Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

moved around from table to table, tail wagging even though he was ignored.
It was close to nine when the door opened once more. A woman entered.
She wore a heavy coat, the front buttoned up to her throat. She was pale and
wan with dark circles under her eyes. She didn’t go to the counter; instead,
she went and sat at an empty table near the fireplace.
Wallace frowned through the window. It took him a moment to place her.
He’d seen her the night before when Mei had brought him to Charon’s
Crossing. She’d been walking swiftly away from the tea shop.
“Who is that?” Wallace asked.
“Who?” Mei came to the door, standing on her tiptoes to look through the
porthole next to him.
“The woman near Nelson. She was here last night when we arrived. She
walked right by us.”
Mei sighed as she dropped back down to her heels. “That’s Nancy. Shit,
she’s early. She usually comes in the afternoon. Must have been a bad night.”
She wiped her hands on her apron. “I’ll have to go out and run the register.
You gonna stay here?”
“Why do you have to—” He stepped back when Mei pushed her way
through the door. He watched as she went to Hugo, whispering in his ear. He
looked at the woman sitting at the table before nodding. Hugo moved around
the counter, picking up another pot of tea and a single cup, setting it on a tray.
He carried it over to the woman. She didn’t acknowledge him as he placed
the tray on the table. She continued to look out the window as she clutched at
the purse in her lap.
Hugo sat in the empty chair on the other side of the table. He didn’t speak.
He poured the tea into the cup, the steam rising up in wisps. He set the pot
back down on the tray before lifting the cup and setting it on the table in front
of the woman.
She ignored it, and him.
Hugo didn’t seem put out. He folded his hands on the table and waited.
Wallace wondered if this woman was another ghost, a spirit like himself.
But then a man came to the table, putting his hand on Hugo’s shoulder and
speaking quietly. The man nodded at the woman before leaving out the front
door.
Hugo and the woman stayed that way for almost an hour. The woman
never drank from the proffered tea, and she never spoke. Neither did Hugo. It