Little Talks (Dragonfly #7)

A Demonic Sequence of Events and Another Confession

The itch in my head subsided as soon I was walked up to the partially open door of the human den. There were lights and noise inside, and other things I didn't even process until I was inside. Then I took in the scent of teenage musk (ew) and the sight of kids milking around with their hands hands clutched around what I think were called cups? It was indeed very loud, and there was no sign of Ted anywhere. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the kids were pointing and whispering, I suddenly felt weird, like there was something I should know about, but the feeling passed.

"Zara." Jay squeezed my shoulder. "I don't like this. In fact, I'd go out on a limb and say I might even hate it."

I realized this probably wasn't the most favorable situation for him. "I said I'd be quick, I meant it."

"Okay fine, but if I don't start seeing some serious hauling of tail, I'm going to start whining, and we both hate that."

The corners of my mouth twisted up despite myself. I walked around with Jay tailing me for a bit, testing the area to get a word in from Zach about what we were looking for.

You're looking for the boy.

Is he an ingredient? I mused to myself at the thought.

He's the prime option.

My smile faltered. I wasn't being serious. I don't think I could go through with something like that.

It's not him, it's something he possesses, besides it wouldn't matter if you couldn't or could not, you'd do it for me anyway.

I stopped walking for a moment, feeling chills run down my spine and a dull ache in the back of my skull. Then all of a sudden I lost my train of thought and wondered why I had just stopped. I continued on walking.

"Do you see something?" Jay asked.

"Nothing besides smelly kids who are giving me weird looks."

"Strange." He replied, in an equally odd way.

I was just about to head through another door, when I spotted him. Ted was sitting on a couch and nervously holding one of those cuts while he listened to more nerdy looking kids chat and mingle. I started to move towards him, and it only took a moment for him to make eye contact with me. When he did his eyes went wide and he dropped the cup he was holding, immediately standing up and excusing himself for the spill and to his friends. I couldn't walk faster without leaving Jay, so I just had to keeping going at the same pace while I watched him disappear around a corner.

"Zara, while I love deciphering your thoughts from just your movement alone, what's going on now?" Jay asked, avoiding clipping the furniture.

"Oh sorry. I saw Ted but he just disappeared again. He ran, isn't that weird?"

"Yeah." Jay's strange voice was back. "Am I holding you back? You need to catch, right? Just leave me here for a bit I'll be fine."

"No." I frowned. "No... I don't why but I think that would be a bad idea."

"...okay?"

I could sense he was hesitant again. He knew something I didn't, that was for sure. He was keeping it from me however, so I wasn't going to acknowledge it. I continued stepping over and pushing past people, watching Ted vanish behind a door. I grabbed onto the handle, only to find it wasn't opening. I didn't really know what to do know since my concept of knobs on doors was very rough.

"Is he in there?" Jay asked.

"Yep. Come one Ted, I just want to talk." I knocked on it slightly.