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I deposited Theo and Lulu in the RV and made my way back to the cabin and was shocked to meet Arne and Marian, the shifters we’d met on the way to Grand Bay, coming up the path. They both wore light jackets, carried to-go cups of fragrant coffee.
Why had they driven all the way out here? I wondered, and hoped the violence hadn’t spread to their home.
“Hey,” I said, walking toward them. “Is everything okay?”
“I think we need to ask you that,” Marian said, giving me a hug. “How are you and Connor?”
“Okay for now,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
Arne held up his cup. “We’re taking a turn on shutter duty today.”
“Shutter duty—” I began, and it took me a moment to figure out what he’d meant. “You drove up here to stand guard?”
“We did,” Marian said. “Connor is important to us, and you’re important to him. Alexei put in a call, so we came.”
Probably hearing voices, or because he was making sure I’d made it back from the RV lot, Connor walked out of the cabin and looked as surprised as I probably had. “Everything okay?”
“They’re guarding us today,” I said, saving them the second explanation. “Alexei asked them to.”
“You didn’t have to drive up,” Connor said, giving them both hugs. “But I appreciate that you did.” He gestured to their cups. “You’ve got enough caffeine?”
“We’re fine,” Marian said.
“We’ve got pizza if you’re hungry,” I said. “Someone ordered too much.”
“We’re good, but thank you.”
“How were the girls’ recitals?” I asked.
“A few tears,” Arne said, “a few blank stares, and a whole lot of cute. I might have gotten a little teary-eyed.”
“Same,” Marian said. “Misty Copeland they were not, but theyhad a lot of fun. And we took a lot of pictures. We’ll send you some.”
“I’d love to see them,” I said, for some reason imagining the girls dressed as dancing fruits and vegetables.
And speaking of food... “I think you’ve got more provisions on the way,” Connor said, gesturing to the mulch path.
Ruth, Rose, and Traeger walked toward us, Traeger carrying a plastic cooler. Rose limped a little, her right leg in a sturdy brace, but she was upright and moving.
“How’s the pin?” Connor asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“I won’t be bowling for a while,” she said with obvious frustration. “But I got to kick some monster ass, so that helped.”
“What’s all this?” I asked as Traeger put the cooler on the patio.
“Beverages,” Ruth said with a smile. There was a bruise on her forehead, a healing cut on her face, but she looked much better than she had the last time I’d seen her. “Saw you in the lodge,” she said. “You looked good with the sword.”
“Thank you.”
“We figured,” Rose said, “if we’re going to guard this place, we might as well do a little recreational day drinking.” She opened the cooler, pulled out a can of beer. “Let’s get to work.”
***
We repeated our cold pizza offer, which Ruth and the others declined. But they accepted hugs and heaping thanks before settling themselves in.
“It’s going to put them at risk,” I said when we’d gone inside. “I don’t like that.”
“I don’t, either,” Connor said. “But you need sleep, and I can’t stay awake twenty-fours at a time. So we’ll let them help us and be grateful for it.”
