Page 27 of Demon Found

Forcing a bright smile, I shoulder bump Naeve, and she grumbles as she drops a stitch.

“If we’re going to be stuck with each other, I should know more about you. I don’t even know your genus!”

“A very long time ago the Fates divided us into four classes.” She puts on her best teacher voice. “What class do you think I belong to—shifter, vampiric, divine, or fae?”

“Wait,faecome here?”

“Not yet. Well, not except the crossbreed fae. We’re meant to be combining academies. The Angel King doesn’t like that they’re so separate, that the fae virtually rule themselves. He wants them integrated, back under his thumb. Now, c’mon . . . what am I?”

That’s practically heresy given what I’ve learned, and Naeve says it without so much as blinking. Maybe she’s braver than I thought.

“Do you get a bookworm shifter? No, wait. Teacher’s pet shifter.”

Naeve throws a ball of wool in my face. “You’re talking to adivinebeing—better watch yourself. I’m a nymph, a daughter of the goddesses.”

“Shit. I’ve never met a nymph. Okay, spill the gossip, then. What genus is that gay hippy friend of Farrell’s, Zephyr?”

“Zephyr? He doesn’t do commitment, but hedoesdo the ladies, some guys too. Zephyr’s a cherubim, so divine class like me. You met Chano, he’s a divine too, but the other side, demonic not angelic. Who else?”

“Farrell? Wait. I know Farrell is a shifter. He’s a drrrrragon!”

Naeve’s smile freezes. “Wyvern,” she corrects. “Youarefunny! He’s the Virrey’s son.”

Wyvern. Of course. I mean dragons don’t exist anymore. Everyone knows that, even everyone in Venez. My brain is fried. One day in lessons and I’m not fit for anything.

“Actually, I saw him in his lizard-y genus at my emergence day. He shifted right in front of me. His clothes were shredded.”

Naeve frowns. “That’s . . . weird. Really weird. He’s the most controlled guy I know.” She shuffles uncomfortably on my bed, suddenly seemingly fascinated by her stupid knitting. “Your turn . . .”

Dammit, that was a sudden change in direction. I half wanted to know more about the posh asshole anyway, and her reaction just piqued my interest.

“Wait. We can’t talk about them more? I have to share things about me?”

“That’s how this friend stuff works.”

“I knew there was a reason I don’t do friends,” I grumble. “Nothing to tell. I’m a harpy cross. I just don’t know what with. I’ll find out in a couple of weeks, I guess.” I curl my toes up and tug the duvet around myself. “So, is that it, we’re officially friends now?”

“Going to burn my stuff again if I say no?”

A sharp rap sounds at the door, wiping the grin off my face, and I haul myself up to answer it.

The hallway is eerily silent. Straining my neck in both directions, I can’t even hear retreating footsteps. I didn’t take that long to answer.

A beautifully wrapped parcel at my feet catches my attention. The paper shimmers, changing color depending on how the light hits it. Fairy dust floats in the air in a stunning halo around the package. The elegant label reads “for your urgent attention.” Naeve’s attention. Not mine. No way anyone sent me this kind of elaborate gift.

It’s surprisingly light, and I can’t resist giving it a little shake as I carry it inside.

“Naeve, parcel for you.”

She places it carefully on her desk, scrunching her nose, and slowly unwraps it. I can’t help myself, I peer over her shoulder. The last of the intricate wrapping falls away, and Naeve quickly pries open the lid of the plain cardboard box inside.

With a scream, she flings the entire thing away from her and leaps onto her bed, gabbling in a high-pitched voice.

“Get it out. Get it away. Kill it!”

My heart hammers.What the hell?I creep toward where the box landed and toe the lid open again. A hairysomethingflops out. With its tongue hanging out and fur on end, the glazed eyes of a very dead rat stare sightlessly at me.

Fuck. A calling card.

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