Truce and Lies

Grant: game room

Conor's eyes had been orange from the moment we had gotten in the car in Iowa to the moment he had shifted and run from the room. I waited for the sound of my father's car and then I came up from Conor's room. Mel and Ralph hurried to the top the stairs, and then both frowned at me when I climbed alone. The rest of the pack resumed the usual chores of a day. Casey and Keith carried rugs down past me to the laundry room.

"He went for a run," I said. "He's...a little upset."

"A little?" Aidan scoffed. "He's like...Conor hysterical. You guys saw him."

"We'll talk to him later," Ralph promised. "But how are you two? Are you all right?"

I gave a smile and then moved toward Aidan. "We're fine. Aidan got to try Chicago pizza, we went to a morgue, oh, I guess you met Tish. Aidan punched her."

"I had wondered," Mel laughed. "Let's get dinner on. There's blood in the mini-fridge, if you need some."

"Mini-fridge?" I wondered.

"Daria, why don't you show him the mini fridge down at the shop?" Mel suggested. "Aidan, you should take a shower."

"I should," he agreed.

The three of us walked through the snow to the shop. Some rope lights had been strung along the path and we used these to get to the door. It was surprisingly warm in the shop for the storm outside.

"I'm glad you guys got in today," Daria said. "It's supposed to be three feet of snow. Now your father won't be able to come back."

I ran towards the mat, did a flip in the air and then landed on the mat before falling to my back. The ceiling of the shop was covered in insulation and foam.

"Yes?" Daria laughed, extending a hand to help me up.

"I'm glad to be home," I said from the floor. "And I'm super glad our home has a training mat and Conor is home. I'm going to beat the snot out of him. In a good way."

"Sure," Aidan snorted. "I'll be in the bathroom washing off the

I took Daria's hand and rose. She led me to my bedroom, which had been remodeled since I had been here. There was a long couch along one wall and a small television mounted on the wall. Underneath was the mini fridge. When I opened it, it was filled with blood bags and soda. The file cabinet didn't have any clothes in it, but games and movies and blankets.

"You basically live in Aidan's room," Daria explained. "So they moved your bookshelf in there. But Mel wanted us to have somewhere to relax down here, especially since there are couples everywhere." She gave a good-natured groan. "What do you think?"

"All this in a couple days?" I questioned. "You guys were busy."

"Phil got a new couch and wanted to know if we wanted the old one. And Ralph had ordered a small TV like ages ago; we were going to set it up in the shop proper, but then Mel had the idea to turn this in a game room, so here we are. Oh, we can move the recliner into Aidan's room; there's room."

"No, no, this is fine," I promised and pulled a bag from the fridge. It was cold and more than a little congealed, but I didn't want to bother Aidan anymore after this trip.

"And there's a microwave," Daria sang, spinning around the room to show me. "So you don't have to drink it cold and we don't have to watch you try."

"What do you mean?" I laughed.

"You make ridiculous faces," she said and took the bag, placing it in the microwave for a short time. Aidan entered the room, noting the changes with approval. Daria handed the bag back to me.