I was briefly aware of Frenice taking a step toward us, and, with what looked like great reluctance, Hylandrii pulled back, running his hands down the strands of hair that refused at first to release my face.

As if broken from a trance, or maybe I was a spring waiting to be released, I jumped back and stumbled off the bed, my entire body trembling like a leaf caught in the wind. I nearly fell to my knees the moment my feet touched the ground. Had it not been for Frenice's stable hold on my arm, I would have face-planted the rim of the bed frame. Even so, I struggled at his touch, my chest so tight with anxious energy that the words aching to be released from my mouth were trapped before they even hit my throat.

"Steady, girl, steady!" Frenice soothed. Wild-eyed, I turned sharply and raised my chin so I could look him in the eyes. Hot, painful tears were already sliding down my cheeks before I realized what they were.

"What's going on?" I croaked, refusing to look over at the alien being who had injected something in my arm - mostly because his skin had turned back into that clean, beautiful green color. I was never going to be able to look at fresh grass the same again. Frenice tugged me around and gripped the sides of my face with his hands so that the only thing I could see was him. I was suddenly self-conscious about just how much bigger he was than me. Not in the way Landon was, but Landon didn't scare me in the same way Frenice did.

"In time," he assured me. "In time, you will be given the chance to learn."

I couldn't recall much of what happened after that. Sometime between then and now, Frenice had managed to coax me into placing a blindfold around my eyes and led me out of whatever building we were in and out to his car. By the time we were outside, I could tell from the lack of light bleeding through the fabric around my eyes that it was nighttime. It was cold as hell, and it was as if my clothes had never properly dried off from the fire-drill incident I'd pulled at school earlier today. For some reason, knowing that I was still in the same clothing as before I'd thrown up comforted me in more ways than I thought it would. My skin was itchy and uncomfortable, but at least I did not have to wonder if anyone saw me naked while I was unconscious. Strange, how after all of that, something as silly as modesty was the first thing that caught my attention.

Maybe it was because of how normal it was to fret about modesty that my mind was eager to fuss over it. I certainly did not want to go over what I just witnessed, and something told me that if I did, then I would have to accept the fact that I'd been exposed in more ways than just some stranger changing me out of my clothes.

So I sat quiet through the car ride, my body still trying to recover from tremors that forced me to hug my knees to my chest to get myself to calm down.

"You did well back there," Frenice finally said. I guess he could not stand the silence as much as I could. I shrugged and hugged my knees tighter. "Most would have fainted after witnessing what you did. Some have actually died from shock. Not much, but it does happen-"

"Frenice," I said softly, though I knew he had no trouble hearing me. "I really don't want to talk about it." Him talking about it only confirmed that that six-eyed thing was real.

Frenice smiled gently.

"I took you there because I knew you were poisoned."

I sighed, closing my eyes for a brief moment before turning my head to look at him. What part of 'I don't want to talk about it' did he not understand? Still, I was curious to see why he thought I was poisoned - curious to see how I was poisoned or drugged or whatever, and how he and his buddies counteracted the poison. And let's not forget to mention how this might tie up into every bizarre thing that's been going on lately - or how Frenice had made it sound as if there was more that people could be other than human. I hadn't forgotten that little detail, but after what I just saw, I was just fine leaving that question unanswered.

Frenice was waiting for me to prompt him. I usually did the opposite of what people expected of me - though not always intentional - but, well, I was tired. I wanted to go home, apologize to Hadi for the asshole I've been over the past couple of weeks, and pretend that none of this ever happened. I wouldn't even mind going on another date with Jaxon if it meant that it would tease my life back into order. He made good beef sandwiches.

Breathe in, breathe out.

"How did you know?" I dared to ask.

Frenice tapped his nose.

"I could smell it on you."

I stared at him.

"You could smell it on me?" Funny, because I couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary.

"Yes." He paused at my raised eyebrow. "How long have you been experiencing the head aches?"

I barked out a laugh.

"Ever since I got my head smashed against a brick wall when someone tried using my neck like one of those rubber stress toys."

This earned me an odd look, but, well, he had it coming. This was the first time where my head didn't feel like a mess since Landon's decision to redecorate my neck.

"When did it get worse?" he corrected.

"You mean apart from getting my ass kicked and living off of maybe two hours of sleep per night for the past two weeks?" I snapped. "Life got real peachy since you showed up, you know."

Frenice scowled, and I rolled my eyes.

"It was really bad this morning," I grumbled. "After I pulled the fire-alarm."

"In the counselor's office?"

I nodded. "After I left her office."

Frenice inclined his head to show that he had acknowledged what I said, but that was all the response I was going to get from him from my statement.

"I don't assume you're going to tell me what the hell is going on?" I didn't mean to sound as if I was accusing him, though that was how it came out. He did not seem too bothered, though. "Or what was up with that . . . that thing with the hair?"

Stupid, but Frenice knew who I was talking about, anyway. I could tell because his face went carefully blank.

"What did you see?"

I raised my eyebrows.

"What did you see?"

"Tria," Frenice said, his voice calm, but there was something off about his tone. "Now is not the time to make smart-ass remarks. The more you tell me, the more I can help you."

So he knows how to swear, after all, I thought dumbly. I shook myself.

"A man," I replied, reluctant, because, face it, there was a very high chance that what I was about to say would take his confidence of my sanity down a few notches. At the very least, I could always make up something if he decides I'm messing around with him. "Or . . . something. He had pale hair with a mind of its own. Sharp teeth. And eyes - red eyes, like maroon red." He risked a glance in my direction when I found that I couldn't speak, my throat suddenly dry. I bit my lip. "He had six eyes." I paused further, waiting for the guy to laugh - to call me out, something. Instead he gestured for me to continue, but whatever control he was reigning on himself was faltering. He almost looked . . . resigned. "And his skin. At first, it was green, and I could see his veins. They were black. But then . . . it changed. It went from green to this weird transparent white. The black veins were still there, though. Okay, Frenice, I would really appreciate it if you would stop with that doom-and-gloom secrecy thing you have going on here and tell me what's going on." That last part was all bite and snark to hide my ever-increasing panic. He jumped, as if I'd just broken him from a trance.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have said anything," he mused. "This does not answer questions. Why did she let you live?" I had a feeling he meant that more to himself, but I still heard it.

"Who's her?"

"Your mother." As if that was supposed to be obvious. I bulked.

"You're still going on about her? All this insane shit is revolving around her?"

"She is not who you believe she is."

"Gee, so I've been thinking."

"She should have killed you. Would have, I mean. Under normal circumstances."

Because that was what every orphaned kid wanted to hear about their singular known parent. I scoffed and turned away from him.

"You misunderstand me," Frenice tried to explain. "She has hunted those with a similar trace of otherworldly blood as you. I doubt she even knew who your father was . . ."

"She was a prostitute," I reminded, short-tempered.

"What he was."

"So is this the part where you tell me I'm some sort of psychic freak with out-of-the-world powers?" I remarked dully, and Frenice laughed.

"You are not quite so lucky, no."

I couldn't tell if he was serious or not, so I chuckled.

"About the powers or the psychic freak thing?"

"Girl, you are human, do not get me wrong. You are ordinary enough for my kind to overlook you in this world, but not so ordinary to bypass our weapons - such as Odnare's Kiss, the poisonous gas that was most likely released in your counselor's office."

"But I didn't smell-"

"Because you can't," Frenice glanced at me. "You're vulnerable. Far more vulnerable than the average human. But that is not why we have an issue. We have an issue because your mother did not kill you the moment you were born. She would have known what you are. Pregnancies of slightly different species affect the body differently. All of this means to show that she was willing enough to contradict her cause to raise you."

"You know you're fucking messed up, right? Who the hell talks like that?" And why the hell was I even paying attention to what this nutjob was saying? He's a stranger, and a murderer, if he's been with Locman for a while. Everyone who works under him eventually kills a person or two. Not only was Frenice telling me that there were people out there who were not human - was he going to tell me that fairies, vampires and werewolves were a thing, too? - but he was also implying that my own mother should have killed me the moment I left her womb, if her record was to be believed. I could not tell if he was serious or trying to insult me, but either way, I was not about to take it lightly.

Logic said I shouldn't give a rat's ass about what some stranger says about me. Suppressed, bitter emotions said otherwise.

"She didn't even raise me," I spat. "She left me to dig out of dumpsters until someone else could pick me up."

"I do not say this to offend you," Frenice said gently. "I say this because it is the truth. It could be that she left you because you are not as human as she would prefer. However, if you can see us when we are not trying too hard to hide, then you've already surpassed her exceptions. It shows that she loves you more than what she fights for - so some are thinking, anyway."

"And that's such a bad thing, why?"

"Because then we have something we can use against her."

His words hit me like a punch to the gut. All these people after me to use me as leverage against a beat-down prostitute? It didn't matter that Frenice was talking like a crazy conspiracy theorist. What mattered was that people were being killed because of this. Yet, as loony and insane as all of this was, a part of me relaxed at the thought that my mother left not because she couldn't get her life in order, but to protect me somehow. Oh, I probably would never be able to forgive her, but knowing that your parents did something cruel because they thought they were being helpful was better than knowing they acted the way they did because they simply did not care. Slightly. Maybe?

"So are you with them?" I asked, trying to wave away the sudden surge of emotion stirring in my chest. "And what's up with people on Locman's list getting kidnapped? Are these guys pissed at those kids' parents, too?"

"I am against using children for their parents' mistakes," he said stiffly. "And I told you, there is more than one side to this."

I passed a hand over my face, as if I could somehow wipe off the exhaustion my body was oh-so helpful in expressing.

"Then what are we going to do?" There's still the prospect of someone capturing me to rip out my eyeballs, if that video and Landon is something to be believed.

"You are going to sit back and try to stay out of trouble. I am going to try fighting further for your case."

"Because you've been doing a stellar job at that," I said dryly. He glared at me after turning onto the familiar highway that would lead us to the neighborhood entering the apartment complex.

"It is hard," he said slowly, "to defend a person you know little about."

"And who," I replied bitingly, "are the people you're trying to persuade?"

Frenice fixed his attention back on the road. "The giants, Tria. I'm trying to persuade the giants."

I thought about the guy with six eyes and decided not to press further questions.