It was weird being back in the diner again. The cleanup people had done their job. They’d managed to scrape the blood—and everything else—from the windows and the concrete outside. Isa had been sure nobody would show up to eat at a diner where an unknown assailant had slaughtered three teens, but she’d underestimated people’s grim fascination with death. They’d been busy since Isa had flipped on the open sign at six thirty that morning.
It was two hours before closing, and there was a line out the door. They were mostly teens from Wolf Creek and Belle Haven, but some were out-of-towners who’d traveled just to see the place devil worshippers had supposedly carved up three bodies.
Isa had put out an emergency text for everybody to get to the restaurant as soon as school ended; something she’d never done in the months that Ember had lived there. Rhys, Wren, and Quinn were running the kitchen. Isa had put Neoma on bussing and dishes so Wren could keep an eye on her in the back. Kai was running the counter, and Tristin and Ember had the floor. Isa was in her office with R.J. happily drooling on blocks in his playpen.
Ember delivered food to a table of four—two boys and two girls—who seemed to be paying far more attention to her than each other. When she turned to leave, the ginger-haired boy with dull-blue eyes grabbed her by the arm and swung her back around. She snatched her arm away before asking, “Did you need something else?”
“Did you know those kids who died?”
Ember flinched. At first glance, his question seemed casual, idle curiosity like the others gawking at her and her cousins, but there was something in their posture, their eyes assessing everything about her. “No, I didn’t. Did you need anything else? A refill on your soda? Water? No? Okay.”
She turned again, and this time he gripped her wrist hard enough to bruise. “Hey.”
“Do you feel bad they died because of you?”
“What?” Ember asked, her heart rate going wild. “Let go of me.”
“That detective says my sister died because she looked like you. Personally, I think my sister was way prettier, but I guess I see the resemblance.”
Ember reeled at the information. “I’m sorry for your loss, but you need to take your hands off me. Now.”
“Ember, you okay?” Kai asked from close behind her.
She nodded but didn’t look back at her cousin. She felt better, stronger, with Kai at her back. “I'm all right.”
Kai wasn’t buying it. “Dude, you got about three seconds to let go of my cousin before I make you let her go.”
The guy snorted, and his three friends snickered. She never even saw Kai move. One minute he was behind her, and the next he had the kid’s head shoved in his burger, his arm twisted behind his back.
The girl with the short black hair jerked away from the table. “Let him go, asshole. Hey, this guy assaulted my friend.”
A huge kid in a varsity jacket and a buzz cut stood up. “I think you need to let him go.”
Kai raised a brow. “He needs to learn not to put his hands on my cousin—or anybody, really—without their permission.”
The boy prowled closer, cracking his knuckles. “Let him go, or I’m going to end you, pretty boy.”
Kai laughed. “Aw, you think I’m pretty? Thanks. But my boyfriend’s kind of the jealous type.”
The kid looked disgusted. “Just let him go, bro.”
From the corner of her eye, Ember saw Tristin reach for something in her pocket. Ember gave a slight shake of her head. The last thing they needed was Tristin making a bad situation worse. These were humans they were dealing with, not monsters.
“See, I’d like to do that, but I need some assurances that you all will just get up and walk out of here without causing any more trouble. Deal?”
“Whatever, just let me up.”
Kai let him go. “Leave. Now.” He turned his back, and the kid stood, picking up the napkin holder on the table.
“Kai!” Tristin yelled, but it was too late. Rhys was already clearing the counter like an Olympic hurdler right between two startled old ladies. He snatched the kid by the throat, dragging him along the floor until they reached the door. Tristin held the door open so Rhys could fling the guy out. The kid hit the pavement hard enough to bounce.
“Don’t come back here,” Kai warned.
Rhys looked at the three remaining kids at the table. “Go. Last warning.”
“I’m calling the cops,” the smaller brunette said as she inched past Tristin.
“Good, we can show them the bruises you left on my cousin,” Kai said.
The other girl grabbed her friend’s arm. “Let’s just get out of here.”
Isa came into the dining room as the door swung shut, R.J. balanced on her hip. Tristin, Kai, Rhys, and Ember faced the boy in the varsity jacket, but Isa stepped between them, facing him. “Are we going to have a problem too?”
He looked down at Isa in surprise; he was at least a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier than her. R.J. happily gummed on a teething biscuit, leaving cookie debris on Isa’s uniform shirt and in her hair. She either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Varsity guy barked out a laugh. “What, like I’m going to fight some tiny chick holding a baby?”
Isa’s smile went feral; without looking behind her, she said, “Rhys, hold the baby.”
Rhys took R.J., looking the guy up and down with a smirk. “I’d just walk away if I were you.”
“What are you? Her boyfriend?”
“No. That’d be me,” Wren said from the pass-thru window.
“So, what, I swing, and you come save her?”
Wren laughed. “My wife fights her own battles.” He winked at Isa before turning back to the boy, his smile disappearing. “I just like to watch.”
He wasn’t the only one. There wasn’t a single person under the age of forty-five who didn’t have their cell phones out and trained on them.
Isa cracked her knuckles just like he had. “Last chance to walk out of here with your dignity?”
“Oh, you’re asking for it, lady.”
“Well, why don’t you come over here and give it to me?”
He lunged for Isa, but she was ready. She snagged his wrist, trapping his huge arm under her own and pressing her fingers into his thumb joint. Ember’s eyes widened as the boy hit his knees, making a noise somewhere between a whimper and a sob.
Isa didn’t let go, crouching slightly so they were eye to eye. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? I mean, I’m barely applying any pressure, but it feels like your arm is breaking, doesn’t it? And the funny thing—not funny for you, of course—but the funny thing is no matter how long I do this, the pain doesn’t get better. Your body doesn’t adjust; the pain never subsides. As long as my fingers stay right here, you’ll continue to be in agony.”
Somebody at a table whistled, and another boy whispered, “Well, damn.”
The boy practically drooled from the pain, babbling, “Let me go. I’m sorry, okay. I’m sorry.”
“Now, I’m a reasonable girl, so I’m going to let you get up and walk out of here, and I won’t even make you pay, but you won’t come back here. Got it?”
He gave another sniveling sob. “You people are all crazy.”
Isa nodded. “Possibly. If so, it probably wouldn’t do to cross us. Now, do we have an understanding?”
“Yes,” he said, using his free hand to swipe at the tears streaming from his eyes.
Isa smiled. “Excellent choice.” She made eye contact with the others in the restaurant. “Anybody else have a problem?”
People shook their heads all across the diner. “Wonderful. Tonight, everybody’s meals are on me but don’t abuse my staff.” When she went to snag the baby, he burrowed closer to Rhys, fisting one goopy cookie hand into his shirt and rubbing his messy baby face against Rhys’s chest before looking at Isa with a shy smile. Isa booped the baby on the nose. “Traitor.”
“Bah,” R.J. gurgled. “Bah. Bah. Bah.” He smashed Rhys on the nose with his cookie. “Bup.”
Rhys glowered at the baby. Kai dabbed the cookie off Rhys’s nose with the towel tucked into his apron, laughing. Ember wanted to join in, but her heart still felt lodged in her throat. “Ember, my office, please. Tristin, cover Ember’s tables for a minute.”
Tristin rolled her eyes but nodded. Once in the back office, Isa asked. “What was that all about?”
Ember rubbed absently at her wrist. “The guy at the table said his sister was one of the victims. The girl…w-who looked like me. He asked if I felt bad that she died because of me.”
Isa’s eyes went soft. “Ember, you know that’s not true. Right?”
Ember nodded, but she didn’t know that, not really. The girl died because she looked like Ember, didn’t that make it her fault? “Can I take my break?”
“Sure, but stay close. Too many humans are roaming tonight.”
Ember was one of them. “Yeah, okay.”
She was almost out of Isa’s office when she said, “If you see Quinn out there, tell him his break’s over.”