Jacob stood off to the side of the East entrance with his thumbs hooked in his backpack straps, watching the stream of kids flow out of the school for the last time. It didn't feel like the school year was ending and that the next time he'd be here he'd be a senior. It didn't feel like the past two days had actually happened. Any elation he would have normally felt about being out of school was smothered by his angst at meeting Camilla.

He looked at his watch. The final bell had rung ten minutes ago. His house was about a half hour walk from the school, which meant that since being grounded yesterday he had at most another twenty minutes before he had to get home or else parents would start throwing a fit.

He prayed this safe space Camilla mentioned was nearby. His parents had been fairly lenient on him last night, probably because of his 'wounds' as they had called them at supper, but being late two days in a row was unheard of. At the very least he'd lose his phone, TV, and gaming privileges on top of being grounded for the rest of the summer, which would mean no hanging with Luke when they got back and certainly no more adventures with Camilla.

Was that what this was, an adventure?

He smiled.

"Let's go." Camilla appeared next to him and nudged him. "And be quick about it, I'd rather not everyone spend their whole summer gossiping."

Jacob rolled his eyes. This again? Girls and their gossip. Didn't they realize that no one actually cared?

Camilla strode down the sidewalk, ponytail swinging back and forth, humming a tune. A long column of cars were idling, waiting to pick up kids. At the front of the column was a car Jacob had only ever heard of. A purple Rolls Royce Phantom, long and sleek and practically dripping with excess luxury. Its engine rumbled softly, like a beast itching to be let out of its cage.

While he was ogling the car, Camilla strode right past the passenger side door and kept walking.

Yeah, Jacob thought to himself, keep dreaming, buddy.

Then Camilla turned and stopped by the trunk. An extremely tall, rail-thin man in a black suit with a little black pilot's cap on his head unwound from the driver's side door and rushed to the trunk. The trunk, meanwhile, opened automatically.

"I trust your last day in junior year was satisfactory, Ms D'Angelo?" The thin man, who must have been a chauffeur, said.

"Pretty boring, tbh." Camilla said. She turned to Jacob and made eyes at him. "Well, don't just stand there, you moron, give Arturo your bag. Oh, Arturo, this is Jacob, he's a friend from school. He's coming over."

Arturo didn't give Jacob a nod or a smile and certainly not a little bow like Jacob had seen chauffeurs do in movies. The thin man straightened to his full height, which was close to seven feet, and stared at Jacob down his long, angular nose. His eyes were like chips of flint in the thin crag of his face, utterly devoid of life.

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Jacob shivered.

"Don't be weird, Arturo!" Camilla said, exasperated.

"Very well." Arturo held out his hand.

Jacob placed his backpack strap in the hand then took a step back. Arturo set the bag down in the trunk.

"C'mon." Camilla hopped in the backseat.

Jacob made to follow her, but something as cold and unyielding as tungsten clamped down on his arm. Arturo was right next to him, peering down at him with those dead eyes. Jacob flinched away instinctively, but the chauffeur didn't budge. It was like a statue had grabbed him.

When the chauffeur spoke his voice was gravelly. "Young Ms D'Angelo does not always make the best decisions. If any harm comes to her, you have me and my brothers to answer to. Do you understand?"

Jacob nodded and swallowed.

Arturo released him, moved around the car, and slid in to the driver's seat. There was an eeriness to the way he moved. Graceful, yet somehow wrong.

Jacob rubbed his arm, then slid in the backseat next to Camilla.

Arturo hit the gas, which purred in response, and they pulled away from the curb.

"Um, are you rich?" Was all Jacob could think to say.

Camilla laughed, but said nothing. Arturo met Jacob's eyes in the rear-view mirror then looked away.

Jacob checked his phone out of nervous impulse more than anything else. He'd totally forgotten about time. He only had maybe twenty minutes to get back to his house.

"Um. Where are we going?"

"My house, moron."

"How far is it?"

"Not far."

He blew a sigh of relief. Camilla didn't seem to want to talk with Arturo in the car, so he tried to relax and look out the window, but he practically burst with questions. Did Arturo know about magic? What was with those creepy eyes?

His phone buzzed and he checked it. It was his mother, calling him.

Crap.

Jacob ground his teeth together. He could ask Camilla to take him to his house. He could even just ask Arturo to pull over and he'd run distance home.

Slowly, every inch an effort, he put the phone back in his pocket, a little thrill shooting through him. He smiled.

But it wasn't about defying his parents. He had to get answers from Camilla. Learning about whatever had happened yesterday would be taking steps to protect himself in the future. Wasn't that what his parents would want? Yeah, it was. But how could he explain it to them? They'd probably take him to a psychiatrist.

Jacob realized the car was well into Point Grey, heading west towards UBC. The apartment complexes and commercial-residential buildings had given way to secluded mansions. Every little while they would pass a short driveway that led to a gate set in a high wall. Jacob peered through or over the gates but all he could make out was the occasional suggestion of architecture, and the obscuring foliage of redwoods and other trees. People sure liked their privacy here. He couldn't imagine all the critters you'd have to deal with on massive wooded properties like these. They were havens for raccoons and coyotes. He wondered if there were any ecologists who focused on urban biomes. There had to be. But were there any in Vancouver? A city in Canada would be different to animals than a city in Europe, or India. Maybe he could be an ecologist in the city here and then he wouldn't have to go into the wilderness. He'd always wanted to go hiking and exploring, but if running into wild animals was going to be anything like the fight with that tiger yesterday he wasn't sure he could do that day in, day out.

They turned down a few more streets until his internal compass was all amok. He noticed the little driveways had stopped, and there was just one massive, long hedge running beside the road. The road ended in a dead end and there was a gate of mahogany wood attached to bases of a light pink stone he didn't recognize.

The gate swung inward by itself as the Rolls approached.