Sloane Briallen

“That went well for the two of you,” Mira said as I closed her front door behind me. She emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her shorts.

“Fuck you,” Annie growled without much heat. The running had been hard on her. I tried to make it as smooth as possible, but bodies weren’t designed to be smooth rides like cars.

“What happened?” Mikko asked as I went into the living room where he had been laying on the pull-out couch. He was freshly bandaged and sitting up.

I set Annie down next to him and stepped out of Mira’s way as she moved to the first aid kit next to the couch. I made myself busy grabbing pillows from where Mira kept them below the stairs. I stacked them behind Annie to give her some support. The pull-out was big enough for two people.

“Rumor got out about Sloane,” Annie muttered, adjusting herself against the pillows. “Riley and Shayna pushed me over the railing outside their apartments. Then Aisha came out to finish me off.” Mira braced her arm with a splint, and Annie groaned.

The nice thing about shifters was that when they had broken bones, as long as you put their bones in a relatively straight line, they healed without any medical intervention. Annie would heal within a day or so with just a splint.

“I didn’t realize Aisha lived in those apartments,” Mira said, wrapping the splint loosely to keep it set.

“I think her boyfriend or something lives there. I don’t know, man. All I know is I’m gonna fucking wreck those bitches when I see them again.”

“I’ll help you,” I growled.

“No, you won’t,” Mira replied. “If you get involved, and one of them gets hurt, you could wind up on every shifter’s Most Wanted list, and you cannot survive that many people hating you.”

“I survived it as a human.”

“You survived it when other humans hated you. You need to at least have your year mark behind you to stand a chance.” She looked at Annie. “And you ain’t going after them either. You could get killed.”

“You got a whole ass army of vampires in that contract you got with the Queen, and you ain’t gonna use it?” Annie shot back at her.

Mira’s stunned look told us she had forgotten about that.

“You didn’t even remember,” I said.

Mira sneered at me. “Look, I ain’t used to having no fucking army behind me, alright? I know you got training with a fucking war general as a teenager, but we don’t all got that backing, ‘kay?”

I chose not to point out that I didn’t have that backing anymore since I broke up with that war general’s boss; it didn’t really matter. That wasn’t the point. “You should talk to Aoife about if there’s anything they can do,” I said. “The whole family is under Hazel’s protection, right?”

“Yeah, I made sure. But Aoife’s actually been on assignment. I was working directly with Hazel on the contract.” She got up from where she had been crouched next to Annie, moving back to the first-aid kit.

“Even better—direct line to boss lady,” I said. “We—”

I didn’t get to finish that sentence because it was interrupted by a loud snore.

Mikko was passed back out, curled up next to Annie. He was holding her hand, but he was dead asleep.

“Wish I could fall asleep like that,” Annie grumbled, awkwardly crossing her broken arm over her chest.

“You will soon enough,” I said. Shifters slept a lot when they were healing big flesh injuries or broken bones.

“How did you know I was in trouble?” Annie asked.

“This kid, Michael, said you sent him to tell me.” My brow knitted together. “Which . . . in retrospect . . .”

Annie’s face scrunched in confusion. “I was so fucked up, I couldn’t send anyone to you. Much less some rando kid.”

I had also come to that conclusion.

“Must have seen when I fell off the second floor, then.” She was already beginning to nod off.

“I guess . . .”

I looked at Mira, who was shaking her head while digging through the kit. “What a shitty time for Amos to go out of town,” she muttered.

I paused, the gears in my head turning.

Genie and Frankie’s parents are murdered, shortly followed by Mikko going missing and Annie’s attack. And then Amos Black, a very famous PI, the man I had spent a good portion of my childhood following around . . . he had been called away right when my family might need him. A strange, unexpected child helped me find Annie twice.

Mira peered up at me. “You think . . . this might be about you?”

I threw my hands up. “I don’t know. It seems really fucking weird, doesn’t it? All these coincidences all at once? Leading to me needing to come back to town?”

“Who would have that kind of power?”

Well . . . one person came to mind.

“No,” Mira said, hearing my thoughts. “She was upset when you broke up, but she never showed up at our house again after you left. She wouldn’t do this.”

I gave her a look. “Stay in your own head.”

“Arachne wouldn’t do this, Sloane,” she said, this time much sterner. “She was resentful, sure. But she wouldn’t be capable of this kind of cruelty.”

I shrugged again. “Mira, I don’t know. You asked who I knew. That’s who I know.”

She sighed through her nose, pulling out another roll of bandages.

Silence fell between us, and I fidgeted. I was okay with silence generally, but this one was heavy. So much had happened in the past forty-eight hours, and it was weighing on us.

I glanced at the VCR under the TV to see that it said it was almost four-thirty. “Mira?”

“Yeah?”

“What time does Lina get home from school?”

She cursed, seeing the clock, too. “I’m supposed to pick her up from after care in fifteen minutes.”

“I can do it,” I said, stepping towards the kitchen. “Where is she going?”

“Silo Roberts.”

I paused for a moment before shaking my head. Of course she was.

“Hey, it’s not like I chose it for her,” Mira snapped at me. “We’re zoned into that school.”

I knew that. I had lived with my mom maybe a mile away from here growing up. Everyone here went to Silo Roberts. It was the biggest public elementary in the area.

“I’ll see you later,” I said, grabbing her keys from the hook in the kitchen.

I got out of Mira’s truck to lean against it, leaving the doors unlocked. Mira had called ahead to let the school know that Lina would have someone new picking her up. She had told me they would bring her out to me.

The school had barely changed since I was a kid. A big tan block with a butterfly garden near the back entrance. Blue double doors led into the school and a wide awning spanned the walkway from the back doors to the pick-up zone. A chain link fence surrounded the property, including the parking lot. It honestly looked more like a fortress than a school, it was just missing the barbed wire at the top of the fence.

Gazing at the school brought back memories, but they weren’t the memories I would have expected. I had met Mickey and Bell here. I had been attending this school when my mother died. This was the only school I attended full time until I was sixteen in Washington and made an actual attempt at high school.

But what I thought about was Mira and Lina.

Mira had had Lina when she was seventeen. We’d taken care of anything they needed that they couldn’t get with disability. If they didn’t have enough money or anything, Frankie and Genie would steal what they needed to live. And the electric and phone companies had always been a sucker for Mikko. He’d become great at the art of begging them not to shut off service. We’d had a hard time, but we’d survived.

“Briallen!” barked a booming male voice.

I looked up to see a man in a black uniform moving toward me. He was beefy and tall with graying brown hair and a full, bushy moustache and beard. At his ample waist was a belt with a gun and Taser along with a nightstick and a walkie-talkie.

“Officer Morgan,” I said, nodding to him. “Long time no see.”

“Haven’t seen you in a long time. Mira said you got adopted?” He stopped in front of me, and we shook hands.

“Yup. Moved to Washington. Finished high school there. Moved to Minnesota. Came down to visit Mira and people.”

Officer Morgan had been one of the cops who used to be on our beat. He and his partner had been two of the nicer cops to the runaways. He had never used unnecessary force with us, which was why we had been warm towards him. Plus, he would buy us food sometimes when he had some free time.

“How’re they?” he asked. “I see Annie and Mira a lot when they come to pick Lina up.”

“They’re alright,” I replied. Too complicated to discuss. “So, you’re the cop around here now?”

He smiled bitterly. “School resource officer.”

“What happened to that big fancy badge of yours?” I asked. I noticed the one on his belt was a lot smaller.

His bitter smile turned into a dark grimace. “I pissed off too many people in my precinct. Tried to report the cop that shot Mira’s mom and a few other people in that drug raid and got shut down and got demoted.”

I sighed. “Cops protect cops.”

“They do,” he growled. “Except when you try to do the right thing.”

I nodded. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have particularly warm feelings towards the police, but I didn’t think this was the best company to say ACAB in.

“But this is definitely easier,” he said, the dark look on his face disappearing. “Working with kids is nice. And there’s no bullshit politics. It’s nice to see little Lina all the time.”

“I believe it.”

He looked me over. “You’ve grown up so much.”

“It happens.”

He smirked.

“Morgan!” came a shout. We looked over to see his partner waving him down. A lanky kid my age. I didn’t recognize him.

“I gotta go,” he said. “It was good seeing you.” We bumped fists.

“Nice seein’ you. Tell Lee and Pearson I say howdy.”

He grinned. “Will do.” I watched him walk up to the baby cop. He waved again before disappearing into the building, the blue door closing behind him.

Moments later, the blue doors opened again, and a woman came out with Lina following behind her. It struck me, looking at Lina, that she seemed a little droopy. She looked sad in her blue plaid uniform skirt, the same one I used to wear. Her shoulders were hunched, and she was looking at her scuffed Mary Janes as she walked out.

When Lina saw me, she bolted towards me, shouting my name. She slammed into me, hugging my stomach.

I put my hand on her head. Her hair was soft, like crushed velvet.

“You’re picking me up?” she asked, looking up at me with bright, excited eyes.

“Yeah. Your mom sent me to come get you.”

“They stopped being mad at you, but I haven’t gotten to see you!” She scowled up at me, which was heartbreakingly endearing, to be honest. “That’s lame.”

“Agreed,” I said, crouching down. “Let’s go get ice cream.”

Her face lit up. “Yay!” She jumped on my back, and I straightened up.

“Excuse me, miss.”

I turned around to a very familiar face.

She looked like a frog with a blonde wig and pink suit. She had been the teacher taking Lina out, but I hadn’t noticed her past Lina.

“You’re picking up Evelina?” the woman asked. Her voice was high. I could see from the way she squinted at me that she was trying to figure out why she recognized me.

“Yo! VP Redding!” I grinned. “Long time, no referral!”

Her eyes went wide. “Sloane? Sloane Briallen?” Her froggy face went through a range of emotions—fascination, surprise, and, finally, horror.

“The one and only. I’m all grown up!”

She gaped at me. “Oh. My. God. I don’t believe it.” She looked like her worst nightmare had been realized.

I glanced back at Lina. “Better believe it. My best friend’s kid goes here. I came down to visit, so I’m picking her up.”

She eyed me warily. “You’re not here to wreak havoc with your friends?” She looked around, searching for Mickey and Bell.

My mood darkened. “No.” Lina squirmed against me. She could feel my anger. “Good to see you, VP Redding. C’mon, Lina. We’re going.”

“Wait,” Redding said.

I glanced back at her.

“I wanted to tell you that there was . . . an incident today.”

I raised an eyebrow. “An incident?”

“Lina and one of her friends got into a fight over crayons.”

I glanced at Lina over my shoulder. “Oh?” I felt Lina tense against me.

“I broke it apart, but they were shouting at each other. Lina wouldn’t let her borrow a crayon. I think a discussion about sharing should take place.”

My knowledge of Lina was limited, but my knowledge of Vice Principal Redding was vast. “Noted,” I said coldly, turning from her. “Thanks for your concern. Let’s go, Lina.”

We stopped at a Häagen-Dazs close to the school. Lina got vanilla, and I got a triple scoop of chocolate fudge ice cream. It’d been so long since I’d had chocolate or ice cream that I’d almost forgotten what it tasted like. And I’d completely forgotten how much I loved it.

We sat at a white wire table outside, with a cup of water, some napkins, and a cup for me to set my ice cream into. The table was under an awning to keep out the sun. I watched Lina in the reflection of the windows of the ice cream shop. I waited until she seemed content with her ice cream before I asked, “You feel better?”

She looked up, vanilla ice cream in a ring around her mouth. “You knew I was sad?”

“You seemed droopy.” I took a napkin and dipped it into the water to wipe the vanilla off from around her mouth.

She looked down, nodding quietly.

“What was VP Redding talking about?” I asked.

She looked back up at me. “Why do you call her VP?”

“Is she not the vice principal?” I asked. “She was when I was young.”

She shook her head. “She’s a teacher, now.”

“Oooh, demoted.”

Lina shrugged. “She was watching our class for my teacher today. We were just coloring.”

I nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“And then Laura Milne grabbed my crayons because she broke all hers. And I told her she could take one or two, but she couldn’t have the whole box!” She clenched her fists. “And she punched me! And Miss Redding came and told me I was being a bad sharer and didn’t even say anything to Laura about punching me. And when I told her, she said she didn’t see it!” Her eyes were misty.

I sighed, setting my ice cream down into the bowl. “I’m sorry, hon. She used to do the same thing to me.” The helpless anger that bubbled in my chest reminded me of what I used to feel when I was a kid. I couldn’t do anything for Lina about this, just like I couldn’t as a kid.

She blinked back tears. “She did?”

“Yeah. And could you hear in her head?”

“Yeah, she just didn’t care about me or what really happened. She was just annoyed and wanted the shouting to go away.” Tears leaked down her face. “A-and Laura is not my friend. She makes fun of me and is mean to anyone who tries to be nice to me. She treats me bad, and I don’t know why!”

I patted my lap. “Come here.”

She climbed into my lap, and I hugged her, careful to avoid her ice cream.

It had to be hell. The kids didn’t understand her, and she hardly understood herself. And she could hardly explain it all by saying, “Hi, I’m Lina. I’m a psychic. So is my mom. It’s why you think I’m weird.” Even if it was the truth, I didn’t think that’d go over well.

I murmured into her strawberry-scented hair. “I got in trouble a lot at school. Which isn’t the same, but still.”

She wiped her eyes, sniffling.

I pushed her hair away from her face and turned her on my knee to face me. “Miss Redding sucks. Let me tell you about what happened to me when I was your age.”

Her eyes rounded, and she smiled. “Yes, yes!”

I grinned.

I had been in aftercare, like Lina was. There weren’t a lot of kids in aftercare that day, so the teachers let us go out to the playground.

I was on the swings. My mom had taught me how to swing by myself without anyone pushing me, and they were my favorite.

I pushed my legs up as I arced down in my parabolic path. When I hit the top of my arc, I put them down and swung back. Up and forward. Down and back. Up and forward. Down and back. Up and flying. Down and on the ground.

I tasted copper in my mouth and my chin and cheeks stung. I had landed on my stomach and my teeth felt like if I opened my mouth, they’d fall out.

I heard laughter. Mean laughter.

Even as a little kid, I wouldn’t let pain get the better of me. I did my best to hide the tears and pushed myself up. I knew that I couldn’t show the pain to whomever was laughing. That would make it worse.

A boy stood next to the swing I’d been on, holding one of the chains that connected to the seat. He was an ugly boy, older than me, maybe ten. He had frizzy brown hair and too many freckles on a bulbous nose. His name was Bradley.

“Hey!” I shouted. “What did you do that for?” I had felt the jerk backward just before the swing threw me free. He’d grabbed one side of the swing and yanked it back.

“I wanted this swing,” he said, smiling at me. It wasn’t a nice smile.

I looked at the four other empty swings hanging from the bar. “There are other swings! And they’re all empty!” I put my hand to my lip. It was swollen and split. I pulled away and saw blood, bright red and fresh.

“This one’s the best,” he shrugged. He jumped on the swing and the support bar groaned from his weight as he started to rock back and forth.

My lip throbbed painfully, and my fists clenched. “If you’d asked, I’d’ve shared!” I winced as I yelled. My lip hurt.

He ignored me, continuing to swing. He tried to kick out at me, but I dodged him.

Laughter caught my attention, and I looked up.

Two boys were playing tag. Mickey and Bell. They were in the same grade as me but in a different class. I didn’t know which was which, though, because they looked a lot alike. They were cousins.

Before I could do anything, they ran in front of me, the one behind reaching the boy in front and tagging him. “You’re it!” the boy behind shouted.

They didn’t see it coming, but I did. I tried to warn them. “Hey-y—”

Bradley kicked them in the sides on the upward swing. They both hit the ground hard. I heard the hollow thunk of their skulls hitting each other.

The kick slowed Bradley in his swinging, and he stopped himself, digging his size-eight man feet into the sand. He leered over the boys as they groaned in pain. Even as a little kid, I knew that nobody should have a smile that nasty.

There was a split second of silence.

Then one of the boys, the one that had tagged the other, started crying. It was a loud wail. It wasn’t the type of cry of a kid faking pain. No, it was genuine, I-think-something-is-broken-pain.

“Why did you do that?” the other boy shouted at Bradley.

I don’t remember the in-between. I just remember one minute I was standing, watching, and then the next, I was on top of Bradley.

I bit his arm. He screamed out in agony, and I punched him in the mouth. Later I found I wasn’t as strong as I thought, and I only left a few bruises and a bite mark. I was long and lanky, not very substantial in the weight or strength department.

“What’s wrong with you?” I shouted, pounding on his arms. “We didn’t hurt you!”

A hand grabbed my arm and pulled back. I peeled away easily and fell backwards on my butt. Like I said, I was long and lanky.

I looked up and I was ready to yell at whoever pulled me off, but it was the boy that wasn’t crying.

“Stop,” he said, eyes wide. “You’ll get in trouble.”

I looked at where Bradley rolled in the sand, moaning in exaggerated agony. “He hurt us!” My bottom lip felt raw as I spoke. I touched it and winced, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

He reached up and touched his head and winced. “I know.” He looked at his cousin.

His cousin wasn’t wailing anymore, but there were still tears on his face, and his eyes were red and puffy from crying. His knee was bleeding from a rock in the sand.

I paused a moment, torn. Half of me wanted to beat on Bradley; the other half wanted to see how his cousin was.

He was right. I didn’t want to get into trouble.

I got up and knelt in front of the boy, and he looked up at me, sniffling. He was dirty from playing. His hazel eyes were puffy and red, his dirty cheeks clean where streaks of tears had run down. His auburn hair was a rat’s nest of leaves and playground mulch.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He looked at his knee for a second, and then he looked back up at me, nodding.

“You’re okay, Mickey,” the other boy said.

The injured boy was Mickey. Which meant the other boy was Bell.

“Yeah,” Mickey said. “I’m okay.” He focused on my lip. “Are you?”

I touched it again and immediately regretted it. “I’m okay.” I looked at Bell. “You?”

“Mickey’s hard head gave me a bump.”

“My head isn’t hard!” Mickey shouted at Bell.

“Hey! What’s going on here?”

A plump lady with red curls ran out on to the playground to where Bradley was groaning on the ground. That, I would soon learn, was Vice Principal Redding. She and I would become good friends. I was a troublemaker, and she was a troublestopper. Cupid couldn’t have done a better job if he tried.

“Oh, my God!” she exclaimed when she saw Bradley on the ground. She rushed to him. “What did you do?” she shouted, kneeling next to him and looking at Mickey, Bell, and me.

“He started it!” I shouted, standing up. “He—”

“I don’t want to hear it, young lady,” she said, standing up as other teachers came running to Bradley’s assistance. “I knew you were a troublemaker, Sloane! All three of you, in my office.” She started to walk away.

“They didn’t do anything!” I shouted.

I felt a hand on my leg. I looked over to see Mickey.

“It’s okay,” he said. “We’ll go.” He pushed himself up onto his feet.

“But—”

“It’s fine,” Bell said, pushing me between my shoulder blades to get me to move forward.

I still felt strange, but Mickey grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. He glanced back at me, smiling. It lit up his whole face. “Let’s go!”

When I saw that smile, all the uncertainty I felt melted away, and I smiled back. I ran after him, Bell on my heels. “Okay!”

“So, she was always mean,” Lina grumbled as I helped her out of her booster seat.

“Yup,” I said, closing the car door behind her.

She grabbed my hand and swung it. “What a jerk!”

“You said it, kid.” I opened the door to Mira’s house for her. I caught a whiff of wet dog and said, “Well, I’ll be back later, kiddo. Love you.” I kissed the top of her head and placed Mira’s car key in her hand.

“Wait, what?” she asked.

“Sloane—” I heard Bell say from inside, but I was already on my way out.