Page 5 of Clouded by Envy

“How old are you anyway? Six?”

Pulling his head back from the tree, Luca straightened his neck and narrowed his eyes. “What? I just turned ten and am in the fifth grade,” he said proudly.

“Six… Ten… Same difference.” Human children his age all appeared to look the same to her.

Luca cocked his head at her, as if trying to appear older than he was. “No, six is a baby. I’m no baby.”

“You can keep on thinking that.” Bray laughed and set the needle back on the floor.

“How old are you?”

Bray tugged her shoulders back. “I’m twenty.”

“So you’re old then, like my brother. He’s twenty-three.”

Scowling, Bray placed her hands on her hips and took a step toward him. “What? I’m not old!”

“My mom was nineteen when she had Wes, so it would definitely make you old.”

Bray wasn’t sure how old her mother was when she had her and Brenik.

“I’m going to ignore that statement,” she huffed.

“Well, see ya.” Luca started heading down the tree, limb by limb.

“Wait! That’s it?” Bray dove out, flapping her wings, and halting in front of Luca’s face as his feet struck the ground.

“I need to eat a snack. I’m starving and just got home from school.” He brushed a few beads of perspiration away from his forehead.

Her stomach growled at the wordsnack, and it was loud enough for Luca to hear.

He hiked his thumb back at the door. “Do you want to come in?”

“No. I don’t want to be seen,” she said half-heartedly. It was enough for one person to see her today, but it also felt good to have someone to talk to. Her gaze kept training on the door, and Luca didn’t miss it.

“Wes isn’t home yet—and don’t worry, I won’t tell him.” He held his hand up in front of her face and crossed his index and middle finger.

One tiny human who seemed trustworthy enough shouldn’t be a problem. Bray plopped down on Luca’s shoulder like they had known each other for an eternity, and he walked inside the house—Ruth’s house.

Except it looked nothing like her home anymore and hadn’t in a very long time—after it was cleared out, Bray never went back inside. Now, there were boxes sprawled across the large living room. Against the wall was a floral couch, and diagonal from it sat two blue sitting chairs. A large box TV was propped in the center of the room, pushed up to the opposite wall. Bray ached to turn it on because it had been so long since she used one.

Luca took out two blueberry muffins from the tiny pantry in the kitchen, padded into the living room, and set the wrappers on a rectangular wooden coffee table across from the sofa.

Flipping on the television, Luca shuffled to the VHS tapes and popped one in that was already halfway through the movie. He swiveled back around and opened the wrapper of the muffin for Bray. She landed on the coffee table and focused on eating the blueberry part first.

“So you’re a fairy, like fromPeter Pan?” Luca asked, while he stuffed most of the muffin into his mouth, letting small crumbs fall into his lap.

“No, I’m a bat.” Bray angled her head in the direction of the TV and pointed furiously at the furry creature with big ears on the screen. “Hey, we have those in Laith.”

“A Mogwai?” Luca’s eyes bulged with excitement.

“What? No, a Drogwai.” She had no idea what a Mogwai was, but that creature on the screen looked incredibly similar to a Drogwai.

“Okay, well, Gizmo is a Mogwai,” Luca corrected.

“That is incorrect.”

“I’ll take your word for it, since you say you’re a bat and all,” he said with sarcasm lacing each word, and a big smile spreading, showing a row of crooked bottom teeth.

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