Chapter 22

I dozed off sometime during the drive and it was almost dark when Cole woke me up. “We're here.” He stated his face contorted into the intense mask he wore from time to time, a mask I had come to associate with his seriousness. 

I stretched out my arms as I waited for him to open the boot. The inn was almost as empty as the first time I saw it with one loan occupant sitting in a darkened corner nursing a half empty glass of ale.

“How does Peter manage to keep this place running if he never has any customers?” I questioned quietly as I followed Cole through the back and up the stairs, giving a nod of greeting to Matt, the bar tender as we passed.

“The inn isn't here as a business, it’s the gateway. The council pay the human bills on the inn. Ensuring this place is almost always empty is better for us, we can pass through with no one noticing us that way.”

I shook off the final remna