Page 5

He wouldn’t. Ollie was a friendly kid. If there was a potential for new friends, he’d leap at it. That wasn’t why I was asking, though.

“And did they say what kind? Mention anything about topics to avoid? I don’t want him accidentally saying something the kids might not like and getting himself into trouble.”

Mom didn’t look worried, but when I raised an eyebrow at Dad, he dipped his chin once. He was there when the paranormals attacked me. He knew to take my concerns seriously.

“I’ll talk to ‘im. Did he eat?”

“Snack about an hour ago. He’s still hungry.”

The conversation didn’t last much longer before my parents were hustling Ollie out the door. He waved from the car, smiling brightly, and I gave him a thumbs up before heading back to my station.

Ben stood by, waiting for me, a deep frown on his face. “I’ve said it before, but the way they act around you is just weird. It’s like you’re strangers, not family.”

I hummed to acknowledge him but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t worth repeating. My parents stopped being warm towards me the day I came out. They didn’t disown me completely, but it obviously made them uncomfortable. They interacted with me as little as possible and I was pretty sure the only reason I got to see Ollie so much was because letting their gay son watch his brother was cheaper than after school care. I couldn’t help but wonder if Ollie was their do over. I came out when I was seventeen. They had my little brother a year later. Seems kind of convenient to me.

CHAPTER FOUR

AZIEL

The meetingwith my uncle went about as I expected. He demanded information from Dante that the kid had no way of knowing, and got pissed when he couldn’t answer. The same thing happened for the next few days until Dante finally got it in his head that there were worse things than living with me. He went quiet, his complaints stopped, and he spent more time in his room than doing anything else. At least at home, the situation had improved. At school was another issue. I’d gotten calls every day for the first week, telling me Dante was lashing out at students and staff, and if he couldn’t control himself, they would need to consider transferring him to another school. Knowing what would happen if he got kicked out, I decided to talk to him, even though inviting that fight seemed foolish on my part.

Every day after school, Dante went straight to his room, and stayed there all weekend too. He’d already trashed it and I didn’t let him have a tv in there, so I wasn’t really sure what he was doing, but I didn’t ask before. Letting out a heavy sigh, I pushed the door open and tried not to grimace. The place was a stye. I ignored it, grabbing his desk chair and spinning it around, straddling it as I faced him. He was lying on his bed,glaring at the ceiling, trying to ignore my presence. But he was also nine and didn't like it when I didn’t immediately tell him my purpose for being there.

“What?” he finally demanded.

“Got a call from your school.”

“Yeah, so?” he snarled.

“If you can’t get it together, they’re gonna transfer you to a paranormal school.”

A tinge of hope crossed his face, and I shook my head before he could get too excited. “That’s not a good thing. The closest paranormal school doesn’t have anyone important. You won’t be getting any information for your dad there. And he’s going to take issue with you getting removed from where he wants you to be.”

He huffed, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. “What does it matter? No one talks to me anyway.”

“Not with the way you’re acting, they won’t. Have you even tried to make friends?”

That got me a glare in response. “Why the hell would I make friends with humans?”

“Because you need information and they aren’t gonna tell you shit if they are too busy avoiding you.”

To my knowledge, no one ever sat down and taught Dante how to work for the family. He was raised by nannies in the Other Realm, went to a regular school there, and my uncle pretty much ignored his existence. I wasn’t sure why they were demanding he do this shit now, but it wasn’t really my business. My business currently was keeping this kid alive. And right now, based on the refusal on his face, he didn’t get how making friends was going to do that.

“Come on. We’re going out.”

He scowled at me, but I didn’t miss the flash of curiosity. “Going where?”

“To the park. You’re gonna learn to get information. I’m tired of going to the healer every day to fix you after you piss off your old man.”

He followed me out of the apartment, lunging at the cat who sometimes sat in the windowsill of the apartment above ours. I shook my head, leading the way to the park halfway between his school and home. Ioverheard plenty while I was out there, and I knew it was a popular place for the kids after school and on weekends. If Dante went there more often, he might be able to glean more than what he got in class.

The park was crowded when we got there, typical for a Saturday afternoon. Dante hesitated, hovering uneasily when he saw the crowd, so I stopped a block away and kneeled in front of him.

“Rule number one. Ears open. Even if you’re playing alone, you’ll overhear all sorts of shit in places like this. Kids don’t ever shut up. Parents too, when they’re talking amongst themselves. They think kids aren’t listening, so they’ll say whatever shit is going on without a filter.”

His brows drew together tightly, his eyes shifting over the park with more consideration. I knew it had to be scary, being the only outwardly paranormal kid around. If I gave him a purpose, he might not panic as much.

“Rule two. Follow the money. You don’t have to mean it, but you wanna at least pretend to make friends with the rich kids. Do something to get their attention. If you can’t make friends with them, then go for the adjacent ones. The ones whose parents work for the rich families. Those kids usually have information from their parents.”