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Also, if it stopped Mike, how did everyone else get in? Ben was so confident that it was infallible. And why am I only now realizing this shit? Does maturity equal stupidity? I should blame my mental see-saw. It’s stuck in a lowered-to-the-insane side tilt. I think it’s stuck there.

To my surprise, Mal opens the door and leans in, yelling, “Hey Ben, we have a visitor that needs access.”

What’s this ‘we’ shit. And would it kill him to be nice about it? Maybe a please?

We need to start locking the door if the ward is failing. Although, why I think a locked door would help us is beyond me.

Maybe I’m just grumpy. I don’t remember a sip of coffee passing my lips this morning. It's a sure sign of the apocalypse that Others rave about.

I’m standing just past the fence when Ben stomps out and heads right for me. Uh-oh, smell attack incoming. I hurry across the ward to prove I gave some thought to my safety. I’m sure it won’t help.

True to form, Ben immediately begins smelling my body all over. I wait, resigned to my future of constant sniffing, and watch King come out.

He glares at Mike, his face twisted in disgust before he looks at Mal. Mal won’t look at him, focused solely on the spectacle of Ben circling me and huffing at whatever scents he finds.

He spends the longest on the side where Mal and I touched, making grumbling noises.

I shrug and roll my eyes at Mal, prompting him to smirk, and King’s glower intensifies. Mal would be dead ten times over on the porch if looks could kill.

“Thisis Mike?” King gestures towards the Human standing on the other side of the fence, watching Ben with a look of absolute horror. I guess the whole sniff attack is pretty weird to other people. Ben is right. My adjustment period for odd things is at an all-time high. Your service, insanity.

Mitri and Kimi stand behind King in the doorway, unable to get out unless they want to shove King out of the way. I figured Kimi would be ecstatic over adding a new person, but his face is completely blank.

Is it wrong for me to worry about it? He absolutely terrifies me, so it makes no sense, right?

Smell test passed; Ben turns to Mike with a contemplative look.

Mike starts screaming.Loud. It sounds like a frightened pig got set loose in the front yard.

His pitch gradually rises until he’s a terrified little girl, and he’s trying to crab walk, at speed, back to the SUV.

“Mike, what are you doing?” I ask in complete confusion.

Ben slowly looks at me with his eyebrow raised. Is he mocking me silently? The look on his face with his pursed lips says yes.

“Get away from it!” Mike squeals and leaps to his feet with an agility I marvel at. He must have cleared a good four feet going from ass on the ground to his feet.

He runs to the vehicle and frantically pulls on the locked door. He looks over his shoulder and shrieks louder when the thing doesn’t open.

“Dude, you’re going to break it,” I stomp over to him with a glower and pull his arm back. He’s so focused that he doesn’t pay any attention to my approach.

“That isn’t mine, no breaking. I can’t afford to pay for it.” Great, now I’m treating him like a dog, shaking my finger at him in reprimand.

Mike abruptly stops screaming and appears confused as he looks around. “What?”

My head rears back in surprise at the sudden change. “Are you… ok?”

“What do you mean?” He asks me, just as baffled as I am.

“You were just freaking out. Did you have some kind of psychotic break?”

“What are you talking about?” He jerks his arm away from me, spots his backpack near the fence, and heads over to pick it up.

Halfway there, he looks up from the ground and begins screaming again. He runs straight for me, and I dodge out of the way for him to get back to the SUV.

I watch the phenomenon with disbelief. It isn’t until he starts trying to break the window with his elbow that I intervene, pulling him back again.

As soon as I touch him, he looks at me and blinks a few times. The screaming stops as he stares at me in confusion again.