Besphinxed by Alethea Kontis

Author:Alethea Kontis [Kontis, Alethea]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: young adult, Romance
Publisher: Sugar Skull Books
Published: 2018-02-13T23:00:00+00:00

7

Owen painstakingly scraped off each plate before stacking it next to the sink. Technically this wasn’t his job. He could have been topping off ketchup bottles and sugar dispensers, but there was still plenty of time for that.

Dina was the dishwasher tonight. She’d be starting her shift soon. If Owen took the time to make her job a little easier, then Dina would most likely sing while she worked. Her exquisite undine voice always made the night better. Owen preferred working at the diner when everybody was in a good mood. When he saw Dina’s name on the schedule that afternoon, he’d decided to make the extra effort.

“Order up,” Nikki called as she hung her latest ticket in the window. “Hey, hon,” she called through to Owen. “Pretty sure there’s someone here to see you.”

“Pretty sure?” Owen asked.

Nikki shoved the pencil back in her loose bun—her personal trick so that she never lost it and no one ever stole it. “I thought maybe she was one of Kai’s friends, but she’s been staring at the kitchen door since she sat down. I doubt she’s looking for me or José.”

José made a show of smoothing down his mustache. “Bite your tongue, woman.”

“She?” The hairs on the back of Owen’s neck stood at attention. “Man or beast?”

Nikki swore she didn’t have psychic abilities, but after all the years she’d spent as a waitress in Nocturne Falls, she had a sixth sense about who was a tourist and who…wasn’t. “Witch,” she answered matter-of-factly, and then went back to checking on her tables.

Owen closed his eyes and thanked the stars. He checked his reflection on the side of a soup tureen and smoothed his hair down. “Do I look okay?”

“Pffft,” José said as he flipped a burger. “Get out of here, Romeo.”

Nikki had sat Heather in the booth at the back of the restaurant, commonly referred to as the “family booth.” Unless the diner had a waitlist, this booth was reserved for diner-family business. Owen sat at this booth to eat a meal while on shift, or to talk to Kai or her parents. This was the first time anyone outside the Xanthopoulos family had been sitting there for him.

Heather wore all black, as usual, but she looked…less put-together than normal. Her hair was windblown. Her pashmina was wrinkled. The charm she usually wore as a choker was wrapped around her wrist, as if in afterthought. And she was alone. It was rare to see Heather not surrounded by her hangers-on.

“Just you?” Owen asked as nonchalantly as he could muster.

“Me is all I have energy for right now,” she said. “I just got back. I should be in bed—between traveling through the magic mirror and dealing with my family, I’m exhausted. But I have to tell you something I learned, and I’m kind of hoping you won’t freak out about it.”

Owen’s muscles went tense. Had she put two and two together and realized the Arachne could be after her?

“I know who the Mad Bandits of Harmswood are.

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