The tiny woman craned her neck up to see the striking figure standing half-naked in the doorway, still glistening from a fresh shower. Zayzann took a moment to stare back at this brash woman who had the audacity to bang on the apartment door enough to rattle it in its frame. This interloper vaguely resembled Iris, save for her shorter stature and more voluminous figure. Whoever this was, she had a piercing gaze and haughty attitude that Zayzann immediately disliked.
“I live here. Who are you?” Zayzann clapped back. The last renegade rivulets of water trailed down his olive-colored skin as he basked in the sunny doorway. “Can I help you with something? Are you looking for Iris?”
“Yeah, uh, yes, I am,” she struggled to say while staring intently at the handsome, damp man leaning in the doorway. “She asked me for a few books, and here they are.”
“Oh, thank you.” Zayzann took the heavy sack of hardcover books from her outstretched hand. “These must be the rulebooks we needed… Sorry, but what’s your name?”
“Jeez, how typical. She didn’t even mention me,” the woman groused and cast a distasteful sneer at Zayzann. “I’m Lily, her sister.”
“I see. Well, thank you for the books.” Zayzann waved with his free hand and was beginning to feel his control slip on this shift. “Take care then, Lily.”
The door slammed shut behind Zayzann, leaving Lily without introducing himself or explaining why he needed the books. He left her with no response at all. Lily stood in front of the now closed door in shock at the events that had just transpired. Since when was Iris seeing someone so handsome? And whatever happened to her boyfriend, Ethan? It was ultimately none of her business, and so she wheeled around to return to the decrepit sedan without a second glance.
Whatever. Not my problem. I did my part.
Lily hopped in the sedan and cranked the air conditioning before texting Iris about the delivery. She shook her head and wondered what Iris had ever done to deserve having such a good-looking man in her apartment. She rapidly typed into the phone and waited for a reply before driving off.
“Left the books with your boyfriend.” Lily texted.
A message popped up just after Lily had sent her confirmation text. Iris must have been waiting by her phone for news. Lily raised a dismissive eyebrow at her high-strung sibling’s hair-trigger response time and read the confusing message from her sister.
“Huh? Who did you leave them with?” Iris replied.
“The blue-haired guy. I’ve done my part, now buzz off. I’m busy.” Lily blasted back at Iris.
She tossed the bright red phone case into the passenger seat and cranked the stereo with loud, aggressive music that rattled the windows and mirrors on the old sedan. With that, Lily sped off in Iris’s old car without another thought.
Worry and fear seeped into Iris from all sides. Who was the blue-haired man that Lily gave the books to? She didn’t know anyone with blue hair, except maybe Olly from back in their college days, but he’d stopped dying his hair years ago. It was unlikely that Khazmine would choose so challenging and obvious of a camouflage, which left Iris struggling for an explanation. She frantically typed a new message into her phone and hoped for a speedy reply.
“Hey guys? Did you get the books?”
Nothing. No response at all. She waited for agonizing minutes and could hear the ceaseless ticking of the office clock on the wall. Each mechanical tick threatened to drive her to madness. She didn’t even hear Mr. Maker approach her desk from behind, only to frighten her at his unexpected appearance.
“Everything all right here?” Mr. Maker asked. “Gave you quite the startle just then, huh? What’s on your mind?”
“Oh, nothing, sir.” Iris shrank. “Just some trouble at home.”
“Is it an emergency? Do you need to leave early?”
“N-no, thank you.” Iris maneuvered awkwardly under his oppressive gaze. “It can wait.”
“That’s a good girl.” Warren condescended as he leaned closer to get a look at some papers on her desk. “If you’re not too busy, how about working with the staff to help finalize a few pre-launch projects? Feel free to pick amongst the staff or the interns. I need to head out early anyway, so there’s not much left for you to do here.”
“Sure thing.” Iris nodded as she thought about which person might need the most help. “I’ll head over to the interns’ pool. They probably have loads of figures to check over.”
“That’s the spirit.” Warren grinned. “I’ll be off then. See you tomorrow.”
Iris collected a few office supplies and toddled off to the small huddle of desks where the interns sat. Three of the four interns were seniors from the local university who were looking for college credit, leaving the recently graduated Evelyn as the eldest and most senior member of the gaggle. She smiled brightly when Iris approached them with clipboards, highlighters, and marking pens in hand.
As it turned out, none of the interns were adequately prepared to deal with the confusing heaps of paperwork they’d been saddled with. The data sheets, work orders, and invoices were a hopeless jumble all around them. The interns gratefully accepted any insight Iris could offer, as their desks were little more than a disaster area of errant papers and misfiled documents. Iris rolled her lacy sleeves back to pitch in and rescued the wayward youths.
Byxx barreled through the open balcony door, drenched with sweat and cursing in that bizarre language of his. He didn’t even look up at the spooked Zayzann, who was seated on the floor with rulebooks spread out in front of him. Zayzann startled at Byxx’s imposing entrance and loud, grumpy shouting.
“You’re a d*mned cheater, you know that? I call dirty pool, you pathological swindler!” Byxx bellowed back at Khazmine, who was beaming a full, mischievous grin at him. “You won’t fool me again, Augment. Mark my words.”
“You failed to specify what qualified as a weapon, archfiend.” Khazmine clucked at Byxx while oozing self-satisfaction at her reasoning. “I merely used whatever was at my disposal and am not to blame for your lack of insight. Also, we exceeded the original fifteen minutes by—”
“That’s not the point, and you know it! Blast, that stings.” Byxx clapped back and lifted his shirt to examine the series of welts that danced across his right shoulder and back. The skin was swollen and looked almost burned around the edges. “Just because it’s a part of your body doesn’t mean it’s not a weapon. Look at my fangs. I didn’t bite you, so how could you—”
“Shhh… Guys, keep it down.” Zayzann pleaded up to them from his seated position on the carpeting. “What’s the matter?”
“Oh, not much.” Byxx bit back his sarcasm unsuccessfully. “Just trying to defend myself from Ms. ‘Doesn’t-Like-To-Lose’ over here. You see these marks? She whipped me with her—”
“Enough!” Khazmine surprised both Zayzann and Byxx with her sudden snapping command. Her eyes narrowed fiercely at the prone Paxoram, as if he were being sized up as prey. “Where did you get those books?”
“I, uh, well…” Zayzann’s eyes darted between Byxx and Khazmine, whose interest had instantly shifted to the new books. “Lily dropped them off?”
A poignant, heavy silence hung in the air as the distressing smell of ozone flooded the living room. Khazmine blanched at the realization first, before Byxx could grasp what was going on. The Augment closed the distance between herself and Zayzann, crouching low to meet his frightened stare, and clasping his face in her black gloved hands.
“Were you seen?” Khazmine rattled a serious, metallic crackle through barely contained rage. “Answer me!”
“Y-yes, but she didn’t suspect a thing!” Zayzann yelped under the unintentional strain Khazmine had exerted against his flushed face. “She just showed up with the books and I took them. I didn’t even tell her my name! Honest!”
Khazmine’s pupils constricted to severe, vertical slits as she darted around the room to search for the forgotten cellphone. Byxx found it first, and she snatched the device from his hand to get a look at the missed messages. Byxx and Zayzann exchanged confused glances while Khazmine processed what was happening. She thrust the phone in front of Zayzann’s face with an electrical forcefulness.
“Well, you wanted to tell Iris about your new abilities.” Khazmine grimaced as she handed the phone to Zayzann. Her piercing stare bore into Zayzann with venomous hostility. “Now is your chance. It is almost certain that Iris knows about your human form now, unless, of course, you were foolish enough to answer the door like this.”
“I-I messed up…” Zayzann admitted as he drew his fluffy split ears back shamefully and averted his eyes. “I thought it was that Rozniak woman, and I didn’t want her to bully Iris anymore. I just…”
Zayzann fought back pitiful sobs, but ultimately lost the battle as his eyes filled with sorrowful tears. She hadn’t meant to scare him so badly, and Khazmine looked to Byxx for absolution, but found none. He glared coldly back at Khazmine to demand that she fix what she’d done, causing Khazmine’s harsh posture and expression to soften. She clenched her jaw and hesitantly placed a consoling hand on Zayzann’s shoulder, which shook with the force of his full-body trembling.
“I… apologize… for frightening you.” Khazmine struggled to convey herself sincerely. “I didn’t mean to get angry. I am sorry.”
Anger, pain, and regret. Were these the only kinds of feelings she had left? Khazmine lingered with this uncomfortable thought as Zayzann wiped his tears with the backs of his hands. No, there was more, she was sure of it, even if just for a moment. She had pity, and fear, and longing still. It tugged at whatever was left of her heart and forced her to drop her defenses.
The stink of ozone dissipated, leaving only the scent of a sweaty archfiend, and the subtle smell of fear wafting from the quivering Paxoram. Zayzann took a deep breath and looked up at Byxx and Khazmine. All traces of anger had washed away from the Augment, and Byxx's kind eyes locked onto Zayzann’s. Byxx reached down to give Zayzann a lift from the floor, pulling him into a hug at the pretense.
“Come on now, buck up, Zay.” Byxx patted him on the back and tenderly rubbed the ridge of feathers that ran between his wings. “You’re all right.”
Khazmine drew her ears back and stared at the phone screen while formulating a response to the messages. She reasoned that someone would need to be the steward to the device at any given time, to avoid such misunderstandings in the future. Khazmine retrieved the stylus from inside the phone to aid in typing a response to Iris.
“We have the books, and there is something we should talk about when you get home. Fret not. All is well.”
But this time, it was the roommates’ phone that garnered no response…
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