I wish I would see one of them wandering through the forest at night. I’d Bid Bad Wolf their asses before they could close their little red capes.
Gods! Would this day never end? I’d rather sell my soul to the devil than sit in this cubicle one moment longer. This thought has me pushing away from my desk and poking my head out into the hallway.
Coast clear.
I make it almost all the way to the stairwell before someone says my name in a mock whisper.
“Harper. Hey, Harp.”
I glance over my shoulder, ready to snap, but I relax when I see that it’s only Grayson. He and I are cool. Or so I still hope. I’m sure he’s heard about my little news debut just like everyone else.
But it’s a smile Grayson greets me with, and there is no wariness in his eyes, despite the fact that Grayson is undeniably human. Now that I think of it, he’s the first human in the office today to look at me the same way he did yesterday.
I don’t tell him how grateful I am for this. I’m not sure I could get the words out, anyway.
“Going for a walk?” he asks.
I nod. “I need some fresh air.”
“Want some company?”
I almost say no, but it’s that trusting, open expression behind his eyes that makes me say the opposite.
A few minutes later, we escape the walls of the office and emerge into the hot, dense air of summertime in Philadelphia. We usually walk around the block a couple times, chatting about nonsense, so this is familiar ground.
He’s halfway through an analysis of the Marvel cinematic universe when I cut him off.
“Aren’t you gonna ask?” I say.
Grayson blinks at me. He’s nearly six feet tall, with tousled brown hair, an athletic build, and big blue eyes. I’m pretty sure all the girls at work have a crush on him, and I’m even more sure that he has a crush on me, but I have a rule about shitting where I eat. I learned that lesson the hard way.
So we’re just friends, forevermore.
“Ask what?” he says.
I scoff. “So you didn’t see the news?”
“What news?”
I narrow my eyes at him.
“Oh,” he says, “you mean that video of you kicking that guy’s ass in the convenience store that they were playing over and over again on all the major networks this morning?”
I make a noise low in my throat. “Yes,” I say. “That’s the one.”
“Of course I saw it.”
I toss up my hands. “So why aren’t you asking me questions about what I am and looking at me all side-eyed like I might sneak into your house at night and steal your children from their beds?”
Grayson is silent for a moment, and then he bursts into laughter. It’s contagious. I laugh a little too because I can’t help it.
“Well,” he says once he starts to sober, “firstly, I could tell that you were unhappy when I saw you in the hallway, and I figured it had to have something to do with your newfound infamy, and second, because I don’t have children, so my unborn are safe from your wicked ways.”
My throat gets a little tight at the fact that Grayson knows me well enough to be able to tell when I’m upset, and that he cares enough to try to make me feel better.
Yesterday, such a sentiment would not have struck me so deeply. Though I’ve only been at the company six months, Grayson and I have spent a good deal of time together as coworkers. We’ve shared stories and bonded over mutual disgruntlements. We’ve laughed over nonsense and joked in good nature at one another’s expense.
Today, however, he knows my deepest secret, along with the rest of the humans I work with…and he’s not treating me any differently.
If I didn’t have the strict don’t-shit-where-you-eat policy, I might just kiss him for this alone.
Instead, I say, in a half-joking manner in order to hide the heart beneath the words, “Just when I start to lose faith in humanity…”
A rare silence falls between us for a time. Then, in a tone soft enough to make me tilt my head, Grayson says, “You could’ve told me, you know?”
It’s not until this very moment that I realize that Grayson really is my friend, and that I really could have told him. There’s some deeper truth behind the way he speaks the words, and I can only turn away from it.
“I never tell anyone,” I say. “Other supernaturals usually sense it on me, the way I sense it on them, but humans are left largely out of the loop.” I pause, sigh. “Well, at least, they were, until the cover was blown. Now the whole damn world knows.”
I feel Grayson’s eyes on me. We walk shoulder-to-shoulder down the sidewalk, passing under trees that help shield us from the heat of the sun. On the street, cars roll past and a stray cat darts around an oncoming truck, narrowly escaping with its life.
“What?” I say when Grayson just keeps staring.
He shrugs. “I just…I guess I didn’t think about how hard it must be for people like you right now.”
I raise an eyebrow. “People like me?”
Grayson scoots a little closer and puts his arm around my shoulders. I stiffen, as this is outside our protocol.
But, then, I find it easier than I should to relax inside his friendly embrace.
“You know what I mean, Harp,” he says. “There are a lot of hateful people in this world, and they seem to be seeping out of the woodworks more and more nowadays. And supernaturals are their new targets.”
He’s right, but there isn’t much to be done about it, and I say so.
“Just be extra careful,” he says, and gives my shoulders a squeeze before dropping the hold, putting us back in familiar territory. “Okay?”
I nod, throat tight for some stupid reason. “Okay.”
7 2:34 p.m
This. Day. Will. Never. End.
I’m sure of it. It will stretch on unto eternity, trapping
