I WAS AWAKE BEFORE Melissa arrived the next morning. Awake, thirsty, and pacing, having checked the locket once—dark—and tried the door three times—locked.
So when footsteps finally pattered down the hall toward us I couldn’t help myself. I was hovering at the door, closer than was really appropriate as Melissa swung open the obstacle that had kept me penned up inside.
“Oh!” She nearly dropped the bowl out of her left hand. Did drop the keys in her right.
I picked up the copper ring by way of apology. And even though I reined in my movements until they were no faster than human, Melissa winced when I passed the keys over and our fingers touched.
She’d always been an underdog, but this level of timidity was new. “Has someone been bothering you?” I asked instead of launching into the pro
