Considering the situation, I gave myself a little credit for keeping my usual poker face.  I mean, my best friend had been arrested for murder again, and now it was public.  Everyone knew his name, his face.  Everyone talked about him; friends, coworkers, strangers at the grocery store.  He was now known as a dangerous Eidolon, and evidence that they couldn’t be trusted.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel, trying to ignore the thoughts that Luke may never be free.  Rain thrummed from the sky, blanking out the world in front of me.  Lightning flashed, thunder rumbled in the distance, and I sat in the apartment’s parking lot stewing over everything.

My phone began to ring on the passenger seat but went ignored.  My dad had been leaving endless messages ever since the first news report; I never called him back.  I would fix this, I would make Jared find the real killer and fix everything.  First I just had to find Jared.

Last night I had gone into a zombie-like state.  After listening to Insp. Miller tell the reporter about Luke and “his” victims my hands were shaking.  I couldn’t even see straight—the world blurring and tilting every which way.  I had wanted to rush over to her and just push her to the ground. 

But Jared stopped me, which was probably a good thing.  It was oddly out of character for him to help me the way he did; he escorted me back home, made sure I got into my apartment.  He wanted to check that I didn’t do anything crazy, say, like break into a crime scene.  I didn’t even thank him; in fact, I didn’t say a single word to him.

I checked the time.  I had to leave, but I stalled in the parking lot.  Luke may not be with me, but I was still going to go to the third class with Dr. Wineman.  I needed to talk to him, ask him why he tried to help Luke and maybe ask for help finding the real killer.  He knew something; the only question was how I could get it out of him.  I thought Jared’s gun would have been quite handy about then.

The drive to the college seemed excruciatingly long without Luke to keep me company.  I was so used to him changing stations on the radio like he did the television, used to him talking about how excited he was for the class or for something else.  I glanced at the empty seat next to me; Luke had only been gone a short time but this was overwhelming.

As my windshield wipers did their best to clear the window, my mind wandered to Cindy, the blonde, bright-eyed reporter that had released Luke’s photo.  Not very responsible reporting on her part, but then again she was fed misinformation by a cop with a grudge against Eidolon’s.  My grip on the wheel strained.  Everything was getting out of hand with the Eidolon’s.  Honestly, who cared if you weren’t human?  We had managed to live together this long, what difference did it make if someone had a tail or could fly?

I finally made it to the college and by the time I had gotten there most of the parking lot was full.  I pulled in where I had the past two visits and made my way through the maze of cars, my mind winding me up as I went.  Cold hands pulled the hood of my raincoat lower over my face as I passed the spot where Jared had parked.  My stomach twisted when I found a blue Honda van sitting there and not the bounty hunter.

Once inside, I sat exactly where I had before, noting the circle of empty seats around the two chairs.  It was difficult to filter out the frightened glances and harsh whispers, but I managed.  I was there to talk to the doctor, help Luke, and nothing else.

Moments after I sat down, Dr. Wineman came in, appearing as a happy medium between his two previous moods.  Neither bouncy nor exhausted, it was the first time I saw him as a regular person.

“Hello class,” he said, setting his briefcase on the table.  “I’m glad you could all make it in this weather.  Today’s lesson will be—”

“What about the killer?”  Though she’d interrupted, a girl in the front row raised her hand into the air.

“I beg your pardon?” Dr. Wineman asked.  I glared daggers at the back of her brunette head, willing her to not ask what everyone was thinking, but it was useless.

“The man that killed those women,” she said, her head beginning to turn towards me when it twitched forward.  “He was in this class…” 

Those closest to me risked a glance in my direction.  I did my best to not react, not give them any satisfaction as I dug my fingernails into my palms.  I wasn’t completely sure they were looking at me and not the empty seat beside me.  Dr. Wineman shifted uncomfortably.

“We aren’t here to discuss that,” he said.  His eyes didn’t even flick towards me.  “Now, today’s class will be a little shorter than our others as I have to leave early.” 

Dr. Wineman shuffled through his bag and pulled out a laptop.  I tried to stay focused on him while he plugged prepped the projector, like the rest of the class wasn’t there and thinking only of Luke and his new status as the Ellengale Nightstalker.  I did wonder though, what the woman wanted to know about it.  Why would she ask the professor?  It’s not like he would really know anything.  I knew he knew something, but the rest of the world shouldn’t know that.

“In this world there are humans that are truly evil,” the doctor said, bringing my attention back to him, “and there are humans that are good.  It is the same for Etheric’s; some are just born…bad.”  He kept his eyes on his computer, searching for a file.  I had a hunch that he didn’t want to look up at the class, or me, because of Luke.  How wonderful, Luke was arrested for murder, twice, and now we were in a class talking about evil. 

“Etheric’s are a little different though,” the doctor continued, “when they’re evil it isn’t because they were raised in a violent household, or because they need to be medicated, it’s because it’s in their nature.  It’s simply in their nature.”  The doctor clicked a button and an image popped up on the whiteboard behind him.

Three women sat atop a pile of bones and jewels, every one of them naked.  Cloth covered their lower halves as the one on the right held open arms to a boat out at sea.  The middle woman played on a flute while the third dipped her hand in the nearby water, her mouth open as she sang.

“Can anyone tell me what this is?” Dr. Wineman asked, looking around the classroom.  Nobody answered, not even daring to guess.  I rolled my eyes.

“I can tell you,” someone said by the door. All eyes turned to find Jared standing there, hands in his pockets.  “They’re sirens.  The sketch is a little inaccurate though.”  His hands came out of his pockets as he walked up the stairs, directly towards me.  Taking two steps at a time, the room watched him; they must have seen him as some mysterious, attractive man with all the answers.  Nobody looked surprised when he sat down next to me in what had once been Luke’s seat.

“That’s correct,” Dr. Wineman said.  His curiosity must have gotten the better of him, since he didn’t question who Jared was as the bounty hunter sat down.  “Why do you say it’s inaccurate?”

“Well, Greek mythology had a couple of different stories for sirens; one was that they were servants to Persephone but when she was kidnapped by Hades and brought to the underworld her mother Demeter cursed them, making them half bird.”  Jared leaned back in his seat and all I could do was stare at him in disbelief.  “Another story was that Demeter gave them to bodies of birds to search for Persephone but eventually gave up and made a home in Southern Italy.  But none of that is true.”

I was at a loss for words.  He sat there, looking smug, most likely because he knew exactly what I was thinking.  I had known he was a bounty hunter, but I had never expected him to actually…know things.