Her forehead crinkled in concentration as she worked through a complicated knot, carefully transitioning from one color to the next. When she got it right, her whole face lit up with satisfaction.
Then she looked up at me. “Thanks for staying with me.”
I smiled. She was so sweet.
“Of course.” I ruffled her hair, and she giggled when some frizzy curls fell over her eyes. “That’s what people do when they care about each other.”
She studied me for a second, then scooted a little closer on the bed, her shoulder bumping mine as she went back to her bracelet.
“I like it when you take care of me,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Well, I like taking care of you.” I winked.
She grinned happily at that, looping another string through her fingers. I returned to working on my own bracelet, when a tiny growl and thrashing noise distracted me.
Phantom was batting something across the floor. He chased it down and pounced on it.
I grinned at the playful kitten, but then I looked closer at what he had.
It was small, but colorful. Pieces of whatever it was were scattered over the floorboards.
“What do you got, buddy?” I sighed, and uncurled myself from my spot.
The kitten glared at me. He nabbed the thing with his mouth, and growled low.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re vicious, I know,” I mused.
I grabbed the cat toy Hailey had discarded earlier, a stick with a bundle of feathers attached to the end, and waved it in front of Phantom’s face. His tail flicked, eyes tracking the feathers before he couldn’t resist anymore and lunged for it, dropping the thing between his teeth.
I played with him for a few minutes, leading him away from the mess he had made, and then dropped the toy.
When I went back, I tensed.
It was a butterfly.
The kitten had been batting around a dead monarch butterfly. Its wings were broken and flaking apart, the bits sprinkled along the floor.
My heart rate increased, though I wasn’t sure why.
It was only a dead insect.
But it was the middle of the winter, and I had no idea where the hell he would’ve found something like that.
I tried not to let it get to me. The sudden anxiety fluttering in my chest was silly. Perhaps it had died somewhere last summer or spring and he’d found it lost under furniture or in the corner of a closet.
That had to be it.
Still, it was hard to see a butterfly and not think of the Shadow Stalker—and the cruel calling card he carved into his victims’ skin.
Ismileddownatmynew friendship bracelet as I put plastic wrap over the plate of dinner I’d set aside for Roman. He was late tonight, though I wasn’t sure why. He hadn’t texted me like he usually did.
I slid the plate into the refrigerator and started on the dishes, careful not to get my bracelet wet. Hailey and I had exchanged them when we’d finished earlier today, and the gift was already precious. She’d used my favorite colors, green and pink, even though I’d never told her what they were. She was an observant one.
As I finished drying the last of the dishes and put them away, the sound of the front door closing rattled the house.
Hailey had already gone to bed. It was a little earlier than her usual bedtime, but she needed the extra rest if she was going to return to school tomorrow.
Roman’s familiar, heavy footfalls neared the kitchen, their cadence a tad slower than normal.
