Page 32 of Zachary

“I’m home,” he says. “But… but… I don’t know what to do.”

“Are you hurt?” I look around for a shirt. “Do you need a healer?”

“No. No, I’m… fine. It’s stupid.” The last is a whisper, and I sit down on the side of the bed with a wisp of relief. Is he drunk dialing me?

“I’m sure it’s not stupid,” I assure him, trying to sound soothing. “Ronan, have you been drinking? Did you have alcohol at Zoe’s?”

“No. Just soda. Because Zoe said we’d have more fun if we could remember everything tomorrow. But now I just want to forget it all because she’s not going to be my friend!” He makes another choked-tears sound, and I resist the urge to groan. Who knows what the fuck is going on, but it doesn’t seem like getting the full story out of him is going to be easy.

“How about I come over and you can tell me all about it?” The words are out of my mouth before I can resist the impulse. I’m awake now, I’m mostly dressed, he’s upset, and I said I was going to try to be his friend. It’ll take me two seconds to teleport there, maybe fifteen minutes to calm him down, and I can be sleeping in my bed again within less than half an hour.

He hiccups, and sympathy slashes at my heart. Poor guy. He’s been so happy about Zoe being his friend. I’m sure whatever the problem is, it can easily be cleared up.

“Could you?” He sounds so pathetic that even if I hadn’t already decided, that would have done it.

“Of course. I’ll be there in two minutes… just wait outside the teleport room.”

“O-Okay.” The call drops out, and I toss my phone aside while I put on my shirt and shoes. Then I teleport to his house.

When I open the door to the hall, he’s hovering there, wringing his hands, eyes looking a little red. His face crumples at the sight of me. “I don’t know what to doooooo!”

“It’s going to be okay,” I promise, fervently hoping I can deliver on that. Slinging an arm around his shoulders, I steer him toward the living room. The light’s on, and a map of the area is spread on the coffee table, surrounded by a few crumpled tissues. Together, we sit on the couch, and I say, “Now, tell me what happened. Did someone say something tonight?” I can’timagine that Zoe, Cam, or Garrett would say anything to turn him into this mess, but… didn’t he mention something about Zoe not wanting to be his friend?

He sniffles. “We watched some movies and—did you know that you might not exist if the asteroid hadn’t killed the dinosaurs?”

Um. What? I replay the sentence through my head. “I… guess so? I never really thought about it. Are you sure you were just drinking soda?” I’m positive that nobody would have spiked his drinks, but… “Did you maybe smoke something?”

He shakes his head. “We watchedJurassic Parkand65, and we were talking about the asteroid, and Cam said that if it weren’t for that, none of the Earth species might have existed.”

“Sure.” I go with it. “That seems likely. Is that what upset you? The thought that your new friends might not have existed?” Seems kind of sensitive, but some people are like that. And I can soothe that just by pointing out that theydoexist.

“No. It’s just interesting. Cam thinks65would have been more interesting if they’d died.”

I haven’t seen65, but I’m getting the feeling I’ll hate it simply because it’s associated with this conversation. “If who died? The dinosaurs? They did, eventually.”

He rolls his eyes. “No, the humans. Though Garrett says we really shouldn’t call them humans because it’s unlikely a species from a distant planet so long ago evolved exactly the same way humans on this planet did. He thinks it’s lazy scriptwriting.”

I am definitely never going to watch this movie. I might also have to maim Garrett and Cam for all the weird commentary. Why is it taking Ronan so long to get to the point?

“That’s a valid concern,” I agree. “So… what upset you?”

His lip trembles. “Zoe’s been so nice to me. She’s helped me so much this week.”

I nod encouragingly, patting his back.

“And tonight was so fun. I feel like I might be able to have friends here.”

“You do have friends here.” I try not to wince. It was an automatic response, and I’m not sure how true it is. Sure, Zoe befriended him, but there’s some sort of issue with that. “Cam and Garrett like you a lot,” I prevaricate. They were both eager for this movie night, anyway. “And we’re getting along, right? I wouldn’t have come over in the middle of the night for just anyone.”

For a second, something that looks like guilt flashes across his face, but it’s gone so fast, I must be mistaken.

“So, come on. Tell me what happened to upset you like this.”

“Well… we were all talking… and… let me show you something.” He jumps up and runs from the room, leaving me sitting on the couch like a lump and wondering what in the living fuck is actually going on right now.

Ronan staggers back into the room carrying a huge box, and I scramble up to help him. We set it on the floor beside the coffee table.

“What is this?”

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