Lucie

"I'm overreacting, right? Someone please tell me I'm just overreacting."

I brought the Subaru to a stop in front of the middle school Jiya and I used to go to, where the orchestra always practiced when Bay Area was for whatever reason unavailable. Most of the time that happened only in the presence of school dances and such, not in the murders of math teachers, but I suppose there's a first for everything. Just like there's a first for thinking, knowing Dempsey was gone, and then getting proved wrong.

I was trying hard not to think about that, but when there was the possibility that he was going after Jiya, it was impossible.

The headlights clicked off and I jerked the key free of the engine. Gazing at both of the brothers expectantly, I waited for an answer. Getting nothing but the settling oil in the car, the dripping of liquid on metal, my eyes zipped to Cian. "Cian?"

He shook his head at me and got out of the car. "We don't have time for this. You want your friend alive, right? We've wasted enough time."

"So I'm not overreacting," I said, panic rising in my throat as I shoved my keys in my pocket, climbing out after Cian. I shuddered a little as Vinny brushed my side, wide eyes blinking at his brother and me. We stood in the school's parking lot, the stars twinkling above us, the distant noises of night life washing in and through the air. The school's front entrance was lit up, dousing the front door with warm light.

Cian said nothing as he headed for the school.

I muttered under my breath. "Who am I kidding? Of course I'm not."

"You're not scared, are you?" Cian asked, stopping with his hands on the middle school's door handles, but not turning around. He was a silhouette, a dark figure against the lights beyond him. "This is what you wanted. For Dempsey to be alive."

I gritted my teeth. "Not for him to be a murderer. I'm hoping I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong, right? I mean, you did feel— "

"Everything has loopholes," Cian breathed, tossing open the door. His eyes roved over me as I passed him, then went to Vinny, then went to the floor. "Even death."

On that topic, I decided not to comment.

I led the way to the auditorium. It was easy enough to find since I had spent three years of my life in this place, not to mention I'd picked Jiya up from these last minute rehearsals on more than one occasion (she'd been hesitant to get her license last year). It was a left turn here, then a right there, and the third door on the right side. I ran, and Cian and Vinny matched my strides, their footsteps echoing against the linoleum in rhythm with mine. Please be okay, Jiya. Please.

I couldn't lose anyone else.

I threw open the auditorium doors. Chattering voices rose to the ceiling along with the clunking of shut instrument cases, chairs groaning as they were dragged off stage. I squinted up at the lit stage; the orchestra kids were packing up, getting ready to go, but I saw Jiya nowhere along with them. My heart began to beat steadily to the song of worry. The rows and rows of chairs sat in the dark before us, and I glanced at Cian, and he glanced at me, and then I bolted down the aisle.

Reaching the stage, I fought down the lump in my throat and waved frantically until I caught a violinist's attention. She looked familiar; it was possible she was in one of my classes. "Hey. Have you seen Jiya?"

The girl's eyes blazed with recognition. "Oh! Jiya? She just left. Went to the back lot."

"Yeah! Yeah, thanks!" I shouted, then turned to Cian and Vinny. "Back lot it is?"

Vinny said, "I'll go there and make sure she's okay."

"Yeah," Cian agreed. "We'll catch up."

Vinny faded away then, and Cian's eyes were steady on mine, ocean blue in the white light of the stage. He nodded at me and reached for my hand, curling his fingers around my own. I let myself breathe; something about his touch cleared the blurs at the end of my vision, made me see as clear as day. Something about him made me feel more secure than I had ever felt since the crash, made me feel as though nothing could ever be wrong again. His tone was immaculate, unwavering: "I won't let a thing happen to her, alright? Trust me."

He hesitated, but brought me closer, running his thumb along my jaw and just barely brushing his lips against mine. Heat flared inside of me and died again. He pulled back, starting to leave the auditorium. "Let's go, Lucie."

So we went.

We snaked through the confined hallways until we burst from the back doors into the night again, and I took a lingering breath. Jiya's sedan was parked in the center of the lot, headlights splitting the darkness as she took her time neatly setting her cello in its trunk. Vinny was seated atop her car's roof, looking relieved. He waved us over when he saw us.

The lump in my throat grew smaller as I approached the car, breathing in the evening air. I let myself think: She's okay, she's okay, she's okay.

"Jiya?" I called, and as she closed her trunk down, her eyes met mine. Her gaze flickered momentarily to Cian, then landed on me again. "Hey," I said.

"Hey. Everything okay? You seemed, like, super worried earlier. I told you. I'm fine," she replied with a warm smile. "Who's your friend? Is this the one the cell phone was for?"

"Uh, yeah," I said with a furtive glance towards Vinny, who had the look on his face that he always did when he was forced to act like he didn't exist: bored and more than a little annoyed. He sighed theatrically and laid on his back on the roof of Jiya's car, busying himself with counting stars. "Jiya, this is Cian. Cian, this is Jiya—"

I was cut off by a loud crash and a scream from Vinny's direction. The hairs on my neck stood up as the three of us living people jumped away from the sedan, at which Vinny could no longer be found. My eyes darted to Cian, but he wasn't looking at me.

He was looking at the creature that had crushed Jiya's roof in.

Standing on top of the dent it had just left, was a moving array of black ink-like tendrils, its eyes white orbs in its shapeless head. Talons scraped along the exterior of Jiya's car, screeching in my ears until I had to cower away. It moved like a human but was much larger, much more threatening, much more deadly.

It was a shadow.

It bared teeth like a shark's: white, glistening keen. A black snake's tongue snapped at us as it chittered.

"Demon," Cian said. His voice trembled as he took a step back.

Both Jiya's and my eyes snapped to him. "What?" we yelped in unison.

"It's a demon," Cian repeated, then thrust his arm across me, shoving me backwards. "Stay back, Lucie, and for goodness' sake, get Jiya away from here. Find Vinny!"

"Vinny?" hissed Jiya under her breath. "Who the hell is—what is happening?"

"Jiya," I said, grasping her hand and beginning to pull her away from the shadow creature, which was chittering and screeching like a bird singing its last song, "I will explain later. But right now—"

"Holy crap."

In my grasp, she went still, refusing to budge no wonder how hard I tugged. I hissed at her to keep moving, but stopped when I saw where her eyes were fixed. She was staring at Cian, whose wings sprouted from his back like dark night-colored brushstrokes, rising elegantly to carry him through the air. He careened into the squealing demon; my eyes widened as the two went tumbling over the car's side, scraping harshly the asphalt. I heard Cian gasp and I began to pray.

Jiya blurted, "Is he—why didn't you tell me?"

"I couldn't!" I exclaimed. My eyes burned into Jiya's. "Listen. It isn't safe for us here. We have to go!"

"Lucie," said a voice in my ear.

Jiya hesitated once more. "But—"

"Lucie!" screeched Vinny, but by then it already seemed too late.

I looked up to see the shadow inching towards me, white eyes like torches in its head, teeth glowing and menacing. The tendrils of ink were beginning to spread from its shoulders, stretching and stretching into serpentine coils until they drew to a stop at a deadly point. The sharp, blade-like structures gleamed in the moonlight, and as the demon pointed them at me, I shoved Jiya away and opened my mouth to scream.

I heard the whoosh as the blades surged forward, expected to feel their daggered points stick in my skin like pushpins, but instead felt nothing.

Cian was in front of me, wings spread around us like a canopy. In the blackness the shelter of his quiet wings created, his blue eyes were lambent stars, hair hanging over his eyebrows. He clutched me against him, fingers burning against my skin. His breath was unsteady against my neck. "I...thought...I told you to...stay...back..."

"Cian," I breathed. "Oh my God. Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay!"

His eyes fluttered as he teetered on his feet, losing his balance.

"Cian!" I shouted, but he slumped over, wings coiling back into his shoulder blades as he fell, trembling, to the pavement.

I wiped my eyes free of tears and stood, facing the demon before me. The creature tilted its head, chittering again and again, a persistent and malignant song in my ears. He had hurt Cian and I was going to give him hell for it.

I heaved my purse off my shoulder and hurled it at the demon.

The bag went flying through the air, strap ribboning out behind it, and slammed into Jiya's car. The demon dispersed before my purse could do any damage to it, shadows exploding into the air and then dissipating.

That had been way easier than I had expected it to be.

The night was serene again, owls asking their ceaseless questions, people laughing somewhere on the main streets.

I turned around, collapsing to my knees. My knuckles ached.

Jiya was seated a few feet from Cian, her legs bent and her weight on her hands, trying to catch her breath. Her eyes were as round as discs; I felt a pang of guilt for not telling her anything earlier. I understood how confused she must have been.

Vinny kneeled before Cian, his quivering hands pressed on his knees as he watched his brother cautiously. Cian lay on his side, eyes wide and unblinking on the darkness around him. His shoulders shook, sweat beading on his forehead. Teeth chattering, he closed his eyes and said, "L-Lucie...I'm okay..."

I scoffed. "That demon stabbed you. You are not okay!"

His hand reached up, grasped my wrist. "T-Take me home," he ordered through his teeth, eyes moving up to meet mine. "Pl-Please. Just take me home. Don't...j-just take me home."

Vinny asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I will be, V-Vince. Take me home."

Vinny and I exchanged a look of equal skepticism, but I sighed and mopped Cian's hair from his clammy forehead. I was almost positive he wasn't telling the truth. Something about the way he quivered uncontrollably, the feverish heat to his skin, even the broadness of his eyes, told me he was far from okay.

But all I said was, "Alright. Can you make it back to the Subaru?"