Peppermint

Chapter 10 - Neurotica

Bennet, who's standing to Khan's left, actually pounds the Plexiglas with his fist. "Doesn't he know how rude that is, just jumping in with a question like that?"

"I did it to you when we first met, remember?" Khan's cheeks redden.

"What makes you think we're from Hell?" asks Firdaus.

"Your wings don't show," says Sanchez.

It's true. I tend to overlook the sight of wings bulging under the backs of people's shirts, jackets, etc. myself. But when it's brought to my attention, then I really notice. Like now - I'm remembering how our first glimpse of Ahmad and Firdaus today was from behind. No wing bulges around their shoulders. Demons, or humans? Or something else, possibly? We haven't met any aliens yet. Or vampires. Or werewolves. But they could be just around the corner.

"Refrain from assuming," Ahmad laughs nervously.

Firdaus takes another sip of coffee. "It's actually too sweet, but...it's caramel." She pronounces it "Karamel," like the Supergirl ship. "But to answer your question, we're not demons. We're..." She pauses for a moment, looking unsure of herself, but then presses on. "We're humans."

"Humans," Moss repeats loudly. "Got it."

"What, you're not surprised?" asks Firdaus.

"Not as much as we should be, I guess," says Sanchez. "So...humans. How'd you get to Heaven? And how'd you find out about this place?"

"Because Josh brought us here," says Firdaus.

"Josh..."

"Graziadei," supplies Ahmad.

There's that name again. Sorta Italian, sorta Latin, unambiguously translating as "thanks be to God." But he's not the same Graziadei they were talking about earlier, were they?

"Sorry?"

I look up at AK, startled, until I realize I spoke out loud. "They referred to that Josh dude by his first name, not his last. That makes me think he and that other Graziadei are two different people."

Khan gives a concurrent nod. "Probably."

"By any chance do you have a picture of this Josh Graziadei?" asks Sanchez.

"Yes..." Firdaus passes her phone across the table.

"You mind if I send this to myself?" Sanchez asks after looking at the pic for a moment.

She and Ahmad shake their heads. Moss, meanwhile, looks at the screen while Sanchez texts himself the picture, then forwards it to Khan and Bennet. Bennet then shows it to me and AK. "Look familiar?"

AK and I lean in close to Bennet's screen. The guy on the cover looks close to our age, or maybe early twenties. He looks like a more attractive version of me - or, more hopefully, what I'll eventually look like when I hit my peak post-high school. Brown skin (darker and richer in tone than my greenish olive), deeper brown eyes, sharp cheekbones, square jaw covered in about two days' worth of scruff, and black hair looking like mine this time last year, when I still hadn't cut it in forever and couldn't style it because it was just curly enough to be virtually unmanageable. Though I get the feeling that he doesn't have to deal with acne the way I did when I grew my bangs out.

"Are we sure this is that Josh Graziadei guy?" AK asks. "Because he almost looks like-"

I've got the same thought in mind. "Tyler Posey?"

Khan, who's looking over our shoulders, smiles at the sound of that name. "Posey, like Buster?"

Oh, she's thinking of the San Francisco Giant. "No relation," I say. "He's an actor, and Josh kinda looks like him."