The sound of liquid tumbling inside glass is loud in a silent kitchen. Keelie is on the phone and her bare feet make a light padding sound as she walks back to the table. There are other ingredients and bowls and a recipe book laid out and Keelie's on a mission. A woman's voice laughs on the line.

'Did I actually just hear you grab a bottle of wine?'

"It's for cooking."

'Is that when you drink it?'

"Haha." Keelie deadpans. Her friend is still laughing her muffled, staticky laugh.

'Why are you cooking in the middle of the night?' It's silent for some time. 'Keelie?'

"I'm not a good cook, Val." She sounded sad.

'That's never stopped you before.'

"But Hailee was a great cook." Another silence.

'...Oh, Keels.' The voice is soft. 'Max is going to love you. He's not just Hailee's son. He's Your nephew.'

"But what must he think of me? I left him in the system all this time. He's so different. He doesn't even remember me." Keelie's whispering now. "Does he even remember them? He had no idea about us… Val. He had no idea." The air in the kitchen is cold and Keelie's sitting now. Her delicate fingers are laced through her silky locks. She's thinking about the conversation at breakfast.

'He must have had a hard time. I imagine he didn't have many friends.'

"He's just been sucking the life out of all these humans. They probably hated him and they wouldn't have even known why. This poor boy. I let him go through that thinking he knew. God. I'm a monster." The strong possibility of a young boy, lost in the system, killing a human on accident floated in the air, unsaid. Keelie silently wondered if she'd ever be able to ask about so many things.

There's a long sigh. 'Oh, Keels. You're your own worst critic.'

"I tried to tell him everything this morning and then I chickened out. I'm such a coward."

'Listen, Keelie. You've grown a lot to get here. You're the Sheriff now and you kept your promise. Who cares about the past? He's still a kid and you can still give him a great life.'

"Yeah…"

Max is awake in bed upstairs contemplating his fate. The voices are only loud enough that Max knows Keelie is awake and in the kitchen but she's the least of his concerns.

They're going to sign Max up for school tomorrow. The best thing he could do at a time like this is to go to sleep but how is he supposed to do that while he's anticipating the day?

As he anticipates, Max doesn't get any sleep. He watches the clock and listens to the house. Keelie goes to sleep around 2 AM. She wakes up at 6 AM. Max likes to sleep for far longer than four hours on a good day so that's baffling. He wonders if she's anxious too.

Around 7, Max gives up on sleep and gets up. Keelie looks surprised to see him when he shuffles downstairs.

"Oh, Max! You're up early." She makes a contemplative face. "I think."

Max rubs his sleep-deprived eyes. "Very early… for me."

Keelie smiles. "Want some tea?"

They sit at the table in silence for a while before Keelie asks Max if he's nervous about school. It's said in jest but Max finds himself nodding anyway. Keelie puts her cup down.

"Max, if you don't want to go, we can wait."

That would've been a comforting thought last night, he thinks. He shakes his head. Procrastinating will only make it worse. He'd just anticipate it until it happened. It's better to get it over with.

Over the next few hours, Max fights jitters from sleep deprivation. You see, a key factor in managing social and other types of anxiety is to be prepared. To think of all of the horrible possibilities and then keep them from happening. Max has made an art out of being prepared, but you can only do so much on little to no sleep. So here he is, now, at school, stepping out of the Sheriff's car in the morning just as everyone was flooding in. All of the people he would now have to either ignore or befriend already have crucial intel about him that can be used in battle. Teenagers are merciless enough without ammo but this… this is a strategic failure of a monumental level. This is going to make or break his high school career.

He tries to ignore the stares as he trails closely behind Keelie, hands in his pockets, eyes on her elegant white heels. He looks up a few times on accident and busies himself finding any plants in the landscape that he recognizes. Before the main entrance, there are two Arbutus shrubs in bloom with tiny, strawberry-like flowers, ready to fruit, and some Marble Queens around their bases. Thinking about their water requirements gets him through the door. He wants to go back to sleep so badly.

Max has done this before, many times. Rarely has he been lucky enough to start school at the proper time, but this little excursion is a bit different than the typical one. Mostly because he finds himself in a locked office with Keelie and the principle.

The man across the desk is delicate looking with large glasses and a nice suit. His eyes are narrow but his face is kind. He's unreadable as he talks.

"We work hard here to provide a safe place for the youth of our town." He looks at Keelie like she's one of his teenagers in trouble and she scratches her head bashfully. "Frankly, Ms. Laurent, I'm shocked that you haven't gone over the ground rules with him."

"Well, you know, it's just that there's so much to do I haven't gotten around to it."

"Don't make excuses, Keelie. You're not in high school anymore." He looks back at Max with a warm smile. "As I'm sure you know by now, this is no ordinary town. We have to protect ourselves from exposure. This school is one of the few places in town that are protected from random passersby. Only residents come here so it is safe to be whatever you are publicly."

"O-okay," Max says dumbly, feeling prompted to speak. He tries to be subtle about wringing his hands out in his lap. Then the principal leans over the desk, a few strands of his beautiful silver hair falling into his deceptively young face.

"The message between the lines, Max, is that under no circumstances are you to voluntarily expose yourself in the open outside the walls of one of these safe places." He sits back in his chair and Max can feel Keelie's eyes on him but he just stares at the man's desk, majorly intimidated. "Since you're new here, I don't expect you to be able to tell the difference between a human and one of us so this is the safest thing for everyone. That being said, welcome, Max. I look forward to our time together."

Max doesn't remember much else of the trip as his head is spinning from what felt like a police interrogation and the second night in a row of scattered sleep. Suddenly, he's in the passenger seat of Keelie's sheriff's car, silence consuming the parking lot. He's holding his schedule in his hands, but his mind is somewhere else. Keelie isn't starting the car and then she turns as best she can in her seat, the windbreaker material of her jacket crinkling loudly against the silence.

"I'm really sorry, Max. I didn't think. I was so focused on getting you to like me and then with what happened with Narhi... and I…"

"Is that what... you've been doing?" Max's thoughts are pushed away by the sudden confession. He's staring at Keelie now, brows furrowed, half a smile on his lips. Keelie looks like she's been caught.

"Uh…" Then she laces her fingers together and plays with her thumbs in a way that seems strangely familiar. "Well, yeah… I mean… You're my nephew and I want us to get along… so…"

"I'm not mad…" He smiles a whole smile. He keeps his eyes on Keelie's hands. "I do like you, Keelie." He wants to tell her that he doesn't remember having a real family or that no one has ever put this much effort into him, but those words are more than he has the strength for right now.

"Really?" She looks like she's trying not to be too excited and Max looks at her face this time. He nods and she smiles a brilliant smile, looking like a child again in a way Max just can't, but he's happy just the same.

"Really."

"I like you too, Max. I haven't had any of my real family around in a long time." Then she was looking at the schedule in Max's hands and came back to reality. "Oh, and don't let that old fart scare you, he's really a teddy bear under all of those pointy fingers and ties."

Max laughs a bit at that. "It's okay… I'm sure he has… a good reason."

"It's my fault for not doing my job." Finally, Keelie starts the car. She talks as she drives back the long way back home. "The Sheriff's office works with the school and every other business in town to keep this place free of humans, but we live in the world. So, humans are going to pass through and it's important that we don't give ourselves away or let any of them stay."

They stop for takeout on the way back, the real reason they took the long way, and Keelie gives a rundown. Max falls asleep while they’re waiting for the food, but not before he learns four very important pieces of information.

1: Once he learns how to sense humans, this safe place thing won't be such a big deal.

2: The public part of the Sheriff's office and the hospital are major exposure zones and must be treated as if there are humans there at all times, just in case.

3: Between the high school, the K-12 school, an apothecary, and an unmarked business building that functions as a mall/hangout spot for locals, there are four safe places in town.

4: There used to be a fifth place but that topic is taboo.