He told the other boy, “You can try hitting me in the back again or hurting me some other way, but I know to watch out for you now, and anything you try is only going to make me mad. If you don’t stop hurting people, I’ll come find you. I’ll hunt you down. That’s what I’m made for, hunting things. And when I find you, I’ll pound your face into the sidewalk.”
Joel had gone red, but Andrew’s face turned chalk white. His eyes darting around the stairwell, he whispered uncertainly, “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I can start now, if you want,” said Liam.
Moving too fast for the other boy to stop him, he flipped Andrew around. Bracing one hand at the back of the other boy’s head, he pushed Andrew’s face hard against the concrete wall.
Andrew cried out, “Okay, okay—I believe you! I swear, I’ll stop! I’ll stop!”
Breathing hard, Liam listened closely to what Andrew said. Like his ability to identify a person’s nature, his truthsense wasn’t very well developed yet, but he could still hear the ring of truth in the other boy’s voice.
The thing was, Liam still didn’t believe him. He thought Joel would probably keep his word, but Andrew seemed different from Brad and Joel. There was something wrong with Andrew, something really bad that ran deep. He might stop for a while until he stopped believing that he would get caught, but sooner or later Liam thought he would hurt somebody again, because he liked hurting people too much.
But Liam wasn’t old enough to fix anything like that. The only thing he could do was scare Andrew badly enough to make sure that future stayed far away.
Leaning forward to put his lips near Andrew’s ear, he tried another hiss. Heat boiled out between his lips again and singed the ends of the other boy’s hair. Crying out, Andrew cringed against the wall.
That would have to do. Satisfied, he let him go, and Andrew bolted for the stairs.
Turning to follow the other boy, Liam climbed the stairs, and as he looked up he discovered Marika hanging over the railing and staring down at him. She wore a solemn expression, and her gray eyes were huge.
He reached the top stair and sat down, stretching his legs out and looking at them. He had collected a couple of bruises on his shins where the other boys had kicked him. They would fade quickly enough, hopefully before the end of the day.
The angry energy was leaving him. He felt his dragon side straining to get bigger again, and this time he had to struggle to stay in control. After not having much of an appetite for a couple of meals, he felt hollow and empty. He wanted some meat, but he wouldn’t get a snack until after school, so he resigned himself to feeling hungry for a few hours.
Marika came to sit beside him. She tucked sleek black hair behind one pointed ear, as she said, “That was hella awesome. Excuse my French.”
His cheeks warmed. “They needed to be stopped.”
“Yeah, I know, or one of these days, they were going to hurt somebody really bad.” She studied him for a moment. “You did a good thing. And dude, you breathed fire!”
“I guess I did, didn’t I?” He gave Marika a sidelong smile. She smiled back. On impulse, he said, “Hey, would you like to be my girlfriend for a couple of days?”
A startled wash of color stained her pale cheeks. She stared at him. “Only for a couple of days?”
He had forgotten—she didn’t know who he really was, or anything about him. “Or maybe a week. It’s kind of hard to explain,” he told her. “I’m not going to be a kid for very long, so I can’t make any long-term commitments.”
She laughed. “You really are strange, you know that? What kind of Wyr breathes fire?”
There was a pebble stuck in the sole of his shoe, and he reached down to pick at it. “My kind, I guess.”
“Seriously, are you keeping it a secret?”
As he opened his mouth to tell her he didn’t know if it was a secret or not, a tall, strange girl ran up to them. She was one of the older kids. She asked, “Are you Liam Giovanni?”
He nodded.
“Mrs. Teaberry said to tell you to come into the classroom now.”
Disappointed, he glanced at Marika, who might or might not be his girlfriend. “But recess isn’t over yet.”
The strange girl lifted one shoulder. “Not my problem. Teacher wants to talk to you.”
Sighing, he stood, and Marika did too. She grinned at him. “Yes.”
It took him a moment to realize what she meant. Then happiness made him grin back. “Really?”
“Yes, weirdo. Really. See you later.” She punched him lightly on the shoulder and took off.
He said to the strange girl, “I’m dating an older woman now.”
Not bothering with a verbal reply, the strange girl curled a nostril at him before she took off too.
Cheerfully, Liam made his way back to the classroom. It was funny how everything had been so strange at the beginning of the day, but he knew where he was going now, and the hallways and the classrooms seemed familiar.
When he walked into his classroom, it was empty except for Mrs. Teaberry, who was in one corner stacking plastic tubs filled with supplies on top of each other.