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The alarm was softly beeping next to Dani’s head. She rolled out of bed, her feet touched the cold wooden floor. She turned off the alarm. She shivered. Another cold fall day. Instinctively, she checked her hand to make sure her ring was still on.
She rotated it on her finger, lost in thought for a moment, trying to fully wake up. The autumn days were getting chilly. She found herself wearing more of her sweaters day to day.
She stood up and quickly made her way to her fluffy rug in front of her closet. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Sometimes it was too early in the morning for her, but Mama and Barclay had errands for her to run. The Lodge didn’t operate itself.
She slid the closet door open, revealing all of her shirts and sweaters. They were organized by color. Dani didn’t hesitate. She felt like the day was going to be a blue day. She went to grab her pretty dark blue sweater with the black trim, but it wasn’t there. Her brow crinkled.
“Huh?” she breathed. “But I haven’t worn it recently.” She glanced through the other clothes to see if she could spot the misplaced sweater. It didn’t look like it was hidden among the other colors.
She sighed. She’d have to look for it later. She reached for her light blue sweater with raindrops in the pattern. It was right where it was supposed to be.
After getting dressed she exited her room and headed for the kitchen to pick up breakfast.
“Mornin’, Dani,” Jake called from behind her in the hallway. He jogged to catch up to her. He lived just down the hall. All of the lodge’s more permanent residents lived down this hall. It made it easier for them to keep their secrets.
Dani smiled over her shoulder at him. “Morning, Jake. Did you sleep well?”
“Oh yeah,” he said as he slowed down to walk next to her. “With it getting colder I’m getting more comfortable. Just my temperature.”
Dani chuckled. “So like you, Jake.”
He shrugged, used to the cold comments from others. His last name wasn’t Cool Ice for nothing. “How about you?”
“Not bad,” she answered. “I kinda wish it wasn’t getting cold so fast. I’ve had to unpack my sweaters.” Dani thought back to her missing sweater. Her dark blue one wasn’t the only one she had noticed was missing lately. “Hey Jake, you haven’t seen any of my sweaters in the laundry room, have you?”
“Huh?” Jake looked confused. It took him a moment to realize Dani was asking him a serious question. “No, I haven’t. Are you missing some?”
Dani nodded. But before she could explain, the two were joined by a third. “Morning, Dani. Morning, Jake,” Aubrey greeted them. Dr. Harris Bonkers sat on her shoulder, looking at them all with his little red eyes.
Jake grinned. He really liked Dr. Harris Bonkers. “Mornin’, Aubrey. Mornin’ Dr. Harris Bonkers.” Jake reached over and tickled the bunny under his chin.
“Morning,” Dani greeted them. “Sleep well?”
“Yeah.” Aubrey shrugged, jostling Dr. Harris Bonkers a little. Jake casually just picked the bunny up and walked ahead of the girls.
“Let’s get breakfast, Dr. Harris Bonkers.” Jake cuddled the bunny as he entered the kitchen.
Dani giggled at the sight. “Nothing like a boy and a bunny, huh?”
Aubrey smiled. “I’m starting to feel like Dr. Harris Bonkers likes Jake more than me.”
“I’m sure that isn’t true.” Dani held the door open for Aubrey.
Barclay was already busy at work as the girls entered. Jake grabbed his and Dr. Harris Bonkers’ breakfasts and made his way out to the dining area where most of the lodges more permanent members were already eating. The girls tried to stay out of Barclay’s way as they grabbed food to eat. Barclay didn’t pay them much mind. He was focused on making the food for everyone. He did absently hand Dani a list of items for her to pick up later for the lodge. Dani stuffed the list in her pocket and followed Aubrey to the lobby. Aubrey headed to the table Jake sat at with Dr. Harris Bonkers. Dani stopped by Mama.
Mama sat reading the newspaper as she slowly ate her toast. She didn’t look up when Dani stopped. “Hey Mama,” Dani greeted her. “Have you seen any of my sweaters in the laundry room? I seem to be missing some.”
Mama lowered her paper a little and quirked an eyebrow. She didn’t look at Dani, instead, she looked across the room at Aubrey. “No, I haven’t, Dani. Sorry to hear that you’re missing some. I’m sure they’ll show up eventually.”
Dani frowned. “Well, thank you anyway, Mama.”
Mama lifted her paper back up to continue reading. “Those girls,” she muttered.
Dani sat down next to Aubrey, still thinking about Mama’s strange behavior.
“Something wrong?” Aubrey asked.
“Oh, I’m just missing some sweaters and I’m trying to figure out where I could have left them,” she answered.
Aubrey froze for a second, her eyes wide and focused on the toast in front of her. “Oh no,” she unfroze. “I haven’t seen any. Maybe I could go ask Barclay. I need more to drink anyway.” Aubrey quickly got up, grabbed her almost full glass, and rushed for the kitchen.
Dani looked at Jake. “Was that weird, or just Aubrey being Aubrey?”
Jake shrugged. “Who knows. Did Barclay give you a shopping list?”
“Yeah,” Dani dug it out of her pocket. “I’ll do the shopping if you want to start on the yard work.”
“Sounds good to me.” Jake went back to feeding Dr. Harris Bonkers. “And I’m sure you’ll find your sweaters soon.”
Dani took a bite of cereal. “I hope so. I really like them.”
Dani wandered the isles of Leo Tarkesian’s general store. She knew she was wasting time. She had what she needed in her basket. But she was still lost in thought over Mama and Aubrey’s behavior this morning. Had Mama been hinting at Aubrey having her sweaters? But Aubrey had said she didn’t know where they were. And then she had practically run out of the room. What was Dani supposed to think?
The bell above the store door chimed. In walked Hollis. They grabbed a few things and were about to check out when they noticed Dani spacing out in the drink aisle.
“Can’t decide what to drink?” Hollis bumped shoulders with Dani to shake her out of her thoughts.
“Oh hi, Hollis,” Dani said. She sighed. “No, I’m just trying to piece together some things.”
“I’m not usually the noisy type, but let’s say I’m a little curious,” Hollis said.
Dani looked at them startled for a second. Hollis wasn’t her usual go-to for troubles like this, but maybe an outsider would have different ideas. She relaxed. “Okay, well, I’m missing some of my sweaters.” Dani continued to tell them about all of the strange behavior this morning.
Hollis started laughing. “Aubrey is so stealing your sweaters.”
“You really think so?” Dani asked.
“Oh yeah,” they said. “You remember when Jake and I were a thing? He used to steal my hoodies and jackets all the time. There’s just something about wearing your partner’s clothes that feels good and makes you feel closer to them. I even stole some of Jake’s clothes when we were together.”
“Hmm,” Dani thought about it. “I just thought he was being weird when he showed up in your jackets.” Originally Dani had thought it had something to do with Jake’s Selkie senses, but she wasn’t going to say that to Hollis.
Hollis shrugged. “Every relationship is different. You can either let Aubrey keep taking your sweaters or you can ask her to stop. I’m sure she’ll listen to you.”
Dani smiled. “Thank you, Hollis.”
Hollis shrugged. “It’s whatever, blondie.” They started to walk away. They stopped and looked over their shoulder, their eyes cast downward. “Hey, uh, can you let Jake know he can come around the Hornet’s nest anytime. I’ll make sure Keith keeps his mouth shut for once.”
“Sure thing, Hollis. I’ll let him know.”
Dani made her way back to Amnesty lodge with purpose. She dropped the groceries off in the kitchen with Barclay and made her way to her room. She had an idea. Something she had been working on for a little while now.
When she opened the door she could tell something was off. She still had her ring on so she couldn’t tell exactly what was different with her normal human senses. She thought about taking her ring off and using her vampire senses to figure out what had happened in her room, but it didn’t seem that important at this moment.
She opened her closet and found what had happened in her room. She didn’t need her vampire senses to see that someone had returned her sweaters to her closet, in the wrong places. A blue sweater was in with the red sweaters and a red sweater was in with the yellow sweaters. Some had fallen to the floor hastily. She bent down and picked one of them up. She started laughing. Only Aubrey would have done this. She must have felt bad after their conversation at breakfast. She had thought to return the sweaters without Dani knowing.
Dani almost missed the sound of her door creaking open under the sound of her laughter.
Aubrey peeked around her door. “What’s so funny?”
Dani tried to stifle her laughter. “Oh my, Aubrey.”
Aubrey looked at her confused. “Did I do something funny? Whatever it was, I wasn’t intending it to be funny.”
Dani pulled her into a hug. “Oh gosh, I love you, Aubrey.” She still held the sweater from the floor.
“Uh, I love you too.” Aubrey was still confused.
Dani pulled back and lifted her hand with the sweater up. “I know you’ve been stealing my sweaters. It’s cute that you tried to return them, though.”
“I, uh,” Aubrey stuttered as her face heated up. “I mean.”
Dani stood on her tiptoes and kissed her cheek. She turned and went back to her closet. She put the sweater on a hanger and began digging in the back of the closet.
“I’m sorry,” Aubrey finally said. “I should have said something, but I just couldn’t help myself. They’re just so cozy and they remind me of you.”
Dani pulled out a box. “I understand. I actually ran into Hollis at Leo’s store. They mentioned that Jake used to steal their clothes all the time when they were dating. I hadn’t really thought of it until they said it, but it makes sense.” Dani handed the box to Aubrey. “I was going to wait to give this to you, but now seems perfect.”
Aubrey hesitantly takes the box. “What is it?”
Dani chuckled. “Open it, silly.”
Aubrey opens the box to find a black sweater with red, orange, and yellow flames licking at the bottom and on the sleeves. On the back was printed The Lady Flame in sparkly red yarn. She was speechless as she looked from the sweater to Dani.
Dani scratched the back of her neck. “I’ve been working on it for a while now. I just thought you would like it.”
“I love it!” Aubrey practically yelled. She pulled Dani into a bone-crushing hug. “It’s perfect.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Dani chuckled, thinking everyone in the lodge had to have heard Aubrey just then.
“Can I still steal some of your sweaters sometimes, though?” Aubrey asked quieter.
Dani laughed. “Only if I can steal some of your clothes.”
“Deal.”