Aidan has been warned about the dangers of being with a human. His people live on the edges of society, in the shadows and alleys. And one day, if he's willing to submit to the birthright ceremony, he'll lead the next generation to continued wealth...
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Hailey and I are sitting on the edge of a giant crater, a spot that once housed my part-time job, otherwise known as Millick's gas bar. Except there's nothing left of the gas station, and I don't know if they excavated everything this quickly or the explosion was this large or something else entirely is going on.
Much to the dismay of several sets of foster parents, I don't take orders well. The warning to stay way wasn't one I could swallow. As soon as Sheriff Shoreditch left my dorm room, I had Hailey on the phone for a road trip out to the site.
"A bomb," Hailey says, and she flicks her long dark hair over her shoulder. "I vote bomb."
"I think it was a gas leak. My clothes smelled like gas, and not like how they normally do from the station but like I'd been coated in natural gas. But would it have done this?" I gesture to the giant hole. I lean back on my hand, and it rests next to Hailey's which is the same brown as the dirt. My skin is so pale in comparison, as though I've never seen a sunny day. Freaking European ancestors.
"Honestly, the hole is the least interesting thing to me." Hailey blows a bubble with the gum she insisted we stop to purchase. "Who rescued you?"
"What?" I let out a little laugh. "I left early."
"Oh yeah? Where's your receipt for your cab? I know you keep them."
I do. Stupid, but I always weigh the cost of a shift against the reward of being paid. When you grow up with nothing, you count every penny. Rejoice in every dollar. Lament every earned hour that goes to someone else instead of in my own pocket.
"I haven't looked," I admit. "It's been a weird morning."
"I bet you won't find it, and I bet this—" she waves her hand at the crater "—wasn't an accident."
"I know a lot of weird things happen in Cape Beatrice, but if this was done on purpose then the sheriff is in on it."
"He is a Shoreditch."
Hailey has this theory that all Shoreditchs are lying, cheating assholes. I blame the guy she slept with for a month when we first got here, the one I never met. He was like a mythical creature—rocking her world at night and barely appearing during daylight hours. At one point, I asked her if he was actually a vampire. She laughed and said vampires were biters and she was more into scratchers, whatever that meant.
Hails and I aged out in the same foster home, and we came here together. She got a scholarship too, which seemed like the greatest piece of luck ever. Considering I've never been lucky since the day I was abandoned as a baby, I was thrilled we'd get to stay together.
"I'll go back to my dorm, and I'll find the receipt, and everything will make sense."
She gives me the side eye but doesn't come out and say I'm an idiot. If I smelled that much like natural gas, and the explosion was this big, no one could have rescued me. Unless I was sitting in a natural gas leak for my whole shift. I didn't ask if the leak was inside or outside. Leaking natural gas gives you a headache, which would explain the hangover sensation I had this morning.
