Bastien

Every part of my body hurt. All I wanted to do was forget the night had ever happened.

Carter was missing, and another student, a freshman I'd never met. I pushed away the horrible, nagging thoughts about what might have happened to him. What might have happened to all of them.

Moonlight cut through the forest limbs, and even though I could have, I didn't walk quietly. There was something about the silence in the trees that bothered me. Dasan and Clara would both be asleep by now, and my father was gone on another one of his seemingly endless business trips; I wasn't going to wake anyone. In fact, I wanted to scream and break something, just to see if anyone would care.

My father was part of the reason I'd dated Cat for so long, even when I knew things weren't right between us. It was nice to have at least an adoptive family, to have someone who actually cared if I came home. Dasan was visiting, for now, but even Dasan came and went with no explanation. He said it was "old age calling to him". But I knew the truth.

Everyone left eventually.

I jumped over a log, wincing a bit as blood trickled down my side. I wiped it up before it could stain my jeans, smearing it instead across my abdomen. Dasan had insisted I train all summer, and even if I was stronger than I'd ever been, I couldn't go out for the team. Yet another reason it was better that my father wasn't here. He was much harder to lie to than Dasan and Clara, because he was such an accomplished liar himself. We'll celebrate your birthday next week. I'll be home for Christmas. Promise, I'll make it to your next game. It barely even stung anymore.

One less person to pretend for. One less person I had to wonder if they were safe.

I jumped the small yard fence, the sudden moonlight and expense of short grass opening up before me. The kitchen was dark, which I was thankful for, as it meant no one would interrupt me. For a moment I considered going to the gym and pummeling out my frustrations, or taking a swim, but then a cool breeze sprung up across the grass, and goosebumps pimpled my flesh. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to crawl into my bed and never wake up. Maybe I could convince Dasan I was too sick to go to school tomorrow. I smiled when I thought of how I'd be treated to stories of how he'd walked five miles to school every day, surviving coyotes and brigands on the way, through hail the size of golfballs and blistering heat.

No, I'd definitely be going to Shadowglen High.

And the school would be rife with rumours. I wondered how long till they included me.

I slid open the glassdoor and reached over, meaning to flick on the light for the kitchen, when I realized there was another dark form in the kitchen.

The form moved forward and a blind panic filled me. No! It couldn't be! I flicked the switch and the kitchen exploded with light.

And I was suddenly even more confused.

"What the hell!? Who are you—GET OUT!"

I held up my fists, for one wild moment preparing myself to fight, when I realized it was a girl who stood before. She was tall, with wild blonde hair, dark eyebrows over large perspective eyes, and undeniably beautiful. But the oddest thing about her was the way she stood, a wide but steady stance, confident, yet assertive, as if she were defending this place. As if I were the intruder.

"Who are you?" she said, so confidently, that I recovered, anger replacing shock.

"I live here! Who the hell are you!?"

"Oh. I thought you were an intruder." She paused. Then as if an afterthought added. "I apologize." Only she didn't seem sorry at all. In fact, the way her eyes traveled over my body, lingering on the wound, she seemed curious. I might have blushed if not for the fact I was pissed.

"What the hell are you doing here? Who are you?! I--I'm calling the cops!" This suddenly seemed like the right course of action and I shoved my hand in my jeans pockets— only to remember my phone was upstairs charging beside my bed.

She continued to stare at me, not at all concerned by my threat, as if I were the odd one in this situation. Then she smiled as if she had just figured something out.

"You must be Dasan's grandson. He hired me earlier."

"Who are you?"

She bent forward, as if to bow, and said, "I am Rell of the Great Lands of Antarctica."

I stared at her for a full ten seconds, trying to figure out if she was making fun of me, yet somehow distracted that a wild, but beautiful, girl was standing in my kitchen in the middle of the night.

"No." I finally said, rubbing my head. I was too tired for this.

"No, you aren't his grandson?" She finally seemed confused.

"No, Dasan can't hire someone, only my father can. You need to leave. We don't need you."

"Clearly you do. Have you seen how big these windows are?"

We did have an obnoxious amount of windows for Clara to clean, but that didn't mean we needed a maid— especially one my age! Especially one that looked like her. I strode forward, meaning to intimidate her, surprised when she held her ground and met my eye with a level gaze. She was almost as tall as me. I'd never met a girl that tall before.

"You need to leave. I'll get you a taxi or money or whatever you want, but you need to be gone by tomorrow morning."

She just stared at me. I had to fight the impulse to keep my eyes focused on her face. Then she smiled, her eyes sliding over me, taking in the way I was half naked, covered in cuts and bruises. This time I did blush.

"No," she said with some finality.

I took a deep breath, balling my hands into fists at my side and speaking through clenched teeth. "Listen, whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Just leave."

She paused, then, "I want to live here."

I stared at her, unable to put words together. The moonlight slipped in through the windows, spreading across the counters, and lighting up her eyes. A small white scar crossed her forehead. My side had begun to pulse with pain again, and as if she knew, she glanced down at the wound.

"You should dress that. Do you want me to make a poultice?"

I took a step back, for the first time a trickle of fear filled me.

She watched me, her eyes too perceptive, too knowing.

She couldn't be here.

She had to leave, there was no question. But I wasn't going to stand here arguing while half naked and bleeding. I stepped around her, covering the wound with one hand.

"It's nothing. I tripped." I angled my body away from her so that the wound was out of view, then took a long, slow breath, and finally looked back at her, all emotion gone from my voice. "It's late, and I don't want to deal with this right now. I will get you a taxi in the morning and you can leave." As if it were decided I made to leave the kitchen when I stopped, staring down.

"Is that pizza on the floor?"

"Maybe."

For one bizarre moment, I stared at the pizza. Then I strode out of the kitchen, confused as hell.

"Don't be here in the morning," I called back, making sure I got the last word, but somehow the laughter that followed me out of the kitchen didn't make me feel like I'd won.

It was only when I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, that I realized why she looked familiar.

She was the girl I'd seen in the forest last night.

It was her. It had to be.

Which meant she'd been in the forest when another student had disappeared. Maybe she had seen something.... Maybe she would know...

Know what? If she had seen something, if she suspected, then that made her even more dangerous.

The night had almost driven away my day-time worries, but I suddenly remembered with a rush of dread facing Cat, my angry teammates, and a school rife with rumors about the absence of yet another student, all of them sure to be nasty. Carter's mom had called me today, incoherent with worry, and it had felt like a punch to the gut when I'd told her the last I'd seen him was the night of the party: when we'd found a letterman jacket that was as of yet unclaimed. And now Carter was missing too. It just added one more reason why she couldn't stay here.

But even as I planned everything I would do to make her leave, even as I hardened myself to everything that would make her life a living hell— not that Shadowglen High wasn't already that— I still wondered if she was brave or foolish enough to show her face mid-semester at Shadowglen High tomorrow.

And the weirdest part of all?

I kind of hoped she would.