1 Chapter 1: Nikki

She didn’t need this. Standing inside the entrance of the Perk & Grind, Nikki Sanford repositioned her briefcase’s strap over her shoulder, the weight digging into her flesh. She scanned the busy interior as her well-laid plans deflated like air let out of a child’s balloon. She really didn’t need this. She had too many reports to complete for work and her neighbor’s apartment was full of boisterous people whose party was bleeding through her walls. She hoped the Perk & Grind would offer her a quiet table as well as a hot cup of coffee or two to see her through the drudgery of the quarterly reports. The coffee house, however, was jammed with a diversified assortment of trendy folks. As she stood there, fighting the urge to scream, all she could see was her night going to hell in the proverbial hand basket. I wonder if the hand basket would at least be quiet.

Nine tables lined the outside of the brick-and-mortar building, each one already filled with couples playing footsie under the table or a gaggle of college students pretending to cram for the next round of finals while trying to start a new fashion trend with their hodge podge outfits. Nikki understood that some people liked to express themselves through their clothing, but all these kids were expressing was that they were poor and color blind.

Inside, the coffee house was just as bad. Couches were filled with gossiping couples, tables surrounded by friends sharing stories or people lost in their laptops. On a makeshift stage, a twenty-something kid with dreadlocks pretended to play the guitar while everyone around ignored him. Even the counter bar was full of couples talking or people reading while sipping overpriced coffee. A line of people at the register needing caffeine told her that the place wasn’t going to empty out anytime soon.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Nikki scanned the noisy crowd again, hoping an empty table was hiding somewhere, waiting for her to claim it. No such luck. She did not feel like hauling her heavy bag back out to her car just to go in search of somewhere else to work. Not only was it a pain in the ass, but she didn’t have the time to lose. She was going to be up late enough as it was, trying to get the reports completed so her boss, Peter Mills, didn’t string her up as a sacrifice for his boss. Besides, she didn’t even know if there was another place open at this time of night where she could go and work. Why in the world were so many people out on a Tuesday night anyway?

What frustrated her even more was that at a table perched against an exterior window sat a lone man taking up the entire table for four all by himself. An entire table! He sat there, oblivious to his greediness, scribbling notes down into a notebook from a book he was reading on…faeries? He had an extra pen tucked behind his right ear pushing his dark hair over and out just a little, but it didn’t seem out of place on him with how tousled the rest of his hair was. The man was thin, but not scrawny, with dark hazel eyes, which were staring intently at his book as if he were studying for a test. Why someone would be studying faeries with such intensity, she didn’t know. What she did know, however, was that it didn’t require an entire table to do so.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to claim part of faerie-man’s domain. She hated dealing with strangers, which is why she was in the business side of Meyer’s Ad Agency, instead of the front lines, but she saw no other choice. She needed a place to work. Her back straight with determination, she weaved her way through the crowded establishment to the prize she intended on claiming. “Excuse me,” she said as she approached the table and the disheveled looking man. “Would you mind sharing your table?” She gestured around the coffee house when he glanced up at her. “Every other table is taken, and I really don’t have time to go anywhere else.”

He stared up at her, his face a mask of confusion. Glancing around the coffee house, it seemed he had completely forgotten where he was. His brows were pinched together as his gaze bounced from his books to her, back around the crowded room, and finally settling back on her. Nikki wondered if the bizarre man even heard her. She waited for another moment, noticing the other patrons glancing her way, before gesturing to the empty chair in front of her. “May I?”

“Oh, sorry, yes, please, have a seat.” His words came out in a rush of clipped phrases as he gestured to the chair she was indicating. She still didn’t think he knew what was happening. He glanced around the room again as she dropped down into the chair, tossing her briefcase into the empty seat beside her. “I guess this place has gotten busy,” he said. “I hadn’t noticed really. Strange.”

Nikki doubted that it was strange at all for him, but rather a natural occurrence. “You did seem lost in your faeries,” she said, tucking a stray strand of her dark hair behind her left ear.

“My what? Oh, the book.” His expression went from confused to embarrassed as a blush colored his cheeks. “Yes, well, I’m in the middle of some research.” He kept his eyes on her as she pulled a legal pad and a stack of stuffed manila folders from her briefcase, setting them in front of her. “It’s amazing, some of the legends that are handed down and people’s beliefs. It’s equally interesting how those stories have changed throughout the years. Mermaids, for example.”

“Mermaids?” Nikki sat back in her chair, her hands folded in her lap as she stared at him. “Bare-breasted women who chase after men? I’m not surprised you’d find that interesting.”

“Huh? Oh. No, no. I meant the differences in how people see them. The movie The Little Mermaid has given them a sweet, cutesy image, but really, mermaids are vicious creatures. They lure men to them and then devour their victim’s hands, feet, and genitals, leaving their half-digested corpses on the shore for others to find. They truly are ferocious creatures.”