“Just what?” I press.
They exchange another look.
“Are you laughing at me?” I ask, half joking, half not.
Hailey’s face goes bright. “No.”
Lila’s eyes dart away. “No, never.”
And then Hailey laughs again, and Lila follows like it’s contagious.
My confusion twists into something close to irritation. “Okay, seriously. What is happening?”
Hailey wipes at her eyes like she’s tearing up, but the room’s too dim to tell if it’s laughter or something else. “Nothing is happening,” she insists.
It’s ridiculous. It’s harmless. It should feel light. But I can’t shake the sense that I’m missing a piece of the puzzle, like there’s a joke happening just out of reach and I’m the only one not in on it.
Whatever. Let them have a little fun, even if it’s at my expense. It doesn’t really matter anyway.
We finish the movie. There’s a tidy ending, everyone learns something, the music swells, and the credits roll. When the screen goes dark, I find myself weirdly eager to leave. Hailey leans forward and turns the projector off, and for a second none of us move.
Then I shift, bracing my hands on the mattress as I get ready to stand, because that is what you do when something ends. You get up and you go back to your life. Maybe I can check the edge of the woods again. Maybe the Grims came back.
Hailey speaks before I can move.
“You can stay,” she says.
Lila nods. “If you want.”
I hesitate, my fingers still pressed into the bedding. “It’s late.”
“So?” Hailey shrugs, but her eyes don’t match it. They’re too intent, too hopeful, like she’s holding her breath for my answer.
I don’t know what to say. It’s a little weird for my liking, but maybe I haven’t had friends in so long that I’m being extra picky.I search for something gentle to say, something that will let them down easy, when a knock sounds from the corridor.
Hailey’s eyes go wide. Lila’s hand flies to her mouth again, and before I can even process it, there’s that giggle again.
I stare at them. “What is wrong with you two?”
They do not answer. They just look at the door, then at me, like I am supposed to open it.
“Ugh, fine,” I grumble, swinging my legs off the bed. I cross the room and wrap my fingers around the handle, then pull the door open.
Talon stands in the hallway.
Not in his usual clothes, and not in his comfortable, cocky, half-slouched way of existing. He is wearing an actual suit, dark and fitted and crisp, like he stepped out of a different world entirely. His hair is styled like he took time with it. His collar sits perfectly against his throat. He looks expensive, and dangerous in a cleaner way.
In his hand is a bouquet of wild late-autumn flowers. Deep reds, bruised purples, stubborn little yellow blooms that look like they were picked from a field somewhere.
He smiles when he sees me, soft around the edges in a way that does not match the suit.
“Evening,” he says.
Behind me, Hailey and Lila go outright into a fit of laughter.
I don’t even turn around to look at them anymore. Suddenly everything clicks into place. I lift an eyebrow and stare at Talon, trying my hardest not to squeeze my legs together under the weight of the way he’s looking at me.
“Let me guess,” I say. “You asked those two to keep me occupied for a while?”
