Sophie paced in her bedroom. Pax promised that he’d stay with her on these nights. Her skin was already beginning to crawl. Where in the hell is he?
     She looked out her door and found the hall empty. A growling came from her stomach, begging for the dinner Pax also promised to bring her. Pursing her lips, she left her room and headed for the grand staircase. It was the first time she left the room since coming here.
     “Hey!” someone said.
     Sophie stopped at the top of the stairs and saw a girl, with pixie blonde hair, come from down the hall. “Are you going to the kitchen?”
     The girl was obviously Riff, based on Pax’s description. Sophie forced herself to answer. “Uh, yeah. I haven’t had dinner yet.”
     “Good! I need to place some orders, as well. I drew the short straw this evening.” Riff seemed genuinely friendly and happy to be speaking to anyone else besides Danielle or Jake.
     The two began heading down the stairs.
     “Your name’s Sophie, right?”
     “Yeah. We met the day you arrived here, remember?”
     Giving her a side glance, Riff tried to recall her face and name. “Oh, that’s right. Sorry I forgot. There’s so many new people to remembered around here.”
     Sophie didn’t reply. There was nothing she wanted to say to this girl.
     Entering the bustling kitchen, the sight was a common one to Sophie. Riff, on the other hand, couldn’t get past the whole restaurant vibe.
     “May I help you?” a woman said. Her dark hair was trapped underneath fragile netting and her casual clothes guarded by a stained apron.
     Riff answered first. “I need three dinners; two regular and one vegetarian as always.”
     The cook took a mental note of the order. “And what for you, Miss Sophie?”
     “What’s on the menu?”
     “Grilled chicken or baked fish, with your choice of sides.”
     Thinking over the options, Sophie’s affair with fish began and ended with the canned variety. “Chicken, please, and mashed potatoes, broccoli, and a roll.”
     “Wait,” said Riff, “we can pick our side dishes?”
     “You are classified with those downstairs,” the cook explained, “thus you receive the standard meal.” She looked back at Sophie. “Anything for desert?”
     “Chocolate cake or cheesecake, either is fine.”
     The cook smiled. “I have a fresh chocolate cheesecake in the fridge.” She stepped away to fill the orders.
     “Must be nice to get special treatment,” muttered Riff.
     Sophie allowed herself to gloat. “Perks of tenure.”
     “Tenure at your age?”
     “Not a typical job.”
     Riff shrugged. “That’s true.” She rocked on her heels, searching for something else to say. “You and Pax seem to be inseparable these days.”
     “Just missed me, I guess.” Sophie began to see where this was heading.
     “He doesn’t like us too well—Danielle, Jake, and I. A couple of times I’ve tried talking to him, but he has it in his head that we’re out to get him. Maybe you can talk to him for us?”
     “I can’t change his mind, if that’s what you’re meaning.”
     The cook returned with a covered tray and handed it to Sophie. She then turned to Riff. “Yours will be sent up shortly.”
     Flashing a fake smile, Riff replied, “Thank you,” and followed Sophie out of the kitchen. “What are you doing tonight,” she asked, catching up to her.
     “Nothing much. Probably watch some TV or take a bath.”
     “You can come to my room. We’re going to watch a movie.”
     “Thanks for the offer, but I’m really tired.”
     “That’s odd,” said Riff, giving her a strange look. “I thought you’d be on edge for the next few nights.”
     As the reached the bottom of the stairs, Sophie answered, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She kept her eyes forward and off of Riff.
     “You don’t have to play dumb with me,” she said, climbing the stairs with her. “So what happened?”
     Sophie walked faster. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
     “Come on. You leave for six months ago, perfectly human, and show up now with an extra 28 day cycle.”
     They reached the top of the stairs. Sophie saw the door to her room, calling out like a sanctuary.
     Riff continued speaking. “I can see why Ingram would want you here. It’s like an attempt to prove to his daughter that he can overlook the preverbal elephant in the room.”
     Reaching the door’s handle, Sophie found the door opening on its own. Her heart leapt for joy as she saw Pax standing in the doorway.
     Pax stared at Riff. “Your room is that way,” he said, pointing down the hall.
     “I was trying to be supportive,” she tired to explain. “It’s not easy for someone to go through what she’s going through.”
     “You’re not allowed in this wing of the house,” he sternly reminded. “Leave.”
     With lips tightening, she found herself defeated. “Fine.”
     Pax stood at the door as he watched Riff head down the hall. He looked at Sophie and saw the tray. “Where’s my dinner?”
     She rolled her eyes and pushed past him. “You have legs. Go get your own.”
     “I hope that’s PMS talking.”
     Setting the tray down on the dresser, Sophie shot him a hateful look.
     Pax closed the door, his demeanor becoming serious. “The Magnificent Three are doing research on us,” he whispered. “Perhaps trying to devise a plan to end us once and for all.”
     “And Alex is letting them?”
     “He says that he has nothing to hide. I don’t know. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking these days.”
     Shaking her head, she let out a sigh. “Go and get your dinner. We can talk about this later.”
     Pax bowed. “Yes, ma’am.”
     After he left the room, Sophie locked the door. If Riff was bold enough to ignore the rules, then she was capable of anything.

Riff peered through the small crack in her door. Down the hall, Pax headed toward the stairs. She closed the door and turned to see Danielle and Jake watching her. Jake sat at the writing desk with his laptop and Danielle sat on the bed with her journal. Both waited to hear their cousin’s report.
     Riff shrugged under the weight of their stares. “Well, she seems nice, until the whole fur thing was brought up.”
     Danielle shook her head and sighed. “I told you not to mention that.”
     “It’s like walking on ice around here. I hate living in this bubble.”
     “Forty seven more days, less than two months,” Jake reminded. “You can survive till then.”
     Dropping her shoulders, Riff walked over to the window. The view shown the flower gardens and well-manicured shrubs and trees. It was the only thing nice this place had going for it. And during the winter, that, too, was gone.
     “This place is a perversion of everything we stand for,” she said, grimacing. “And now we have to stay in the same house with a full-blown werewolf. Not to mention that there’s a full moon in two nights.”
     Danielle finished writing a notation in her journal as she spoke. “We are here to observe. Ignore the furbag down the hall.”
     With a huff, Riff flopped down in the soft, leather chair. “Argh! No car is worth this much agony!”
     Danielle looked at her oddly. “You were promised a car?”
     “Yeah,” she brushed off. “It was the only way they could get me to come here. How did your parents persuade you?”
     “They begged me.” She continued to stare at her cousin in disbelief. “A car? Really?”
     “And I get to pick out everything,” she gloated, flashing a cheesy grin. “Seriously, you should’ve held out for the goods.” She nodded at Jake. “How did your parents persuade you to come here?”
     He seemed uninterested with the question. “They told me where I was going. That’s all I needed to hear.”
     “Bollocks! Have I not taught you two anything?” Riff slumped further into her chair. “It’s your loss. But at least we’re all clear on one thing.” She began dancing in the chair as she sang, “I’m getting a car, while you’re stuck with a Vespa.”
     Danielle’s grip on her pen tightened. I like my Vespa.