Veronica ushered him inside. If there was one time her father would hear about her being alone in her hut with Mathias and not immediately suspect conclusions Veronica had no intention of jumping to, then it was now, when Mathias was a girl. She moved to take a seat at one of the two chairs she'd got, closing her laptop.

Even though there was nothing in Mathias' tone to suggest something had gone wrong, she doubted she'd like what he had to say. Words like that rarely meant anything good. "We're finally getting the internet here and I can check my email?" she guessed. "I must have so much spam by now."