“Dee, this is how you make a steak!” Parker exclaimed. Unfortunately, he was not referring to my cooking, but Niall’s. He did look cute pretending to be all grown-up and sophisticated, though.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Parker, don’t be so disrespectful to your sister," Niall chided, taking his seat at the table. “Even though her cooking is terrible, she tries her best.” He glanced over at me with a hint of a smile, his eyes squinting in the corners like they always did when he was saying something obnoxious.

“My cooking is not terrible, it’s just hard to know something tastes good when you can’t, you know, taste it,” I countered.

Niall shrugged, casually eating a bite of chicken. “I don’t know, sounds like an excuse,” he said. “I was watching TV, and there was a Muslim chef who couldn’t eat pork, but made a mean pork chop.”

“Well, excuse me for not being a professional chef.”

Niall’s gaze met mine, and he reached over to pat my arm with mock sincerity. “You’re excused.”

I kept his gaze for a few moments while I chewed and tried to think of a response. All that came to mind were swear words. “So,” I began and turned away, opting to change the subject over dropping an F-bomb in front of the kids. “How was your day at school, Sybil?”

“Good,” she replied in a solid monotone, not looking up.

I tried not to sigh.

/Please, don’t tell me it’s going to be one of those nights./

“Did anything interesting happen?” I asked.

Sybil shrugged. “Not really.”

“Did anything un-interesting happen?” I tried.

“Not really.”

“Did anything happen at all?” Niall interjected.

“Not really,” Sybil said in the same monotone, but the corner of her mouth twitched a little.

“Oh, cool, so like nice day in the void?” Niall said.

“More or less.”

“Cool, cool,” he nodded. “You know, I spent some time there last week. Shouted into the void for a bit, the void shouted back. Good conversation.”

I chewed silently, quietly thankful for Niall. Of the two of us, he’s better with people. He knows how to get the kids to speak. He can do small talk and real talk equally well—and he’s funny.

I like to listen more. Sometimes, I feel like it would be ideal if I didn’t have to say much of anything, but people just spoke as they pleased. I know the real world doesn’t work like that, and often what people want to say and what I want to hear are different. It would be nice, though, if we didn’t have to ask any questions, but could just communicate how we felt and thought to one another directly.

“When are we going for a walk?” Parker interrupted.

Niall turned. “When everyone is finished eating.”

I noticed that Parker was already done with his food. He probably rushed because of the walk. I frowned a little. That was fast. He was probably going to get indigestion.

“But everyone takes so long,” he complained.

“If you’re bored, I can think of some things for you to do in the meantime while the rest of us slow-pokes eat,” Niall offered.

“Not that bored,” Parker murmured, getting up and putting his empty plate in the sink. “Call me when it’s time to go outside,” he said and then bounded up to his room before we could ensnare him with any responsibility.

-

We finished dinner a little while later. I could tell by the way Parker kept wandering out of his room and peeking down the stairs that we were not eating fast enough for him, but that’s usually the case when we go for our walks. If it wasn’t our slow eating habits that bothered him, it would be the sun itself for not setting quick enough.

The three of us went upstairs to change into clothes more fit for trekking in the woods before meeting at the door. Parker was practically vibrating with excitement at that point.

“Everyone ready?” Niall asked, surveying the group. We took a look around and nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”

The air outside was cool, but laced with an occasional warm, moist breeze. It was spring and the weather was still making up its mind between the harsh cold of winter and the thick heat of summer. The result was this pleasant, albeit tenuous, in-between.

Parker ran to the backyard, and Sybil followed. She was too self-conscious to run, but kept a quick pace. Niall waited with me while I locked the door. Most people around here didn’t lock their doors, but we needed to be careful.

I pocketed the keys when I was done and Niall and I made our way out back. The kids were already pretty far ahead. I shook my head and smiled. They were crazy.

I felt a little bump at my shoulder and looked over to Niall casually nudging me with his arm. “So how was your day?” he asked.

“Pretty good,” I said. “We’ll have the Easter rush soon, but right now isn’t bad.”

Holidays were always fun at a florist’s. Right now, we were between Valentine’s Day and Easter, when things slowed down a bit. I like having more to do around the busier times, but I have to wear a vest whenever I go out of the house, and that can make running around a very hot, uncomfortable affair.

Niall nodded. “That’s good. The funeral didn’t make it too busy?”

A man who lived in the main town died last week, and the funeral was this weekend. I shook my head. “No, we did a few arrangements, but the widow’s allergic to a lot, so it wasn’t anything crazy.”

“That makes sense,” he said. He looked up at the sky. The full moon was a few nights ago and now it was waning. The blue-white light shone on his face, highlighting the bulge of his lower eyelids and making the dark creases stand out even more. Niall is never really well-rested. All of us have trouble getting to sleep, but that and the combination of the hours he works ensures he’s always operating on some level of drowsiness. While I like Joe and Anne, I wish he would take a different job, if only so he didn’t have to exist as a walking zombie. Problem was, there weren’t many other jobs around.

“What?” Niall asked. He caught me looking at him.

“You look tired.”

“Well, you see, there’s a good explanation for that,” he said with and feigned heir of importance. “Because I am.” He winked. “But anyway, we should probably catch up to the kids before they riot.”

I laughed. “Parker just might, with how today’s gone for him,” I said.

Niall nodded. “You ain’t kidding.”

Parker and Sybil were waiting at the edge of the forest, hunched postures and glares giving us a sense of their impatience. “Come on!” Parker whined.

“Geez, calm yourself, my dude!” Niall said, waving his hands.

“Maybe I would if you didn’t take so long,” Parker replied, throwing back his head. It reminded me of when he was a toddler. He would do the same thing, occasionally against the floor, and then proceed to cry.

“Well, we’re here now, so let’s go,” Niall said before we all headed into the woods.

There’s something especially beautiful about forests at night. Some people might find them creepy, but I love the way the dark tree trunks tilt, and how their shaded branches spiral up into leaves that reflect the blue light of the moon, with their own green tinge mingling in the reflection. Those trees surrounded us, and the sound of our footsteps seemed to crash through their blissful silence. That was okay. Soon we—at least Niall and I—would be above them.

For a while, we walked on with only the sound of our feet cracking twigs and leaves. Then, we came to the fallen log that served as our sign to know we were deep enough in the woods. It was a good thing too. I think Parker would have burst if we went for too much longer.

The kids turned and looked at us expectantly. I nodded. “Go ahead.”

With that, Parker ripped off his shirt and went running on the eight legs he’d been engineered to have, and Sybil ran shortly after him.

“Well, that was quick,” Niall commented, slowly peeling off his own shirt and stretching out his golden-brown and white wings. He tilted his head back and sighed. “Ugh, that feels so good,” he murmured.

I smiled and removed my jacket, allowing my own wings to stretch out the side of the t-shirt I’d slashed. Mine were very different from Niall’s—a normal human might say they looked demonic. It really did feel good to extend them though.

“You ready?” I asked.

Niall smiled. “You have no idea.”