Alejandra kept checking her phone’s contacts, scrolling past Nick’s name, then scrolling back until it passed again. It was late. If she remembered right, Walt took his phone at ten. Or was it ten-thirty?

She glanced at the clock. It was eight-thirty. She groaned, rubbing her head. She was overthinking this, without a doubt. Her finger kept scrolling through her contact list. She always picked out Nick’s name whenever it scrolled by. It was quieter now that Milo, Ezekiel, and Clarissa weren’t here. Hraktar and Grizzizzik were having a shooting practice with their bows. It wasn’t a shooting practice between those two without plenty of trash talk and a healthy amount of competition. At least they weren’t fighting each other. She had no idea what she’d do if they fought.

Milo, Ezekiel, and Clarissa were safe. No doubt that helped Hraktar and Grizzizzik have a more cordial attitude. They’d all be more stressed if something was wrong. Now they had to wait the five hours until they got home, because Rafael was hurt.

He attempted to explain over the phone how he was fine, but the two siblings never established a level of trust about injuries, even before this whole situation with Evelyn. Alejandra never believed him when he said he was fine. She knew he kept multiple cuts, bruises, and sprains hidden with a smile. She’d never believed him until the wounds turned into scars, and even then, it was hard.

She’d wait up all night if needed. To make sure Rafael and Quetzal made it back. Until then, she had a lot of nervous energy. So nervous she considered doing something stupid.

Like calling Nick.

She scrolled by his name again, feeling the anxious energy. She didn’t need to call Nick. There was no need to. In fact, he could get in trouble because of her call. Did she want him to get in trouble?

And yet, despite all this, her finger tapped his name, then the phone icon, and she placed the phone against her ear, heart pounding faster and faster. This was a bad idea. She was getting Nick in trouble.

“Alejandra?” Nick asked.

Why was she even calling him? This was stupid. “Sorry. So sorry. I… I don’t…”

“Hey, it’s fine. Is Grizzizzik behaving?”

“Fine. He’s… fine. I’m…” She touched her forehead.

“Alejandra?”

“I shouldn’t have called. I’m so sorry.”

“Hey. It’s alright.” She had never heard his voice sound so warm before. It was so close to her ear, and she could almost see his face. One of his few expressions that wasn’t glaring. “What’s going on?”

“I… I… nothing, I just…” Alejandra had tears in her eyes. What was wrong with her? Why did calling Nick terrify her so badly?

“Do you need me to come over?” Nick asked.

“No.” That much she was certain of. “No, I’ve already gotten you in trouble with this phone call. I can’t—”

“Hey.” He took on that same warm tone again. “You’re not getting me in trouble for calling. God, I’d hate for you to think that. If you need me, call me.”

“But… your dad…” Alejandra said.

“Let me worry about my dad.”

“I…”

“Alejandra.” Why had she never heard this amount of warmth in his voice before? Why did it work exceptionally well? “I never want you to be afraid to call me. Okay?”

Her panic ebbed away. “Okay.”

“Is there something I can do to help you?”

She took a deep breath, then let it out. After half an hour of worrying about calling Nick, she’d forgotten why she called to begin with. She closed one eye, dragging her hand across her face. Texting was so much easier, but she definitely couldn’t do that. “Um…” The lame reason jolted her memory. “I wanted to make sure… you got an update about everything.”

“Yeah, yeah. Evelyn called me about forty-five minutes ago,” Nick said.

“Right.” Alejandra closed her eyes. “Of course. I’m glad she did.”

“Yeah. She looks out for me.”

“Good.”

There was a pause she didn’t want to have. She clawed for some sort of conversation starter. Though maybe she should hang up. After sweating for a half hour, she wanted to keep talking to make it worth it.

“So how is everything going—”

She stopped as he said something at the same time. He stopped too, out of courtesy.

“Oh, sorry. You go ahead,” he said.

“No, no.” She had a generic conversation starter. It wasn’t anything important. “Please, you go ahead.”

“I… heard Quetzal snuck aboard.”

Alejandra sighed. “Yeah. That drake has a mind of his own.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Nick chuckled. “Also an excellent hunter, from what I hear.”

“Hraktar and Ezekiel are quite proud of him.”

There was another pause. “And… Rafael? I heard he got hurt, too?”

Alejandra deflated. Nick sounded genuinely curious, as well as worried. “He says he’s fine. I’m trying to believe him.”

The silence did not last long. Nick didn’t want to remain on that topic. “Hey, was there something you wanted to tell me today?”

“Hmm?” she asked. Then she remembered earlier today when he stopped by. How she wanted to talk to him. How she feared returning to her house with all their characters. Listening to them talk and plan, meditate and prepare. She never imagined herself as a leader of the group, and being the only one among the characters kind of felt like she was. She wanted someone to stay and was genuinely surprised when she thought of Nick.

Like an idiot, she tried to say something to help him linger, but she couldn’t. Not with Walt being a constant threat hanging over his head.

“I…” she let out a breath. “I honestly don’t remember.”

He chuckled. “Well, alright. If you do, let me know.”

“I will.”

“You can even call me if you want.”

Alejandra played with a lock of her hair. Her hair was so long. She really needed to cut it. “We’ll see.”

“And, um…” he trailed off. Alejandra waited, the smile dropping from her face. “I’m glad Rafael and Quetzal are alright.”

Perhaps that was his way of apologizing for punching Rafael. The warmth she felt turned cold, then to ice. She would have rather he apologize for it completely, which helped remind her that there were still red flags with Nick. Even if he had an incredibly warm voice that helped calm her panic.

“I… shouldn’t keep you on the phone any longer,” Alejandra said.

“Right,” he said, sounding cautious. “If that’s what you want.”

Alejandra kept herself from saying anything for a moment. “I’ll see you next week.”

“See you.”

She turned off her phone, pressing the corner against her chin, and closed her eyes. She had many conflicting thoughts about Nick. There was still an enormous problem that he’d been physically violent with her brother. She hated witnessing such violence. Especially against Rafael.

Alejandra closed her eyes, then collapsed on the couch. Hraktar and Grizzizzik were having a competition to see who could shoot the arrow with their feet. Alejandra didn’t know how to react to that. Instead, she faced forward, hands in her hair.

Rafael assaulted Evelyn. As a female herself, Alejandra knew what Rafael did was horrible. More than horrible. It was every girl’s nightmare.

As she closed her eyes, the memory of Nick punching her brother appeared again. His foot crushing Rafael’s ribs. The murder in Nick’s gaze. Her brother’s shouts of pain and the dazed look he had afterwards when Derek and Tyler literally had to drag Nick away.

Everyone, herself included, expected Rafael to apologize to Evelyn soon. No one even hinted that Nick needed to.

She opened her eyes, glaring at the phone. It was a stupid idea to call Nick.

***

It was late. The sun had set, and they were in New Mexico again. Rafael had a blanket around his torso, his shirt off so it wouldn’t get any more blood on it. Quetzal was curled up in his lap, sleeping.

They were on a long stretch of highway, and it was mostly empty.

“So, we’ve got a plan in case someone tries to be helpful, right?” Rafael said so Tyler could hear on speakerphone.

“I’ve got a plan. We’ll check the wounds, clean them up the best we can, then be on our way again. We’ve got to get home,” Tyler said.

“I’m assuming that’s your car on the side of the road? There haven’t been many cars,” Derek said.

In the distance, Rafael saw the car and someone waving, leaning against the truck. There were two other people outside the car.

“Yep, that’s me. Evelyn’s in the car now. She was willing to put things to the side for the battle, and now it’s done, she needs some space again.”

“I’ll stay away,” Rafael said.

This was better than cleaning his wounds in a gas station bathroom. It was the thing he kept telling himself. He hated stopping at all, but they couldn’t ignore his back the entire ride home.

Derek waved as he pulled in behind them. Tyler, Milo, and Clarissa were out of the car, waiting for him. Tyler had Rafael’s luggage.

“Where’s Ezekiel?” Rafael asked once they got out, holding the blanket around his torso.

“He’s asleep.” Clarissa glanced in the back window. “I think the fear the shadow lycros gave him was too much. He needed his rest.”

“We have flashlights.” Milo held up the flashlight and turned it off and on. “Fascinating inventions.”

Tyler remained quiet, though his face told an entire story as he studied the blanket around Rafael. Despite everything that happened between him and Evelyn, this was a different thing entirely, and Tyler would help clean the wounds to make sure they healed right. They headed toward the trunk of Derek’s car to be far away from Evelyn. Rafael took his suitcase and found an extra shirt as Derek came over with a first aid kit. “I have this, unless Milo or Princess Clarissa want to try healing him with mana.”

Tyler shook his head. “We’re supposed to keep the two worlds separated as long as possible. If one of these characters can heal Rafael, that means Akshi can do… worse.”

A chill traveled up Rafael’s spine. He finished zipping up his luggage, then stood with his extra shirt in hand. “Look, Tyler, I’m sorry—”

Tyler sighed. “We knew this would start happening. Well, maybe not blood, but… we couldn’t keep pushing boundaries.” He glanced over Milo and Clarissa’s heads. Rafael had rolled for hit points shortly before arriving, which helped him know when the hour was up. After the short rest, their hit points bumped back up. Not all the way, but they didn’t look so haggard. “We’ve got to level up. Fast. I’d feel much better if all of you reached level four by the time we did our heist mission.”

“We still have two weeks,” Derek said.

Tyler nodded, then glanced behind him to make sure Evelyn couldn’t see them. “Alright, let’s check this out.”

Rafael nodded, then positioned himself beside the trunk before slipping the blanket off and folding it up. Despite trying his best, some of the blood still dried to the blanket, and it peeled off his wounds. The cuts weren’t deep. They weren’t in any way a threat. Might not even scar. But they were there. Tyler and Derek both hissed as Milo and Clarissa pointed the flashlights on his back.

“I guarantee it looks worse because it hasn’t been cleaned for an hour,” Rafael said as he turned his back to them.

“No one enters a combat again,” Tyler said. “Do you understand?”

“Understood,” Rafael couldn’t help but mumble.

Derek grabbed a rag and drenched it in some water. “God, that looks so bad.”

“It’s not,” Rafael said.

The two of them worked fast. Rafael did little more but leaned his arms against the trunk, letting them work.

“Do you think this will get infected?” Derek asked.

“I hope not. How would we explain this?” Tyler asked.

Rafael wondered what he’d do at football practice. He’d have to make sure his tank top covered the wounds, or else he’d have to switch to his football t-shirt while in the locker rooms.

Derek and Tyler worked fast, whispering as they bandaged him up with Derek’s first aid kit. Rafael kept his hands on the trunk. They weren’t bad. Considering the claws on that thing, it could have been much worse. Better him than Ezekiel or Clarissa.

Something caught his eye. Quetzal scuttled up the car, then rested on the roof. Rafael made a mental note. Considering this creature’s ability to be where he shouldn’t, he’d have to remember he was on the roof, so when they drove off—

Not resting. He’d seen Quetzal when he was resting, and the drake would still glance around and chitter. Quetzal right now held completely, perfectly still. Rafael frowned, looking at the baby drake again. It had proved time and time again to be a skilled hunter, even as a baby. Quetzal was looking at something in the distance. Something worth hunting.

Or something hunting them.