“I wantto know,” Jude said.
“Shush,” Toni hissed. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
Waving Bryce inside, Zef said, “Please, come in. I was not expecting… so many of you.”
“They gave me a ride,” Bryce explained as he stepped into the condo. It was clean and tidy, the lines in the carpet from the vacuum spaced evenly, edges perfectly straight. He didn’t want to step on the carpet for fear of ruining it, but the others had no such qualms.
Toni tromped inside, dumping Bryce’s duffel bag unceremoniously beside the white couch. “You got stuff for sandwiches, Zeffie? I was thinking of whipping up something for everyone.”
“I believe so.” Zef’s gaze tracked the shoe prints Toni’s boots left in the carpet fibers, and their right antenna twitched.
Bryce toed off his shoes and set them beside a pair of sleek, strappy high heels. For a moment, he wondered who they belonged to before realizing they were probably Zef’s. Mantodeas were agender, after all, and Zef had been wearing a feminine muumuu the first time Bryce had seen them.
“May I assist with your baggage?” Zef asked, and Bryce jerked upright, surprised at their sudden appearance right beside him.
“I forgot how quiet you are,” he said with a laugh, and Zef tilted their head, studying him with an intensity that made his skin itch.
It wasn’t that Zef was creepy. Okay, they were a little creepy. What with their large, pupil-less compound eyes, long gangling limbs, and almost gaunt face. Yet, they were eerily pretty too. Their features were soft and androgynous, their hair shimmering like opals. Like a mythological Fae had procreated with an insect, and the end result was this hauntingly beautiful bug-person.
“Shall I wear a bell?” Zef said, voice and expression entirely deadpan.
Bryce couldn’t tell if they were joking, but then their wings buzzed and their brows arched ever so slightly. He grinned, and Zef’s mouth tipped in the minutest smile.
With a chuckle, he ran a hand through his hair. “You’re funny.”
“Am I? I do practice, but I fear humor is not my strong suit,” they admitted as they picked up the duffel Toni had discarded.
“I think you’re doing just fine,” Bryce said, and that tiny smile widened marginally.
“Shall I show you to your room?” Zef tucked several flyaways behind their pointed, elf-like ear with one hand while another gestured toward the kitchen where Toni and Jude were slapping together what looked like sandwiches.
“Lead the way.”
In the hallway to the right of the kitchen, Oliver and Liel stood staring at a set of shelves nearly overflowing with—
“Oh my God, are those teeth?” Bryce cried.
“Yes,” Zef said, standing a little taller as if in pride. “I collected them.”
“From who?” Oliver demanded.
“Other collectors,” Zef said, like it was obvious.
“No, whose teeth are they?” Oliver clarified.
“I do not know,” Zef said.
“You don’t know whose teeth these are?” Liel asked.
Zef blinked. “Not personally. Except for these.” They pointed at a set on the topmost shelf. “Those are mine.” At Oliver and Liel’s horrified expressions, they frowned. “Do not worry. I sterilized them.”
“I don’t think that’s what they’re worried about,” Jude said as he came to a stop beside Bryce.
“What species do they belong to?” Bryce asked, stepping closer to get a better look at the array of teeth.
“Many different kinds. Collectors always share the origins, but when I find them myself, I must research it.”
“Like a dental detective,” Bryce said, and Zef’s cheeks darkened even more than the first time.
