While Josey and her sister were getting settled into their beds, they laughed talked about Emily’s weekend with her friend Clarissa and this made Josey feel better about her crappy weekend by knowing her sister was happy. “I bet the view was breath taking!” Josey said, staring at her ceiling and listening in earnest to her sister’s voice. “Well, you’d know for yourself Jo if you would come with us sometimes. The air is fresher up there and you can see for miles.” Emily responded pointedly. Josey knew Emily didn’t remember that when they were young, their mother and father would take them to the base of the mountain and ride a rail car up while sipping warm drinks in the fall. She felt it was better that Emily didn’t remember, but it was hard for Josey to ever go back. “I know, maybe one of these days I will join you and drag Cece along. I really could use the exercise anyway.” Trying to keep the mood happy, Josey let go of the memory. “You’ll get it hiking with us, that’s for

Holding on to her smile, she entered through the rotating glass doors. The text she received Friday said she could head straight to the 4th floor for HR, but she noticed the line of badge scanners she didn’t realize were there before, when she came for the interview the other day. The only way around them was to pass by the reception desk and she didn’t want to deal with explaining herself. Trying to act natural she walked up to one of the scanners. Pulling out the visitor badge she still had, she tried that first. It didn’t make a sound so she tried again and still nothing. Josey even tried scanning it upside down then waving it back and forth, still the machine wouldn’t acknowledge it. “What is wrong with this thing?” Whispering the question, she noticed the red button above the little dark glass covering the laser. Josey assumed if she wasn’t supposed to touch it, it would be labeled as such, so she went for it. Mashing the button, hard, she suddenly realized it was

“Ah, glad to see Mara did her job.” His uncle said to Tarrin as walked over to greet him. “Yes, well, I hadn’t planned on such an early arrival, but I will say it had its benefits.” He responded putting on a fake smile. Tarrin was nervous, with what just happened with the scanners and Josey being locked in the security room, he played along to keep things going smoothly. “Good, the meeting will be on the 12th floor, they have better coffee. I will have one of my assistants brief you prior, say around 10?” His uncle asked, knowing full well Tarrin was already aware when and where the meeting was. “10? That should work. I have some paper work to wrap up before the meeting and I will need to stop by HR, so, till then.” Tarrin quickly nodded at his uncle and headed back towards the room where he was hiding Josey. Instead of going to the door she was locked behind, he entered the one right next to it. It was a small room that was made for interrogation observation. He had stuck

Mrs. Averret opened the supply closet and stepped in. “Now, everything you should need is in here. Computer paper, pens, envelopes, you name it, it’s in here, somewhere. Oh, and if you have any issues with the computer or the phone, you will have to put a work order in. The easiest way to do that is with a work form and I will show you those.” Josey stepped in and looked at the shelves of paper and supplies in disarray, the place was a mess but she just nodded and continued writing. They stepped out HR lady closed the door behind her before walking over to the copy machine by the office door. “This is the only copier on this floor, so you will need to knock before you enter during business hours when you need to use it. It is actually a multi-function machine, scans, faxes, even staples if need be. He rarely uses it, so it’s good that someone will finally be able to appreciate it.” Josey watched as she explained all the buttons and displays, and wrote the information down.

Mara was quiet for a moment then responded, “Yes. He’s known since this morning.” Tarrin swore under his breath. It was too late to come up with a decent reason to keep her, he thought, before changing his mind again, feeling maybe it was actually better this way. He heard his uncle say something again before Mara relayed it, “I am to inform you that you are to not let her out of your sight. He wants to meet with Josey at his home sometime this week because she is the only key to what was lost in the warehouse.” Tarrin closed his eyes and took a deep breath and brought his other hand down hard on the desk in frustration. “Are you fucking serious?” Mara said something to his uncle before responding but it was faint and then his uncle got loud enough for Tarrin to hear him before Mara relayed in a gentler way rather than what the older man said. “Your uncle says yes, he is very serious, so serious that instead of the wolf mutation occurring every full moon, he will find a wa