Bad Boy From Hell

Chapter Five

 My mom was taking garlic bread out of the oven when the doorbell rang. I walked to the living room and answered the door. Nina stood next to her dad on the doorstep. She smiled at me, fiddling with her apple charm bracelet.

 "Hello. Please come in," I said in a friendly tone.

 Mr. Swift came in with Nina behind him. "Good evening, Mya. Your house looks nice."

 "Thanks. My mom decorated it."

 "She did a great job. Where is she?"

 "The kitchen. Follow me."

 All of us walked into the kitchen. My mom smiled when she saw Nina and Mr. Swift. She hugged them both. I sat at the table when they came over here. My hands were sweating.

 The food was already on all four plates. The round glasses next to them were filled with what looked like water. Nina gently elbowed me. I turned to face her.

 "Did you hear about that girl who got attacked?"

 "Yeah. Alicia and I saw the carnage," I whispered.

 "Everyone thinks a bear did it."

 "That sounds believable. Unless..."

 "What?"

 "Maybe it was a monster or something."

 Her brows furrowed. Why? It's not like I spewed some ridiculous idea. She chuckled. That's when I realized that she didn't know magic and monsters were real.

 My mom was laughing at something Mr. Swift said. I started eating my spaghetti as I watched the man stroke his beard casually. He flashed her a charming smile.

 I turned my attention back to Nina. She took a sip of her drink. I took a sip of mine. It was white grape juice. There was an unexpected sweetness to it. Since when did it taste like that?

 "Dylan, what do you do for a living?" my mom asked, swirling the grape juice in her glass.

 Mr. Swift chuckled. "That's a good question. I'm a private investigator."

  "So, you get paid to stalk people?"

 "Not really. I get hired to watch people who need to be exposed. Legally."

 "Yep. That sounds completely different."

 "I'm glad you understand."

 He started eating like that conversation didn't just happen. Nina and I held back laughter. She elbowed me again. I turned my attention to her.

 "Look at this," she whispered.

 She showed me a photo of a shredded green comforter on her phone. The tears looked like they came from claws. That forest monster crossed my mind. His claws were sharp enough to rip through a comforter and a mattress.

 I gasped. "Oh my God. That's awful."

 "I know. I definitely not sleeping in my room tonight," she admitted.

 "Where are you going to sleep, then?"

 "I don't know. I haven't decided yet."

 "Did anything else get ripped up like that?"

 "Yeah. Just give me a second."

 She showed me three more photos of her pillow with clumps of brown hair on it. Like at least four inches of hair. She had it up in a bun. I didn't notice that it was shorter.

 I looked up from the phone and ate the rest of my spaghetti. Mr. Swift and my mom were so focused on each other, they hadn't noticed what we were doing. Nina put her phone back in her denim jacket pocket. She smiled when she saw our parents gaze at each other flirtatiously.

 "They look so in love."

 "I wouldn't say that. But they're hitting it off," I said, tapping my fingers on the table.

 "This is cute. Don't you think so?"

 "Yeah. Who do you think ruined your comforter?"

 "I'm pretty sure some wannabe prankster did it. My dad's going to put a camera in my room to catch him."

 "Sounds like a good idea, I guess."

 That obviously wasn't a prank. If it was, there'd be a video of it all over the internet. Anyway, my phone rang. When I reached for it, I felt nothing. Damn it.

 When I looked up, I saw my phone in my mom's hand. She looked at me with an amused smile. How did she take my phone from over there?

 Nina and Mr. Swift glanced between us with raised eyebrows. We watched her type something on my phone. I tried to get up, but I can't. My body was frozen in place. What the hell was wrong with me?

 "Mya, did you Nina forget that it's rude to use your phones at the table?" my mom asked.

 I nervously laughed. "It's not rude when we're going unnoticed."

 "That's funny. Now that you've got my undivided attention, what do you want to talk about?"

 "Alicia saw a girl get attacked across the street and she's scared to leave her house."

 "Oh God. Well, there's people searching for him, so she has nothing to worry about."

 "What if he comes back?"

 "He won't. Trust me."

 I doubted that. He already targeted Nina. That alone was terrifying. We needed to stop him from attacking someone else.

 My mom put my phone down. She took one last sip of her grape juice, like everything was fine. Nina stared at the backdoors with a dazed expression. I looked in the same direction and flinched. Stanley stood in my backyard, waving at us.