The 7 Bad Habits of Slightly Troubled Monsters

by Devin Harnois

  Hanna had benefited from the same protection only a month ago. That should be her sitting there next to Aiden. She sighed. She’d done this to herself because she was a weak coward. A submissive wolf only fit to cringe at the feet of stronger ones.

  * * *

  Dylan laughed as his character landed another kick and sent Aiden’s avatar flying across the screen. Aiden swore and desperately mashed buttons, but it was too late. Dylan entered a combo that unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks, knocking out Aiden’s character.

  Aiden sighed and set down the control. “I’m so bad at this.”

  “You’ll get better.” Dylan considered going easier on him. Now that they couldn’t have matches in gym class or even practice out at the pit, this was as close as he got to sparring with Aiden.

  “I like the ones where we’re on the same team better. Can we play one of those?”

  “Sure.” Dylan got up to check through his games.

  “So, um, I want to ask you a favor.”

  “What?” He scanned titles, looking for something that had fairly simple controls so it wouldn’t be too hard for Aiden to pick up.

  “Could I use the pit next week?”

  A little flicker of hope went through him. “You want to practice?”

  “Not with you,” Aiden said quickly. He must have realized how that sounded because he added, “Sorry. I mean, I’m not ready for that yet.”

  Dylan turned. “I could just watch, you know. What if I promise to sit there and not move?” God, was he really so desperate to spend time with Aiden? He’d been fine on his own before.

  Aiden made a face. “Um… I’m not… I… I asked Tiago to help me.”

  “Tiago?” Aiden kept bringing him to their table, spent a lot of time with him at school, had called off one of their game nights to tutor him, and now he was practicing magic with this kid? “He’s just a were. If you let loose on him, you’ll turn him into paste.”

  Aiden’s jaw tightened. “I’m not going to use my full power on him. Just some things a little stronger than what I’m doing with Phoebe. And he says he can dodge.”

  Dylan snorted. “I hope for his sake he’s really good at it.” Going to the pit with someone else. The thought made him ache, like a hand pushing hard against his chest.

  Aiden looked at the floor. “I’m sorry, Dylan. I want to practice with you. I want things to be the way they were, but I just can’t.”

  Uh-oh. Dylan could see where this was going. Any second Aiden was going to start crying, and he couldn’t let that happen. “Don’t worry about it. Any day you want the pit, just say so and I’ll stay away.” It felt like Aiden was slipping away from him, bit by bit.

  “Really? Thanks.”

  “No problem.” Dylan turned back to the games, but he couldn’t focus on the titles. It ate at him and after a minute he faced Aiden again. “It’s all my fault. What I did to you…”

  “Hey, don’t be like that. Don’t beat yourself up over it. We’ve been over this. I forgave you.” A gentle little smile on his face, like nothing was wrong. But Aiden was having panic attacks in gym, had to go see a counselor, couldn’t stand to go to the pit with Dylan.

  The ache inside him grew to a burn. “But I don’t forgive myself. I hurt you. I could have killed you.” Dylan ran a hand through his hair. “I… I broke you. You’re even more afraid of magic than when you first got here.”

  Quietly, Aiden said, “I hate it too. I hate being afraid all the time. But knowing you blame yourself for it just makes me feel worse.”

  Dylan clenched his fists, using all his control to keep every drop of magic inside him. “I blame myself because it’s my fault.” It would be better if Aiden was mad at him, if he’d stormed off that night and told Dylan he never wanted to talk to him again.

  Aiden got up and put a hand on Dylan’s arm. “I’m working through this. When I’m ready, I’ll ask for your help. Then we’ll get past this together, okay?”

  Dylan took a deep breath and tried to calm down. All he was doing was upsetting himself and Aiden. “Okay.”

  “And Dylan?”

  “Yeah?”

  Aiden smiled. “You’re worth saving.” The same thing he’d said at the pit a few months ago, after the thing with Morgan had gone down.

  Somehow it made Dylan feel better and worse at the same time. “And you’re worth fixing.”

  The smile widened. “Good, then we’re on the same page.”

  Dylan really wanted to believe that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Aiden’s breath puffed in the cool night air. A fresh layer of snow covered the ground and dampened the smell of burning, but it was still enough to make his stomach flutter. Maybe the pit wasn’t such a good idea. This whole thing was a bad idea. “Are you sure you can get out of the way fast enough?”

  Tiago laughed. “Quit worrying. Try throwing something at me. How about a snowball?”

  His fear went down a few notches. “Oh, good idea.” He bent to scoop up snow and packed it tight. With his tongue poking from the corner of his mouth, he aimed and threw as hard as he could.

  The snowball zipped through the air as fast as a baseball, and Aiden winced. Maybe that was too hard.

  Tiago didn’t move, he blurred, and suddenly he was standing a few feet to the right as the snowball went past him.

  “Holy crap,” Aiden breathed.

  “Told you so.” Tiago grinned and Aiden suddenly felt warm all over.

  Aiden cleared his throat, telling is body to calm down. “Well, that wasn’t magic.”

  “So try throwing something magic at me.” Tiago tilted his head. “I don’t actually know what a fae can do.”

  “I don’t know everything I can do, either. I just started learning in October.” Just about five months since he’d come to Shadow Valley, and now his old life was starting to feel like a dream. “But I’ve learned a few things.”

  “Like what?”

  He didn’t think Tiago was interested in how Aiden could speed up plant growth or make vegetables taste like pizza. “Well, I know some wind spells.”

  “Wind? Is it strong enough to knock me down?”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Don’t worry. I can move out of the way. Besides, even if you hit me, there’s like three feet of snow.” Tiago gestured around them. “I’ll be fine.”

  Aiden took a deep breath. He pictured Dylan’s face the other day, how hurt he was that Aiden had this problem. Aiden had to get over it, and this was one small step in that direction. “Okay.” The tingle started in his chest right away, like his magic was eager. Aiden had to fight off rising panic. This was just practice. He could control it. He’d done it before.

  He focused and sent the wind spell flying at Tiago. It only took two or three seconds to cross the space between them, but that was enough time for Tiago to move. This time Aiden was paying more attention and saw the way the werejaguar moved, much faster than a human could. Tiago made it several feet, but the wind spell was wider than Aiden had intended and the boy couldn’t quite get out of the way in time.

  The edge of the spell clipped him and he spun halfway around, dropping to the snow.

  “I’m sorry!” Aiden was already running, heart in his throat, before he realized Tiago hadn’t fallen. He’d caught himself, dropping gracefully into a crouch.

  Tiago laughed. “You pack a pretty good punch. If it weren’t for the snow being kicked up, I wouldn’t have seen that coming.”

  “I thought I’d hurt you.” Aiden pressed a hand to his chest, swearing he could feel his pounding heart through his jacket.

  “Cats always land on their feet.” Tiago winked and stood.

  For a moment Aiden couldn’t form a coherent thought. Something like “Ahhh” came out of his mouth. He blinked a few times and tried to recover. “You like showing off, don’t you?” That sounded casual enough, like a guy would tease another guy. Not flirting. Oh God. He hoped that hadn’t sounded like flirting.
>
  “A little bit.” Tiago brushed some snow off his thigh, which was almost pointless as they were both up to their knees in it. The center of the pit was almost clear, but the burnt smell was stronger over there. “I didn’t get much of a chance to before.” The good humor faded.

  “Because you had to hide what you are?” Aiden wished he had known what he was sooner. Maybe it would have been easier and he wouldn’t have panicked when his powers started manifesting. Then again, maybe it was harder to know and have to keep it hidden.

  “Yeah.” Tiago looked across the pit, staring into the darkness.

  “Did your parents come with you?” Aiden asked.

  Tiago shot him a glare and Aiden tensed. A cloud of white puffed from Tiago’s mouth as he sighed, expression relaxing. “No.”

  “Oh. Does that mean you live alone?” That wouldn’t be possible out in the real world, but so many things were different here.

  Tiago shook his head. “I wish I did. I’m staying with someone. A kind of guardian.”

  “Are they mean to you?” If they were, maybe Aiden could talk to Mr. Johnson the next time he came for a visit.

  “No. I just don’t like being watched.” He snorted. “Though I suppose I can’t blame them.”

  “What do you mean? Because you hid from the wardens, so they don’t trust you?” It was driving him nuts. He didn’t know anything about Tiago, and he wanted to know everything.

  Tiago looked at him for a long moment while Aiden held his breath. Had Tiago done something terrible? Or his parents? Had Mr. Johnson spared him the way he’d spared Dylan?

  Shifting and stuffing his hands in his pockets, Tiago asked, “So what else can you do?”

  Right, practicing. What they were supposed to be doing out here. Aiden guessed that meant he wasn’t going to get an answer. God, Tiago was worse than Dylan had been.

  * * *

  The crowd subtly shifted as Dylan made his way down the hall, other kids moving out of his way. Much of the time he didn’t notice it, but he’d been more aware of it since he’d become friends with Aiden.

  He found Hanna at her locker, and she gave him a surprised smile. “Hi, Dylan.”

  “Hey.” Dylan still wasn’t sure about the growing list of people that weren’t afraid of him. Some days he wondered if it was ruining his reputation. Today was one of the other days, when he kind of liked it. Aiden had made him realize that he’d been lonely, and being lonely sucked.

  “What’s up?”

  For half a second he considered backing out, but backing out wasn’t his style. “I want you to sit with us at lunch.”

  She blinked, leaning back. “What? I… can’t.”

  “Because your parents blah, blah.” Dylan flapped his hand like a talking mouth. “So what. You stare over at us every day, and Aiden stares over at you when he thinks you’re not looking. I’m sick of it.”

  Hanna shook her head. “If Conner sees us—”

  “Fuck Conner.”

  Hanna sucked in a breath, shoulders hunching like she expected that asshole to appear and hit her.

  “So he tells on you, so what? What’s he going to say? That you were eating lunch with Aiden?”

  “I’m not supposed to see him anymore.” Her eyes went round and dark, scared puppy eyes.

  “They said you couldn’t date him. They didn’t say you couldn’t be friends with him, right?”

  A little thoughtful wrinkle formed between her eyebrows. “But if I hang out with him, they’ll think I’m sneaking around with him like I was before.”

  Dylan snorted. “Oh, please. You make it sound like you were screwing each other. What did you do, make out a few times?”

  Hanna’s cheeks turned pink. “Actually, we never even kissed.”

  Dylan rolled his eyes so hard it almost hurt. “Your parents seriously overreacted. Just come sit with us.” He’d thought things would go back to normal without Hanna, but now there was Tiago. It had been weeks, and the jaguar boy looked like he was sticking around.

  Hanna chewed on her bottom lip, glancing up at him, down at the floor, then at him again. The blush grew worse even as her shoulders straightened a little. “Okay.”

  “Good. See you there.” Dylan walked away, smiling to himself. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Aiden’s face.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  It had been a match day in gym, so Aiden was still calming down as he and Dylan walked to lunch. It was getting better. Aiden could watch some of the matches all the way through as long as it wasn’t Dylan or the fox sisters.

  They were almost at the lunchroom when he noticed the odd look on Dylan’s face. It wasn’t quite a smirk, but… almost. “Was your match good today?”

  “Huh? Oh, pretty good. Why?” Dylan said.

  Aiden shrugged. “You look like you’re happy about something.”

  Now that was definitely a smirk. “Do I?” His tone was so full of fake innocence it made Aiden nervous.

  “Is something going on?”

  “Hurry up, I’m starving.” Dylan ducked into the lunchroom.

  Aiden watched him closely as they got their food, so it took him a moment to notice the extra person at their table. “Hanna?”

  “Hi,” she said with a shy smile.

  A swirl of emotions tightened his stomach, and he wasn’t sure how he felt. Did this mean she wanted to date him again? But what about her parents? And what about Tiago? No, that was just a stupid crush on a guy who was probably straight anyway.

  “So that’s your ex-girlfriend, huh?” Tiago said.

  Instead of taking his usual spot, Dylan took the chair next to Tiago. “I asked her to sit with us. Got tired of all the moping and longing gazes.”

  Now he knew how he felt: embarrassed. Aiden didn’t want to sit next to Hanna because it would be awkward, but it would be even worse if he didn’t. His tray shook a little as he set it down and slid into the chair next to Hanna. “Did you… change your mind, then?” He thought about their date, about how they hadn’t even gotten to kiss. About how much he’d missed her… until Tiago showed up.

  Dylan and Tiago were already eating, watching them. Dylan still had that pleased look on his face while Tiago looked curious, eyes flicking between Aiden and Hanna.

  “Not yet.” Hanna looked at her plate, casting a quick glance his way. “But I know I want us to be friends at least. My parents never said I could only be friends with werewolves.” Her gaze flicked across the table to Dylan.

  What the heck was Dylan doing, trying to play matchmaker? Aiden didn’t know if he wanted to strangle him or thank him.

  “Friends,” Aiden said. “That’s good enough for now. I missed you.”

  “I missed you too.” She turned to him with a shy smile.

  He knew that look so well. Had it really been less than two months ago that they’d broken up? It seemed much longer than that. The air suddenly got tense and werewolf magic brushed over him.

  “What did I tell you?” Conner growled.

  Aiden was facing away from him. Having Conner at his back made the fear that much worse. Almost simultaneously, Dylan and Tiago got to their feet. No, no, please. Worrying about Dylan starting a fight was bad enough, but now he had to worry about Tiago too. The werejaguar’s glare was just as fierce as Dylan’s.

  “Don’t,” Aiden whispered, throat tightening as hot panic filled him.

  Hanna took his hand and squeezed it. She looked scared, but her lips were pressed together in determination. Without looking up at Conner, she said, “You can tattle on me if you want. My parents forbid me from dating outside my species, but they didn’t forbid me from being friends with other kinds.” Her voice shook a little.

  Aiden held her hand tight, trying to focus. Breathe, just breathe. He’ll go away.

  “So now you’re gonna lie to them, slut?”

  “Leave her alone,” Dylan said. A faint touch of warm scales as the dragonkin’s power leaked out.

  Aiden hunched in on himself,
trapped between them and praying they wouldn’t start fighting.

  Conner snorted. “Your fairy boyfriend looks like he’s going to piss his pants.”

  “Mr. Mays, is there a problem here?”

  Oh, thank God. An adult.

  “No.”

  “Then maybe you should get back to your friends,” the hall monitor said.

  The energy surrounding them eased as Conner turned away. “I’m calling your parents tonight. Have fun being punished,” he shot over his shoulder.

  “Did he hurt you?” the hall monitor asked.

  It took Aiden a moment to realize she was asking him. “No,” he managed.

  “Okay. I’ll make sure he doesn’t come over here again. Get back to your lunch.” She left as the other kids in the lunchroom started talking again.

  It was practically familiar, Conner coming over to cause trouble and the room falling silent. Aiden felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Hanna coming back into his life meant Conner coming back too.

  A tiny little part of him wanted to ask her to leave.

  Dylan and Tiago sat down, chairs scraping lightly on the floor.

  “I’d love to tear him a new one,” Tiago said.

  “Me first,” Dylan said.

  It might be funny if Aiden weren’t trying so hard to get his breathing back to normal.

  “Are you okay?” Hanna squeezed his hand again.

  “I’ll be fine in a minute.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you in this situation again. Maybe I should go.”

  Yes. “No. We can’t let fear control our lives.” He said it more for himself than anything.

  “If he touches either of you, I’m calling him out.” Dylan went back to eating his pizza like nothing was wrong.