Chapter 2 Chapter 2

It took Ember a second before she could say more, but when she did, it was with the consideration that she needed to try not to sound angry. Whoever this guy was, he was clearly a human, and he looked like he was just barely holding his shit together. Slowly, he walked over toward where the group had assembled, now all standing around the sitting area. Ruby grabbed Ember’s arm hard as she moved past her on the other side of the coffee table to take Zach by the shoulder, and Ember assumed that was her friend’s way of reminding her she had a tendency to be a little rough around the edges.

“Em, Lane and I were out on a routine mission when we stumbled upon Zach.” She cleared her throat, smoothed back her hair, and let it be known to all that she was attempting to choose her words carefully. Ember got the idea that meant that Zach had no idea what he’d gotten himself into--which begged the question of why he was there. Most of the time, if a human was involved, it was because they were either already a Scale victim, or they’d been rescued just in time, unbeknownst to them. Rarely did any of them ever see a Xana or an Ink in those circumstances, but if they did, there were methods for taking care of that. Their kind, Sorcha, liked to blend in with humans as much as possible and rarely let anyone see them in their “work clothes.” Yet here Zach was standing in a room with five of them wearing black leather and armed to the teeth.

Ember forced a smile. “Hi, Zach.” She reached for his hand, hoping he didn’t notice the weapons on the inside of her jacket, her hip, and strapped to her calf, though she imagined he probably couldn’t miss all of them. Of course, Ruby was armed, too, and he seemed okay with how close the red-head was standing to him.

Hesitantly, Zach’s right hand moved forward, though his eyes stayed glued to Ember’s palm for a moment before he finally grasped her hand. He was dressed like a college student, though he looked a little older than a typical undergrad, his hoodie, flannel and jeans proclaiming he was just an average Joe. His hair was brown and stood up quite high on top of his head like he had taken his time fixing it before he went out to do whatever he was doing before the incident. One of his red Converse was untied, and his handshake was a little weak for Ember’s taste, but he wasn’t unattractive. She imagined whatever lay beneath the layers of shirts probably had nothing on the three guys standing behind her, though he wasn’t exactly a twig either.

“Zach Parker, this is Ember Morgan,” Ruby said, her voice indicating she thought Ember should’ve had the decency to introduce herself. “And these are her…  roommates.” That word didn’t quite fit, but Ember let it go. The guys stepped forward as Ruby said their names, all polite but skeptical. “Ryan Hale, Jake Harris, and Carson.”

“Carson?” Zach questioned as the much larger man’s hand enveloped his. He’d muttered “nice to meet you” to both Ryan and Jake, but the question mark was there with Carson, which wasn’t a surprise to Ember.

“That’s me,” the bear of a man growled, letting go of Zach’s hand.

“Is that your first name or your last name?” Zach asked, tucking both hands back into the pockets of his jeans.

“Yes,” Carson replied, and Ember elbowed him in the ribs, not hard enough to hurt him, but it wasn’t a tickle either.

“No one knows his full name,” Ruby said in a hushed voice. She cleared her throat again, and Ember kept her smile on her face, but she hoped her friend realized, now that the introductions were over, she still needed an explanation. “Lane suggested I bring Zach here because of… what happened.”

“And what did happen?” Jake asked before Ember could get the words out of her mouth. He was standing to her left and folded his arms, his head cocked to the side, the spikes of his frosted hair catching the light in such a way that it took Ember a second to pull her eyes off of him.

“Well, that’s the thing,” Ruby stuttered, letting go of Zach to fold her hands. “He saw… something….. And Lane wasn’t sure how that was possible, so he wanted me to bring him here to see if you guys had any ideas.”

“He saw something?” Ryan repeated, stepping around Carson so that they had now formed a semicircle. “What do you mean, Rubes?”

“I mean… we were in pursuit, and when we caught up to the… perpetrator, he was in attack mode, and… Zach saw him.”

“Saw… what?” Ember asked, still confused. But she wasn’t looking at Ruby. She wanted to hear it from him--from the human. If what Ruby was saying was true…. No, there was no use in finishing that thought because they all knew that what Ruby was saying was impossible. Humans were incapable of seeing Scales unless they were asleep or in a twilight state, and it was clear that Zach had been on the street at the time, that he’d been awake, or at least Ember assumed so. “What did you see Zach?”

The man took a step backward, running a hand through his hair as he did so. Ember watched as it lay flat and sprang forward again in one fluid movement and would’ve been impressed with his products under different circumstances. “I don’t know,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t think it was anything, really. I mean, this guy came out of the shadows.” His jade-green eyes caught Ember’s for a moment, and she could see he was afraid to talk about what he had seen, which made her think maybe, somehow, what Ruby and Lane were claiming was true. “He was wearing a costume, or something. I was waiting for a bus. I normally Uber, but… I dropped my phone earlier, and it cracked. I couldn’t get the app to work right.  And I could’ve gone down to the subway, but my mom says it’s not safe this time of night….”

He was rambling, and Carson’s impatient sigh let him know it. “What did this person look like?” Ryan asked, his tone calmer than Carson’s, also not a surprise.

Zach shook his head. “I didn’t get a really good look at him. He was tall. He had on a mask or something, His skin was all pale, ripped up at the cheeks. I mean, the mask. And his hair was long and greasy. He had on those claw things, like Freddy Krueger. Anyway, he jumped out of the shadows by the bus stop, came at me, and when I turned around and screamed, that is…  shouted, he looked startled and then ran off. The next thing I know, Ruby and this other guy were there.”

Ember stared at Zach for a long moment, knowing she’d have to talk to Ruby about this alone. She heard Carson scoff before he fell back onto the sofa behind him. There was no question he thought this was all some sort of a mix up. Her eyes flickered to Jake, who looked as bewildered as she felt, but she could tell Ryan believed what Zach was saying, even if he couldn’t explain it.

“Okay,” Ember said, plastering a smile on her face. She took a step backward and would’ve tripped over Jake’s boot if he hadn’t caught her. “Thanks,” she muttered to him. “Uh, why don’t you guys make yourselves comfortable… I mean, make our guest comfortable… while Ruby and I have a little chat on the balcony.”

“Sure,” Carson said, pulling his phone out of his pocket as if the conversation were over, and he was on to better things. “Want some water, Zach? Maybe a stiff drink? Or maybe you’ve had enough of those for one night?”

“Excuse me?” Zach asked. Ember didn’t wait around to hear the rest of the conversation. She knew Ryan and Jake would take care of him. Instead, she grabbed Ruby by the arm and took off for the balcony at as even a pace as possible. So far, Zach didn’t seem to be questioning the humanity of the persons he was with, and it was in their best interest to keep it that way, if possible. She opened the sliding glass door and stepped out into the night air, taking a deep breath, wondering what in the world this guy had gotten them into.