Page 80 of Nightshades

“You’re lying.”

I swivel my gaze from hot pink-haired Demi to Caden, someone I hadn’t had a chance to meet yet.

He sets my plate down in front of me, right on top of my case files, and the scent of crispy bacon has my annoyance fallingaway. The hashbrowns are perfect, and the eggs are over-easy with fresh toast. Holt, the cook, makes the bread fresh every day, and it is worth it.

I’m addicted.

I bite into a piece of bacon, watching Caden take the spot next to Demi. I’ve never seen a creature like him before. I doubt anyone has been able to see his true form. I think back to the book my mamita had while I was growing up. Every night when I was a little girl, I would ask her to read me a bedtime story; instead, she would pull out this giant leather-bound book.

Inside were hundreds of old, discolored pages with sketches and explanations of every creature my ancestors had ever come across, because they could also see the unknown. Every page held a mystery, a curiosity that I had only begun to see in my young age in the real world.

I have that book at home, stuffed in my nightstand, and I’m trying to remember everything about Caden’s monster.

All of the thunderstorms make sense now. There’s a storm kitsune sitting directly in front of me. His eyes crackle with constant lightning. To regular humans, I’m sure they see someone normal, but not me. I can see everything he is trying to hide.

Kitsunes are fox spirits; the more tails they acquire, the older, wiser, and more powerful they are. They can have a max of nine tails, and when they reach that, their fox form will be at their most powerful.

I know, in general, kitsunes have a lot of power, but I can’t remember them all off the top of my head. I’ll have to look when I get home.

Caden, by the three tails he has, is young. Probably around three hundred years old. His fox is almost like a shadow emerging from him, but he glows a beautiful black with eyes the color of lightning, and a dark green hue surrounding him.His ears are tall and pointed, the fox’s jaw defined and square, reminding me of a super soldier. His tails fix behind him as his fox stares at me, tilting his head, knowing that I can see him for what he is.

“You can see me,” Caden states, folding his hands on top of the table.

Rain begins to pour outside, followed by a loud crack of lightning.

I lean against the booth, taking a sip of my coffee. Kitsunes are very intuitive creatures. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he caught onto my ability.

“I can,” I answer honestly.

Demi waves her hands in the air, then makes a ‘T’ with her hands. “Time-out. Wait. You can see”—she leans in and whispers—“you can see him? You know what he is?”

I mimic her position, placing my cup down first, then crossing my arms on the table. “I can. It’s a gift that has been passed down from generation to generation. My family calls the gift the ability to see The Unknown.”

“Gift? Or curse?” Caden asks, another strobe of lightning cracking so loud, the lights flicker.

“Caden,” Demi hisses his name, scolding him.

“No need to show off, Caden,” I say with a twinge of a smile, pushing through the pain my body is in.

I hope that over time, I will become used to Shade and his needs. I’m not sure if this amount of agony is something I can live with forever.

“I know how strong you are based on how many tails you have.”

“Tails?” Demi whips her head to him. “You have tails?”

“You know about the tails. I’ve told you. I just haven’t shown you. I find comfort in my human form.”

“Which isn’t uncommon for kitsunes,” I add, biting into a piece of bacon.

Caden taps his fingers on the table. “It isn’t.”

His skepticism makes me laugh.

“You can trust me with your form, Caden. I would never tell anyone or anything.”

Caden takes her hand, his eyes softening at her, the lightning in his irises bolting around his pupils. “I know. It isn’t about not trusting you. It’s about comfort. That’s all. I’m comfortable around you, but I’m not like that with everyone here, even if I’ve known them a long time. A storm kitsune can only claim one region at a time, but it is possible for another kitsune to steal a region from another. They would have to collect my tails to do that. It’s more paranoia, I guess. I don’t want others to see my real form. Trouble usually spreads when that happens.”

He turns to me, the softening in his eyes gone, and the wind forces the rain to bullet against the window.