Changeling (Book 1) Rated R

Chapter 6

It felt like I should be dead.

Wasn't death supposed to be peaceful?

Instead, I felt bruised, sore all over, like I was a peach someone had dropped from a second-story building.

I groaned as I twisted over on—a couch?

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." A voice said beside me.

For a second it sounded like I was back home in the city and dad had come in to wake me.

My heart clenched when I realized this wasn't the case.

"What—?" I grumbled.

"Are you hurting?"

I blinked and as my eyes adjusted, Damian's face came into view.

"Damian?"

"That's what they call me."

I tilted my head trying to make sense of things.

I couldn't remember if I'd made plans to stay over at Damian's; in fact, I couldn't remember much of anything.

My brain felt swollen and slow.

"H-how did I get here?" I asked as I sat up and stretched.

I was in Damian's living room no doubt, but beside the familiar room nothing else made sense.

"Well, uh, my mom's your mom's emergency contact so..." His eyes dropped down to his lap.

"Emergency contact? Was there an emergency she had to be contacted about? What did I do this time?"

Damian squirmed uncomfortably. He knelt beside me on the couch, his brown hair a bit lopsided and untidy, as if he'd been up all night.

"I know that look on your face, Damian. Something's wrong. Aw, fuck, my head hurts."

"You don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"

"Of course not, genius. Would I be asking if I did?"

Despite himself, he smiled, though his eyes looked haunted.

He took my hands into his and that's when the worry began to settle in.

"Someone--someone broke into your house."

I stared at him.

"What?" I cried, jumping out of the couch. "Was it dad's murderer? Is he back? Is my family hurt?" My pulse quickened and a need to vomit burrowed in the pit of my stomach.

As dizziness overcame me, Damian caught me in his arms and pulled me into his sturdy chest.

"Damian, is my family hurt?"

"No one knows," He murmured against my hair, holding me to him.

I shook my head in denial and pressed my palms against his chest to push him away.

I didn't need comforting.

What I needed now was answers.

"What do you mean no one knows?"

"Yes, Aim, no one knows because--because your family is missing."

Damian waited beside me at the public bus top.

The air was still humid from last night's snow, the streets still wet and it looked like we'd be expecting more snow tonight.

Across the street a bakery advertised a 2 for 1 special on muffins, the red awning over the shop entrance drooping, weighed down by the remnants of snow.