Chapter 19 — So Close But Not Quite

“Are you sure about this?” I asked, trying not to fidget in my seat. I felt like this tempted fate. I should have stayed inside for another week at least, maybe two. People needed to get used to the idea that they’d see me out and about before I actually went… out and about.

Kier glanced at me from the driver’s seat. “It’ll be fine,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Besides, we’ve got our trusty backup.”

“He’s right,” Clementine said. “I might not look it, but I can mess someone up. I know how to hurt people.”

I looked in the rearview mirror. Clementine, Aiden, and Amber sat in a row in the first back seat, looking perfectly content. Amber bounced her legs around in her car seat, singing along to the rock song that played. Aiden had bent over his game and acted as if the world outside didn’t exist.

Ash had opted to stay at the house and get some freedom from his little siblings.

I felt like an imposter, trying to steal someone else’s family away. While also being utterly terrified that we’d end up getting chased out of stores, because people didn’t know what the necklace around my throat meant. My constant insecurity had become such a wonderful thing. An asset, really.

I sighed, turning to stare out the window again.

Kier reached over and took my hand. I curled my fingers around his, enjoying the feel of his skin. Didn’t mean I felt any less certain about my impending doom than I had a second before.

We pulled up to the store, and I stared at it with a frown. I’d gone there once or twice with my father, back when I hadn’t been terrified of asking for things. On either side of the little clothing store, a grocery store and what looked like a small Chinese food place sat. They all looked so normal and fuck them for that. Fuck them hard. I hated everything that I saw in front of me.

Maybe I just hated normal, and all the reminders it gave me about how abnormal I had become.

Kier got out of the car first, and I sat there, petrified, for a few seconds more. The kids all climbed out, and I followed suit while Kier started unstrapping Amber from her car seat. The second her feet hit the ground, she took Clementine’s hand. Her big sister held on tightly, as if they worried that the girl would take off.

I thought about the last time I’d gone to the store with my father. A mother had been walking down the street with four children, all of them loose, even the two-year-old. She would occasionally yell at them to stick close to her but didn’t otherwise put in much of an effort.

“You need clothes,” Kier said.

“I know,” I agreed, looking up at the building.

“Especially if I’m supposed to take you to school tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!?” I squeaked, turning to stare at him.

He nodded, ushering the children toward the front of the store. “I think that would be best. Everyone will get used to seeing you, and it’ll make them realize that we can’t give you back to the humans.”

Wow, sudden chest pains. Funny how that happened right when he told me about school…

The inside of the store looked the same at night as it did during the day. The biggest difference came from the fluorescent lights. They shined down much more harshly than they did when the sun could combat them. Somehow, it made everything look washed out, but I didn’t mind that.

A woman approached us immediately. She had shining blond hair and wore a professional smile like it had been painted onto her face. Her eyes shot over to me, and my heart plummeted… for the two seconds it took her to look at my necklace. Her smile never wavered. “Hello!” she said. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Not at the moment,” Kier said, holding Amber’s hand now. The girl had started to stare around the store, looking bored. No little kid liked clothing in my experience. At least, not shopping for it.

“Well, let me know if you need something,” the woman said, and then scurried off to talk to another customer. I felt their eyes on me and turned to meet their gazes. It was a couple in their early twenties. They both ducked their heads when I caught them staring.

I rubbed sweaty hands down my jeans.

“Let’s head this way,” Kier said, walking down the aisles.

Aiden still had his game out and bent over it like nothing else existed. I watched him, to make sure he didn’t bump into anything that would hurt. Like an entire rack of clothing or, I didn’t even know, a knife that just happened to be sticking out? It gave me something to focus on, and that mattered more.

I needed something to focus on, because I felt the eyes on me. Every Nightmare in that store turned to stare at me, and I knew that the more normal I acted, the better it would be for everyone.

“Ooh!” Clementine yelled and rushed toward a shirt. “Look at this, Kier!” She held it out, and it showed a little piece of candy wearing large glasses that said Talk Nerdy to Me. Clementine rubbed her hands down it and threw her head back. “This speaks to me on a deep level!”

Kier laughed. “You can get it if you want. We can’t spend too much money on nonessentials, though.”

“So why are we bothering?” I asked.

Kier gave me a look that had my cheeks heating. “Because you need clothes, and that makes them essential.”

Clementine had already pulled the shirt off the rack, and said, “I’m gonna grab a cart. I’ll be right back!”

Kier handed me Amber without a word and followed Clementine.

Oh, panic. Deep, wonderful panic.

With two little kids and a store full of people staring at me, I had to make a decision. Clearing my throat, I said, “Why don’t we head over here. C’mon.” I dragged Amber and Aiden over to the jeans section and started looking for things in my size. I figured two or three pairs would work, if I could find them.

Amber hugged my legs the entire time, while Aiden walked over to a bench and sat down to play his game. I kept an eye on him while I dug through the stack, which meant I noticed when a woman started to approach. I stepped away from the jeans and went over to Aiden before she could reach him.

She stopped.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

The woman wore the same uniform the one before had, so I figured that she had to work at the store. Adult Nightmares all looked the same age to me, but she had something else going for her, something that made me think she was on the older side. Maybe the way she had pulled her hair up in a bun, or perhaps the controlled look that she had in her eyes. Like nothing ever bothered her.

“I was just going to ask the boy if he was here with someone,” the woman said.

“I’m watching him,” I told her. “His brother went to grab a cart. We’re good.”

I thought the hostile tone to my voice would’ve irritated the woman, but instead, she smiled. It had such a motherly look to it that my heart skipped a beat, and some of the tension eased from my body. “I’m happy to hear that,” she said. “Are you finding everything okay?”

“Um… yeah,” I said. “I’m just looking for jeans.”

“Oh?” the woman said and looked me up and down. “Let me help you.” She walked over to the rack and dug through it. In about four seconds, she had five pairs of jeans in the right size stacked up. “You’ll need to try these on, of course. Jeans are the hardest thing to fit right.”

Kier came back with Clementine, and I noticed that two dresses had ended up with her shirt.

“You’re such a pushover,” I said.

Kier shrugged, looking at the woman. “It didn’t seem like too much.”

When I turned back around, the woman had somehow found another three pairs of jeans. She handed them to me, and said, “Now that big brother is back, you need to try these on. Go on, shoo.” She shuffled me off toward the changing rooms, and I didn’t have time to argue before I found myself standing in one, alone.

I could hear Kier on the other side, talking to Amber and telling Clementine that she didn’t need four pairs of shoes.

With nothing else to do, I tried on the jeans. Four of them fit perfectly. One pair looked so ridiculously long on me, I didn’t even bother zipping them up, for fear I’d trip over the legs. Another felt too tight on my thighs, and the last one sagged in the ass. When I stepped out with my four pairs of jeans, the woman still stood there.

Amber had ended up in the cart, with her legs dangling from the holes in the child seat. Clementine argued with Kier about the merits of having a spare set of sneakers for your spare set, and Aiden still played his game.

“How did they fit?” the woman asked.

“These were nice,” I said, holding up the four that had worked. “I don’t think I need four, though…”

“You do,” Kier said. “Unless you’ve been hiding pants somewhere, without telling me. Not that I would mind it if you had. I like when you walk around in nothing but my shirt.”

My face burned red hot.

The woman rolled her eyes. “Men. So, these four will work for you. Now, you need some shirts.”

The rest of the visit went like that. She brought me all throughout the store, shoving clothes at me left and right while my entourage followed behind. I got jammies, t-shirts, sweaters, jeans, shorts, and shoes. I argued about each purchase until Kier took it from me and put it in the cart. And Clementine got three dresses, four shirts, and a new pair of shoes. The little girl could hustle like nobody’s business.

The thing that I noticed most, though, was the way the Nightmares acted. At first, they had paid too close attention to me, and I felt their stares drilling into my back. Then, the longer that I spoke with that woman, the less attention they paid. I stopped being the weird human that walked around their store and went to being just another person.

I wondered if the woman had done that on purpose, or if she just wanted to help. Part of me hoped for the latter, but I suspected the former. Either way, I felt grateful to her. She had made everything so much easier by just being there… even if she took Kier’s side on every argument.

When we left the store, I stood by the back of the van while Kier loaded it up. Amber stood next to me, holding my hand, and singing some song that I couldn’t understand. She kept trying to use me as a jungle gym, too, which showed how resilient I could be.

“It wasn’t so bad,” I admitted.

Kier looked up at me and offered a smile. “Good. Because we’ve got like three more places to go before we head back home. Lunch included.”

***

By the time Monday night rolled around, and the siren started to blare, I felt too frazzled to give a damn about going to school. The day before had shot all my nerves, and I hadn’t gotten them back yet. Oh, and we had burned through one of our days. By that time tomorrow, we would know what the humans planned on doing to get me back, and that helped fry what little nerve I had left.

Kier got everyone ready for school while I mostly acted like a wrecked zombie. I kept tightening and loosening the straps of my backpack. I did that until Kier stopped me by putting his hands on my shoulders. His brown eyes held worry, but also confidence. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “It was fine yesterday, and it’ll be fine again today.”

“It’s different today,” I said.

“How?”

“It’s teenagers,” I muttered.

Kier brushed his thumb against my cheek. “It’ll be fine. You’ll have me there all day long, and if anyone even thinks about touching you, then I’ll make sure it’s the last thing they think. Okay?”

I nodded.

Before we left, I grabbed two books. One of the ones that I’d brought with me when I ran, and the other Kier had bought me the day before. Against my will. I’d been fawning over it when I thought he hadn’t been paying attention. I should’ve known better. He brought me to a bookstore on purpose, and I’d almost drooled all over the place.

I held them tightly to my chest, and for some reason, having them helped me feel better.

First, we dropped off Amber at her daycare. A nice woman came to pick her up from the car, and I watched them disappear into a building that looked so small and cutesy it really couldn’t have been anything but a daycare. When they reached the door, Amber turned around and waved to me. I waved back and tried not to let my heart melt too much.

Then Clementine and Aiden went to the elementary school. Neither of them waved when they got to the doors, and that felt nice too. Except then, Ash, Kier, and I headed toward the high school.

Ash leaned up between the seats. “I can hear your heart racing.”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

He shook his head. “Just remember. If anyone picks on you, then Kier here will rip them to shreds and I’ll help.”

For some reason, that struck me as comforting. “I don’t want you to get in trouble on my behalf,” I said.

“I’ve never gotten into trouble,” Ash said. “I feel like the school would be so relieved to see me act aggressively, they’d give me a pass.”

Kier snorted. “Yeah, sure they would.”

He pulled into the parking lot and shut the car off. I stared at the school that I’d gone to for the last four years, and it looked exactly the same, except darker. Floodlights pounded down on it, illuminating the entire space, but the darkness still prevailed. The buildings didn’t look any different, and neither did the parking lot. Even the hordes of students heading toward the front of the building looked the same.

Kier took my hand when he came around the front of the car and squeezed tightly. “Ready?”

That’s a joke if I ever heard one. “Sure.”

Ash took off at a steady jog, headed toward a group of people. Mostly girls, it looked like, though I spotted one other boy. They accepted him as one of their own, and he disappeared into the crowd. I thought of a videogame I’d watched someone play online. A huge blob absorbed the main character, making it into one entity.

Apt comparison to high school.

Kier started walking, and I had little choice but to follow him. When we stepped through the gates, the overwhelming sense of déjà vu hit me upside the head. Everything looked the same, but slightly different. The same posters, but they had to be lit from the bottom up. The same walkways, with the floodlights pointed down on them. The same buildings, but the lights inside shined brightly through the windows.

“This is weird,” I said.

Kier looked around. “I’d imagine it would be. You’ve never even seen the school at night, have you?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It feels strange. I’m still not used to the dark, I guess.”

“You’ll get there,” Kier promised me.

I looked at the main office and frowned. That woman didn’t wait behind a desk to tell me that she wouldn’t help me. But I could picture the entire thing so clearly. Going inside, sitting in that chair… being dismissed…

Kier tugged on my hand, pulling me toward one of the buildings. He had English first and thank god. Something nice and easy to start the day with. Anything but math, and I felt like I could handle it. As we climbed the stairs, I felt the eyes on me again. Only this time, I couldn’t escape. Everywhere I looked, someone stared at me. I watched the clusters of students starting to close rank, their voices dropping to a bare whisper.

We walked into the classroom just as the first bell rang. Only four other students waited in there, and they all looked up at us.

Dead. Silence.

I’d like to crawl under a rock and die now. Please.

I ducked my head as Kier dragged me over to a desk and sat me down. I looked around as the other students started to file in. Most of them gave me a look before taking their seats… away from us.

A boy and a girl walked in and made a beeline toward us. My head filled with all kinds of wonderful scenarios. Ones where I got hurt, and Kier jumped in to rescue me, resulting in him getting arrested for murder.

So sure of that happening, it surprised me when the boy flopped down in the seat next to Kier, and said, “So that’s why you’ve been missing so many classes. I thought you were dying.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “You always think someone is dying. You’re paranoid.”

“Yes, and because I’m paranoid, I’m prepared for the day where someone actually does die.”

Kier snorted and looked at me. “That’s Violet, and he’s Aero. Ignore them. This is Whilda. Leave her alone.”

Violet smirked, settling into her seat. “Boring.”

Aero nodded his head and shoved his hair out of his face. “I agree. There’s no fun in that.”

“So, you’ll give me all the juicy details, right?” Violet asked, leaning in. She had silvery blond hair and dark brown eyes. Her tan skin suggested that she had some Latina in her, much like me. “I was starting to think that he’d be the only kid that didn’t Choose someone, and now that he has, I need to know all the best gossip.”

“Um,” I said.

Aero shook his head. He didn’t have the size that most Nightmares had, but he made up for it in width. His shoulders could rival Kier’s, to the point that he threw his proportions off. Not that Aero seemed to mind. He had dark skin, brown eyes, and long, fuzzy black hair that curled around his face. “Don’t tell her, please. I don’t need to know what Kier’s junk looks like. I’d rather die.”

My face burned so hot.

Kier shook his head. “Like I said, ignore them. They go away eventually.”

“Fuck that,” Violet said, as the last bell started to ring. She winked at me, and leaned in. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to keep everything between us.” She turned around in her seat and sat back just as the teacher walked in front of the class. She looked normal, aside from being a little tall. Her brown hair had been pulled back and twisted up on her head.

Crystal clear blue eyes landed on me immediately.

“Okay, before we start,” she said. “Let’s address what we’re all thinking about.” Her eyes met mine, and my heart plummeted through my stomach. “Could you please stand up and introduce yourself?”

Oh god, this horrible ritual happens in Nightmare schools, too?

When people started to laugh, I realized that I said that last part out loud and got even more embarrassed. Kier leaned toward me as I stood up, so that I felt his shoulder against my hip. My mouth felt dry, and I had to swallow several times before I could say anything. “Um… My name is Whilda.” I reminded myself not to use my last name, because they didn’t believe in those.

The teacher nodded once. “Yes, everyone, Whilda is a human. We done with the staring now? Good. Whilda, you can sit down.”

I’d never dropped into a seat faster in my life.

Violet turned around and dropped a note on my desk while the teacher had her back turned. I opened it up, careful to keep it hidden underneath my book.

“OMG, I’m so sorry about that. I’ll kill the bitch if you want.”

A smile pulled up the corners of my lips, despite myself. Kier rubbed my back when I glanced at him and offered me a reassuring smile.

Every instinct in my body screamed that I needed to hide. If I didn’t talk to anyone, then they wouldn’t care about me after a while. I could be safe, and never have to worry.

I picked up my pencil and wrote carefully. No, it’s fine. I’ll just sit here, trying not to hide under the desk. I hope the rest of my teachers don’t to this to me.

When Violet glanced over her shoulder, I slipped the note into her hand, and she tucked it underneath her book immediately. This felt normal and real. I’d never had something like that in my old school. So, naturally, my stomach twisted around in painful knots, and I wanted to hide far, far away.

Kier’s hand traveled down my arm, and I felt his fingers touching mine. I loosened my fingers, so that he could slip his into them. The two of us sat there, holding hands for the rest of the class period while I tried to get over the horror of what just happened.

When the teacher finished talking, she went back to her desk, and we started working on vocabulary words. Just like in my school. I’d seen most of them before, so I got through the first assignment lightning fast. When I finished, I stared at the books that I set on my desk.

No one paid attention, so I grabbed the top one, and bent over it. The one that I had read before. I thought that something familiar would help settle my racing heart and calm me down somewhat.

Violet finished her homework shortly after, and she messed with Aero for about five minutes, until they got in trouble. The girl rolled her eyes and turned around in the seat to talk with me. Her eyes immediately went to my book. “Oh my god, I’ve read that like seven times!”

I blinked looking up at her. “Oh… you have?” I asked.

She nodded and put both her hands on my desk. “That is the most amazing book that I’ve ever come across. Because of it, I’ve named my dog Blue, even though he’s a little chihuahua-terrier abomination. I’ve got two goldfish named Lynnie and Isaiah, too. They like to run into each other, and I pretend that they’re arguing about murder when they do!”

Kier shook his head, still working on his vocab. “You would.”

“Well, duh,” Violet said, and turned back to me. “Have you read the other two books, yet?”

“Um, no,” I said. “I only have this one.”

She put her hands on my desk, and said, “I’m bringing them, you’re going to read them, and it’ll blow your world apart. Are you ready for that?”

I didn’t have a world left to blow up, but I got what she meant. “Sure,” I said, still unsure of myself. Everything felt too… normal. Okay? Easy? I didn’t know the right word for it, but I knew that it left my unsettled.

Interlude Kier Watching Whilda at school had been an interesting experience for me. Every time someone stepped up to her, I had to resist the urge to beat them back with my bare hands. Most people just wanted to take a look at the fresh human girl that had been dropped off. Some others wanted to introduce themselves, probably so that they could talk with the fresh human girl. Only a few of them actually came across hostile. Only a few of them did I have to snarl and snap at.

Each time I started getting worked up, Whilda would pull on my shirt, trying to get me to step off. I didn’t know why. If they wanted to upset her or hurt her, then I had to make sure they understood how dangerous that would be for them. Even though she insisted that their behavior didn’t bother her.

I didn’t buy that, because I could see the flinching in her eyes. That moment where she went to talk to someone, and she had a smile on her face, and they barked at her. She would flinch, and I just wanted to beat the crap out of them. I also tried, but she managed to hold me back. I refused to hurt her, just because we went to school with assholes.

By the time lunch rolled around, I felt on edge, and Whilda looked frazzled. Her class had been two lessons behind in math, and the teacher handed her a pile of makeup work that had her eyes bugging out of her skull. Then, in history, she’d walked in on test day. Instead of letting her skip it, the teacher decided to see where she had been in her lessons by having her take it.

I thought she’d pull all her hair out.

“Do you have a place that you like to sit?” Whilda asked, hugging her books close to her chest. Not the school books, but the ones that she had brought with her, thinking she’d have some free time. In all fairness, she would have if people didn’t keep talking to her. I almost wanted to bite someone’s head off, just so they’d all know to stop with the interrogations already.

“No,” I growled.

Whilda huddled further into herself, and I felt like I’d kicked a puppy.

“I’m not mad with you,” I said.

“Okay,” Whilda mumbled, looking down at her shoes. She shifted her weight, and then glanced back at me. “Um… Where do you want to sit?”

I looked around, and spotted Ash in the corner. I had the misfortune of having two friends, but they had the next lunch. I didn’t have to worry about them bothering me. At the same time, I needed to feed Whilda and myself, but didn’t want to drag her through the line. Ash, who had few friends and claimed that that didn’t bother him, would be the perfect solution.

I pointed him out to Whilda, and said, “Why don’t you go join him?”

Whilda looked up at me, her big eyes filled with worry. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I said, and nudged her back. She took off through the crowd, keeping her head down so no one would make eye contact. I waited until she reached Ash and breathed out when he looked up to see her. My brother would be able to keep the worst of the idiots away. I believed Whilda could too, if she got angry enough. That didn’t seem to happen as often as I thought it should.

I stepped into the line, and tried to keep the scowl off my face, so that everyone around me wouldn’t immediately scurry out of my way. They served spaghetti that day, and none of it looked appetizing. I still got two plates, along with two drinks, and made my way out of line.

About two feet from where the table started, some jackass had to open his stupid fucking mouth.

“Couldn’t find anyone that wanted you in your own race?” someone asked.

It took actual effort to keep my hands from cranking down on the plastic trays and destroying them. I glanced over my shoulder to see a kid I didn’t know looking at me with a sneer on his face. I had some vague memory of taking Chemistry with him the year before. If I remembered correctly, he had Chosen one of the girls in that class, and she turned him down.

“Funny, coming from you,” I said.

His eyes went hostile immediately, and he rocked forward on his chair. It clattered to a stop, and he cocked his head at me. “At least I didn’t settle for some little human.”

I snorted and started walking away. Over my shoulder, I said, “They wouldn’t have you, either.”

The guy decided not to attack me from behind. Smart of him. While his father had probably taught him how to keep himself under control and defend himself, I highly doubted he had the kind of training that I did. Three years of being worked to the ground with the Authorities honed my body into a weapon. One that he didn’t want to mess with.

I reached the table and set the tray in front of Whilda. She had been talking to Ash but turned her head to stare at the food. Her nose wrinkled. “I see some things are universal.”

“What?” Ash asked.

“I hoped that school food looked better for Nightmares than it does for humans. Apparently not.” She picked up her fork and poked at the pasta and sauce. In another week or two, I would feel comfortable taking her off campus for lunch, like the other seniors could. I didn’t want to do it right then, though, because I didn’t want to push her. I’d already taken her out once, and I thought she needed a breather before we did it again.

And tomorrow, our grace period would be over, and I didn’t know what that would mean for us. Emerald had called the night before and told me to bring Whilda to the station tonight, right before the sun rose. Ash would be in charge of the kids, and I hoped that everything turned out fine.

I’d make sure it did.

We ate lunch together, or as much of it as we could. Ash didn’t say much, but every time someone walked past our table, he’d lift his eyes to watch them. If they got too close, they’d find two very pissed off guys, ready to fight. And Whilda, who stared at them with her wide-eyed innocence that I loved so much.

“What class do we have next?” Whilda asked when she finished her questionable spaghetti.

“Gym,” I said.

Whilda cocked her head. “They make us take gym classes after lunch? Isn’t that considered child abuse?”

I smirked, ducking my head. “I doubt that they care much.”

Ash shook his head. “If they were interested in not abusing children, then they would cancel all gym classes. It just proves that the entire school system is nothing more than a glorified babysitter.”

“You aren’t supposed to be that cynical for another ten years,” I said. “We agreed on this.”

“Sorry,” Ash said. “I failed.”

The first bell rang, and I looked up at the ceiling. This would be the first time that day that I had to separate from Whilda. My head started throwing all kinds of scenarios at me. Ones where she would get attacked in the locker room or have the other girls making fun of her. Or that they’d give her a top locker, and she wouldn’t be able to reach the hook for her bag.

We got to the gym, and Whilda shifted her feet. “I’ll see you in a few minutes?” she said.

I nodded and watched her slip into the girl’s locker room. We had coed gym classes, so it really would only be for ten minutes, but that didn’t remove the sour taste in my mouth when she disappeared. However, we also had this class with Violet and Aero. I had to hope that Violet would make sure the other girls didn’t pick on Whilda too much.

With that in mind, I went into the boy’s locker room, fully prepared to beat the crap out of someone. I knew for a fact that I could lift the lockers, and it wouldn’t be that much harder to drop them onto someone’s head. They would learn a valuable lesson about messing with my mate after that.

Not that Whilda was my mate. She hadn’t agreed to such a thing, one way or the other. I couldn’t make assumptions.

Most of the other kids left me alone, but Aero’s locker sat right next to mine. He talked nonstop while we changed. Some of the other guys started to drift off, and I went to leave the locker room myself.

Aero grabbed my arm and turned me around. “No offense, or anything, but I heard you got into it with Leaf earlier?”

“Leaf?” I asked, and then remembered the asshole from the cafeteria. “Oh, him. I wouldn’t say that I got into it with him. He mouthed off, so I said something back.”

Aero rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sure to you it sounds like no biggie, but you should think for a second before getting into it with anyone else.”

“Excuse me?” I asked.

My friend put his hands up, as if to defend himself against me. I realized that both my hands had cranked into fists, and I’d jacked forward, prepared to beat the crap out of him. My instincts all screamed that it would be easy. Aero didn’t have the kind of training that I did, and he would be on the ground and bloody within a few seconds.

I breathed out through my nose, clearing some of the violence from my head. When I felt like I could talk without growling, I said, “What the fuck is your problem?”

“Nothing,” Aero responded. He shifted around on his feet, looking at the other lockers. “Look, I like Whilda. I think she’s really sweet and about as dangerous as a bunny rabbit. But she isn’t the thing that could ruin your life. What she’ll bring with her, is.”

“I’m still not sure I know what you’re talking about, and I think you want to start making sense now.”

“We all know that the humans aren’t letting her go that easily. You could bring a whole mess of trouble down on our heads by keeping this girl. Maybe it would be better if you let her go,” Aero suggested, shrugging.

I threw him against the lockers, hard enough that his head rattled back. “Yeah, and when you told Violet’s parents that you had Chosen her, what did they do?”

Aero’s teeth ground together. “They reacted badly.”

“Because they don’t like your family’s history,” I said. Aero lived on his own, because everyone in his family turned into abusers, somehow. He used to have a little brother, but that kid died about a year ago. Aero killed his parents in return, and now lived alone. Violet’s parents wished that he would continue to live alone, without their daughter.

“It’s not the same thing,” Aero said. “And that was a low blow.”

“Don’t bring Whilda up,” I ordered him, slashing the air with my hand. “I don’t care if you think you’re doing the right thing or warning us the right amount. Don’t even think about bringing her up, ever. Do you understand?”

He put his hands up and nodded. “Fine. But that doesn’t mean the things I said will go away. Anything could happen, because you brought that girl somewhere she doesn’t belong.” Aero ducked around me and dashed out of the locker room before I could run at him. It left me standing by myself, wanting to snarl at everything around me. I also started to think that letting Whilda go into the other locker room by herself had been a mistake.

What if Violet had the same kind of conversation with her, and Whilda decided that everyone would be a lot better off if she disappeared?

I stormed out of the room and came to a sudden stop when I saw Whilda waiting for me. She had her blue hair pinned back, and she looked silly in her gym clothes. Apparently, they only had sizes too big for her. The shorts went past her knees, and the shirt almost to her thighs. The clothing swallowed her, and it shouldn’t have had a smile perking up the corners of my lips the way that it did.

She came over to me and bumped her hip against mine. “You okay?” she asked. “You looked a little upset.”

Understatement.

“I’m fine,” I answered, taking her hand. She didn’t flinch when I did that anymore. In fact, her fingers always squeezed tightly around mine, like she needed to make sure that I stayed right by her side.

I led her into the gym and tried not to snarl at every person that turned to stare at us.

***

We sat in the parking lot of the elementary school, waiting for the little kids to get out. The high school let out an hour earlier than the elementary school, just so that we could pick up our little siblings. Normally, the thirty-minute wait didn’t bother me. That day, it did.

Whilda sat in the passenger’s seat, working her way through the stack of math that she had been given. She had the cutest expression on her face. All concentration and lip worrying.

“So, we’ll be heading to the station after dinner,” I said.

Ash sighed. “I know. You’ve been over this a dozen times.”

“I just need to make sure that everything will be fine when I leave.”

Whilda looked over at me, her big eyes filled with worry. She took my hand, her small fingers barely managing to wrap around it. “They’ll be fine,” she said. “You know that Ash wouldn’t let anything touch the kids. Even if Clementine and Aiden were arguing about something.”

I smirked and nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“Oh, sure, she tells you something is going to be fine, and you believe her. I say it a couple of dozen times, and you ignore me.”

“You’re not as cute,” I said.

“I’ll argue that one,” Ash threw out.

Whilda laughed, her cheeks turning a slight pink. It had taken some time for me to detect her blushes. The darker skin tone hid most of them, but I could still spot the reddening if I paid attention.

The bell at the elementary school went off, and seconds later, kids flooded out of the front doors. They all ran toward cars or older siblings. Clementine and Aiden appeared, and she stared at our brother like he had grown a second head. From that point on, the rest of the day seemed normal. We picked up Amber, who insisted on telling Whilda everything that happened that day, down to the number of times one of the other kids had an accident in their pants.

Whilda put up with the entire story and didn’t even look bothered. I appreciated her so much right then, and I couldn’t even say anything. Once home, the kids did what little homework they had, and started to run around. Whilda and I sat in the kitchen, not talking. Both of us worried about different things.

Then dinner came and went, and we had to leave. I stood in the living room, talking with Ash for about ten minutes before he told me, yet again, that he had everything under control. “I’ve got this,” he said. “You go deal with the annoying humans. Go.”

We left.

The drive to the police station stayed quiet for the most part. Whilda kept wringing her hands together, worried out of her mind. She rubbed her hands down her legs and looked out the window with a frown. “What if the best and safest option is to hand me over?” she asked.

I glanced at her. “That won’t happen.”

“What if it does?”

“I won’t let it happen,” I snarled.

We got to the station. For the most part, it ran normally. Only Emerald and Forrest looked on edge.

“Do they even know what’s going to happen?” I asked, approaching the men. Behind me, the other Nightmares went about their business.

Forrest shook his head. “I’m hoping that the humans didn’t expect us to call their bluff. Either way, most of these people are going home. I’m keeping five of my people, and that’ll have to be enough to deal with the humans. I’ve also called in your aunt.”

I snarled. “Why?”

“Because,” Brook said from the doorway, “I deserved to know what was happening with the last of my family. I’m sorry that it inconvenienced you so damn much.”

I tried not to snarl in her face, figuring that would look bad.

Whilda shifted her feet when Brook stared at her. I waited for some snide comment about how Brook had been right, and I should’ve booted Whilda to the curb. Instead, she just turned away. “Forrest asked me to wait in here. I assumed that he would want you guys to do the same thing.”

“In here” turned out to be an interrogation room. We had bunks in the back of the station, but that would draw more attention than using this room did. We all sat down and waited.

Whilda’s legs kept bouncing up and down, and she started to gnaw on her lower lip. I patted her knee, in the hopes that she would calm down. Instead, Whilda stared at me with the same panicked, frantic look that I had gotten used to seeing on her face. The expression that said she thought things would go wrong.

The siren to announce daybreak started to go off.

Outside the room, my coworkers began gathering their things, and getting ready to leave. Forrest came into the room and sat down with us. “We’ll give them until tonight to act on their threat. If they haven’t done anything by then, I think the humans will back off. They don’t have any legal reason to take Whilda away.”

“Except that I’m a minor,” Whilda said.

“But the way human law works, you wouldn’t be a minor by the time they got around to sitting you in front of a judge,” Forrest pointed out. “They have no leg to stand on.”

“I hope,” Whilda whispered.

The station finished emptying out, and we left the interrogation room. Forrest and Emerald had both stayed, as had Brook, and three other officers. Two men and another woman.

Forrest brought the woman over and gestured to her. “Whilda, this is Verdi. She’ll keep you safe if something happens. I want you to stay with her at all times, okay?”

Whilda nodded, biting her lip.

Verdi wrapped her arm around Whilda’ shoulders and gave a squeeze. “Don’t you worry about anything. I’ll keep you safe.”

We had the entire station to ourselves, and everyone became restless within the first half hour. They started to move around, walking from room to room. Whilda stayed put, sitting in a desk chair with her hands on her knees. I took another seat and dragged it over to her. “It’s sad that you’re here, and you haven’t even seen what I do.”

Whilda looked over. “Is this not where you work?” she asked.

“Not really. There’s a small gym in the back, and that’s where I’ve done most of my training. I’ve gone on a few field assignments. I’ve got another four to go before my training is complete.”

“How many do you have to do total?” Whilda asked.

“Fifteen,” I said. “I have to prove myself, or they won’t let me go on assignments, and then I’d get fired. So far, I’ve passed all my field assignments.”

“Whoa,” Whilda said, looking surprised. “That’s more than I thought there’d be. In the human world, I think they just send you off to some kind of boot camp for a couple of months. Which would actually explain a lot about the human police.”

I snorted.

Whilda smiled at me, ducking her head. She looked so sweet and shy doing that. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to hurt her, let alone torment her the way that her bastard father did. He didn’t have the right to raise children, and it infuriated me that this asshole had slipped through the cracks. I wanted to rip him apart, and maybe I’d eventually get the chance to.

I hoped so.

“What did your father do here?” Whilda asked. “Is that what you’ll be doing?”

“They’ve replaced him with me, but that doesn’t mean I’ll have the same job,” I said. “I’ll get put wherever I’m most useful. Right now, Forrest thinks that having me on patrol would be the best option, because I’m good at fighting. If something happens, then I’ll be able to put a stop to it quickly, without doing too much damage.”

“I’m starting to think your police force is very different from ours. Does everyone not patrol?”

“No,” I said. “Some people are kept for specific assignments. We have four or five officers that are trained in psychology, to deal with people that can be talked down, and we have people that are trained for the most dangerous assignments. For me, my training was pretty broad, and Forrest needs to see my full skillset in action before he gives me a smaller assignment.”

“That’s complicated,” Whilda said.

“Yes,” I agreed. “But it’s also more efficient for our kind, than having—”

“They’re moving,” Brook said.

I looked up to see her staring out the window, at the other station. Whilda and I rushed over, while the others joined us. Across the parking lot that we shared, I could see officers leaving their station. Not one or two, but easily two dozen. Maybe three. They all came out of their station one by one, until I actually lost track of a number.

They lined up outside their station in a row, and with the sun shining so brightly, their gear looked stark against their bodies. They had on riot gear. The helmets with the plastic covering, the black suits, the batons on their waist, and the guns that they prepared to fire had been drawn. They looked more than ready to attack us.

“Dammit,” Forrest growled, low in his throat. “They’re coming for you, kid.”

Whilda shifted around, her eyes going wide. “What do we do?”

Forrest looked at Verdi. “You need to stay with her, you understand?”

“Of course,” Verdi said. “I won’t let anything touch her.”

“As for the rest of us… Try not to kill anyone. We don’t need that kind of attention right now. We’ll drive them back and do our best to scare them. Boys, it’s time to shift.”

Brook looked over her shoulder. “Let me go out there.”

“What?” I demanded.

She shrugged. “Let me go out there. If we want to scare them, then you have to admit that I’m more than capable of that. Let me go out there, and scare the living fuck out of them.”

I wanted to say no, but… I looked at Whilda, who had no clue what was about to happen. My eyes shifted to Forrest, and I said, “Let her go.”

Forrest’s eyebrows popped up. “All right. Brook, you go scare them. But the rest of us? Shift, and let’s make sure they remember why their kind doesn’t mess with ours anymore.”

Brook took off her jacket and started walking toward the door. I trusted that she wouldn’t ruin everything this time, as I turned to Whilda.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

I touched her shoulders, and said, “You’re going to see all those abilities I told you about.”