Page 8 of Cry of the Damned
“As they should.” I nodded.
His upper lip twitched. “We checked the information that Mrs. Ouellette provided.” He glanced over at Mrs. Clarice, who didn’t like to be referred to by her married name because it made her think of her mother-in-law. “Your IDs appear to be in order, so for now, I wish you a pleasant stay, and I hope you are more careful with yourcoffeefrom now on.”
“Sure will be. No more clumsy hands.” I grinned, showing all my teeth. I glanced sideways at Mrs. Clarice, afraid she would point out I wasn’t one of the out-of-town visitors renting the room, but her mouth was pressed into a thin line. She wanted the guards out of here, and she wasn’t about to say anything that would make them linger.
The guards practically stormed out of the room without a backward glance at Mrs. Clarice or me.
“Oh, honey, tell your friends I apologize about that.” Mrs. Clarice stepped closer. “You know how overzealous our authorities can be sometimes, but they mean well.” Something in the ring of her voice made me wonder if she really believed her own words.
I swallowed thickly. “They’re kind of scary, aren’t they?” I glanced around nervously. “It’s a good thing Lillian and Beatrice didn’t see most of that or they might’ve decided to leave.” I used Ila and Bethel’s fake names.
“Nonsense! There’s no reason for them to leave. I’m sure they’ll enjoy the rest of their vacation without those trolls bothering them again.”
From what I’d seen in the last few days, Mrs. Clarice’s hotel didn’t have that many guests. Lux City wasn’t a thriving bed of tourism, after all. So no doubt she hated theauthoritiesscaring her clients away.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
She brought her hands together in front of her. Her chest swelled as she took a deep breath, smiling. “I’ll leave you three alone now. No need for me to bother you anymore.”
Mrs. Clarice backed out of the room and closed the door behind her. As soon as she was gone, I ran into the guys’ bedroom and uselessly scanned every corner.
Where the hell had they gone?
“Kall,” I whispered.
“We’re here,” he said from the living room.
I whirled to find all five of my roommates walking out of the bedroom I shared with Ila and Bethel. “How did you…?”
“We got out through that window, jumped on the balcony, then climbed back in through the other window.”
“Quick thinking.”
He shrugged as if it was nothing.
“Do you think Mrs. Clarice is right?” Ila asked. “Will they leave us alone?”
I shook my head. “Maybe. I don’t really know.”
“Damn!” Maki exclaimed.
He racked stiff fingers into his blond hair, fingers that quickly got stuck in the matted mess. Novuk had a similar problem with his bushy curls and unibrow. One look at them, and no one would take them for anything other than twowildlings.Kall, who preferred wearing his hair short, was the only one who could pass for a city resident. If the guards had laid eyes on Maki and Novuk, it would’ve been the end of our foray.
Once more, I found myself doubting our presence here. Had we made a mistake? Should we have joined Lawana’s pack, putting the tetrad under her control?
The guys came and stood around me.
Novuk placed a hand on my shoulder. “We’re doing the right thing, Sheela.”
It was a damn thing how they could easily guess my emotions through our tetrad bond. Sometimes it was convenient, but other times it made it hard to hide anything from them.
“We need to cut your hair,” I blurted out, pointing a finger at him. I turned and faced Maki. “And you too!”
“What?! No!” Maki took a step back. “What does my hair have to do with anything?”
“You look… you… um…”
“What she wants to say,” Bethel intervened, “is that you look likesavages.”
