Chapter 3

“Easy! My friend Seepa, I talked to her, and since she's like me, you know a ghost or spirit or angel or whatever. And- when we talk it's super fast! It only took like a second from your point of view! Anyway- Seepa likes electricity and computers and stuff!”

Sunny was talking a million miles a minute at this point.

Although apparently, she can go even faster, Cassy thought. The combination of being super energetic and literally being made of light was dizzying.

“She- Seepa found out that one of her friends not only lives super near us, with GPS addresses but actually is in the building where the van is! She's Internet friends with the owner! He's a human though, so talking with him took a bit longer. He didn't know his son was letting those horrible men park there and told them to leave because he doesn't like them using binoculars on people right on his front driveway!

“Wait, hold on. You found the guy who owns the house down there?”

“Well, yes, or no- not me. Seepa did. My friend! She's Internet friends with like everyone! And she just told him what was happening in what are those called again? Right, in an E-mail. Then, he kicked them out! Hooray!”

“You did that in seconds. That was amazing Sunny. Seriously.”

“Thanks!” She said, glowing a bit brighter.

“How did you even do that so fast?”

“I'm made of light!” Sunny said. “Also, notifications. Humans always look at their phone when they beep.”

The center room that smelled strongly of human blood opened up and three figures came out. A pair of two women appeared first, and the third came up behind them as they came into the common room.

Minerva rubbed a wet towel on the other girls' shoulders and raised their collars as they moved toward the apartment.

“Thank you, friends. Have a lovely evening,” The woman's rich voice said with sincerity. The girls left.

Minerva turned towards Sunny, her eyes growing wide on seeing Sunny's light, and cringed while scrambling backward, hiding behind the door, and Cassandra thought she heard a hiss coming from behind it.

“I fixed it!” Sunny said in protest. “I took out the blue stuff and the red stuff that humans can't see so it doesn't hurt anyone anymore! It doesn't burn anyone anymore!”

Cassandra thought about it for a moment.

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“Blue stuff and red stuff. She means ultra-violet and infra-red,” Cassy reasoned. “It's mostly the “blue stuff” that gives you trouble right? The “active ingredient” in sunlight?”

Minerva took a deep breath, not coming out from behind the door.

“Yes, I understand Sunny. I told you it's OK, but if you'll forgive me, I still find it unsettling. Could you maybe do a different color for now darling?”

Sunny's sunny sphere rotated contemplatively and slowly the color shifted from yellow to red.

Minerva came out from behind the door, shutting it behind her with the flick of her wrist. It shut perfectly with no puff of air and no slamming sound.

She was wearing a comfortable red dress, and she stretched languidly, saying “Ah, now that is much more my color,” She said with a genuine grin.

Sunny twirled a bit.

The woman surveyed the room as she walked out. Cassie couldn't help but watch the way she moved. No wasted steps, she never stepped on a single kink in the carpet, and never moved with an ounce of uncertainty. People have told Cassie before that Minerva moved like a panther.

She moved like a dancer. When they had both been running full out last week, Cassie had jumped off of every tree and smashed into every branch. The woman had looked like she was barely touching the ground at all while running below her. She had looked like she wasn't even using her muscles like she was moving twice as far with every step without even putting in an effort.

Minerva looked at Cassandra and her face immediately showed concern. Cassy realized her eyes were still wet. From all of remembering, most likely. How had Minerva noticed before Cassy had?

“Honey, what's wrong?” The new lady asked, immediately, coming over to where Cassy sat in a chair. She lifted a finger towards Cassie's eye, and then looked back at her, that expression a question. Cassie just nodded, not knowing what else to do, giving permission.

Minerva wiped her eyes and held her face lightly, searching for what was wrong there.

“It was just that van,” Cassie said, overly quietly.

“I'll kill them,” Minerva said, her eyes flinty and her voice instantly harsh.

Seeing the way Sunny and Cassy jumped a bit at Minerva snapping, she smiled and turned it into a joke.

“I'll bite their heads off,” She said, lightly snapping with her jaws but you could still clearly see her dagger-like fangs flash.

Sniffling unconsciously, Cassy felt a wave of self-hatred. She wasn't some helpless girl. She had evaded capture from them for miles. until they-d sucker-punched her with that silver buckshot and their stupid knife. She shouldn't be this afraid of them.

The lady looked serious again, still looking Cassie in the eye.

“If the memory keeps coming, at least keep making sure you add in and remind yourself how it finished,” she said. “And also remember how many of them it took to capture you, and what you could've done to the first few if you'd wanted.”

Cassie took another shuddering breath, focusing on remembering. That sensation when the first few started shooting at her was still somehow fresh. She forced herself to remember she'd taken away their gun in a minute, broken it in half, the memory of that flash of action where their necks were exposed, deciding to run past them instead. The adrenaline-surged chase through the woods, the ambush at the end.

Pain, restraints, then Minerva coming. She'd moved through them like a witch, looking each one in the eye, telling them to drop their weapons and not to follow.

A call to Melinda. Escape in a car. Safety.

A new Home.

Minerva clapped her hands together, dispelling the tension.

“It's time for an Apartment Meeting, roomies!” She said, loud and decisive.

“Clearly, we need to discuss what can be done about our violent fans, the so-called “Fraternity of the Fly. Personally, I find their attentions tiresome. Ideas?”