bolt of panic through Cadi’s body, and she dashed away back toward the kitchen. When she heard the door open, she quickly spun around and adopted the most casual stride she could muster as she reapproached the office. She definitely needed to stop eavesdropping.

Sera stepped into the hall, followed by two men Cadi didn’t recognize, only catching a glimpse before they disappeared out the back. Sera turned as Cadi approached, a wide smile quickly taking the place of her troubled expression. “Hey! Just in time. I just have to run to my car if you want to join me.”

“Yeah, no pro—oof!”

Her momentum was abruptly halted when she ran straight into Elias as he stepped out into the hallway. The impact sent her stumbling backward, at which point she gracefully caught the toe of one shoe on the heel of the other and found herself scrambling to grab on to the closest thing that would save her from ending up on her ass. It just so happened, the closest thing was Elias.

“Woah! Careful,” he said, looping his arm around her waist to keep her steady. “Didn’t mean to take you out like that. You good?”

Cadi stared up at him for a moment before she nodded. She knew she should say something, anything really, but all the useful parts of her attention were focused on the place where his hand still rested against her back. Elias let out a soft laugh as he released her, but he was still close enough that Cadi felt the warmth of it against her face. It was probably best for her to stay quiet. With the proximity of his body to hers combined with the enticing firmness of his biceps beneath her fingers, she didn’t trust herself not to say something completely unhinged

“Okay,” he said after a moment. “Well before you two head out, why don’t you stop by the front? I have some new cocktails I’d like your opinions on.”

“You got it, boss,” Sera replied, as she grabbed Cadi’s arm to steer her toward the back door and out into the employee parking area. Cadi followed her to a bright yellow four by four and watched as she tugged open the door and lifted herself up onto the running board to dig through her center console.

Sera seemed completely unfazed by the gravity of the conversation that Cadi had just overheard, yet at the time, whatever she and Elias had been discussing with those two men had seemed nothing short of dire.

“Who were those guys?” Cadi asked. It wasn’t like she could come right out and ask what they had been talking about, but Sera couldn’t blame her for being curious about two strangers she had seen talking to her friends. At least that was what she told herself.

“Hmm?” Sera replied, as she jumped down from the rig to hand Cadi a set of silver keys.

“Those guys in the hall just now,” Cadi said, tossing her thumb over her shoulder toward the bar.

“Oh,” Sera said with a casual wave, “Elias is working on a project with them. Boring stuff.”

Cadi’s brows drew together. That discussion had seemed anything but boring, and despite Sera’s dismissal, something seemed … off. One of the men had mentioned a ritual, but from the brief glimpse she’d gotten, neither of them had looked like mythics, and humans were only able to manipulate magic in very rare, and relatively boring, circumstances. The spells they did have the ability to cast were pretty difficult to fully control, and were usually more about invoking and evoking energies or setting intentions unless they were able to obtain blessings from Freyja or Hecate to power rites, but neither of those goddesses had been seen in almost a decade.

“The square one is for the apartment,” Sera explained, pointing to the set that dangled from Cadi’s finger and completely redirecting the conversation. “The round one is for the building. I’ll leave you a note detailing everything for my girl.”

Cadi nodded as she secured Sera’s keys among her own, her thoughts still held captive by the earlier conversation. Maybe they had just been talking business, but even if they hadn’t, it was clear she wasn’t getting anything more from Sera. “Do you want me to stop by to meet the dog?”

Sera shook her head. “Nah, Cuba’s fine. I’ll let her know you’re coming so she doesn’t sound the alarm.”

Cadi lifted an eyebrow. In her experience, simply telling a dog that a stranger was coming into their home wasn’t the way to introduce someone, but Sera knew her dog best … she hoped.

Taking a step back toward the bar, Cadi paused when Sera moved in the opposite direction toward the driver’s side of her car.

“Aren’t you coming?”

Sera looked up, her gaze flicking between Cadi and the back door before she wrinkled her nose. “I’ve tried his experiments before. I like to live on the edge, but that’s pushing it. You have fun, though!”

Cadi choked out a laugh. With such a ringing endorsement, how could she refuse? She eyed the back door, her stomach sinking at the idea of walking back through the kitchen without someone who worked there as an escort. Once was bad enough.

“I don’t know,” she said, “I feel kind of weird walking through the back of a bar I don’t work at.”

Sera tilted her head and fixed Cadi with a look of fond incredulity before stepping around her car to stand in front of her. “Sweetie, you’re making this a lot bigger than it needs to be,” Sera said, giving Cadi’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Just go in there like you belong. No one will question it.”

Cadi wasn’t entirely convinced, but something about Sera’s presence had her standing a little straighter, holding herself with a poise she never knew she had. Or maybe it had always been there, just waiting for her to acknowledge it.

“Now,” Sera said, clapping Cadi’s shoulder just a touch harder than necessary, “go back in there and try some shitty cocktails for me.”

Cadi laughed. “You’re really selling this.”

Sera smiled and moved to climb back into her car. “Have fun with Cuba. She’s a big cuddler.”

The powerful engine roared to life, its vibration nearly rattling Cadi’s teeth despite being several feet back from the rig. She lifted her hand in a wave as she turned back to the bar, took a deep breath and tugged open the door.

The hallway was quiet, only the muffled sounds of the kitchen filtering through the pressing silence. Cadi’s nerves tangled in her gut the closer she got to the kitchen, and for a moment she considered bailing on the whole idea to just walk around to the front.