• James sat up and smoothed his slick black hair.

    “What do you mean?”

    I clenched my fists angrily. Screw staying calm.

    “You burst into my closet, lie your way into my house, and make my aunt cry! Now, what the h*ll do you think you’re playing at?”

    James sighed deeply.

    “I think you should sit down,” he said quietly.

    “Why would-”

    “Reinette,” James pleaded, rubbing his forehead.

    I crossed my legs and plopped down on the hardwood floor.

    Whatever. Right now I just really needed answers.

    “You know how earlier I said I was a secret?”

    “Yeah.”

    Where exactly was this going again?

    “Well I am. Secret isn’t my status, it’s my species.”

    I nodded.

    “Okay.”

    Acquiesce the lunatic.

    James frowned.

    “You don’t believe me.”

    “Well do you really expect me to?”

    James grinned weakly.

    “Want me to prove it?”

    “Of course,” I challenged.

    Maybe now he would come to terms with his own in…

    I stopped. In mid-thought I just stopped. I could hear the beating of my heart to the light tapping
    of the Starling outside my window. I could hear James’s heart, but it beat too slowly, and didn’t seem to follow any particular pattern.

    “Convinced?” a voice asked.

    It echoed strangely as if it was neither a spoken word, nor a thought. It was also painfully loud, like a madman had gotten a hold of a megaphone and decided to scream bloody murder into my ear.

    I looked over at James. He smiled, and the world sped up again. Logical thought continued.

    I wrung my hands together to keep them from shaking.

    “What’s a Secret?”