End of shift

Joey rubbed his face.

“One girl gave me her number.”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t suddenly make me hot.”

Cassandra slowly looked him up and down.

“…No,” she said. “That happened earlier.”

Joey nearly dropped an entire sleeve of cups.

From nearby came the sudden sound of a soda cup being crushed slightly too hard.

Crystal.

She stood at the drive-thru station pretending to organize receipts while very obviously listening.

Cassandra noticed immediately.

Of course she did.

“You’re being monitored again,” she murmured.

“I hate when you say things like that.”

“You enjoy it a little.”

“I absolutely do not.”

Cassandra smiled slowly. “Liar.”

The last hour of the shift crawled by after that.

Crystal got progressively stranger.

Not meaner.

That was the weird part.

She kept finding reasons to come near Joey’s register.

Correcting things that didn’t need correcting.

Standing slightly too

[close.

At](http://close.At) one point she leaned over him to grab a pen that absolutely did not require leaning over him to

[retrieve.

By](http://retrieve.By) this point Joey was getting iritated.

"Crystal, is there something wrong with the pen in your pocket?" Joey said with some venom.

"No, I just...nevermind!" She huffed, turning and storming away again, her cheeks colored again.

Cassandra, meanwhile, was having the time of her life.

Cassandra tapped the side of her nose when Joey looked at her.

“Now stop panicking,” Cassandra whispered.

“I am not panicking.”

“You inhaled a pickle.”

“That was unrelated.”

“It was not.”

Finally—mercifully—the clock hit closing time.

Joey had never been so happy to hear the sound of the front doors locking.

Employees immediately began cleanup mode.

Mark disappeared into the back, muttering something about bong rips.

Tammy gave Joey a suspicious thumbs up.

Crystal approached while Joey wiped down the counter.

For once, she didn’t look irritated.

If anything, she looked… uncertain.

Which somehow felt more dangerous.

“So,” she said casually, “you heading straight home tonight?”

Joey blinked.

“…Yeah?”

Crystal nodded slowly.

“You should be careful walking around this late,” she said.

Before Joey could respond, Cassandra suddenly looked up from where she’d been lounging near the soda machine.

The humor vanished from her face

[instantly.

It](http://instantly.It) was subtle.

But Joey noticed.

And that alone made his stomach tighten.

“Cassandra?” he asked quietly.

Her eyes had shifted toward the front windows.

Toward the darkness outside.

“…Interesting,” she murmured.

Crystal frowned slightly. “What?”

Cassandra didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she slowly stood.

For the first time since Joey had met her—

she looked tense.

Not annoyed.

Not amused.

Alert.

A cold feeling crept into Joey’s chest.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Cassandra’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“We’re leaving,” she said calmly.

That calmness made it worse.

Crystal looked between them. “Uh… okay?”

Joey set the rag down slowly. “Cassandra—”

“Now.”

The word cracked like a whip.

Joey had never heard that tone from her before.

Every instinct in his body immediately obeyed.

Crystal blinked in surprise.

“…Damn,” she muttered softly under her breath.

Joey quickly moved around the counter toward Cassandra.

The restaurant suddenly felt too quiet.

Too still.

Even the buzzing fluorescent lights sounded wrong somehow.

Cassandra kept her eyes fixed on the dark parking lot outside.

“…We’re being watched,” she said quietly.

Joey’s throat tightened.

“By who?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Which terrified him more than if she had.

Crystal stepped closer now, concern overtaking curiosity.

“Okay, now you’re freaking me out.”

Cassandra ignored her.

“Joey,” she said softly, “when we walk out that door, stay beside me.”

“…Okay.”

“And if I tell you to run—”

The front window exploded inward.

Glass erupted across the restaurant.

Tammy screamed somewhere in the back.

Something silver shot through the air like a bullet.

Joey barely saw it—

—but Cassandra did.

Her hand snapped up impossibly fast.

The silver blade slammed into her palm.

The entire restaurant went dead silent.

Smoke hissed instantly from Cassandra’s hand.

The smell hit a second later.

Burning flesh.

Cassandra stared at the knife embedded through her palm.

For the first time since Joey met her—

she looked genuinely afraid.

Outside the shattered window, a figure stood beneath the flickering parking lot lights.

Working man.

Broad shoulders.

Violet eyes

Another silver knife twirling between gloved fingers.

Then the figure smiled.

“You were easier to find than expected,” the stranger called.

Cassandra slowly stepped in front of Joey.

Protective.

Predatory.

Terrified.

All at once.

And Joey realized with cold horror

whoever this was…

Cassandra knew them.