Morning finally found an exhausted and sweaty Autumn. She hadn’t slept much after the two consecutive nightmares; thankfully it was friday, so she’d have the weekend to rest and recover.

She’d tossed and turned for what felt like hours; that dream having so thoroughly shaken her. She didn’t know when she had finally managed to fall asleep again, but thankfully no more dreams had tortured her.

She wanted to tell herself it was just a dream. Just something random that could have happened to anyone, at any time. But she couldn’t let herself make excuses like that; she would be making Summer’s job easier for her. That fact that she was still able to think with that level of self-questioning was proof she was still in control of herself. If she was compromised, she would have simply come up with an excuse and thought nothing of it.

Summer was getting to her: that was all it was. Just the end result of stressful paranoia and, loathe as she was to admit it, weeks of denial. Humans had needs after all, and she’d made the choice to ignore some of hers: eventually something like this was bound to happen.

It didn’t matter: she had more immediate things she needed to deal with now.

After using the bathroom, Autumn returned to her mattress and took her phone that she’d left face-down the night before. The notification light was still blinking.

Piper.

Her old friend had left a series of texts for her to wake up to.

I talked about everything with Felicia. We were able to come up with a plan together. It’s risky, and I’m not too excited about it, in all honesty. But Felicia wants to help, and this is what she came up with.

Autumn continued reading, as Piper detailed the plan. It was all there, clearly thought through: each step, how they planned to do it, the risks, their contingency plans if things went south.

Felicia had a small recording device (how she’d gotten such a thing, Piper neglected to explain), which was voice activated when someone spoke, and would automatically record audio and send it over wifi to a secure site. The files were encrypted and you needed a password to access the site. In addition, if it were to be discovered, it could be remotely bricked so no data on it could be retrieved.

Felicia’s plan was to go in, posing as someone looking for a job. While in the back room interviewing with Summer, Piper would enter the store separately and ask to speak to the manager. Summer would step away to help Piper, leaving Felicia alone in the back room for a few minutes where she could find a secure place to hide the bug. If afterwards, Summer were to offer Felicia the job, she would simply say she found another place to work already.

The messages ended with Piper wanting to meet in person to go over the plan. They would have the weekend to discuss it and work through any potential complications.

Autumn couldn’t help but be impressed. It was indeed risky, but if they pulled it off, it would give Autumn the exact opportunity she had been looking for. She would have a way to get closer to Summer without actually being near her. She could learn valuable information, get a better idea of what Summer was capable of or how to stop her. And all she had to do was give the two girls the green light and let them take care of it.

She couldn’t believe Felicia was willing to take such a risk to help a stranger.

Though she had mixed feelings about the whole thing, she texted back:

I like the plan. Let’s meet up after work and work through the details.

Right as she was sliding her phone into her pocket, it vibrated. Groaning, she pulled it back out to see what Piper had said, only for the text to be from Holly instead.

Hey! Hope you’re feeling okay! We haven’t spoken much this week. Do you want to meet up for lunch? I’ll buy ;)

Autumn frowned. She hadn’t seen Holly much since... the incident. She’d been so busy with the business with Summer and meeting Piper that she’d practically forgotten about her friend, the very person who had started all this.

Though she wanted to head straight out of the mall after her shift to see Piper and Felicia and go over the plan, she felt she owed her friend some time. She typed up a reply for when she would be off work, and sent it.

Then, noticing the time, her heart almost stopped.

“Shit! Oh shit shit shit shit!”

No time for a shower today; she’d spent so long waking up and reading Piper’s text that she was now running late.

She quickly pulled on some clothes, grabbed her things, and all but ran out the door.

“Hey guys,” Autumn gasped, out of breath, as she went through the door. Like yesterday, Jay and Amy were there; and Chase, who was washing dishes at the sink. He looked up as she entered, his expression blank.

“Autumn, hey,” said Jay from the register. “Hey, uh, about that thing I asked about yester-”

“Sorry, Jay,” Autumn replied, walking right past him. “Gotta go clock in.”

She pushed open the door to the back room and raced right over to the computer.

Damn it. She was late.

As she was tying the strings of her apron around her waist, she heard the door opening behind her.

Great. Here we go.

“Autumn,” Chase said, drying his hands on a paper towel as she turned around. “Let’s talk for a minute.”

“What’s up?”

“You were late again,” he said.

“By two minutes,” Autumn said, pulling her red hair into a ponytail.

“All employees are expected to be here, ready to work, at the beginning of their shift,” Chase told her. “You should be arriving early and using the spare time to get ready.”

“Look, I’m sorry. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on right now. It’s a lot to juggle.”

“You’ve said that before,” he said. His eyes were narrow behind his square glasses. “And while I’m sympathetic, at the end of the day, I’m trying to run a business. I need partners that I can rely on.”

“Come on,” she said. “How many people have come and gone, but I’m still here? I can’t be perfect, okay. I’m still doing my best. It was just two minutes.”

Chase crossed his arms, not saying anything.

“You should be thankful you have employees who show up at all,” Autumn told him. “We had a no-show or two every day at my last job.”

“We aren’t talking about your old job, we’re talking about here. You have expectations as a Starbucks partner. If you can’t show up on time-”

“What? You’ll fire me? You have three people scheduled for a friday shift, it’s a wonder this place is still running. You can’t afford to fire me for being two minutes late.”

“I’m going to write you up for this incident,” Chase continued, his face impassive. “As well as your failure the other day to call off two hours before your shift. Together, these will be your second strike. One more, and we’ll have to end your employment here.”

“Come on!” Autumn exclaimed.

“Be thankful I’m putting both incidents into a single report. A different manager might have fired you already.”

Some part of her was tempted, for a split second, to give him something right then and there to fire her for. Her fists, clenched and shaking, were all too eager for it. It took every ounce of willpower she had to not do something she’d regret.

Instead, she asked him, in a furiously quiet voice, “How many times has Jay or Amy walked in here five or even ten minutes late? How many times have you written them up?”

“That has nothing to do with you and your performance,” Chase said.

“I think it does,” Autumn said, her voice rising in spite of herself, “Because you know damn well what the difference is between them and me, and that’s the only reason why we’re having this conversation right now!”

Chase sighed, pushing up his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Autumn, I’m not having this conversation with you. Frankly, I’m upset you think so little of me to accuse me of something like that. But if that’s the way you feel, I can’t stop you. The number for HR is right there on that sheet above the timeclock computer.”

“Forget it,” Autumn said. “Write me up. I don’t give a shit.”

Without waiting for him to say anything more, she stormed past him, out into the cafe.

Amy called out a drink to a customer and she stepped out. Jay was alone at the register, and he gave her a searching glance as she approached.

“I heard some shouting, is everything alright?” he asked her.

“Not really,” Autumn muttered. “And no, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Jay frowned, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to ask, though; this wasn’t the first time her and Chase had had problems.

The back room doors swung open again.

“Autumn, clean the drains,” Chase told her.

Fridays were usually their busiest days, along with Saturdays. As they were perpetually short-staffed, it meant that each of them was stuck doing several people’s worth of work. Though another barista came by around noon, it was still hard: the cafe was packed and it was rare to have a moment to catch a breath between waves of customers.

Autumn cleaned and stocked supplies, and every now and then would swap with Jay and have a turn on register.

She hated working register. She hated the constant fake customer service voice, the impatient people who insulted her when she asked them to repeat something, the annoying kids coming in and asking for meme video drinks that weren’t on the menu, and just the fatigue of standing in one place for hours.

Amy was a pro on bar, so that’s usually where she was. Autumn was jealous; she liked bar, she enjoyed moving around, shaking up mixers, and the satisfaction of perfectly timing espresso shots to pour into drinks.

A while ago, she’d made the mistake of telling Chase that she enjoyed working bar. Ever since then, he rarely let her do it.

Autumn finished punching someone’s order into the tablet register, and she felt her phone vibrating. A silent phone call.

When she was at work, she always made sure her phone was on ‘do not disturb’ mode. Only in case of emergencies, people in her contacts list, who also called twice in a row, would actually get through; everything else was sent straight to voicemail.

She glanced behind her to check if Chase was watching, and then pulled her phone to see who was calling.

Piper.

“Oh no,” she said under her breath. Whatever it was, if Piper was calling her repeatedly, it wasn’t good.

She looked up. Another wave of customers was approaching.

“Jay could you take over for me, real quick?” she asked.

He turned, about to start grinding up some beans. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I gotta take this call, it’s really important.” Addressing the customers that had just reached the register, she said, “Hi, we’ll be with you in just a moment.”

Chase was busy with... something, but she caught him looking up at her as she abandoned her station to run in the back room.

Autumn hit the answer button on the still-vibrating phone. “Hello? Piper?”

“Autumn! Um, is this a good time to talk?”

“I’m at work and we’re getting slammed, so this better be important,” she said.

There was a moment of hesitation on the other end. “Yeah. Um, so you read the messages I sent last night, right?”

“Yes. I replied to them.”

Another pause. “Right. Sorry. So um... well we have a slight problem. If we’re going to do this, we have to do it right away. As-in, today.”

“Explain.”

“Well, when Felicia and I were talking last night, we were working out details of the plan. After she came up with the bug idea, Felicia checked Hot Topic’s website to see if they were hiring there. I wanted her to hold off, but she went ahead and applied anyway, to get the interview.”

Autumn was getting a feeling of dread in her stomach. Already they were going ahead and doing things without checking with her first?

“She used a fake last name and address,” Piper’s voice continued. “She figured since it was Friday, they wouldn’t get back to her until at least Monday, so we’d have time to meet with you and go over stuff first.”

Autumn glanced at the door behind her. “Get to the point.”

“Well Felicia got a phone call this morning. It was from Summer.”

Oh no.

“Summer said she had a bunch of applications and was going to be interviewing with people pretty much all day. But she was impressed with Felicia’s resume and would be able to squeeze her in at the end of the day.”

“Fuck,” Autumn muttered. “What did you guys tell her?”

“Felicia made up an excuse about needing to check her schedule,” Piper said. “So right now Summer’s waiting for her to call back. We need to know if we’re going through with this or not.”

“Because this could be the only chance we have,” Autumn said, half thinking aloud. “If Summer’s interviewing a bunch of people today, odds are she’s gonna hire one of them. And then that open position is gone. Was that the only one listed on the site?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn it,” Autumn said. She felt like her head was spinning. This plan had only been an idea this morning when she woke up, and now it was already in motion and falling apart.

But she couldn’t be mad at Felicia for sending that application. They would have missed their chance if she hadn’t. Yeah, Autumn would have preferred to know first, but it was fortuitous that she’d done it.

But now circumstances had changed. It was moving too quickly, and Autumn’s mind was racing with possibilities on how it could go wrong. Felicia had been smart enough to use a fake name and address on the resume, but Autumn had planned to have her get a burner phone; her rush to get the interview meant she’d used her real phone number. Now that was a thread back to her that could be followed if Summer found out there was something afoot.

A thread that could lead her right to Autumn.

Her instincts screamed at her to call it off now, while they still could. It was too much, too quickly; something would go wrong. It always did.

But the quiet part of her mind nagged at her. She might not get another chance like this. It would be dangerous to go up against someone like Summer. She’d known that going in. She couldn’t panic at the first bump in the road. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to help anyone, and Summer would continue to hurt more people.

Think about it, she told herself. Felicia goes to the interview today. Piper needs the manager. Summer steps out and Felicia plants the bug. They meet up tomorrow and Felicia gives Autumn the information to access the recordings.

If she can’t leave the bug, then she leaves the interview when it’s over. Summer has her phone number, but that doesn’t mean anything when she’s home and safe. And Summer can’t do anything in the crowded mall in the middle of the day.

There was a pressing time limit now, but otherwise the plan wasn’t altered.

“Autumn?” asked Piper’s voice. “Are you still there?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Yeah. I was just thinking.”

“What do we do? Do we call it off?”

“No,” Autumn told her. “We can’t let this chance go to waste. Have Felicia call her back, and agree to the interview. Get in there, plant that bug, and get out.”

Piper hesitated on the other end. She must have been hoping Autumn would say the opposite.

“What if something goes wrong?”

“Nothing will go wrong,” Autumn insisted. “This is actually good timing; all those interviews today means that there’s less suspicion on you. Just act natural, and you’ll be fine. And if anything weird does happen... go home, lock your doors and don’t answer the phone unless it’s me.”

Piper didn’t say anything.

“I have to get back to work before I get yelled at,” Autumn said. “Call me if it’s an emergency. Otherwise, text me afterwards. We’ll meet up and figure it out from there.”

After another moment, there was a quiet, “Okay... bye.” and then a beep as Piper ended the call.

This is going to be the longest shift of my life.

Not wanting to risk wasting any more time, Autumn pocketed her phone and returned to the cafe, where there were thankfully no customers waiting. Chase was at the register talking to Jay, but he drew silent when Autumn emerged.

“You know the phone policy, Autumn,” Chase said to her. “No calls unless it’s an emergency.”

“It was an emergency, actually,” she countered.

“Is everything okay?” Jay asked.

“Yeah.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “Then what was the emergency?”

The gears in her brain turned quickly, searching for an excuse. “I don’t think you’re allowed to ask me stuff like that, but if you must know, it was a doctor. I’ve been waiting for this call for days and I had to take it now.”

“You couldn’t call them back after your shift?”

“No, because it’s Friday, and by then the office would be closed for the weekend. I needed to hear from them now, it can’t wait til Monday.”

“Come on, Chase, give her a break,” Jay said. “It was just one phone call. We were fine while she was in there.”

“Yeah,” Chase scoffed. “We were fine.”

He walked past her without another word, disappearing into the back room. Autumn would have been furious normally, were it not for the much more concerning issues in the back of her mind.

“I’m sorry,” Jay said to her. “I don’t know why he’s been like this to you. He must be under a lot of stress or something.”

“How terrible,” Autumn said. “I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

Autumn was an anxious wreck for the remainder of her shift. Between the near-constant waves of customers and the hawk-like scrutiny of Chase, she didn’t have a chance to look at her phone once, until her last break finally came around, two hours before the end of her shift.

As soon as she was in the backroom, she had her phone out. As she’d hoped, there was a text from Piper waiting for her:

It went well. Felicia left the bug and we’re back home now.

That was more than an hour ago. Autumn frowned. That seemed awfully terse for something so important.

She typed up a reply.

No complications? How was the interview itself?

She sat down, absolutely exhausted from both the physical work of the day, as well as the mental weight of having to ignore her phone and hope it was all going well. She wanted to put her head down and sleep right then and there. That she still had two more hours to go filled her with dread.

Her phone buzzed as a reply from Piper came in.

Felicia can tell you about it herself when we meet in person.

Autumn frowned. There was something Piper wasn’t saying.

Okay, let’s meet tomorrow morning. I’m exhausted from work, and I have somewhere else I need to be, so after that I’m gonna head home and sleep.

She set her phone down and let out a long, tired sigh.

Two hours later, her shift from hell was over. Autumn clocked out, got her things, and was out of the cafe as soon as possible. She felt bad for not saying bye to Jay or Amy, but she couldn’t stand another minute in that place.

Once in the mall, she checked her phone. No more texts from Piper, and only from Holly asking if they were still meeting for their late lunch. She punched in a reply, and then made her way to the food court.

She bought a sandwich and some fries, and once it was ready, sat down at one of the little tables at the edge of the dining area. She didn’t wait for Holly before she started eating; she was starving and exhausted.

Autumn was about halfway through her sandwich when she spotted Holly approaching, already carrying a tray. She must have already been there ordering her food when Autumn had arrived. And walking beside Holly was-

Summer.

Memories of last night’s dream came rushing back to her. Her heart raced, whether in fear or excitement, she didn’t know.

It took only seconds for them to reach Autumn’s table, but it felt like several long minutes. Her mind raced, like an animal cornered. What should she do? If she ran it would be highly suspicious. No, she couldn’t; she would have to stay.

“Hey,” Holly said, as she reached the table. “Sorry it took so long. We were busy wrapping things up at the store.”

“Busy day,” said Summer, with a smile across her black lips.

Autumn was tongue-tied for just a moment too long. Just enough for the two new arrivals to exchange an awkward glance.

“Um, sorry,” Holly offered. “This is Summer. I invited her to join us. I hope that’s okay.”

“We’ve met,” Summer said. “I stopped by her place to check on her the other day when she was sick, remember?”

Autumn managed a nod.

She needed to say something, quickly!

“Y-yeah,” Autumn said. “She stopped at Starbucks, too.”

“Yeah that drink you suggested was great,” Summer said. “I keep meaning to come by and get another, but I’ve been busy lately. Um... I hope I’m not intruding by being here? I know you were just expecting Holly; I can go, if-”

“No, it’s okay,” Autumn interrupted. “Please, sit down.”

Okay. That was more natural.

The two girls took chairs on the opposite side of the small food court table. They each had salads with them on trays.

That was a first. Autumn had never seen Holly eat a salad before.

“Sorry I was spacing out,” Autumn said. “It’s been a long day for me too.”

Just be natural, she told herself. They were in the middle of a crowded food court, there was nothing Summer could do. And doing anything weird would just make Summer suspicious of her.

“Yeah I was going to swing by during my break and say hi,” Holly said, “but I saw that line! I don’t think I had enough time in my break to reach you.”

“That’s okay,” said Autumn. “My boss wouldn’t have appreciated it.”

Summer, who had been twisting some greens around on a fork, looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

“About my boss?”

Summer nodded.

“I was... a few minutes late today,” Autumn explained. “And he already doesn’t like me. So he was on my ass all day today, just waiting for me to screw something up. If you’d come by I wouldn’t have been able to talk to you, because he would have just used that as another chance to give me shit.”

“I’m sorry,” Holly said.

Autumn shook her head. “You didn’t know.”

“No, I mean I’m sorry your boss is being a jerk. You don’t deserve that.”

I dunno. Maybe I do. I didn’t exactly handle the situation well.

Summer took a bite from her salad, looking thoughtful.

Despite herself, Autumn was relaxing. Even though Summer was only a small table’s length from her, she didn’t feel as anxious as she had for most of the day. It wasn’t much different from her usual lunches with Holly.

And yet, even as that thought crossed her mind, Autumn noticed the choker still on Holly’s neck, and the identical salad to the one Summer was eating.

How much of her friend’s personality had Summer already altered to suit her own tastes?

Think pragmatically, she told herself. There’s no time to relax, especially not right now. She had a chance here: she needed to use it.

“I’ve been dealing with my dickhead boss all day,” Autumn said. “Let’s talk about something else. Summer, we’ve bumped into each other a few times, but we haven’t had much chance to get to know each other. Tell me about yourself.”

The goth girl blinked, looking a bit taken aback. For a moment, Autumn worried she’d pushed too much.

She finished her bite of salad and let out a slight chuckle. “I’m afraid I’m not all that interesting.”

“Nonsense!” Holly insisted.

Yeah. Nonsense.

“Holly’s probably told you plenty about me already,” Summer said.

“A bit,” Autumn said. “Mostly what kind of music you like and how fun you are to work with. I’ve never seen her so excited to go to work.”

Holly blushed, and tried to hide it by taking a bite of her salad.

“How did you end up at Hot Topic, of all place?” Autumn asked.

“Well, I’ve had a few other management positions,” Summer said. “I didn’t really care for the stores themselves, but the work was always fun. I like to organize and keep things running, it’s always been fun for me. I... moved out here to start fresh and when I saw they needed a new manager at Hot Topic, I applied. It’s the first job I was really excited for because I could finally work somewhere that was part of a culture I loved.”

She giggled, and added, “That’s about it, really. My life isn’t very interesting or exciting.”

From most others, Autumn would have believed that. In her experience, most people really weren’t very interesting.

“What is it about the culture that you like so much?” Autumn asked.

“The music, the fashion, all of it,” Summer said, smiling warmly. “The freedom in how you want to express yourself? It’s amazing. Most people are so withdrawn, and they hide so much of who they are. I love bringing people in and encouraging them to not care what other people think, and to dress and act however they want. That’s what makes it all rewarding for me.”

Autumn couldn’t help but glance again at the choker on Holly’s neck.

You encourage people to be themselves... by forcibly taking away their free will and telling them what to feel, what to think... And using them as a food source. You don’t help people figure out their sense of self... you steal it from them!

Autumn clenched her fist under the table.

How can you sit here and say this with a straight face? You fucking hypocrite!

“What about you, Autumn?” Summer asked, winking. “It’s your turn to share with the class.”

Of course, she’d expected this.

Autumn forced herself to let for of the anger. It could simmer in the back of her mind, and later, when she needed it, she could call it back. Right now, she needed to blend in, and convince this parasite in front of her that she wanted to be her friend.

As for her backstory? Well, why lie when the truth worked just fine.

“I don’t know how much of it you want to hear,” Autumn said. “My life story isn’t a fun story. I grew up, and my family was full of shitty people. Ties were cut, and I went to college. Then the people there that I thought were my friends turned out to be shitty too. I ended up dropping out. At my lowest point I put my trust in someone and they stabbed me in the back. Now I’m here, making espresso for people who scream at me.”

She shrugged, and took a bite of her sandwich. “That’s the cliffnotes version, anyway. I’d rather not go into more detail if that’s alright.”

Of course the culmination of the tragedy that was her life was that she was sitting here, trying to interrogate a vampire that had somehow taken control of one of the few genuine friends she’d ever had. One slip-up, and she would be dead.

Or worse.

Summer frowned poking at her salad. Holly looked like she wanted to say something, but she did not. An awkward moment passed.

“What kind of music do you like?” Summer asked.

The question surprised her, and it took her a moment to answer. “Um... prog. Like progressive rock.”

Summer smiled. “What do you like about it?”

“I, uh...” Again, she had to think about it. No one had ever really asked her that before. “I like the complexity. A lot of music, especially these days, can be really simple. Prog is fun because it’s always moving and changing and going places I don’t expect. I like being surprised by music.”

Before she could consider otherwise, she continued, “We had an old record player in the attic at our house, along with a bunch of old 70’s records. When my parents weren’t around, I would go up there and put them on. It was like a little place where I could get away from things and just... close my eyes and go on a journey.”

Summer continued smiling, in a way that was a bit unnerving. Autumn felt like she’d just passed some sort of test.

She frowned. “Eventually they figured it out and threw the records away. But it was fun while it lasted.”

Part of her regretted saying that. She wasn’t even entirely sure why she had. She could have stopped after the first part, and left out the tragic childhood shit.

“Well, I have records,” Summer said to her. “Hundreds of them, that I’ve picked up here and there over the years. If you ever want to come over to my place and go through them, maybe share a glass of wine while we listen, you’re more than welcome.”

Had it been anyone else making that offer, she might have considered it...

“I’ll think about it,” Autumn said. “Thanks.”

They continued to eat as silence took them again, though not nearly so awkward this time.

After a moment, Holly finally said, “You know, if you ever get tired of that jerk boss as Starbucks, you’re more than welcome to come work with us.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Autumn said. “I didn’t even have an emo phase as a teenager, much less as an adult. Besides... I need to be there for the benefits, at least for a while still.”

Hopefully someday she’d get the phone call she was waiting for, she could get her business taken care of, and she could put that shitty place behind her forever.

“Suit yourself,” Holly said. “Oh speaking of which! Summer, how did the interviews go?”

Autumn froze, in the middle of reaching for a french fry.

“They went well,” Summer said. She set down her fork, having finished her meal. “I packed a lot of people in, but most of them were nice. A few were kinda... eh? But overall it wasn’t too bad.”

“Do you know who you’re gonna hire yet?”

“Actually,” Summer said, with a sly smile. “I hired someone on the spot.”

Holly was beaming. “I bet I know who it is. It was that last girl, wasn’t it? Felicity, was that her name?”

“Felicia. And yeah. I wasn’t planning to make a decision right away, but her resume was so impressive, and she was so excited to be there, I just said ‘fuck it’ and offered her the job.”

“That’s great! I’m glad it was her, I really liked her.”

“Yeah. She starts on Monday.”

Autumn said nothing.

So this was why Piper hadn’t outright said there were no complications. Because there was one really big one.

Felicia was compromised.