After ensuring Martha's safety, I returned to the inn. Relief washed over me, but it didn't last long. At the entryway of our lodge stood Miss Loraine, smiling sweetly—too sweetly. Her head tilted slightly to the left, giving her an almost innocent air. Almost.
"Where were you, I wonder?" she asked, her tone sugary but laced with steel.
I froze mid-step. Sure, she was smiling, but hoo boy! That grim undertone made me want to sprint back into the night. If looks could scold, hers just handed me detention for life.
"I've been calling you since I got here," she continued, her tone level but somehow sharp. "I made sure to do it several times. Why, I wonder, would someone on a mission neglect a contact from me, hmm?"
Her eyes bore into me, and I felt a bead of sweat form on my temple. My brain scrambled for an excuse—a good one, a plausible one, any one.
"I—I lost my way?" I stammered.
