Chapter 17
I stretched my legs on the reclining leather seats in the dark movie theater and smiled at Krys, seated to my left.
The light from the screen flickered on his face and made me wonder if he was really into the movie.
“This is the life. You’re probably too young to remember the first picture shows.
The chairs were torture devices. How old are you again? ”
“Shhh,” Cleo said from my right. “You’re ruining the movie.”
I put my arm around her and leaned in. “That’s part of the whole experience. Do you have enough snacks?”
Cleo picked off a piece of pretzel bread and dipped it into garlic sauce, barely taking her eyes off the large screen.
A helicopter circled a skyscraper, and the hero made a running leap and grabbed onto the landing skid moments before the building collapsed.
The heroes were escaping catastrophic earthquakes threatening to bring the city to ruins.
Darcy was more into the movie than Cleo.
Because her dramatic screams and shouts were annoying me, I banished her to sit at the front.
She periodically glanced over her shoulder to make sure we hadn’t slipped out, which made me wonder if she knew the route back to the motel.
Although ditching her was tempting, Cleo was having too much fun.
I poured Raisinets into my palm, which I held between Krys and me. Eyes on the screen, he gently swiped his fingers in my palm to grab a few. I’d been feeding him throughout the movie, since neither of us bought snacks for ourselves. Cleo ordered all the food, and she shared with us.
She wiggled in her seat again.
Realizing what was happening, I said quietly, “Go to the bathroom. You won’t miss anything, and if you do, I’ll fill you in. If you wait too long, you’ll never make it down all those steps.”
“Okay.” She dashed to the right and jogged down the steps before disappearing around the corner.
This theater had not only leather recliners but dual seats, which I’d never seen before.
They came in pairs with no armrest in the middle, only trays and drink holders on either side.
Krys and I were seated in one, since we let Cleo pick our spot.
I imagined couples did naughty things in these chairs.
I laughed at all the food on Cleo’s tray. “Why did you let her buy all that? I might have to pole dance for gas money.”
“Because fuck it. This might be the last time we get to take her out, so let’s show her a kick-ass time.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen her eat this much junk food before. It’s a buffet fit for a raccoon.”
“She got pickles.” Krys leaned closer. “You know what I think? She’s looking for her Shifter craving. Notice how she’s not eating all of it. A bite here, a bite there.” He reached over me, putting his neck right in my face, and grabbed the white box of Junior Mints.
His hair was still damp from our swim, and it tickled my arm when he moved back to his seat.
“Exactly how old are you?” I asked, broaching the topic again.
Archer was over a hundred, and Krys teased him for being an old man, so I knew Krys was the younger of the two.
Immortals didn’t celebrate birthdays or care about age, so it wasn’t a question I had ever brought up.
I could recite the year I was born, but if someone asked me my age, I had to stop and do the math.
He tilted the box and poured chocolate-covered mints into his mouth. “I don’t know. Sixty-eight? Something like that.”
Krys didn’t look his physical years, obviously. None of us did since the aging process slowed down significantly when we reached adulthood. He appeared somewhat older than me, but maybe it had to do with his past.
“They should put seats like these on airplanes,” he remarked.
“I need one at home.”
“Fuck yeah. A hell of a lot better than Tak’s recliners.”
“I’d rather have it in my bedroom.”
He ate another handful of mints. “Yeah. You would.”
I threw Cleo’s popcorn at him. “And what’s that supposed to mean, lover boy? What do you think I plan on doing in them?”
“You’ve defiled every piece of furniture in the house.”
I laughed at that. “Archer caught me playing with my joystick once on the leather couch. That was when we first moved in.”
“So you had to christen it?”
“I was feeling frisky and didn’t think anyone was home. Yet somehow, I’ll never live it down.” I bent my knee. “In my defense—”
“You can’t defend that shit. There’s a time and a place. The bathroom, your bedroom, the barn, your car. Stay out of public spaces.”
A hyena laugh escaped as I tilted toward him. “Now that’s the most titillating slice of information I’ve heard in a while. I’m not sure where to begin: the barn or your motorcycle. Do you do it while riding? Wait, hold on. I need to prepare for the mental image.”
He gathered popcorn from his lap and flung it at me. “Shut the fuck up. I’m only saying if you had a car—”
“That I should desecrate it? Isn’t that a public space? We share vehicles. Now I have more questions. Do you worship yourself in Hope’s communal car or on your bike?”
He munched on his chocolate-covered mints.
“Steering one-handed seems like a death wish. Or maybe you’re not alone.” A thought passed through my mind. I’d been his pillion more times than I could count, and the thought had crossed my mind of what he might do if I let my hands slide farther in. “Now I know why you’re always out riding.”
When he handed me the empty candy box, I set it on the tray.
“Why didn’t you buy snacks for yourself?” he asked.
I laced my hands over my stomach. “I’d give my left kidney for cookies, but they were out.”
“You need solid food in your stomach after all the junk you’ve been eating. We’ll grab dinner on the way back.” He tapped his boots together. “I ruined these in the pool. They were squishing down the hall. Now my feet are itching.”
“Take them off.”
“I’m not taking them off. Nobody wants my feet out on display.”
“As it so happens, you have nice feet.”
“Bullshit.”
I tossed a Raisinet into my mouth. “I’ve already ranked everyone’s feet in the house.”
His head turned in my direction. “Are you serious?”
“You’re number one. Everyone’s body parts are in Virgil’s secret ranking system.”
“Whose feet are at the bottom?”
I gave a sinister laugh. “I’ll never tell.”
“I bet they’re Tak’s.” He turned his attention to the screen. “The footprints he leaves in the mud look like Sasquatch came to visit.”
“Actually, big feet improve your ranking.”
“Then why isn’t he at the top?”
I smiled and offered him a pickle.
Krys took the pickle and tossed it back on Cleo’s tray. “Who’s at the bottom?”
A man three rows ahead twisted around. “Shut up,” he hissed.
Krys gave him the finger.
I pinned his hand on the seat. “Don’t be so uptight.”
Instead of letting go, I kept my left hand on his and continued watching the movie. I expected him to pull away, but he didn’t. Suddenly, the movie wasn’t as interesting as what was playing right next to me.
My breathing grew heavier as I needed more oxygen. Had the speakers not been blasting with explosions, he would’ve heard my heart pounding against my chest like a banging drum. I wanted to look at him but was too nervous. Instead, I brushed my pinky over his index finger, curious what he might do.
Did he lose all feeling in his hand? Maybe he’s so wrapped up in the bridge collapsing and people screaming that he doesn’t notice. How can he not? These are smoke signals! What am I even doing? I’m hitting on my packmate in a darkened theater, and he doesn’t have a clue.
I wasn’t sure how to make it more obvious that I liked him.
Not that it mattered.
When his thumb stroked my pinky, I mentally catapulted out of my seat and launched through the movie screen. All that remained was a comic outline of where my soul had left my body.
Krys withdrew his hand and looked past me. “Where’s Cleo? She’s been in there too long.”
I lowered the recliner while my pulse jumped around in my chest like popcorn kernels in a steel pot. “I’ll check on her.”
As I exited the room, I heard Krys’s boots squishing behind me.
Was I imagining that? He stroked my finger! What does that even mean? Maybe he had an itch.
When I reached the women’s bathroom, I stood outside the door and knocked. “Cleo?”
Krys pushed it open and walked in.
I snagged his shirt. “You can’t waltz in here and invade people’s privacy.”
Ignoring me, he leaned down and looked beneath the endless row of stalls. All the doors were open but one.
He approached the last stall on the left. “Cleo?” He tapped on the door. “You feel okay?”
“No!”
He shared a concerned look with me.
I wondered if she had gotten her period. “Do you need us to bring you anything, munchkin?”
The wall rattled, and I backed up to see Cleo sitting on top of the side wall, her long tail swishing.
“I can’t go out like this!” She leaped across the tops of the stalls until she jumped down at the front.
Krys walked ahead of me, but before he could say anything, he looked toward the door and froze. I caught up to see what was happening.
“Sorry, wrong bathroom,” a girl said.
When I reached the front, I saw the door open again, and a teen girl with long black hair wandered in. “Right place.” Her eyes widened at Cleo. “That tail is fire. Are you a furry or into cosplay? I wish I could wear that in public, but my mom would kill me.”
“This is my dad,” Cleo said, appearing frozen at the idea of talking to a human. “We were leaving.”
After the girl walked past us, we hurried out.
Cleo gripped her tail and was chewing on the end the way someone might nervously bite their fingernails.
Since we were at the end of the hallway where no one could see, Krys walked her against the wall and shielded her from anyone coming out of the nearby theaters.
“That was weird,” Cleo remarked. “She didn’t even scream. What did she mean when she said my tail is fire? What’s a cosplay? Are you sure humans don’t know about us?”
Cleo wasn’t on social media, so she obviously picked up all her old-fashioned slang from the pack.
Krys stole a glance at the bathrooms before lowering his voice. “If that ever happens again, hold your tail. They’ll get suspicious if they see it moving. You’re lucky, kid.”
“How?”
“People think it’s a costume.”
Her shoulders sagged. “But it’s not a costume.”
“You have a better chance at slipping past humans. We shift into a whole-ass animal that could kill someone. You can at least trick people. Humans are changing. They’re not as shocked as they used to be.”
“They’re skeptical,” I added. “Some of them think the world is flat. Kids wear costumes outside of Halloween. I’ve seen a few with tails but never gave it a thought, since I don’t keep up with the latest trends. It changes faster than it used to because of the internet.”
Krys stroked his goatee. “The point is, you don’t have to freak out if it happens.
I know it’s hard controlling your animal after the first change; it might take years before the accidents stop.
But if you feel it coming on, duck out of sight.
Avoid cameras. That kind of thing. You need to learn how to keep your leopard down, and the best way to do that is to let her out sometimes. ”
“But I do let her out.”
I gripped my stone pendant. “What Krys means is if you plan to go shopping with your mom in the human district, let your animal out beforehand. The night before, that morning—whatever. That’s how they learn to share space.
If you keep them in too much, they get angry.
You could even make them scared of the world. ”
“What’s going on?” Darcy jogged toward us, her rainbow hair shaking like a cheerleader’s pom-pom. “Were you trying to sneak out on me?” Her eyes widened at Cleo. “What happened? We have to get out of here!”
Cleo lowered her head. “I’ll miss the movie.”
“They live to see another day,” I promised her. “That’s how all those movies end. People only go to see everything blow up. Speaking of shifting, my wolf needs to take a run before dinner.” I put my arm around her, and we strolled to the exit. “You know what you forgot?”
“What?”
I flipped her hoodie over her head. “There’s one problem solved. Your ears move, so you should cover them. Don’t worry about sunglasses; keep your eyes low and people won’t notice them.”
“But my nose…”
“Carry a face mask in your purse. Humans still wear them. Some have cool designs.”
“Yeah, but I can’t hide this,” she said, thrusting her tail in my face and tickling my nose with her soft fur.
“Sure you can. We’ll put a shoe on it and pretend it’s a third leg.” I pushed opened the door and held it for her. “Melody can sew you a special pair of pants for your new leg.”
Cleo laughed loudly this time, and we left the theater in good spirits. Laughter was always the best medicine.