On Monday, Andrea drove Ainsel to school. “Until this dog business is sorted out, you aren’t to walk anywhere.” Andrea tucked her ash-blond hair behind an ear and gave Ainsel a serious look. “You’ve got a new phone. Call us and be patient. Stay with other people, stay where it’s lit…”

“Thank you for believing us,” said Ainsel, interrupting her before she could once again go through the full list of restrictions Andrea and Kishar had come up with. “And thank you for the ride.”

Andrea drew her eyebrows together, annoyed. “Of course we believe you. And I’ve got an appointment with the police department later today too.”

Ainsel winced in internal sympathy with whoever was going to be on the receiving end of Andrea’s wrath.  “Don’t eat them, okay?”

“Better I eat them than some wild dog eats you,” said Andrea darkly. She patted Ainsel on the shoulder. “There’s Zoë. Have a good day, dear.”

Homeroom that morning was louder than usual and at first Ainsel thought everybody had heard about the wolves. But as she and Zoë sat down at the table they shared with Alizabeth and Sam, Tyler joined them. “Did you hear? There’s a new junior transferring in. He’s getting registered right now.”

Ainsel brightened. “I hope he’s nice. I wonder what homeroom he’ll be be assigned to?”

“This one,” said Tyler confidently.

“How do you know?” asked Zoë.

“I’ve got connections, baby. I hear things.” He grinned and Ainsel laughed.

Silver Pine wasn’t exactly a large school and the few transfers each year usually showed up between semesters. Tyler himself had transferred in almost a year ago between winter and spring, and joked that he’d stolen the title of ‘most interesting new kid’ from Ainsel.

A hush spread across the classroom, and then their teacher, Mrs. Sullivan, said, “Ah yes. Come in, young man.”

The new student stood in the doorway. At first he seemed almost too big for the space. He was tall, with wavy black hair that curled over his forehead and the collar of his crisp new navy blue t-shirt. He had a nose that was a little too big, a thin, unsmiling mouth and a thick fringe of eyelashes over silver-blue eyes. 

“Wow,” muttered Zoë, but Ainsel only heard her distantly. The sight of the new student knocked the breath right out of her, making her chest clench up. She’d never seen him before. Except she had, somehow. As he met her eyes, she knew she had.

“Students, this is Remy Nojaski. He comes to us all the way from Alaska.” Mrs. Sullivan flipped through several papers on her desk and said, “Ah, yes. Ainsel, you and Remy have the same schedule. Escort him around today, will you? Remy, dear, stop standing at the door and introduce yourself to Ainsel. She’ll take care of you.”

A stab of nerves shot through Ainsel and she fixed her gaze on her table rather than responding to Mrs. Sullivan. The new boy came directly to their table anyhow. Tyler cleared his throat and Alizabeth jumped to her feet, pulling Sam with her. “We’ll just take the extra table, Mrs. Sullivan, so Remy here has a place to sit.”

Then they were both gone, happy to finally have an excuse to sit elsewhere.

Ainsel kept her eyes on the table as Tyler said, “Hi. That one’s Ainsel, and that one’s Zoë. I’m Tyler.”

Zoë squeaked, “Hi!” then coughed and said, “I mean, hello. Alaska, huh? Wow.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Remy asked Tyler, his voice a low growl.

“Ainsel? Well, I don’t know, but judging from that delicate flush in her cheeks, I’d guess she’s nervous because you’re her type. Go get her, tiger.”

Zoe said, “Tyler! Sorry, Remy, I’m sure you’re probably very nice, but Tyler! You can’t tell some guy we just met to ‘go get’ Ainsel!”

Ainsel glanced up and found herself caught by Remy’s laser-like gaze before she could look away again.

“This is yours.” He held out Ainsel’s cellphone to her. She snatched it out of his hand as the bell rang. The rest of homeroom became a flurry of activity, but instead of picking up her bag, Ainsel stared down at her phone. It was in perfect condition. Then she looked back up again, into Remy’s silver-blue eyes.

Once again Zoë had the words Ainsel couldn’t find. “Uh, wow. Again. Good find. But now we need to get moving if we’re going to get to Statistics. See you later, Tyler!”

The rest of the morning was a blur for Ainsel. In math class, Remy sat at a desk at the back of the classroom, where he was supposedly working on a placement exam. But everytime she glanced over her shoulder, he was leaning back in his seat, watching her. Once, he was chewing on his pencil, his brow furrowed, like she was a puzzle he was trying to unravel.

Zoë managed the practicals of getting Remy to their morning classes, but as they sat in German, she whispered to Ainsel, “You’re going to have to talk to him eventually, because we split up after lunch. I know he’s a little weird, but you can do it.”

Ainsel stole a glance at him on her other side. He was doodling on the notebook the teacher had handed him, his hair falling across his face.

“I hope he leaves soon,” she whispered back.

“Ainsel, you’re usually the nice one.” Zoë looked really surprised.

“He’s not even trying! I don’t know where he came from but I don’t think it’s from Alaska.”

“Well, he had to come from somewhere,” said Zoë practically. “Does it matter where? Anyhow, you should talk to him at lunch so I can sure you won’t spontaneously combust.”

When Remy followed them into the cafeteria, he stopped abruptly and looked at his schedule. “Lunch. Great. I’ll be back after.” He backtracked into the hall again and shot out one of the side doors.

“This is a closed campus,” Zoë called after him, but when he didn’t even glance back she shook her head. “What the heck was that?” Ainsel shook her head mutely and they went to eat.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Tyler came over to chat with them again, as usual. He frowned. “Where’d the new guy go?”

“Out for lunch, I guess. Ainsel will explain the rules to him later. Right, Ainsel?”

“Sure,” said Ainsel. “Right. Totally.”

Tyler pulled his mouth to one side. “I wish he’d said something. I would have gone with him.”

“He doesn’t want to be here.” Ainsel picked at the tomato salad Kishar had packed. “He said he’d be back, though.”

Zoë stole a cherry tomato. “Do you think he’s cute, Ainsel? You’ve been so distracted all morning.”

Ainsel made a face. “He’s not cute, he’s gorgeous. But he keeps staring at me.”

“Well, you’re gorgeous, too. It just makes sense.” Zoë shrugged.

“Do you like him?” Sudden concern brought Ainsel out of her brooding.

“I’m a little surprised half the girls and a quarter of the guys in school aren’t following us through the halls snapping photos,” admitted Zoë.

“Hey, he’s not that great,” said Tyler. “I mean, he’s not me.” He ran a hand through his sandy hair and flashed a dazzling smile.

An involuntary smile flickered over Zoë’s face in response. “Yeah, maybe you’ve immunized us against pretty boys. I should get a picture of the two of you together, post it, win the internets. I think I even brought a decent camera today.” She fumbled in her bag and pulled out her little point and shoot camera. Then she frowned. “Though I guess if he’s on Ainsel’s schedule I won’t see him again until after school.”

“Aww,” said Tyler. “And here I was hoping you’d hang out with me then. Ainsel will be busy with the new guy, but without some attention I’ll just wither away.”

Ainsel’s anxiety surged up. “I won’t be busy.” Tyler gave her an unexpectedly cold look. What had she said wrong? To cover her confusion, she said, “We could all hang out together, anyhow.”

Tyler shrugged. “Sure.” He slapped his hand on the table, then stood up. “Well, I’ve got to get going. Forgot I needed to talk to a teacher about something. Talk to you later.”

“Oh! Bye, Tyler,” said Zoë. Tyler walked away with a long, ground-eating stride, waving at a few other friends before heading out of the cafeteria.

Ainsel covered her face with her hands. Tyler was her only other friend besides Zoë. If he started disliking her, how long would Zoë stick around, especially if they started dating or something? Ainsel didn’t need big groups of friends, but she couldn’t bear the thought of being utterly alone. It brought back bad dreams she could barely remember.

Zoë touched her hand. “Let’s go to the restroom and I’ll fix your hair. You’ll feel better with the new kid if you look nice.”

Ainsel didn’t care even a tiny bit about looking nice for Remy. But Zoë always liked fussing around with Ainsel’s appearance. She packed up her lunch again. “Sure.”

After the warning bell rang, Ainsel and Zoë split up. Zoë clearly expected Ainsel to wait around for Remy, but instead Ainsel hurried to her class. Maybe he’d get lost, miss the class and decide the school he clearly didn’t care about was way too much trouble.

He’d found her cellphone. He’d known it was hers, too. Between that and the way he moved, she was pretty sure what that meant. And when he slid into the seat behind her just as the second bell rang, she was even more certain he wasn’t what he appeared, gorgeous face or not. She’d seen those silver-blue eyes before. So had Zoë, and it was weird that Zoë hadn’t noticed that.

Then again, Zoë didn’t spend much time worrying about what Ainsel was, either. She never said, Ainsel, you’re not human. Instead she said, Ainsel, you’re so pretty. Ainsel, I don’t know why everybody is so mean to you now. Ainsel, how can you see in the dark like that?

But ever since she could remember—ever since she’d woken up—Ainsel had been aware of how she was not like the people around her. She didn’t fit in. She could do things humans couldn’t do: see in the dark, fix hurts. And she hadn’t changed physically since she was found. They’d guessed she was close to fourteen then, and now she was almost seventeen, but pictures from two years ago could have been pictures from yesterday.

It wasn’t something she talked about anymore. Once, shortly after she’d woken up with no memories, she’d innocently asked a doctor what she was. That had influenced the therapy sessions for a while. Eventually she’d convinced them she was best off figuring things out on her own, with the most limited oversight available.

She hadn’t figured anything out, but at least she wasn’t stuck in a small room while somebody earnestly poked her to remember things that just weren’t there any longer. It was just the way things were now. As long as nobody else noticed the ways she was different, she was probably safe from other small rooms, too.

Something brushed across the bottom of her long hair, hanging over the seat back, but Ainsel didn’t dare turn to look at the boy behind her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he was there to wreck everything, and not just by chasing her through a forest. She wasn’t going to pay attention to his games. Instead she focused on the whiteboard where the teacher was writing the lesson.

But the afternoon lasted an eternity all the same. Remy slouched behind her to each class, always watching her, never bothering to talk to her. She decided it was better to have him beside her than behind her, because then she could keep an eye on him. His profile was distracting but it was harder for him to stare at her without being obvious.

After the final bell rang, Ainsel jumped to her feet. Lazily, he rose too, looming over her. Everybody else in the class stayed away: Ainsel the untouchable trumped the gorgeous new boy when nobody else was around.

“Now what?” drawled Remy.

“Well!” said Ainsel with brittle brightness. “Now I go home and hope I never see you again.”

Something flickered in his eyes—amusement? “You’re awfully unfriendly for a guide. Maybe you could show me around the town now that this school is over. We could get to know each other.”

Ainsel stepped backward. “Absolutely not!” At the tone of her voice, people turned to stare and whisper. She added. “You’ve made so much effort already today to get to know me, I’m just overwhelmed.”

Then she lowered her voice and hissed, “I know what you are, and it’s not funny and it’s not okay.”

He blinked at her, as if her displeasure was of no more significance than a buzzing fly. Then he leaned down toward her and said softly, “I know what you are, too.” His voice, deep brown velvet, rolled through her even as his words made her hair stand on end.

He stepped back and gave her a little wave. “You go on home now. Be careful not to run. It’s easy to get hurt when you run.” Then he walked out of the room.

Ainsel finished shoveling her stuff into her backpack numbly, then stumbled out of the room. Blindly, she made her way out of the school and started walking, walking even though she wanted to run. She didn’t notice the sky threatening rain, or the brisk wind blowing against her back, following where the wind pushed her and her feet led her. She couldn’t think about anything except the way he’d said he knew what she was.

Somehow she made it home. Nobody else was there. She dropped her bag in the foyer and went to Kishar’s office, where she pawed through a filing cabinet until she found all the paperwork related to her. Then she started going through the evaluations, the photos, the recommendations. She’d been through it all a dozen times, usually with Kishar and Andrea beside her.

She’d been rescued from the side of a road, wearing practically nothing, with scrapes and bruises that suggested she’d fallen multiple times. No signs of direct abuse or violence. No memories, not even language, although she’d picked English so fast that they decided she must have remembered it. There’d been CAT scans (‘unusual but not dangerous’) and x-rays (‘no sign any bones have ever been broken’) and attempts at hypnosis (she’d fallen asleep) and eventually she’d been shuffled out of the hospitals and into the foster care system and ended with Andrea and Kishar, who were possibly the best foster parents ever. They told her they’d adopt her eventually, once the various legalities had been sorted out. She was happy with them, happy with Zoë as her friend, and if sometimes she woke from forgotten dreams sobbing, that happened to everybody, right?

Today she focused on the descriptions of how she was found, where she was found. Nothing had attacked her, but had something chased her? Had she fallen repeatedly running through a forest to escape monsters on her heels?

When she looked at Remy, she saw not just the handsome blue-eyed, dark-haired boy. She saw the wolf-like monster from the pack that had stalked her. He had a shadow that felt like ice. He wasn’t human, no matter how he looked.

The question was: what did he see when he saw her?