A snort left me. “Yeah, not for years.”
She shook her head, leaning into me. “No, a supernatural virgin. This is your first time interacting with our world?”
I nodded, wondering where this slightly odd chick was going with all of this. She let out a low whistle. “That’s really awesome. Do you know much about humans? I’ve never met any myself, but I’ve always wanted to spend some time in their lives.”
“How…?”
How could she have never met a human?
She must have figured out what I hadn’t asked. “Our communities are self-sufficient. I’m from Stratford, a supernatural prison community in America. I’ve never had any reason to venture out of our world.”
“So the supernatural towns around the world … no humans live there?”
She nodded hard. “Nope. Only supes allowed. We live under the humans’ noses, most of us never interacting. I mean, there are definitely supes that live out with the humans, but I’m not one of them.”
She paused, and then with an expectant look on her face, leaned even closer. I had to laugh at the undisguised enthusiasm she was displaying.
“So…” she pushed.
“Yes, I know a lot about humans. I lived with them for twenty-two years, thinking I was human. What do you want to know?”
Dee let out a little shout. “I made the right decision to check out the new chick. You’re already ten times more awesome than I thought and we’ve barely even talked.”
I’d never met someone quite like Dee. She was oddly excitable and a little weird, but also nice.
“Maybe next time just knock first,” I suggested.
Her cheeks went pink and she nodded. “Yeah, sorry about that. I just saw your door slightly ajar and decided to go for it.” Her face brightened again. “Anyway, I’m meeting a friend this morning, so I’m going to take off. But hopefully I’ll see you around soon. Otherwise, let’s catch up at dinner.”
I waved but she was already gone, rushing off as quickly as she had arrived.
Shaking my head, I was about to go in search of my shoes when there was a knock on my still-open door. “Girl,” Ilia said, sashaying her way inside. “You’re just asking for trouble leaving your room open to the vultures in this school.”
I snorted, thinking that she’d probably have had fun meeting Dee and her eccentric ways. “I was kind of ambushed by another student,” I said, my words muffled as I stuck my head in the closet again. “She wanted to know about humans.”
When I emerged with a pair of shiny black flats, Ilia was sprawled on my bed. Luckily, I never made my bed—why bother when you were only getting back in there?—because she was flailing her arms around like she was making sheet-angels.
“What are you doing?” I said with a laugh, lifting one foot to slip a shoe on, followed by the other.
“I had the best night last night,” she said dreamily. This Ilia was very different to the one who’d collected me yesterday. Some of her professional façade had faded, and she felt more “real.” “Seriously. Josh is amazing. Too amazing. I’m no doubt going to screw this up soon, because I’m a mess.”
“You’re a gorgeous mess at least,” I supplied, quickly braiding my hair. I didn’t want it in my face today.
She pulled herself up to stick her tongue out at me before flopping down again.
“How do I look?” I asked, feeling those nerves kick in again. It was almost seven, which meant Larissa would be here any moment to take me to her father.
Ilia sat and checked me out with a slow, leisurely stare. I fanned my face. “You’re gonna make me blush.”
Her smile was huge, her eyes filled with mirth. “You look damn good. I’d kill for your curves.”
I sighed. “It feels weird, dressing this nicely for school. Usually I was lucky to have a clean shirt.”
She stood, placing both hands on my shoulders. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore. This is the start of your new life. One where you can forget the scars from your old one.”
I smiled, but I wasn’t sure I agreed with her. That was the thing with scars … you really couldn’t get rid of them. Even after they faded, the shadow of the injury remained. And it always would.
Maybe that was so you never forgot, hopefully learning from the past.
