I.

Nonie locked the door behind her and set down the last bag of groceries,
somehow managing not to step on her li'l purrthing Mackle. Stormy, of
course, was not underfoot, being curled up in her warm snug like any
sensible cat.

Then Mackle made an excited little chirrup, and Nonie looked up.

Her heart jolted.

A dark form was standing in her bathroom door, leather jacket still
glittering with rain. The smell of beer and smoke and danger surrounded
him. One black-gloved finger rested on his lips, and one long-lashed eye
closed in a wink.

Helplessly, she looked at his other arm to see whether Te was right about
the hook.

---

II.

The other campers were driving her crazy, all that "And then he goes, you
know what he goes? He goes..." "And then I'm like, you know..." "So my
mom's all..."

So when the counselor wasn't looking, she slipped into a side trail and
took the back way, the narrower trail through the trees and green brush so
close it almost touched both shoulders and hid everything else from sight.
Sure, she knew they weren't ever supposed to go anywhere alone for fear of
being lost. But she'd been coming to Wahpeton for what, seven or eight
years now? and knew all the trails.

She wished she didn't. She wished this one would open out somewhere new,
somewhere romantic like....

Why was it getting darker? The weather must be changing.

And the whispery rustle of leaves in the wind was changing too; she could
hear its undertones begin a slow rhythm of rush and retreat, ebb and flow.
Scared and excited, she walked faster, and then began to run, watching the
path open at last into the moon-hung, starry dark of an ocean cliff.

The shadowed form in front of her reached out one wool-clad arm to keep her
from the edge, his caped coat unfurling in the breeze.

"Be careful, young lady," he said, and then, "What brings you to Widow's Hill?"

His aquiline face was pale in the moonlight, and then she saw his eyes kindle.

---

She heard the hall door open and shut, so she picked up her pizza coupon
and money just as the knock came.

It wasn't her usual pizza boy, but a lean, dark-haired man with a quizzical
look like a graduate student who's watched too much history pass by. For a
moment, the angle of the light shaded half his face in blue, but then he
looked at her directly and blinded her with a boyish grin.

Hearts don't really drop like this, she knew it.

"Hullo," he said, and offered her a six-pack she hadn't ordered. "Beer?"

"Mi casa es su casa," she said helplessly and stood aside.

---

IV.

His hand on her cheek was even softer than she had guessed. "By Elbereth,"
he breathed, "But thou art fair."

---

V.

Then her boss's face grew even froggier and his necktie even tighter, and
something red seared through his lapel from behind.

And tore loose with the sound of power.

Behind him, as he began to fall, she saw the jutting stubs of horn, the
ebony face set in a blood-red snarl, the black robes still aflight in
motion. Firegold eyes met hers, burning.

Like any sensible person, she turned and fled.

---

fin