I don’t know that lying to a priest is the best way to ‘reflect on why you’re here,’ Benny pointed out.

It’s not lying. It’s omitting information. You should know, you taught me that, Arden replied with a shrug, not making the mistake of speaking out loud.

They were currently in a library full of fourteen other kids and two guards of the Jenkins Juvenile Detention Center for Delinquent Youths – a place that was as irritating as the name was long. After the fight that Benny and Arden got into with the football players, all of them were hospitalized. None of them died, none of them were even seriously injured, just knocked unconscious and what Benny insisted on calling ‘lightly butchered.’ The football players’ parents threatened to sue Arden’s parents, but settled down when they were charged with assault and sent to a nearby Juvenile Detention Center until they turned eighteen, at which point they would be re-evaluated. That was nearly two years ago, and both Arden and Benny had been on their best behavior since they arrived. It was difficult for them, but the knowledge that possible jail-time awaited them if they put a toe out of line kept Benny’s impulses more or less in check.

Seems unnecessary to blame me for everything. If you want to blame anyone here, you should really blame your parents, Benny added.

Trust me, I kind of do, Arden replied, But they’re not the ones that offered to cure my mom’s cancer, are they?

Hey, your dad summoned me for that! Benny retorted.

I’m not arguing with you about this again. Please shut up and let me work on my stupid journal, Arden said, irritated.

Fine.

Arden continued typing on the clunky, loud typewriter that was on their desk. It was an extremely old typewriter that typed in braille, indenting the letter bumps onto the page as they typed. The Center was extremely underfunded, and they didn’t allow cell phones or internet so there weren’t many ways to accommodate a blind delinquent. Arden’s mom had to push to get the typewriter allowed into the Center so that Arden wouldn’t fall behind in their school work. The security guard took the typewriter apart so that they could find any contraband that Maggie might be trying to smuggle in. They put it back together, but the R key started to stick because of how they reassembled it. But, just as they did since they set foot inside the Center, Arden didn’t complain.

A chair at Arden’s table scraped against the floor, making them jump. Arden turned towards the source of the sound and saw the familiar flickering soul light of Misty. They pushed up their sunglasses and smiled.

Ever since Benny had taken full control of Arden’s body, whatever happened to cause their eyes to be stuck demonic black had also caused them to be able to see the souls of the people around them. It looked like a light in the middle of their chest that spread out into their limbs. The soul didn’t give Arden a sense of anyone’s facial features or anything, but they could still identify people based on their soul. The souls of kind people where bright and hard, shining so much Arden sometimes had to look away. The worse you were, the less your soul shone. Misty’s was bright, but it was a soft bright, gently flickering like what Arden imagined a room full of candles would look like. Her soul was comforting and warm to them, and even Benny liked her. She didn’t know he existed, but he liked her.

“Hey Misty,” Arden said, still typing. They heard Misty pause before setting down what sounded like a stack of books with a thud.

“Okay, how do you do that? You always know that it’s me when I come up to you,” Misty asked, sounding baffled. Arden smiled and shrugged.

“You’re the only one that actually talks to me here. And when you walk up I can recognize your footsteps,” they explained. It wasn’t a total lie – that was how Arden had come to rely on knowing who was around them before being able to see people’s souls, “And you always smell like hazelnut. No one else here does.”

“Yeah. That’s my shampoo. I didn’t think it smelled that strong,” Misty confirmed with a small laugh. They loved her laugh. Meeting Misty was the only good part of getting stuck here.

“You getting your reflections essay done for the Father?” she asked. Arden nodded.

“Almost finished it. Maybe I’ll get lucky again and his braille scanner will break again so he can’t read it,” they joked.

I can arrange that, Benny offered in a hopeful tone. His eagerness likely had more to do with wanting permission to wreck something rather than help out Arden.

Dude, no.

“Maybe. What did you reflect on?” Misty asked, grabbing Arden’s attention again.

“Just how I feel like I was always going to end up here. I blamed my brother a little but did the proper catholic thing and was mostly self-deprecating,” they explained.

Whenever Arden mentioned Benny to anyone, it was under the guise that he was their shit disturbing older brother. They didn’t talk about Benny if they could avoid it, but in one of their earlier essays where they had to write about who they would help if they could, they mentioned helping Benny and helping him out of where he was stuck, without any real specifics of where he was stuck. They didn’t think that Father Gabriel was actually going to read the essay, but he did and Arden had to explain who Benny was. Obviously, they couldn’t tell him that Benny was a demon that had tried to take them to hell as a child, so they came up with the brother lie.

“Ah, the infamous Benny,” Misty said. Her chair creaked and Arden was pretty sure that she leaned back in her seat, “One of these visitation days your parents should bring pictures of him. I’ve been picturing him as a really hot, Chris Evans looking guy.”

Arden laughed and in their head, they felt Benny pout.

“From what I’ve heard about how Chris Evans looks, Benny wishes he was that good looking,” they said.

Damn right I do, Benny confirmed, If I were to choose to get stuck in any body, it would have been his.

I’ll try not to take offense to that, Arden replied with a smirk and a head shake.

“Hey, did you hear about the new group of kids that showed up this morning?” Misty asked, lowering her voice so the guards wouldn’t hear her. She didn’t need to worry – Officer Todd was on the other side of the library with a bunch of other kids and Officer Brad hadn’t moved from his desk in nearly an hour. Arden was fairly certain that he was sleeping. Either way, neither of them was paying attention to them.

“It’s all anyone’s talking about today,” Arden said, trying to act disinterested. Truthfully, all they could think about most of the morning where three of the kids that had stepped off the bus. Most of the souls of the seven kids that got off the bus were fairly standard, mostly warm lights. But three of them … their souls didn’t seem to make any light. In fact, they were more like black voids, blacker than the blackness that Arden was used to. Their souls seemed to twist and lash around in the kids’ bodies violently, like a living black hole. It scared Arden a little, but what was more unsettling was how awed Benny was by them.

I haven’t seen a soul that tainted in years, he had told Arden, making their blood run cold.

“They were part of some death pact and each of them killed three people,” Misty whispered, like she thought Arden didn’t know that detail already. “It’s so messed up.”

“I don’t get why they’re here instead of prison,” Arden admitted, “How old are they?”

“Oh, you don’t know? That’s the worst part,” Misty said, “The oldest one, Bruce is like fifteen. The other two are thirteen. From what I’ve heard they knew if they killed people now they would have to be tried as minors. How screwed up is that?”

That’s kind of smart actually, Benny said, sounding a little impressed.

“That’s so messed up,” Arden said, directing their response to both Misty and Benny. We don’t praise killers, they added to Benny.

You’re only friend is a pyromaniac, bud, Benny pointed out.

And you, Arden said sweetly. If he could have, Benny would have rolled his eyes.

“Arden? You still with me, dude?” Misty asked, pulling Arden back to their conversation.

“Yeah. Sorry, just got distracted for a second,” they lied. They quickly finished typing the last sentence of the essay out and pulled out the paper, adding it to the small pile. A shrill bell suddenly filled the air, making Arden flinch and Benny curse. The Center’s bell was so much louder than the one at their high school and after nearly two years, they still weren’t used to it.

“Want me to walk you to Father Gabriel’s office?” Misty offered, standing up, “I need to give him my essay too.”

“Sure, thanks,” Arden said. They stood up and hooked arms with Misty, essay in the other hand. They weren’t allowed to have their cane in the Center just in case they used it as a weapon – after Benny stabbed the cane through a football player’s leg, they couldn’t really blame the authorities for that decision. They mostly had the building memorized, but still didn’t care for walking without know what was in front of them. They were able to avoid people easily enough, but sometimes people would move the furniture in the common area without telling them. It usually ended up with Arden flat on their face with Benny swearing revenge in their head.

Misty lead Arden out of the library and down the hallway. She told them when people were coming towards them so they could move out of the way, to watch out for the dip in the floor that still hadn’t been fixed, that kind of thing. Misty was great for helping Arden move around, and they really appreciated all the help they could get.

You like her, Benny teased, not for the first time.

Dude, shut up, Arden said, embarrassed. There was no point in denying it – Benny lived in Arden’s head. They didn’t really have secrets from each other.

I’d say ask her out, but where can you take her? Hot date with armed guards everywhere? Benny pointed out, I mean, she might be into that. I’m not judging.

I’m not having this conversation with you again, Arden said, I’m not dating anyone while I’m in here, and I’m definitely not dating anyone with you in my head.

Maybe she’d be into that too, Benny said. Arden paused for a second, honestly not sure if Benny was joking or not.

I’m not asking anyone out till you’re gone, they said again, Now drop it, or I swear I’ll chug some holy water again.

…You wouldn’t.

Try me.

Too late, Arden realized that Misty had said something to them, but they missed it. They were about to ask her to repeat what she said when their shoulder got slammed into by someone else. Arden stumbled but Misty caught them.

“Watch it,” a harsh voice snarled.

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Arden retorted without thinking. They turned towards the person that had bumped into them and their blood ran cold. The soul in front of them was a swirling black mass, practically bristling as the owner of it got right into Arden’s face, no doubt trying to make a very intimidating face. Arden gulped but stood their ground.

“The hell did you say?” the guy snapped. Misty stepped between Arden and the guy.

“Take it easy. They’re blind, they couldn’t have seen you,” Misty said, keeping her voice calm and even. The guy scoffed, but turned away and kept walking. Arden didn’t relax until he turned the corner and they couldn’t see the guy’s soul anymore. They let out a sigh of relief.

“Sorry. I kind of zoned out,” they apologized to Misty, “I didn’t know he was walking towards me.”

“No worries,” Misty said, but she sounded distracted. She hooked her arm to Arden’s and they started down the hallway again.

“Was that one of the new kids? I didn’t recognize his voice,” Arden asked. Misty didn’t say anything for a moment. Arden was pretty sure she nodded, because she swore under her breath, realizing they couldn’t see a nod.

“Crap, sorry. Um, yeah. That was Bruce, I think, the oldest one. God, that kid did not look fifteen. I swear he looked like he was twenty,” Misty explained, “He had a tattoo on his neck and everything.”

“Just the kind of guy you want to bring home to the parents, right?” Arden said dryly. Misty scoffed.

“You beat three football players to a pulp, Arden,” she said.

True.

“Yeah, but we – I never killed any of them.”

“There’s something off about Bruce. More than just the bad devil tattoo and the murder,” Misty added, “I think we should stay away from him and his buddies.”

“No argument from me,” Arden agreed.

She’s nice and smart. Better marry her, Arden, Benny joked.

“Hey, do you think the priest will have any extra holy water again? I’d like to bless my room again,” Arden asked. They felt Misty shrug.

“We can ask when we get there,” she said.

No, I was kidding! I’ll shut up! Benny protested. Arden fought back a smirk and Benny relaxed when he realized Arden was kidding.

Jerk, the demon muttered good-naturedly .