Unintelligible words repeated beneath Dalia’s breath, like the casting of protective spells. Stopping at the edge of the school's sidewalk, she tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the crosswalk signal to light.

The taller of her two companions, Rook, ran a hand across his tired, freckled face before pushing it through his auburn hair. Squinting against the sun—its rays catching the subtle flecks of red in his dark irises—he glanced at the boy beside him.

Henry.

Not wanting to speak aloud and draw the attention of the other students spilling out for the day, Rook tilted his head in silent question.

What the fuck should we do?

The shorter boy shrugged, then mouthed, Stick to the plan.

Right.

Rook’s lips twisted unhappily.

The plan: walk Dalia home and refrain from speaking until she was certain no one—or nothing—was listening. It was a promise they'd made over lunch to coax out what had left her so shaken. Only after they'd sworn three times had she whispered a story about a monster cloaked in shadow making threats. Then she'd shut down, refusing to say another word until they'd kept their promise after school.

Dalia worried the ends of her black curls, her gaze darting towards every patch of shadow she passed.

Rook sighed quietly. And now, here they were.

If Henry had been the one telling the story instead of Dalia, Rook wouldn't have been worried. He wouldn't have taken it seriously. Henry absorbed science fiction like a sponge, and more than once his imagination had run away with him. For his birthday, he'd asked his parents for an EMF detector.

But Dalia—captain of the debate team and a skeptic of anything science couldn't prove—had always been their steadfast rationalist. She'd scoffed her way through every horror movie they'd ever watched.

Rook doubted the supernatural parts of her story were real, but the fear in her eyes screamed that she believed them. His fingers curled into fists. Whatever had really happened must have terrified her so completely that her mind had wrapped it in fiction just to cope.

Rook’s eyes narrowed. Whoever was responsible would regret it.

The pedestrian signal began flashing, stopping the traffic and sending people across the intersection.

Dalia remained rooted to the spot, staring at the shadows beneath the waiting cars.

Trying to shield her odd behaviour from the people around them, Rook shifted closer and accidentally brushed her arm.

Dalia jumped. Then, without so much as glancing at either of her friends, she strode across the road, quickly pulling ahead. Rook and Henry broke into a jog to catch up, exchanging another worried look.

Several blocks into the middle-class neighbourhood, Rook finally broke the silence.

“Dalia.”

“Ssh!”

“No.” He kept his voice calm, but stern. “No one’s overhearing us here. You need to call the police. Just… leave out the crazy-sounding parts so they’ll take you seriously.”

“I can’t,” Dalia whispered so weakly, both boys strained to hear her. She tugged the straps of her backpack and held them close, like a child clutching a comforting doll. “It—He? He said he’d harm my parents if I told anyone. I risked telling you guys because you’re my besties and…” She looked over at Rook. “He wants you too.”

Henry cleared his throat. "In the cafeteria, you said this... shadow thing mentioned you, Rook, Gwendolyn, Fanny..."

Dalia frowned. "He never mentioned you, Henry."

Henry let out a shaky breath, though concern for his friends still outweighed any relief in his eyes.

Rook draped an arm around Dalia's trembling shoulders. "Did he actually say our names?"

"Yes. Our first names."

The thought of some creep hiding in her attic, listening to her conversations before pretending to be something supernatural, had Rook gritting his teeth.

"He seemed amused that we were all friends," Dalia continued.

“I wouldn’t say all…”

A flicker of the old Dalia returned as she shot Rook a stern look and shrugged off his arm. "Fanny is a friend!"

That she hadn't included Gwendolyn in her objection didn't surprise either boy. The queen bee treated Dalia and Henry like peasants. As for Rook, with his intimidating appearance and reputation for having little patience for anyone's shit, he simply didn't exist. More accurately, Gwendolyn ignored him—and anyone with him when present—and he her.

"Fanny's solely your friend, Dalia," Henry clarified placatingly. "She only hangs out with me because I pay her to do my homework sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Rook snorted.

Henry rolled his eyes. “Whatever. She likes it. Anyways, that workaholic has no sense of humour and speaks way too bluntly. She made Rook cry last year!”

“The Stump didn’t make me cry!” Rook protested. “I had a runny nose that day.”

"Sure you did. Your hackles go up whenever you see each other. Though, when Mrs. Whittam forced you two to be lab partners last week, you thoroughly kicked the class’s ass.”

"We can work together." Rook rubbed a hand over his face, remembering how much patience that lab had taken. "We just get on each other's nerves ninety percent of the time. She has no filter."

“Ninety-nine.”

“She doesn’t mean to be rude. That’s just her personality,” Dalia defended the girl.

A scoff escaped Rook.

Dalia finally tore her attention away from the shadows long enough to give him another disapproving look.

"That's not a valid excuse," Rook stated in a growly-grumble.

"It doesn't help that you started calling her 'The Stump' last year."

"She's short and stubborn. It fits."

"Come on, Rook. You're eighteen now. Isn't it time to start acting a little more maturely?"

“I will when she starts showing some tact!” Rook sot back, his face flushing.

He was mature.

He kept his grades up, booked his own appointments, cleaned the house, bought groceries, cooked his own meals. He'd even worked three summer jobs last year.

Dalia knew that!

"Oookay." Henry stepped between them. "How about we stop biting each other's heads off while there's someone out there who somehow got into Ali's attic last night and her yard this morning… But we can’t actually see him, right?”

“The shadows distorted whenever he spoke from within them,” Dalia said, her brow furrowing. “He had a man’s voice.”

“I bet it’s a ghost.”

“I doubt it’s supernatural,” Rook said.

"Well, it definitely wasn't natural." Dalia shivered. "I know what I heard. I know what I saw."

"I'm not saying you..." Rook bit his tongue, unsure how to finish the thought without sounding insulting. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Dalia further—or have her send him away when she needed him most.

"Supernatural or not, he told you something was happening tonight," Henry said. "Something world-changing for the people he wanted. So... after tonight, everything goes back to normal?"

“I guess? Maybe?”

"Then the solution's simple. Don't go home today."

Rook nodded. “And if you won’t call the police, at least tell your folks. It’s not as if they’d react like mine and put you through a dozen therapy sessions in disbelief. Someone could be in their home.” Or, they’d think Dalia was having a nervous breakdown over exams, but they’d still do everything they could to keep her safe. “They’ll take you at your word.”

Dalia nibbled her bottom lip. Keeping secrets always ate away at her. She shook her head again.

"I can't risk it. The closer we get..." She glanced towards her house. "...the stronger this feeling gets. He'll hear me tell them. He'll do something worse if I don't keep them in the dark. I know it."

“Come to my place,” Rook offered.

“Aren’t your parents still out of the country?” Henry asked.

"Fuck if I know." Rook shrugged. He'd long since stopped keeping track. His elderly parents had adopted him on what he suspected had been a whim. Not long after he'd entered his teens, they'd embraced retirement as though they didn't still have a dependent living under their roof. "International hotels are more home to them these days. Either way, we can board the place up and not worry about anyone barging in."

Dalia gave another miserable shake of her head.

"He wants you too, remember? He must be watching your house as well." She looked in the direction of Rook's street. "There's something inhuman in the air."

Despite his skepticism, the hairs on the back of Rook's neck prickled.

"My house, then," Henry said brightly. "I'd like to see Mr. Shadow Creep sneak past a detective and a psychologist."

"Your parents are two of the most observant people I know," Rook agreed.

Henry flashed him a grateful grin. "And if he's a ghost, he's definitely not getting in. I've spread salt across every entrance."

“Your parents were okay with that?”

"I did it discreetly. Had to pry up..." He waved a hand. "Never mind. The house is ghost-proof. Let's leave it at— Is that your stomach rumbling like a landslide, Rook?"

Sheepishly, Rook rubbed his stomach. "If that jerky from last week is still there, I'm in."

"Carnivore." Henry laughed. "Yeah, I think there's still some in the cupboard. And I'll make popcorn, Dalia. What do you say?"

"Y-yeah." Dalia nodded. "Okay. But let's get there quickly. If he catches on..." She pulled out her phone. "Should we tell Fanny?"

Henry grimaced at Rook.

After a moment's thought, Dalia nodded to herself.

"I'll call her with an abridged version. Something believable. She only believes what she can see. She won't come to your place, Henry, but she'll be on alert."

Looking up at the sky, Henry silently mouthed, "Thank you."

Rook stepped off the curb towards his street.

"I've got to stop by my place first."

Dalia shook her head so violently he thought it might come off.

"I doubt he's there," Rook said. "I'm hardly interesting."

"He probably mentioned Rook as a scare tactic to control you," Henry added. "I've heard of people doing things like that..." He trailed off when Dalia grabbed Rook's hand so tightly her knuckles turned white.

“Come straight to Henry’s with us!” Dalia pleaded.

"If anyone's lurking in the shadows of my yard, I'll scare the shit out of them first." Rook flashed her an arrogant grin.

In truth, he knew his intimidation factor ended with his height and eyes. Despite exercising regularly, his muscles were little more than spindly weeds, stretched thinner with every growth spurt. He was tired all the time, as though his body wanted to sleep for a year, and he didn't own a cellphone, so calling for help meant running inside to use his parents' ancient landline.

Still, he was light on his feet when he needed to be, and the thought of sneaking up on a prowler instead of the other way around sent a shot of adrenaline through him.

“But you skipped lunch today.”

Rook blinked, thrown by the sudden change in topic.

"So? I wasn't hungry."

His stomach objected with another loud rumble.

He really wished he hadn't forgotten his lunch—or that he'd had the money to buy something from the cafeteria. Earlier, he'd pretended he simply wasn't interested in eating to avoid worrying his friends.

"Hunger keeps me focused. If anything's out of the ordinary, I'll notice."

“But you get shaky.”

Henry laughed.

"More like grumpy and aggressive. During biology, while you were in AP, Dalia, I offered Rook my extra chips. Alfred Lorry grabbed the bag as a joke, and Rook nearly tore—"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be careful," Rook cut in before Henry could embarrass him any further for Dalia's benefit.

Back in elementary school, Rook and Dalia had gravitated towards each other because they'd both been adopted around the same time. The local kids had avoided them, as though being an orphan was contagious. But not eight-year-old Henry. Ever the eccentric, he'd marched over during recess and declared them the Three Musketeers.

These days, Dalia had other friends she spent time with too, but the three of them could always count on each other.

With a wave, Rook headed up the road alone.

When he reached his two-storey house, he took the front steps two at a time. Everything looked no normal. No vehicles sat on the parking pad. The door was locked. The lights were off.

He slid his key into the lock, jiggled it loose, and stepped inside. The familiar silence greeted him.

Alone.

As usual.

Then why… He rubbed at the hairs standing along his arms.