“Is flying as amazing as it sounds?”
I tore my eyes away from Vera’s retreating figure to focus on the petite girl in front of me. “Yes. It is.”
“I’d love to see what that’s like some time.”
Normally I’d have jumped all over that comment, but I had no interest in giving this girl false hope. Maybe it was her young age, my general rule was always to stay away from younger girls, or that I was more concerned with keeping Vera in my line of sight. “Bears don’t like to fly.”
“Have you taken Vera?”
“Yes. But she’s different.”
“Why is she different?”
I craned my neck to see over the crowds. How far away was Jaythan taking her?
“Jared?”
“Oh. She just is.” I sounded like my father. Now that was a sobering thought. “Would you excuse me?”
“She’s fine, and I’m not trying to hit on you.”
I glanced at her. “I know you’re not hitting on me, but I told Vera I’d stay close.”
“I’m just curious. I’ve never met a Pteron, and I promise Jaythan would never let something happen to Gareth’s daughter. He wants to keep his position after all.”
I took a deep breath. She was right. I didn’t need to worry so much. “What are you so curious about?”
“Everything. How do your wings work? What it’s like when you transform? Do you still feel human, or does the animal take over? For us it’s two different beings. It’s complete.”
“I don’t really know how to explain it. It is a different feeling, but it depends on how and why you change. Sometimes you can maintain control of your human side and other times you can’t.”
“And the wings?”
“They work like normal wings.”
“But do you have to focus on them to get them to release or retract?”
“I thought you were interning with a healer, not an engineer.”
She laughed. “I am. I’m just curious how different paranormal creatures work. I’m hoping to one day be able to help all creatures, not just bears.”
“You really weren’t hitting on me.”
She smiled. “Not that you aren’t worth hitting on, but that’s not what I was doing at the moment.” Her cheeks flushed.
“Don’t read into this, but how old are you?” I wanted to make sure I wasn’t talking to some kid. My comment about seeing Vera naked came back to me. That was dumb.
“I turned nineteen last week.”
“You look really young for your age.”
“I get that a lot, but what can you do?”
“Nothing. Looking young isn’t a bad thing.”
“Says the guy who will probably look perpetually twenty-five.”
“We age, and I’m not twenty-five yet.”
“I was guessing, but Pteron men keep their looks I’ve heard.” She smiled shyly.
“Don’t your men?”
“Not to the same extent.”
“Your women do.” I thought of Taliana.
“Yes, we do.” She smiled.
I wondered if that meant Vera would look younger for longer.
“If you want, we can find them.”
“I’m usually not this uh, protective.”
“I get it. You’re in a new place.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
She laughed. “Your secret is safe with me.”
We set off through the crowds in search of Vera. Aside from the uniforms many of the men wore, it could have been a party in a field anywhere.
“Get the hell away from me!” Vera’s yell had me running. I felt my body ready to transform, but once she came into view I stopped and laughed instead.
Vera was standing there, looking down on a guy who looked completely stunned.
I stopped right next to her. “What happened?”
“He tried to kiss me.” She wiped her hand over her mouth.
“Where’s Jaythan?” So much for him protecting her.
“Right here!” Jaythan hurried over with two drinks in his hand. “What’s going on?”
“That idiot tried to kiss me.”
“I couldn’t help it…” The guy—or really kid— stammered. He couldn’t have been more than eighteen or so, and he stared up at her with stars in his eyes. “And I thought she’d like it.”
“Learn your lesson, kid. Don’t ever assume a girl is going to want anything.”
“Don’t play nice, Jared. Go after him.” Vera fumed.
“I think you did a good job of that yourself.”
Gemma laughed. “How did you do that anyway? Eno is a great fighter usually.”
“It was a surprise attack.” He grimaced.
“Meaning she kicked you in the balls?” I asked.
“Exactly.”
“I’d say I felt bad, but you shouldn’t have messed with her.”
“I’ve learned my lesson.” He sat up. “I just hope I didn’t lose my ability to have children.”
“You’ll be fine. Been there.”
“You’ve been kicked in the balls?” Vera asked. “How on earth could you have ever made a girl angry enough to do that?” She smirked.
“It wasn’t just once.”
Gemma laughed. “So this polite gentleman thing is an act? You’re actually a player?”
“I didn’t realize I was coming off as a gentleman or polite.”
“You are. I told you that already.” Vera leaned into my side. “You’re not acting like yourself.”
“Oh no, we’re not back to that, are we?”
“Do you still want this?” Jaythan held out the cup.
“That isn’t Pesco is it?” I asked.
Jaythan shook his head. “Nope. It’s a soda.”
Vera accepted the cup. “Checking up on my drinking?”
“I didn’t want to have to bring you home drunk.”
“Oh, that’s the reason now?” She arched an eyebrow.
“I didn’t get you one.” Jaythan faked a smile.
“That’s fine, I’m good.” I’d get some water when we got back to the house.
“You’ll have to come by the clinic tomorrow so I can show you everything.” Gemma started to rattle on excitedly. “I’m working on some pretty cool pastes.”
“Pastes? Like the magic kind? No thanks.”
“I’m not a witch.” She put a hand on her hip. “I’m a healer.”
“Then why use pastes?”
“They can help heal.”
“Forgive him, he’s terrified of witches.” Vera put a hand on my chest.
“I see. Bad experience?”
“Very bad.” I wasn’t going to beat around the bush. “I hope to never meet another one.”
“I promise what I do isn’t like the witches. It’s an ancient healing art. Everything is natural. A lot of it uses dreams.”
“Yeah, still doesn’t sound great.”
“I’m not going to actually try any of it on you.”
“So all those Pteron questions were out of curiosity and not experiment prep?”
“Pteron questions?” Vera asked.
“He thought I was hitting on him, but I was just learning.”
Vera grinned. I’d been right she had been jealous. “Of course he thought that. He’s so full of himself. He’d think anyone was hitting on him.”
I let her have her fun, at least she was smiling. After talking to Gareth about finding my mom and the potential job, I knew we might be staying a few days—if I could keep Vera from running that was. “I think we should probably turn in. Your parents wanted to see you before bed.”
“I can escort you back,” Jaythan quickly offered.
“We’ll be fine, but I appreciate the offer.” I held up a hand.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely, and don’t worry, Gareth doesn’t mind me walking her home alone either.”
Jaythan scowled.
“Nice meeting you, Gemma.” Vera ignored the two guys and started walking away.
“Bye.” I waved and hurried after her. “Leave it to you to start a fight at a party.” I still couldn’t shake a feeling that things weren’t as they seemed. Everyone seemed friendly on the surface, but there was something else going on, and my gut was that Gemma and all that healing arts stuff was at the center of it.
“I didn’t start a fight.”
“Ok, not a fight, you just kicked a guy so hard he was on the ground.”
“He deserved it.”
“I don’t doubt it.” I bit back a smile. Vera was impressive.
“You know you think it’s cool.”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so.”
We walked back to the house in the darkness, but it didn’t bother either of us. Her night vision probably wasn’t quite as crisp as mine, but it worked, and in some ways it was nice. Sometimes it’s good to have a break from worrying about people.
“What did Gareth talk to you about?” Her voice was level, but I knew she was asking for more than conversational purposes.
“My mom. The dangers in looking for her.” I decided to focus on that. There was no reason to mention the job offer yet.
“What kind of dangers? What would you be afraid of?”
“It’s not dangers for me.”
“It better not be about me.” She crossed her arms.
“No, about her. My mom. It’s why Gareth didn’t look harder for you. If you think someone’s in danger, you don’t want to attract the wrong kind of attention to them. It’s not worth finding her if it means getting her killed in the process.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I hadn’t really thought any of this through. I knew I had to leave, and I did.” Leaving New Orleans was my biggest and most impulsive decision in my life.
“Are you usually a planner?”
“Yes and no. Yes when it comes to my job, no when it comes to my personal life.”
“Yet you up and left your job without warning. You can’t say that was planned out.”
“It wasn’t, but it was necessary.” I was going to snap otherwise.
“I’m not a planner.”
“I can tell.”
“Yeah.” She looked at me, slowing down her pace in the process. “I’m not exactly what I appear on the surface though.”
“Are any of us?”
“Some are. Some people are exactly the way they appear.”
“Or at least you think they are. Even the shallowest person has a story.” That was a lesson my father taught me at an early age. It went along with never underestimating an opponent. You never knew what their hidden strength could be.
“What about all those girls you’ve used, huh? They were more than they appeared?”
“Of course they were. And I didn’t use them. They wanted exactly what I did.”
“At least you think they did.”
“And you just proved my point. We can make assumptions about people’s true motivations and feelings, but it’s impossible to really know. Sometimes it’s hard to know what you really want.”
“This is way too introspective for tonight. It’s been an insane day already.”
“Gotcha.” The night was silent except for the rustle of leaves and some sort of bird chirping. I found comfort in having birds near. It was a reminder of where I came from.
“You think you’ll get some sleep tonight?” Her eyebrows drew together in worry.
“Yeah, I don’t need much. I’m looking forward to having a little down time to myself though.” I needed to think things through, and that was hard to do when I was with Vera and her parents all the time.
“Is that your way of telling me you need space?”
I laughed. “No. And honestly, I wouldn’t mind if you were with me as long as you stopped asking questions.”
“I’ll hold you to that when I sneak into your room later.”
“You just want an excuse to break the rules.”
“I don’t know if it is actually the rules.”
“Still, you want to buck the system.”
“And is there something wrong with that?”
“Not at all. We’re far too alike.” I still hadn’t decided how I felt about that.
“That might not be a bad thing.” She read my mind, once again proving my point.
“It won’t be if we don’t set each other off. I’m trying to rein it in for your sake.”
“I’ll try too.” She smiled.
We reached the empty courtyard and started up the steep stone steps that were dimly lit by torches lining both sides.
“Ready for this?” Vera hesitated with her fisted hand a few inches from the door to Gareth’s house.
“Go for it.”
She knocked, and the door was pulled open by another guard. “Miss Astrella.” He bowed slightly.
“Uh, it’s Vera.” She skirted past him, and I started to follow.
The guard held out an arm to stop me. “I don’t believe you are allowed inside.”
“Gareth insisted on it.” I wasn’t letting Vera go inside without me. My protective side had kicked in whether I wanted it to or not.
“I’ll have to check.”
Vera rolled her eyes. “He’s coming in.”
The startled guard watched as Vera tugged on my hand and pulled me inside.
I shrugged. “You heard her.”
The main sitting area was empty. “Think they went to bed?”