"I don't want to get them into trouble or anything, but they came in some late last night and I thought I heard it then, I just wasn't sure."

"Thought you heard what?"

"A dog."

"A dog?" Moving quickly to the counter, Claire swept Austin up into her arms before he could say anything.

"Yeah. And just now, I'm pretty sure I saw half a muddy paw print. I mean, if they're smuggling a dog into their room..."

Austin started to snicker.

"... we ought to say something when they come back tonight because it's not necessary."

"What isn't necessary?" She shifted the cat's weight. He was laughing so hard he was becoming difficult to hold.

"Hiding the dog. You don't mind if they bring in a pet, do you?"

"No. I don't." Which was as much as she could manage with a straight face.

"A dog?" The twins exchanged identical smiles. "No," Ron continued, "we don't have a dog."

Dean frowned. "But I heard..." He faltered, caught and held by two pairs of frank gray eyes. They were telling the truth, he'd bet his life on it. "I guess maybe I didn't."

"You're welcome to come up and search the room," Reg offered.

"Any time," Ron added suggestively, brows rising and falling.

"No, that's okay." Feeling a little like he'd missed the punch line of a joke everyone else found incredibly funny. Dean shrugged. "I, well, we, that is the hotel, wanted you to know we don't mind animals in the rooms, that's all."

"Nice to hear. We'll remember that..."

"... if we're by this way again."

"What's the lovely young man going to think of you when he finds out you've been lying to him?" Claire's reflection asked.

"I haven't been lying." She'd switched to a clear lip gloss on those days she wasn't able to use the mirror. It was faster than waiting to see what she was doing.

"You didn't tell him about the vampire, you're not telling him about the werewolves..." The reflection traced a dark red clown frown a quarter inch from her lips.

"But I'm not lying. If he asks..."

"And he's so likely to ask, isn't he? You promised, no more secrets."

"These aren't my secrets."

"We think it's sweet that you're trying to protect him."

Claire blinked, a little confused by the sudden change of topic. "What are you talking about?"

"You know. He's just a kid. Let's keep him safe. He'll thank you for it later."

No one did sarcasm quite like h.e.l.l.

When the twins left later that morning, they took three trophies with them. Although he only saw them from a distance, all three seemed to have a figure of a dog as part of the design. Dean decided not to ask.

"Boss, can I talk to you?"

Breathing heavily through her nose, Claire leaned out from behind her monitor. "What, again?"

"If this is a bad time..."

"A bad time? Would you like to see a bad time?" She waved him under the counter and around to her side of the desk. "Once, just once, I leave the wards off," she continued as he approached, "... and this is what happens."

"You spilled a cup of coffee on your keyboard?" Dean shook his head sympathetically. "That's rough."

"I didn't spill it."

"And don't look at me," Austin advised him from the top of the counter.

"It was the imp." Claire made a valiant attempt to unclench her teeth and nearly succeeded.

"Where'd it get the coffee?"

"I left my mug sitting here, half full, when I went in to lunch." It didn't need a Keeper to work out the cause of the two vertical lines over the bridge of Dean's gla.s.ses. He'd probably never left a half a cup of anything sitting around. He'd probably never even left a dirty cup sitting in the sink. "I forgot it was there, all right?"

"Sure." Head bent, hands dwarfing the keyboard as he gently twisted it from side to side, he remained unaware that the full force of her mood had turned in his direction. "Can't you drain it?"

"No." She felt as though she'd slammed into an affable brick wall, and had about as much effect as if she'd run full tilt into a real one. "It's already dry. Half a dozen of the keys aren't working." The wheels on the old chair shrieked a protest as she shoved it away from the desk. "I suppose I can write the stupid site journal out by hand, but it's a little difficult to build a database without a..."

Something small, something crimson and cream, raced along the wall under the window.

Claire s.n.a.t.c.hed up the empty mug and flung it with all her might.

She missed.

The mug smashed into a hundred pieces.

Austin went three feet straight up.

"What're you trying to do to me?" he snarled as he landed, fur sticking out at right angles from his body. "I'm old!"

"It was the imp. You saw it, didn't you, Dean?"

"I saw..." He paused and replayed the scene as his heart rate returned to normal. "I saw something."

"A mouse," Austin told him tersely.

"I don't know, it was..."