Sam rolled her eyes and gestured over her shoulder with a thumb. “I’m not deaf. Or blind. You’ve got two kids staying with you.”

Emily licked her dry lips. “They’re my sisters,” she said.

The girl nodded. “Yeah, all right. You having trouble because of them? I did some babysitting before—it’s a real nightmare sometimes.”

“N-no, nothing like that. My sisters are . . . actually, they’re pretty nice. A bit, uh, well, sometimes they act up, but they’re mostly nice.”

“All right, cool. So if that’s not it, what is it?” Sam crossed her arms. She didn’t look like someone ready to move away.

“It’s . . . ah. Is there a place you can take someone? Someplace that’s discreet?”

“Someone like who?”

“A boy?”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “No shit. You know they don’t really mind if you have a boy— Oh, your sisters. Yeah, you wouldn’t want to be banging your boyfriend with the kids in the room.”

“What?” Emily asked. Her brain caught up, her face caught fire. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. We’re not, no.”

“Hey, it’s all right. Where do you think half the weird noises in this place come from?” Sam let her arms drop and moved a little closer. “There’s a couple of places, you know, for folks feeling a little adventurous. I heard that the roof’s pretty popular for that kind of thing.”

Emily shook her head. Her ears were burning still. “I swear, it’s not like that.”

Sam grinned. “Fine. What are you looking for?”

“Just a place a friend can stay the night.” Emily examined her shoes.

“Uh-huh,” Sam replied, doubt tinged with humor. “All right, a place to send a friend. There’s a motel a little ways away that might work. If your friend’s really cheap, though, there’s the library. It’s got study rooms that are open all night. Glass walls, so no space for funny business, but you can rent one out for a dozen dollars, and if you fall asleep with a book open in front of you, the librarians won’t bother you.”

That . . . was a better answer than what Emily expected. “Thank you.”

“Hey, no problem, love,” Sam said. She winked at Emily, then headed over to her own room. “You knock if you need anything. Though I charge a lot for anything babysitting related, okay?”

“Thank you,” Emily repeated.

Sam waved her off as she slid into her room, the door clicking shut behind her.

Emily took a deep breath and moved over to her own room. The door unlocked with a swipe and she stepped in to find Jacob pacing back and forth while Athena glared at his back. “I, ah, found a place for you to stay,” Emily said. “For the night, I mean.”

“Yeah?” he asked. “Is it safe?”

“It’s . . . safe enough?”