From the doorstep of a charming little potion shop sitting primly on the corner of its street, its exterior navy blue with gold lettering above the door, its interior a mix of periwinkle blue and charcoal grey, its overall appearance one of wholesome cheer— from this tidy entryway came a sharp whisper:

“Fuck me.”

Mel hadn’t slept more than a few hours that afternoon. Though she only worked three days a week, the day before a shift always found her rattled. She’d grown used to this in a way that allowed for her to categorize the constant sensation of overwhelm as utterly normal. Today, however, she could allow that her situation was not normal.

Between her last shift and this, the first of the week, one of her friends and coworkers had been turned over to the authorities as a werewolf.

Mel fumbled with her key and looked up with worry that her boss would be watching through the window, ready to yell at her for struggling to do something as simple as unlock a door. But she knew Arthur wasn’t in today. He was planning to call into the staff meeting from home.

“Good evening,” Mel greeted the shop, trying to lift her spirits. She set the code on the alarm and locked the door behind her. “How are we doing today? Need a little dusting on the shelves, I see.”

Mel added this to her mental to-do list, unlikely as it was that she would find the time. It would be tight getting the orders done in the eight hours she was supposed to be working, but she wouldn’t be allowed to leave until they were finished. Her left shoulder ached— she unconsciously kept most of her tension in her upper back, and a knot had formed behind the shoulder blade there.

She spotted the phone basket under the counter and dropped her’s on the pile. Mel did a double-take when she realized Gus’s phone was still in there, too.

He’d always been forgetting it. Arthur hated that, and had plastered the shelf with increasingly aggressive notes reminding employees to bring their phones home. Mel was shocked Arthur hadn’t taken it already; she picked it up. Gus had doodled all over his phone’s white case. Little cheeses and goofy faces, all smudged. She blinked away tears and slid it into her pocket on impulse.

A werewolf was a remarkably rare thing. Rarer still for one to survive once in the hands of the state. Mel didn’t know what had become of Gus, would never know for certain, but she did know one thing: he didn’t deserve it.

She moved through the Employees Only door that led to the lab. It had been left tidy and organized by the day shift— Kit must have been in. Mel smiled. She stepped carefully through the lab, turning so her bag wouldn’t hit anything, and moved further back to the storage room where employees kept their belongings.

Kit was inside untying a spotless apron. “This motherfucker!” he greeted her, forgetting the knot and moving in to wrap her in his thin arms.

“It’s so good to see you!”

“You too. Come back to day shift, traitor.”

Mel had been working nights for a couple of months now. She’d asked to change her schedule, keeping her reasons vague, after working alongside Arthur became too much to bear. As manager and owner of the potion shop, he wasn’t exactly escapable, but she’d found a way to limit the time they spent in the same room. It was going okay so far.

Mel asked Kit, “Why don’t you join the night crew?”

Kit hummed and scratched at his five o’clock shadow. “Arthur’s going to catch on if we all do it.”

“Whaaat, whatever could you mean? I turned my entire life on its head to become nocturnal for fun. A fun little treat.”

“Hey.” Finally free of the apron, Kit stuffed it into the stained cloth laundry sack that hung on the wall. “I saw that fur potion you made last week. Thing of beauty. Seriously.”

“Aw, thanks, K. I had a lot of fun with that one. Have you seen Rosa yet?”

“Not yet. She’s got a few minutes. We can always angle the camera so Arthur can’t see her come in late if we have to. You two ready for the new order?”

“New order? You mean the Henderson batch?”

“No, the, uh…” Kit pursed his lips. “He didn’t tell you, did he.”

Mel dropped her bag and kicked it behind the door. “Didn’t tell me anything. Please, please don’t say we took another order for the weekend.”

“I tried to talk him out of it, but you know how he gets. Said we couldn’t turn down the money.”

Still unable to fully convince herself that Arthur wasn’t going to appear from some bleak corner of the storage room, Mel whispered, “I don’t even know how we were supposed to get the original orders done tonight. How big are we talking?”

“Oof, let’s see… it was three dozen basics. I don’t remember which ones, but they were all basics, yeah.”

Mel hissed, “Three dozen?” She jumped when a polite knock interrupted them.

Rosa waved, coming into the room and shrugging out of the oversized jacket that had swallowed her small frame. “Hi Kit! How are you?”

“I’m good, babe! How about you? How are the wives?”

“Oh, good!” Rosa beamed. “Jenny just got a big promotion, and Vera made a cake to celebrate.”

With an expression of pure adoration, Kit said, “All I want to do is sit and listen to stories about your home life all day.”

Rosa tied her chin length black hair into a tiny ponytail. “Move to the night shift, then. Mel had the right idea. I’d make the switch for good if I could swing it.”

“Nah, somebody’s gotta babysit the boss. That order was originally six dozen.”

“Six?” Mel asked with horror.

“I heard you talking about that when I was coming in,” Rosa said. “I almost turned right back around. But here I am. I’m going to hit the ladies’ room before the meeting. I’ll see you in the office?”

“I’ll set up the laptop,” Kit agreed. He and Mel headed in the opposite direction from Rosa, down the hall to a dark little room tucked away behind yet more storage.

“Hey,” Mel said as she turned on the light. “I wanted to ask. Are you doing ok?” With an air of both sympathy and apology for broaching a sensitive topic, Mel met Kit’s eyes and held his gaze.

“Do I seem worried?”

“Maybe a little.”

“It’s my betta fish.” Kit shook his head. “I think he’s mad at me.”

Mel couldn’t find the words to respond. Little had been said between them on the subject of Gus, but Mel assumed tonight they would finally address it together.

Kit’s thoughts were clearly elsewhere. He said, “I got this little mirror that you’re supposed to put in the tank, right? And your betta sees his reflection and he tries to fight it. The guy at the pet shop said it was good for them. A kind of enrichment thing, you know? But my little buddy hasn’t been the same since I tried it out. He stopped swimming up to the front of the tank when I walk by. It’s like I breached his trust. I threw the mirror away, but I feel so guilty. I wish I could explain that I wasn’t trying to scare him or upset him. I thought it would be good.”

“Oh, Kit.” Mel pushed aside Gus for the time being. She’d already been doing so every hour for the last few days; at any rate, the meeting would start in another minute or so, and they would discuss it as a team. “He just needs a little time. He’ll forgive you. I’m sure of it.”

“Thanks. I hope you’re right.”

Rosa joined them as Kit opened the laptop. They each took a seat at the scratched and chipped pedestal table in the center of the room. The sound of the metal chairs against the bare concrete floor gave her a sense of familiarity that made Gus’s absence all the more difficult.