Page 7 of Acedia

“Lucas is family. He’d already heard rumors about you anyway,” Justin replied dismissively. “You know how annoying all the bullshit Council politics are, right Lucas? Just pretend you never saw her.”

“Right,” Lucas agreed uncomfortably, though I wasn’t sure my brothers picked up his tone.

“Wear long sleeves next time,” Justin added, flicking the bruise on my arm and making me wince. “You’re so clumsy—we don’t want to see this ugly eyesore.”

I gritted my teeth, refusing to give him any more of a reaction than I already had.

“Lucas is the one whofoundone of the Hunters who defected to the shadow realm—he recognized her and reported her right away,” Travis said in a relaxed tone that sent a chill down my spine. Nothing good ever came from that tone. “We haven’t been allowed to see her, but I hope we get to soon. I’dloveto know what the shadow realm is like for her. Wouldn’t you, Iris?”

“I’ve never really thought about it,” I replied eventually as the silence extended. I didn’t know much about the shadow realm—only what I’ve overheard from downstairs in recent months about them waging some kind of war on us.

The correct assumption based on the family I’d been born into was that the shadow realm had to be bad because Shades livedthere, and they were the monsters that all Hunters were trained to kill.

But I’d always struggled with making that assumption stick in my head.

As far as humans went, the Hunters that I’d encountered were pretty monstrous.

“So cool that you identified her and called it in right away, bro,” Travis added. There was a slapping noise, like he’d clapped Lucas on the back.

“It really wasn’t a big deal,” Lucas replied, sounding almost embarrassed, which was strange. Nana was always telling me stories about the heroic Hunters and the evil Shades—surely Lucas would be proud of himself for making such a discovery?

“Fuck yeah, it was a big deal,” Travis admonished. “We’ve got to make an example out of Hunters like that one who defected. Burn those harlots at the fucking stake like they used to back in the days when the Hunters used to have some goddamn integrity. I told Mom that’s what they should do but apparently they want to, like, sweet talk her for a bit first or whatever. Try get some information out of her. She can’t even remember anything.”

I felt suddenly queasy, but I felt tentatively around on the plate in my hand, sinking my fingers into melted cheese. After a little more fumbling, I came to what I thought was the crust, though it was still incredibly difficult to get a hold of the piece of pizza, which seemed to flop around in every direction no matter how I tried to move it.

“May I?” Lucas asked, alarmingly close.

“Sure,” I squeaked, flinching instinctively.

After a long pause, he gently gripped my hand, helping me bend the pizza so it cooperated between my fingers.

“Easier?”

“Yes, thank you,” I replied awkwardly.

Justin groaned—a distinctive sound he’d made since he was a toddler that had always made him easy to distinguish from Travis. “Don’t be annoying, Iris.”

“Okay. Sorry.”

Only once the sounds of their game started up again did I bring the pizza up to my mouth to cautiously nibble on the end of it.

And,oh. It was glorious. Like a combination of Nana’s grilled cheese and Carla’s spaghetti, but somehow better. And those were my twofavoritemeals.

“Do you like it, Iris?” Lucas called from the other side of the room.

“Yes, thank you.” I nodded enthusiastically, wanting him to know that I was appreciative.

Tilly rested her head on my lap, sniffing loudly, but I shifted the plate away, not knowing if it would make her sick or not. Better to be safe than sorry.

“Oh, I have some beers in the back of the truck,” Justin said, walking past me on his way out of the front door. “Pause it. I’ll go grab them.”

How had he even gotten hold of that? The twins were only nineteen.

“I’m sure Iris wants her room back—” Lucas began. What time was it anyway? It felt like it was getting late, but it seemed as though they had a lot of game left to play.

“Nah, she’s probably grateful for the company. She just sits here alone all day,” Travis said bluntly.

“Right,” Lucas replied slowly. “Iris, do you want me to let your dog outside?”

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