There were so many kids, many more than just from his classroom. All the classes were out, including the older ones. He stood still, absorbing the scene.
The morning had turned sunny and hot, and puffy white clouds floated around in the sky. Tilting his face up to the sunlight, he wanted very badly to join the clouds in flight, but that wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing.
Somewhere, just off the school grounds, Hugh and other guards kept watch, but they were well hidden from sight. He thought about calling Hugh to say hi, but his phone was supposed to be for emergencies only, and he didn’t think feeling lonely was an emergency.
In the playground, some kids were running and shouting, and others climbed on the jungle gyms. Still others were swinging on the swing set, and he noticed a few squatting and digging at the base of one of the trees.
Late as he was in joining recess, he wasn’t exactly sure how to participate. Was he supposed to run around and shout, or climb on the jungle gyms? He didn’t feel like doing any of that, so he went in search of the Dark Fae girl instead.
It took him a while, because she wasn’t easy to find, which made him curious and even more interested. His hunting instincts engaged, he started to look in less obvious, more out-of-the-way places.
There were a surprising number of places that were less obvious and out-of-the-way, such as behind trees, or down a bare concrete stairwell. Rounding the corner of the building, he found the Dark Fae girl in the middle of a tense scene.
He took everything in at once. There were four boys, along with the girl. One boy knelt on the ground, sniffling.
The Dark Fae girl shoved one of the three boys. “Leave him alone!”
The boy shoved her back, hard, making her stumble, while the last two boys closed around her in a circle. “I’ve told you before to stay out of this,” the first boy hissed. “Stop sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
Liam felt his eyebrows go up. He didn’t have a clue what all that was about, but the predator in him instinctively recognized how the three boys were acting. They were trying to act like the Dark Fae girl was prey, but clearly she wasn’t having any of it.
The fourth boy though, the one on the ground, was acting quite a bit like prey. He was smaller than the others, more delicately built, and fear poured off him in waves.
Liam looked at him for a long moment. While he might act like prey, he wasn’t a wild animal or a cow. He was a person. Liam thought he might be human, while the other three boys were some kind of Wyr.
The Dark Fae girl balled her hands into fists. Violence hovered in the air, an invisible and yet very real presence.
Hands in the pockets of his khaki shorts, Liam touched the tip of his phone with one finger but left it alone.
He said, “Hi, guys. What’s up?”
The boy that the Dark Fae girl had shoved spun around, angrily. He said, “None of your business. Butt out.”
Liam gave the human boy another thoughtful glance. His cheek was reddened. It looked like somebody had hit him.
Liam’s attention went back to the boy who told him to butt out. Was he a ringleader? Liam always wondered what it might be like to meet a ringleader.
He said, “I don’t think so. I think you need to stop what you’re doing.”
Ringleader Boy stared. “Are you stupid?”
“No.” He darted a glance at the Dark Fae girl. “I don’t believe I am.”
The expression on her face, he had to admit, was a bit skeptical.
Ringleader Boy stepped forward, his posture aggressive and the expression in his eyes flat. The other two boys flanked him on either side. Liam recognized what they were doing. Dad had talked about it before. He called it pack behavior.
Ringleader Boy said, “Yeah, well, I think you’re pretty stupid.”
Interesting things were going on in Liam’s body. He felt flushed and twitchy, at once angry and very alert.
He felt like violence might be a good thing.
Pulling his hands out of his pockets, Liam walked up to Ringleader Boy. He didn’t stop until his chest bumped the other boy’s chest hard enough to knock him back. Astonishment took over Ringleader Boy’s face. His fist flashed up, shooting toward Liam’s face.
Liam realized he was a lot faster than the other boy, and he had plenty of time to do something. As he watched Ringleader Boy’s fist coming toward him, he tried to decide what he was supposed to do.
In the meantime, everything inside him seemed to be racing harder, faster. He felt his heart pounding as if he had been running, and he liked it. It felt good.
He brought up one arm and blocked the punch on his way to taking Ringleader Boy by the throat. The other boy’s expression turned shocked, and he coughed.
Around them, the Dark Fae girl and the two other boys shifted. One of them swore. The human boy crawled several feet, stood and ran away.
None of that mattered. Liam looked Ringleader Boy in the eye. You, he thought. You’re prey.
You’re my prey.
Ringleader Boy’s eyes widened, and fear crept in to join the ugliness.