(FREE TO READ) Bad Moon

chapter 61; shark

Lillabeth had helped him remove the bandages and clean him of the clay left behind. And beneath it all, his skin had only the faint stripe of a single scar remaining. She said it might fade on its own, but it didn't matter to Jaylin. Disregard numbed him. He felt so distanced from himself that nothing mattered at all. Nothing but his friends and his family, and he'd yet to see any of them.

By the time he'd wandered to the garden, Felix has finished the job he'd set out to do with Lisa. He stood there with a glass of something red in his hands, shed of the layers of jackets and gloves he typically wore.

Jaylin had seen him before, without his husks to cover him. But he had spent so much time trying to ignore the scars on his skin, he hadn't observed them in their gnarled glory. For the first time, Jaylin truly saw the scars that mangled his body. Most of them old, simple blemishes on the surface, but a few fresh—newly mending. They wracked his skin, from the bones of his knuckles to the broad, built arms he hid from the world.

Julia sat on the bench beside him, chatting up a storm. His mother was the type of person who could make conversation with anyone—and not only that, but make it enjoyable. Even to people like Felix, who roared out in laughter at something she'd said and wiped the sweat from his brow. Jaylin didn't know why she was here, but he felt a lightness in his chest at the sight of her smile. Finally, he could focus on her. On her health and her comfort, no more wolves, no more scouts, no more Bad Moon.

But as he went to greet her, a hand hooked him by the elbow.

He swung around, startled by Alexander—his eyes wide and his cheeks pink from the cold. He tugged Jaylin behind the tool shed and his pearly grin came to life.

It looked as if he wanted to say so many things. But instead, Alex shoved his hands into his pockets and humbled his smile. "I'm glad you're okay, Jay. How are you feeling?"

Jaylin crossed his arms and rubbed away the chills. "I don't know. Surreal I think. I guess I just—it's like I'm still waking up." Something bristled him. The sky turned dark and the wind blew, but Jaylin didn't feel cold. It was something else. "I don't know what to think. I guess I won't until I remember everything that happened. No one will tell me, so..."

"It'd probably be better if you remembered naturally. Quentin was pretty adamant about things going back to normal. You know, now that the whole lichund thing's over." As Alex caught the uncertain look on Jaylin's face, his smile eased. "Jaylin? What's wrong?"

Jaylin shrugged because nothing so simple could explain how he felt. "It might be over for you, but I feel like I lost time. Or like I'm dreaming and I'm going to wake up back in Ziya's...monster factory. It doesn't feel over to me, Alex." Alex looked him over, searching the right words to say—but Jaylin didn't need them. He just needed to be heard. "Who's to say it's over?" he asked. "Olivia turned weeks before the bad moon. Do you know why?"

Alex's eyes grazed the ground.

"Does Quentin know why? Imani? Any of them? There's still so much we don't know...so who's to say it's over?"

When Alex raised his head, there was something sad and troubled to the look he wore. "You want out of this, don't you?"

"No." Jaylin sighed. "I just...I think I want to go home. I like it here, Alex. I love it here. But I think I need to go home."

There was a flash of disappointment on Alex's face. But he nodded slowly and kicked at the dirt under his feet. "I get it. It'd probably be easier to forget all of this if you forget...this."

"It's not that I want to forget. I just want to feel normal and I can't do that here."

Again, no words from Alex. His curls fell over his eyes and he dug his heel into the dirt.