ANDI

I swing past all the spots I’ve already checked, just in case Benny surfaced while I was in Liam’s room. Still no little brother. My irritation’s starting to give way to fear. Where the hell is he?

Even though it’s unlikely that he’ll be there, I head to the gymnasium. I smile at Jenny, who’s leaving as I enter, and try not to study her face too closely. Is she looking at me oddly? Is there a smirk in her greeting? But no. Everything seems normal, so no one must have seen Liam chasing after me, half naked. I murmur a greeting as we pass and then push on the metal bar to open the gym doors. Walking into the gym is like walking into a hothouse. It’s humid and moist, the air muggy. The place is dark, the windows shuttered tightly against incoming dragonfire that’ll be hitting later this morning. There’s a couple of dragons in particular that like to hit Fort Shreveport, and they all seem to be morning attackers, which is good. Once they’re done with us, we can roll the plants back out into the sun so they can soak up the rays. I breathe in the acrid, greeny scent of the tomato plants and stare out at the rows and rows of cages and potted plants. Cucumbers, zucchini and tomato are the easiest for Fort Shreveport to grow, and squash. The vines are easily coaxed onto the tall metal cages and any fruit is carefully propped up. I love early summer and watermelons, but right now it’s late summer and I’m so sick of cucumber and tomato that I could barf. But, food is food and I can’t be picky.

“Benny?” I call out.

No answer.

“Benjamin Allen Foster,” I snap, and hear my voice echo in the empty gymnasium. “I am sick of these games. I know you took my socks. Come and fess up.”

Still no response. I wander through the rows of plants, careful not to disturb the fruit hanging from the vines.

“Just come talk to me. I’m not mad.” It’s a huge lie. I’m furious, but he won’t come out if he knows I am. Benny’s not stupid. In fact, he’s too clever, the little rat. He’s good at slinking away and hiding when he thinks he’s in trouble. Lately, there’s been a lot more slinking, and that’s concerning. I’ve tried really hard to be a parent to Benny and the harder I try, the more awful he seems to get with every passing year.

If I didn’t love him, I’d hate him, but I never say that to anyone. Benny and I are a team. We’re the Foster siblings, and when Mom died a year after the Rift happened, I took up the mantle of parent. If he’s a bad kid, it’s on me.

“Benny, please,” I say, quieter. “I’m worried about you. If you’re hiding, just come out, okay?”

Silence. He’s not in here. I don’t know where he is, then. Some new hiding spot in the fort that I don’t know about, somewhere he can smoke old stale cigarettes he’s hiding away or huff on an old spray paint can. Something.

He wouldn’t leave the fort. He’s a wild kid, but he’s not stupid. He wouldn’t leave me…would he?

“Andrea?”

I turn around, jumping at the sound of my name. “You scared the shit out of me, Liam!” I put a hand over my hammering heart, gasping.

He grimaces, adjusting his baseball cap atop his head in the most human gesture ever. He’s dressed now, wearing a plain white T-shirt and the sweatpants from earlier, and his normal scarf is around his neck, as if at a moment’s notice, he can conceal his face. He’s halfway across the room, but even from here I can see the bulge of his thick muscles through the straining, thin fabric of his shirt. His arms have the spikes along the back as Rast’s do, and they’re the only thing that, looking at him, seem odd or out of place. It’s only recently that he’s started to wear short-sleeved shirts, as if he’s testing the waters for how strange he can look without being booted from the fort. In the dark, though, he looks human. So human. You can’t see his strange eyes, his sharp teeth, and the shadows hide the fact that his features are a little too strong to be normal.

Liam takes a step forward, touching my arm as I tremble amongst the potted tomatoes. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Just…don’t sneak up on me, all right?” I pull out of his grip, hating that he’s seeing me act so weak. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” he says, and his voice is low and appealing. “You ran out of my room.”

“Because you were naked. I don’t want to be around you when you’re naked. It’s not…human.”

He grunts as if this makes perfect sense. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You just have to think about how that sort of thing looks,” I tell him defensively, crossing my arms and rubbing my skin. I’m covered in goosebumps despite the muggy heat of the gym. “Did you find Benny?”

“I wanted to ask you about that, too. How long has he been gone?”

I shrug. “Didn’t come to breakfast this morning, but that’s becoming a thing with him lately. Small rebellions and all that.”

Liam rubs his jaw absently, his fingers brushing over his lips briefly. “And you know he’s in the fort?”

“Of course he’s in the fort. With a dragon attack looming? He’s pigheaded, not stupid. He won’t get himself killed just to prove a point to me.”

He tilts his head, studying me in the near-darkness, and I become intensely aware of how close we’re standing. I haven’t been alone with Liam many times, but he’s been hanging around me more lately. Another test of the waters, perhaps, seeing what he can get away with before it’s too much. “Are you all right, Andrea?”

Flustered, I reach for the tip of my braid and play with it. “Like I said, you just startled me—”

“That’s not it.” Liam shifts on his feet, as if he’s on edge. Nervous? Or just trying to figure me out? “I am still learning a lot about humans, you know. Seven years and I still don’t have you figured out.” In the darkness, he might be smiling. “But I thought I knew the basics. I thought you and I were…friends? But you avoid me lately. I want to know what I did wrong.”

I lick my dry lips. I don’t want to launch into my history. Not right now. Probably not ever. “You haven’t done anything wrong, okay? You’re being perfectly normal. I’m just…stressed lately with Gwen leaving and Amy taking over.”

“A lot of changes,” he agrees carefully. “But the way you have changed to me is far more recent than that.”

Busted. “I’d really not like to talk about it. Just chalk it up to more human bullshit and call it a day, all right?”

“Day called.” Liam nods. “I won’t push. For now.”

What we need is a subject change. I eye the tomatoes he’s standing a little too close to and put a fingertip on his arm, gently steering him away a step. “If you kill that plant, Jenny’s going to have your head for dinner.”

He pauses. “That’s…a joke, right?” His tone sounds far more reassured than his words. “The head is the worst part to eat. Haunches have the best meat.”

I snort with amusement. “Dude, how on earth did you blend in for so long?”

“By being quiet and unobtrusive.” Liam’s chuckle fills the darkness around me and I get new goosebumps. “But now that you know my secrets, I get to talk.”

Funny—quiet and unobtrusive are two things I might have thought about Liam a month ago, but now that I know him a little more? It’s like they don’t fit in the slightest. “You’re not quiet and unobtrusive around me.”

“I don’t want to be,” he murmurs.

My body pricks with heat, and I become intensely aware just how alone we are in here. How close we’re standing. Anyone that saw us would get the wrong idea.

A battery-powered alarm blares over the compound, jolting me back to awareness. I can’t be caught here with Liam, no matter how distracting he is. “It’s obvious Benny’s not here,” I say, and push past him. “Thanks for your help, but I’d better get back to the others. Dragon attack incoming.” I point at the air, and then I’m out the door before he can reply.