Page 24 of Out of My Flocking Mind

“Not you. You helped him when you had no good reason to.”

“And look where it got me?” I laughed, the sound bitter even to my own ears. “Anyway, so when the asshole who hit me the first time went to swing again, I flinched. Except, nothing landed. I opened my eyes to find the man there, the end of the stick in his hand like he’d caught it. Even as the punk tried to pull, he couldn’t get it free. That should have probably been my hint that something was different, but fuck, I’d just gotten smacked hard. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

The night came back to me so clearly that I could almost feel the dribble of blood down my face, the throbbing in my temples, all of it. I recalled how the man had locked eyes with the one who had swung on me, and asked, “Should I kill him?”

It hadn’t made sense at the time, but when he’d turned his head toward me, I’d realized he’d asked it of me. “Do you want me to kill him?”

I had shaken my head, unwilling to have someone’s death on my hands. He’d snorted, then shoved his hand out, sending the other man flying.

I left that part out of the story, since it felt like a strange moment between the man and me. “He ran the three off, then crouched in front of me. He’d said I was different, that I’d caused chaos in his life, that not enough people do the unexpected.”

“And then he asked if you wanted to change?”

“Yeah, he isn’t the sort of man to ask anyone anything. He set a hand on my forehead and the world went dark around me. I woke up later in that same spot, the wound at my temple having healed, the man gone.”

“He didn’t stay and tell you anything?”

“Not a single thing. I didn’t have a clue what he’d done until about a week later.” I paused, then sighed when I realized that probably made little sense to him. “See, because of what I am, I crave mischief. I end up tense, like this noise that keeps getting louder and louder in my head until I can’t ignore it if I don’t do something. Sometimes it’s just adding googly eyes to random stuff, or pocketing some things that don’t technically belong to me, and if I ignore all that, then the stakes keep getting higher. I didn’t realize that at the time, though, so I ended up seeing someone—a man who didn’t look all that safe—and I taunted him. I didn’t know why I did it, but something inside me said I should. Well, long story short, that man wasn’t a man but a werewolf—a stray, at that. Turned out he was more than halfway to crazy all on his own, and I guess my other side knew that provoking him would cause a little chaos. It did, of course.”

“And that was when Galen saved you?”

“Yep. The wolf chased me and I ran into an old building. Galen had been trailing him already—one of my few lucky breaks. When I was trying to escape him, I turned into a bird. It was like this sense of fire licking over my skin, and between one second and the next, I was a crow. It let me crawl into a vent, and that was where Galen found me. He assumed I was a Werecrow, but, well, you know what happened when he tried to have me sorted at the council meeting.” I lifted my shoulders in a quick shrug, as if to signal the end of the conversation. There wasn’t really anything else to say about it, was there? He’d heard the whole stupid, ridiculous story.

When he said nothing in return, when the silence got too heavy, I sighed and tried to speak again with as light a tone as possible. “But that unpleasant walk down memory lane helped. I don’t feel nearly as bad.” I lifted my gaze from my hands to Harrison, finding his eyes locked on mine.

Did he sense how uncomfortable that made me? He must have, because he tore his gaze away and looked off to the side. “I’m glad you feel better. Our work would be far more difficult if you were ill.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I made a job more difficult.”

He shook his head, the action telling me he didn’t appreciate my attempts to keep us from talking about anything too real. He rose, then gathered the empty bowl. “You should rest a little longer, then you can shower. We will leave at first light.”

“See, this is the nice thing about hanging out with non-vampires. With vampires, it’s always at dusk. I swear, I lost any tan I ever had spending time there.”

Harrison didn’t acknowledge me that time, instead leaving me alone in the room. At first I didn’t appreciate it, the quiet feeling too loud, as though the space closed in on me.

Except… The smile fell from my lips. Without anyone else there forcing me to keep it plastered on, without someone I needed to hide from, the memory of that night, of how many things were stolen from me then, it all washed over me and I had no reason to keep it at bay.

So for the first time in so long, I couldn’t even remember, I didn’t smile. I didn’t laugh, didn’t joke, didn’t minimize the rough emotions that poured through me. I felt them, every last confusing, horrifying one.

The things I’d lost, the life I couldn’t have anymore, the troubles and dangers I faced now, it all rushed through me until I trembled.

Because fuck, there was a good reason I’d run from them all. Mainly? Because they sucked, and right now I remembered exactly why.

Chapter Six

I always thought I was young until I got around actual young people…then I realized I was old and could really go for a nap. And now, surrounded by teenagers, I felt really old.

It had been far too long since I’d been in a school, and I sure hadn’t gone to one this nice.

Harrison slowed in front of me, allowing me to catch up.

“Did you go here?” I asked as we approached the main door. It was still early, so the day hadn’t started, meaning kids still milled about.

“Of course.”

“Because you’re rich?”

“Among other reasons.” The subtle lift of his eyebrow told me the other reason.

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