he destroyed the door.
* * *
Mouse and Tim had curled up on the couch in the living room of his apartment together. He had been about to leave for the office when she arrived.
After she took her fill, he was far too wiped out and shaky to go anywhere. She felt horrible for taking so much, and fussed over him like a mother hen, getting him a blanket and making him tea, holding him and running her fingers through his short, mousy brown hair and setting his glasses aside as he gradually eased off into sleep. His roommates thoughtfully stuck to their rooms, giving them privacy.
Mouse felt awful.
She’d waited too long, took too much, and, now that Timothy was passed out, no longer woozily talking to her, she had too much time to think about how right Max was. Only a monster would do something like to this someone.
Only a monster would hurt the ones they loved.
* * *
Jessica was studying at the kitchen table and ready to throw some books across the room. Any excuse to get away for a while would be welcome. Like Timothy, she’d “paid her dues” and was too lightheaded to concentrate. Royce had visited her before leaving for the office. He’d promised to spend more time with her later in the week, so she wasn’t too terribly disappointed that he’d only come to her for a few minutes.
Christoph knocked on the door to her apartment and waited, fiddling with the large band-aid on his shoulder. It had already closed up, and had left only a tiny red spot showing through the plastic and gauze.
* * *
Ashi, with his ice bag wrapped in a towel and pressed to his head, went downstairs to see if Analie could find him a map of New York and the surrounding states. He knocked on Mouse’s apartment door. No answer. After hesitating a moment, he let himself in.
Analie was nowhere to be seen, though there were a few schoolbooks on the table in the living room, a neat stack of loose leaf next to them. He scented but couldn’t track anything while he was human. The kitchen was empty as well, though he noticed a plate of cookies on the counter.
That left the bedroom. He knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Analie called.
Ashi walked in and was greeted with a snarl. Entirely unimpressed, he glowered at Analie until she shrank back.
“I need a map of New York,” he told her.
“Tough.”
“The next couple of days would be fine.”
“I don’t think you heard me. I said ‘tough’. As in, ‘tough luck, you’re not getting a map of New York from me.’”
“It needs to show streets, railroads, that sort of thing.”
“Uh, hello? I’m not getting you a map.”
Ashi stared at her. “Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m not.”
“Listen to me, you little brat—”
Analie was out of her chair and on him in a second. Her eyes were completely gold and her nails were sharp and hard. Ashi suffered three brutal swipes through his shirt before he could throw her off and beat a hasty retreat. That hadn’t gone well at all. His powers of intimidation had obviously dimin—
Oh, hell no, she was chasing him!
* * *
Long after Tim had nodded off, Mouse got to her feet, carefully easing him back down and tucking the covers around him. Deeply troubled, she eased out of the apartment, shutting the door quietly behind her and heading slowly back downstairs, carefully not looking at Christoph on the way.
When she got to the first floor, Ashi was in the midst of running away from something. Again. Probably John.
Not terribly pleased, she waited a moment to see who was after him this time. When Analie rocketed out the door behind him, she blinked in shock, wondering what the hell he did to set her off. With an unheard sigh, she rushed forward to interpose herself and keep Analie from tearing Ashi to bits.
Analie stopped short when the shadow blocked her path. The outline and paper-cutout shadows had a hazy filling, like an out-of-focus picture. Analie sucked in a lungful of air and snarled warningly.
* * *
Meanwhile, Christoph blinked as Ashi, bleeding, bolted past him. Christoph turned to Jessica’s door and knocked a little more urgently.
Jessica surged to her feet, threw her pencil down, and opened the door. She wasn’t expecting company so she was only wearing an old T-shirt and some loose jeans, her hair unkempt, and making no effort to hide the fresh, tiny bite marks on her