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The figure took two more steps into the middle of the room, and paused as though . . . waiting?

I bolted from behind the door, dashed from the room, bounced off the hallway wall, sprinted down the corridor, and tore down the huge staircase. Taking the treads two at a time, I made it to the ground floor, followed the arrows to the restaurant, and burst in on the breakfast service.

A few people looked up. One of the staff tried to stop me and ask for a room number. I spotted Zee getting coffee from a machine and Victor alone at table and hurried over.

“Uh, Victor.” I dropped into a seat opposite him, and breathing hard whispered, “So . . . uhm . . . there’s-an-axe-murderer-in-our-room.”

Victor frowned. “Adam, take a moment and please repeat.”

“In our room . . . an axe . . . a man . . . or a woman, I’m not sure . . . holding an axe . . . like this.” I demonstrated, hands up, gripping an imaginary axe over my shoulder, still huffing. “Big . . . axe . . . I ran.”

Victor’s scowl turned thoughtful. “Was the axe bloodstained?”

“Oh uh . . . No?” I should have thought of that. Maybe the whole thing had been innocent?

“Did you speak with them?”

“No, I uh—the axe didn’t look friendly.”

Zee appeared, carrying two plates of stacked pancakes. “Kitten, I have pancakes with blueberries or pancakes with bacon. I’m thinking mix and match, then more bacon for dessert.”

“Adam was just alarmed to find someone entering our room carrying an axe.”

“What?” Zee straightened and dumped the plates on the table with a clatter. “Imma see about that.” Tiny purple sparks danced over the white tablecloth. He was gearing up to translocate.

“Don’t.” I grabbed his wrist. “We’re supposed to be human. No poofing.”

“You mean I gotta walk my fabulous ass up all those stairs again?”

“Zodiac, you and I will investigate,” Victor said, leaving his chair. “Adam, remain here and eat some breakfast. It appears you will need the energy.”

“And don’t let anyone steal our table. That French couple over there look sus,” Zee added, eyeing the packed room, tail lashing, as though suspecting every person of wanting to steal his seat and his pancakes.

He stabbed a piece of pancake with a fork, shoved it into his mouth, and the pair of them strode off, trying not to rush. They did draw a few gazes, probably for being in LARP costume at breakfast.

I sighed and sat back, trying to relax. They were capable of handling an axe-wielding maybe-murderer, but so was I. I should have talked to the axe person. “Hello, that’s a nice axe . . .” Maybe they’d wandered into the wrong room? Although . . . the door had been locked, unless Zee had accidentally left it open. That’s probably what had happened. Someone in costume had mistaken our room for theirs.

Not being human while pretending to be human again was turning out to be very confusing.

I devoured a few pancakes, counting down the seconds, then the minutes, and just as I readied myself to head back upstairs, Zee and Victor returned, their expressions guarded. “And?” I urged as they sat down at our table. Their mutual silence was concerning.

“So uhm . . . Kitten?” Zee leaned closer and whispered, “Did you leave the guy alive or dead when you fled the scene?”

I did not like where this was going. “Alive. Why?”

Zee glanced at Victor, and it was Victor who said, “Because alive is not how we found him.”

“He’s dead?” I whispered harder. Victor nodded.

“Are you sure you didn’t kill him?” Zee asked. “By accident?”

“Accidentally killing someone is not something that—wait, never mind.” We had definitely killed people by accident more than once. But not this time.

“I had to ask. Sometimes you’re real strong without knowing it, which is a fuckin’ turn-on, just maybe not for the axe-wielding maniac.”

Couldn’t we go anywhere without people dying around us? “Look, I’m sure I didn’t kill him. He was in the middle of the room when I ran, like humans run. Remember, we’re being humans pretending to be us? So I couldn’t confront him. Now I wish I had.”

“If you had, you’d have an axe-shaped hole in your chest.” Zee grabbed the plate of cold pancakes and tucked in. “Hm, bacon ish the besht, an’ ish made of vegshtables so ish healfy too.”