Page 27 of Clouded by Envy

“Perfect,” Luca said and softly patted over the feathers. He looked adorable.

They found Wes in the living room, already sitting on the couch in his Captain Hook costume—it looked nothing like the one fromHook.

“You two are lucky that I even found this at the store. I almost had to go with a Ninja Turtle.” Wes rolled his eyes and held up the poorly made plastic hook.

“It looks great,” Luca said. Wes did look great, his uncovered hand stroking the plastic hook.

“Very Hook like.” Bray beamed.

Wes and Bray walked up and down the street, watching Luca’s bucket fill with candy. Bray snatched several pieces along the way. The night was great, like the Halloween nights her and Brenik spent with Ruth—except this was better.

She loved seeing all the costumes: ghosts, Frankenstein’s Monster, Ninja Turtles, Rainbow Brite, the Addams Family, and other ensembles she didn’t recognize.

They were at the start of a new street, when a loud boom up ahead signaled into the night. Luca and Bray froze in place, while Wes appeared calm as he pulled Luca back. “We need to go home now,” he said to Bray and Luca.

“There was a gunshot,” Luca said as sirens began to wail down the street, swiftly passing them by.

Curiosity was pulling Bray in the direction of all the flashing lights, but she needed to make sure Wes and Luca got home safely.

They rushed down the uneven sidewalk, lights illuminating the already darkened street. Bray had a feeling she should find out what was going on.

When they walked through the front door, Bray held it open and dropped her fake wings to the floor. “I will be right back.” Behind the open door, she transformed herself into her bat form and took off, hearing the voices of Luca and Wes calling after her. But she pushed their voices aside.

She flew high in the air, over the tops of the trees, until she saw the flashing lights of police cars. Some people stood outside houses, while others were trying to get a closer peek at what was happening.

Cops were pushing people away, and Bray craned her neck to get a better view. A body she couldn’t see clearly was being covered with a white sheet by a paramedic. Bray landed on the top of a tree and shimmied down to where she could hear a lady ranting to a cop about what had happened. “This man came down the street and suddenly had me on the ground, clawing and then choking me. His face only showed rage—that was all that seemed to exist in him.” The redheaded woman’s voice quivered as she wrapped her arms around her middle, visibly shaken.

“Then can you tell me what happened next?” the police officer asked, face hidden from the darkness.

“My husband tried to knock the man away, but the attacker wouldn’t stop. So, my husband got his gun and shot the man. Even after the shot hit him, his eyes still looked murderous when he was falling to the ground. But I don’t understand why there isn’t anyblood—there was no blood from the bullet wound—only what appeared to be two wounds on the side of his neck with dried blood.” The woman shivered as she continued to hold herself.

“The body is going to be taken to the hospital to be examined. We will have more questions later, but this is all I need from you tonight.” The officer closed a small notebook in his hand and moved in front of another man to ask further questions.

The only kind of bites on the side of the neck that Bray could think of were those inflicted by vampires, but that was only in the movies. The lady hadn’t said that he tried to bite her neck. From the way she described what happened, it sounded like he had a case of rabies, but humans didn’t act like that when they got bit by a rabid animal.

The redheaded woman walked back toward an elderly lady with tight gray curls and said, “Thank you so much again for calling the police. They arrived right after Jerold—” She began to sob, and Bray had heard enough.

Quietly, Bray flew back to the house and ran over the story a few times in her head. It did seem strange, but maybe the woman was confused. She had just been through a traumatic experience. Bray didn’t know if the lady had gotten close enough to see if there really had been blood or not around the bullet wound either.

As soon as Bray rounded the corner of the street and approached her home, she found Wes waiting on the porch. He was still in his Captain Hook attire but had already taken off the hat and hook. He opened the door for her as she zoomed inside and transformed herself.

“What was that, Bray?” he demanded.

“What do you mean?” she asked, hearing the shower from the bathroom, where Luca must be.

“You can’t justdosomething like that.”

Her eyes narrowed and met Wes’s fierce gaze. “I candowhatever I want.”

“Not if it’s going to affect Luca. There was agunshot, Bray. And you just morphed and zipped right off, not letting either one of us know where you went. What if something had happened to you? What if someone saw you?”

“I’ve been flying in the dark for years, Wes. Even if someone saw me they would probably think I’m an Earth bat.”

“No one would believe you were abat,” he spat, pulling at the ends of his hair.

Bray took a step toward Wes. “I don’t understand what the big deal is.” She didn’t understand why he was acting like this.

“The big deal is that Luca is already growing attached to you. I don’t even know what we’re doing here. Are you just going to live with us for the rest of our lives like some little pet?” Wes lifted his hands up and brought them down heavily against his legs, the slap echoing through the house.

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