A crashing sound and a curse woke me. I jumped up from the couch, eyes wild, only to find my dad sitting on his ass by the front door, a pile of brooms surrounding him. He had sprung one of my traps while trying to open the front door.

He grumbled as he climbed to his feet, shooting me an accusing glare. I just smiled.

“I was trying to get some groceries before you woke up.” I opened my mouth to yell at him, because sneaking out of the house wasn’t safe. He held up a hand, clutching the marble. “I keep it handy, don’t worry.”

I shook my head. “I’ll go get the groceries, dad. Stay here and make some coffee.”

He finally agreed, mumbling about overbearing women under his breath, but loud enough to make sure I heard. I smiled, tugging my hair into a pony tail, snatching up a pair of old sunglasses from my room, and brushing my teeth.

A nice walk would do just the trick to wake me up. It was only ten minutes away. If you knew which yards to cut across, and having grown up here, I did. Driving by car would also take ten minutes, thanks to detours and traffic lights.

I strode through the doors of the natural food grocery store, shivering at the blast of cool air striking me like a winter gale, then I was past it, the glass doors sliding closed behind me as I pressed on. My eyes darted about discreetly, studying faces, waiting for a monster to attack me. After all, the vampires had attacked my apartment last night, a Demon had personally demanded I back off, and someone had framed me, warning the vampires ahead of time that I was coming for them. Part of me thought the Demon was behind that, but it just didn’t make sense. The Demon bitch wanted the spear, so she would have just taken it. Maybe the bears had framed me?

None of that mattered now. I was here to get groceries, and to be quick about it.

As I strode past the checkout counters, I almost stopped short. Johnathan stood laughing with a pretty young girl behind the counter. He didn’t seem to notice me at all, but the smile he gave her — and the one she gave right back — sent a small stab of pain into my heart. Then the girl placed a hand on Johnathan’s hand, and his smile grew downright boyish, and my pain turned into a very cold anger.

I realized I had stopped and was staring openly at the two of them, because he suddenly looked up and saw me. His face lit up brightly as he waved, patted the cashier’s hand, and then made his way straight for me. Instead of acknowledging, I calmly, oh so calmly, walked away to the frozen section, wanting a blast of cool air to touch me, because my anger was not cool any longer, but white hot.

I heard him calling my name urgently, but didn’t slow.

He soon caught up, and walked beside me, leaning forward to stare at my face as he waved his hand to get my attention, as if I had missed seeing him.

I rounded on him. “What?” I snapped.

He took a step back, frowning. “Is everything alright? You look like someone just murdered your cat.”

“I don’t have a cat,” I gritted through clenched teeth.

“It’s a saying…” he said, sounding confused. “Can… I do anything to help you?”

I began walking again, frustrated at his level of ignorance, but he barreled right past me, stopping ahead of me to walk backwards before my march. “Coincidentally, my mood changed the moment I saw you,” I said, trying to walk past him.

“Me? What did I do? I haven’t even spoken with you since the bar last night.” He sounded truly confused.

“Maybe you could ask the cashier what I’m upset about. She seemed very concerned with your… feelings.” He still didn’t let me pass, but a look of sudden understanding flashed across his face. And then, since he must have been suicidal, he began to laugh.

Hard.

“Amira? She’s my sister!” he gasped between deep bellows of laughter.

I stopped dead in my tracks like a sailboat without a breeze. “What?” I whispered.

He was nodding. “If you must know, I was telling her about you.” He looked over my shoulder and grinned wider. Then he pointed. “See?”

I slowly craned my neck to see the pretty young girl smiling at us. Well, at Johnathan. I felt my face flushing red, but I didn’t say anything for a few moments. I hadn’t really seen her clearly in the bar, but she did look similar to one of the girls I had seen flirting with the boys. “I’ve been… busy with things,” I said, not knowing how else to backpedal.

Johnathan nodded slowly, but his smile was fading. He sounded like a man stepping out on a frayed bridge as he spoke. “Things like that flashy bastard outside the bar?” he asked very softly, very calmly, but I could sense the jealousy in his tone.

“Nate? I didn’t know you saw…”

“Everyone saw, Callie,” he muttered angrily. “That wasn’t the night cap I had been hoping for. I didn’t think a piece of shiny paper would interest you.”

“Wait. You think he and I… Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, squashing down a whisper inside of me that reminded me of the odd feelings I had around Nate. Perhaps it was just interest — platonic interest — in a fellow wizard closer to my age. Someone who was outside the bounds of the church or the Academy. A rogue. A rebel without a cause. Someone exciting as opposed to the monotonous drone of the church’s teachings. I wasn’t sure. But I did know that whatever I felt for Nate, that I felt something much different for Johnathan. Something deep. Fresh. Exciting. The prospect of personal fun. Nothing to do with magic and danger. Sure, he claimed to believe all that was real, but his innocence was like a rock in a river, letting the problems of the world rush on past him while he remained grounded.

And I realized that he had every right to feel jealous, because Nate was a handsome, flashy bastard. He did it on purpose. Part of his disguise, he had said. But I thought he secretly enjoyed it as well. Not just a disguise, then. An alter ego.

Still, Johnathan and Nate were entirely different. And the romantic interest I felt for Johnathan was nothing like the feelings I had for Nate. Thoughts of him simply chimed in unison with my life as a Freak, while Johnathan spoke to that deeper core that was Callie. Which was much more important.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nate? God, no.”

He frowned. “No, not Nate. Whatever has your shoulders so tensed up.”

He was right. Every muscle in my body seemed ready to fight or flee. I took a breath and relaxed, motioning him to follow me. I really did need to get these groceries wrapped up. “Just work stuff.”

“Maybe we can grab dinner tonight? Talk about it.”

“You are persistent!” I smiled, picking up a bag of oranges and a few apples. If I was going to shop for my father, I was going to get the healthy stuff. Whether he liked it or not.

He shrugged guiltily, smiling. “Well?”

I sighed. I couldn’t tonight. Nate and I were going after the bears. “I have some things to do tonight, but maybe in a few days?”

He looked crestfallen, but finally nodded. “Things to do with Nate?”

I smiled sadly. “Unfortunately. He’s… nothing. Just an acquaintance I have to work with. Trust me, he has baggage. A fuck-ton of baggage.”

We continued to walk, Johnathan following me as he teased me about my shopping. “You’re one of those people,” he shuddered, staring at the pile of produce in my basket.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s for my dad.”

“Oh, is he sick?” I frowned at him, shaking my head. “I just meant that since you’re shopping for him, maybe he wasn’t able to get out and about.”

I tried to keep my face calm at the words, because they were dead on. But for different reasons. He was a potential target. “No, he’s fine. I’m just helping out. Like a good daughter.”

Johnathan nodded, dropping the topic, but my words did seem to hold meaning to him. Maybe he liked that I took care of my dad. We wrapped up my shopping with less words between us. Because my thoughts were all on my dad, and Johnathan probably felt he had said something wrong.

We checked out with Amira, who smiled approvingly at us the entire time. This close, I saw she had an almost Asian look to her, as if one of her parents or grandparents had been of that ethnicity. She flashed very white teeth at me, winking when Johnathan wasn’t looking, grabbing my bags for me as I paid.

I dipped my head, trying to keep my own smile from making me look like a hopeless tween. Then we were walking out the store. “Which car is yours? I’ll put these—”

He stopped abruptly, staring at a car parked up against the curb, right in front of the doors. It was a drop-top red Mustang. But that wasn’t the most bizarre part. Claire sat in the passenger seat wearing her favorite sunglasses, talking excitedly into her phone. Nate lay sprawled out on the hood, hands behind his head, chuckling as he stared up at the sun. And that reporter, Alyssa, I had seen at the bar was laying on her side, talking to him, even poking him in the ribs, making him laugh.

“I heard that, you rich bastard!” Claire warned with a playful grin, covering the phone as she did, and Nate and the reporter chuckled, throwing up their hands as if caught red-handed. Claire shook her head, resuming her conversation in the phone.

Johnathan cleared his throat, and they all turned to face us with very different looks. All smiles, but different kinds of smiles. Nate and Alyssa slid off the hood with guilty grins — as if they had been caught making out under the bleachers at a high school football game.

“You’re blocking the entrance,” Johnathan said in a neutral tone. Not rude, not threatening, but voice tight with disapproval. Still, he shifted from foot to foot uneasily. I didn’t blame him. A guy like Johnathan against a dominating man like Nate? But it was cute. He was subtly trying to show me something about himself, cost be damned.