Page 37 of Midnight Auto Parts

For a split second, I questioned whether she could perceive his corona or some indicator of his status.

“Annyeonghaseyo.”

Her words sailed right over my head, but he awarded her a faint smile.“Ne, annyeonghaseyo.”

Upon hearing the word again, I realized it had a familiar ring. Korean. They were speaking Korean.

And, now that I was homed in on her, I couldn’t ignore that either Kim belonged to the local roller derby team, or a suspect had clocked her good. The curve of her cheek was mottled with bruising she had covered with concealer but sweated off in the Georgia heat.

A few minutes of conversation later, Kierce turned his head toward me. “Officer Kim is studying abroad.”

“Sorry, miss.” A flush climbed up Kim’s throat, and she bowed to me. “I apologize for my rudeness.”

“You’re fine.” I took the bag. “I thought I recognized a few words from watching K-dramas.”

“It’s not often I meet a fellow Korean in this part of the country.” She glanced between us before settling on him again. “You must be an overseas Korean. You barely have an accent.”

One more effusive word, no matter how well meant, would have shattered the brittle smile on his lips.

After helping Kierce into the backpack, I led him away. “It was nice meeting you, Officer Kim.”

As the night swallowed us whole, he shook off his unease, more comfortable in the dark.

“The skeletons were left intact as near as they can tell.” He plowed ahead. “Officer Kim told me.”

“Okay.” The distance in his voice made my stomach hurt. “That’s a good thing.”

He hummed an agreement and set out ahead of me without looking back. I let him get away with holding in whatever was bothering him, hoping quiet support would loosen his tongue. I worried prying too deep would read as obsession with Viduus lore rather than genuine concern for him.

Carter hadn’t given us directions, but we only had to follow the lights to locate the dig site.

As we stepped up to the lip of a large depression, I sucked in a gasp at what lay before us.

A skeleton that could have fooled me into believing it was a prehistoric herbivore curled into the fetal position. The scale was mind-blowing. The creature had been a hulking beast. Had there been even the slightest chance a fully intact dinosaur had taken a nap here millions of years ago and never woke from its slumber, I would have called in paleontologists myself to preserve this miraculous fossil from harm.

But whatever the Alcheyvaha had been, whatever form they had taken, I couldn’t help but wonder what this site had to dowith the abductions. Coincidence be damned, the two must be connected. Too bad I wasn’t in any way, shape, form, or fashion qualified to be here figuring out what was going on.

“I don’t know my nationality.”

Snapping my attention to Kierce, I wasn’t sure how to comfort his longing to know more about his past. I had gone out of my way to avoid learning about mine, which, in hindsight, hadn’t done me any favors.

“You don’t have to identify any particular way.” I believed that much. “People carve out their own paths rather than follow in their parents’ footsteps every day.” I returned my attention to the pit’s contents. “I have been called Nordic, Scandinavian, Finnish in coloring, but who knows? All I can tell you for certain is it was easier claiming to be a necromancer than admitting I had no idea why my powers were wonky.”

Even now, I didn’t have those answers. I might never learn the truth of my origins. I was okay with that.

“You and Matty and Josie.” He lowered his head. “You’ve all made your own way. Together.”

“They’re the family I chose.” I wormed a finger into his tight fist. “We don’t look alike, act alike, or hold the same views. Our powers are worlds away from each other. Josie and I represent life and death while Matty’s gifts lie in between. And that’s okay. We love one another, trust one another, and depend on one another.”

“They helped shape you into the person you are today.”

“Exactly.” I rested my head on his shoulder. “Every person we meet leaves their mark on us.”

“I don’t remember who shaped me. I don’t remember what those marks mean for me.”

“Our pasts are set in stone. We can’t change them, so why obsess over them?” I tilted my head to see him better. “Lookto the future, Kierce. That’s where the opportunities lie. That’s where you have room to grow into the person you want to be.”

“There is one mark I will always remember.” His lips pressed against the top of my head. “Yours.”

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