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It was so strange, watching the two of them eat, sitting across from one another on the matching couches without looking at one another.

Kiko continued to sit beside Dex, and now she was rubbing his upper back with one hand, watching him eat.

I could feel both things annoying and distressing Jax behind me, but he was so high, he didn’t try to talk to either of them about it.

Instead he went and sat on the floor next to the fireplace, staring at both of them. It would have been funny but everything about the vibes on that part of the room made it anything but humorous. Instead, something deadly serious fell over the suite.

Then Black was nudging me.

I looked over at him, and he motioned with his jaw towards our own cake.

I realized he was right.

It was time.

Even as the thought crossed my mind, Black picked up a long, wide knife I hadn’t noticed on the side of the cart and used it to cut the cake in half. He didn’t wait, but cut off a smaller chunk from one side, picked it up, and promptly stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. Like Nick and Jem, he just began to chew, without trying to manage the enormous amount of cake he’d just forced between his jaws.

I smiled at him, but even my smile felt serious.

I cut a piece off my half of the cake––a much smaller piece than what Black had put in his mouth––and picked it up, taking a big bite off the side.

For some unknown number of minutes, we all just ate cake.

It’s strange that it took all of us roughly the same amount of time.

Black and I finished last.

I saw Nick licking his plate with a shockingly red tongue, tears still running down his chalk-white face as he cleaned off every last smear of frosting.

By then, I had only a few small pieces of cake left on my half of the plate.

I chewed one of them all the way down, and saw Dex licking his plate, too.

I glanced at Jem, and saw that he’d cleaned his plate entirely, as well.

Then Black was using his finger to get the last crumbs of frosting and cake off our own plate. I did the same on my side.

When we all finished, it remained silent for a few seconds more.

Or maybe it was a few minutes.

Then someone cleared their throat by the door.

We all turned, staring at the male standing there.

Once we were all staring at him, he smiled.

“Hello, boys and girls,” he said. “Sorry to crash. But we have a pressing need, I’m afraid…”

His voice hurt my light. It hurt mybrainsomehow. It was jarringly friendly, pleasant in a way that made me grimace and wince. He didn’t belong here.

He didn’t belong.

I put my hands over my ears.

I tried to block him out, but I couldn’t.

I could even still hear him when he next spoke.