I distinctly remember hearing birds chirping while I was still up, which means I got somewhere in the neighborhood of two hours of sleep. “Then why’d you wake me up?”
“You were having another nightmare. Looked pretty bad. You were freakin’ me out, even.” She looks at me as if she’s trying to diagnose me. “Do you remember it?”
“Why, did I say something?”
“Nope. As usual, you just sort of thrashed around and looked like you were screaming but no sound came out.”
I smile wanly. “No, Lia. You know I never remember. Sorry I woke you up.”
The nightmares started shortly after I realized that Lia’s memories were being stolen by one of the fae. She was little, maybe nine, so I was around twelve. My current theory is that they are either a curse put on me by the fae that tormented Lia, or that they’re the manifestations of my subconscious turning to mush when it tries to process my life experiences. Whatever they are, I try not to dwell on them. Most of the time I honestly don’t remember them when I wake up, but the ones I do are always about Lia. I’ve decided that she doesn’t need to know that.
“’Kay, well, I’m up now. I’ll go get us coffee,” my sister offers, getting up and throwing on a hoodie.
I start picking up the room a little and going over what clean things I have to wear. I don’t want to shower until I know she’s back. I know. I’m a total mom. Deal with it.
We’ve got bar work tonight, and case work today. What time to do normal people our age wake up after a party? Ten? Noon? Noon sounds safe, which means we’ve got four hours until we can do much. I check my email to see if any of our contacts have gotten back to me in the...three hours since I sent out the requests. Unsurprisingly, my inbox is still empty. Most of them either aren’t up yet, because their circadian rhythms work, or they are still working and haven’t gone to bed yet.
“Think I wanna go for a run,” I say to Lia when she gets back.
“After that night? Okay...have fun.”
“You should too,” I cajole in a sing-song to her. “You’re gonna regret it if you don’t get moving.”
“Sleep burns calories, I’ll just do that some more.”
In the end, we find something on YouTube after our coffee and do a halfhearted workout for about thirty minutes. Still better than nothing, I try to tell myself as I head to the shower.
We kill time for a couple hours—going to the laundromat, restocking on protein bars. It’s big news when we learn that our favorite brand has a new flavor.
It’s ten o’clock and we’re back in our room, flipping channels.
“Think I’m just going to take a small nap,” Lia says, eyes already closed.
“Yeah, getting up this early was dumb. And stupid,” I mutter, laying down myself.
“Yeah. This world is poo, with the waking up on weekends and the monsters.”
I sink into blissful oblivion, only to wake up precisely twenty minutes later. Fuck my life. I can’t help but agree with Ophelia this time. This world is poo.
I spend the next hour quietly resting, hoping at least to recuperate enough energy to get me through a shift at Finnegan’s. I let my mind wander but it obsessively keeps circling back to feet.
Pigeon-footed. High boots. Seductive. A race of monster that has both males and females and preys on both males and females. I can feel it staring me in the face and I still can’t see it.
I let Lia sleep as long as possible. At noon, we drive over to Alpha Psi Mu’s house on Greek Row, the fraternity that “El Duche” belongs to.
Lia rings the doorbell, and a bleary eyed guy answers the door.
“Yeah?” he says by way of greeting. Ugh. The girls at Chi Kappa Kappa have way better manners.
“Umm, we’re looking for a Mr. La Roche?” I query. The guy looks over his shoulder.
“Dan!” he yells violently. We both jump a little at the sudden
“You were having another nightmare. Looked pretty bad. You were freakin’ me out, even.” She looks at me as if she’s trying to diagnose me. “Do you remember it?”
“Why, did I say something?”
“Nope. As usual, you just sort of thrashed around and looked like you were screaming but no sound came out.”
I smile wanly. “No, Lia. You know I never remember. Sorry I woke you up.”
The nightmares started shortly after I realized that Lia’s memories were being stolen by one of the fae. She was little, maybe nine, so I was around twelve. My current theory is that they are either a curse put on me by the fae that tormented Lia, or that they’re the manifestations of my subconscious turning to mush when it tries to process my life experiences. Whatever they are, I try not to dwell on them. Most of the time I honestly don’t remember them when I wake up, but the ones I do are always about Lia. I’ve decided that she doesn’t need to know that.
“’Kay, well, I’m up now. I’ll go get us coffee,” my sister offers, getting up and throwing on a hoodie.
I start picking up the room a little and going over what clean things I have to wear. I don’t want to shower until I know she’s back. I know. I’m a total mom. Deal with it.
We’ve got bar work tonight, and case work today. What time to do normal people our age wake up after a party? Ten? Noon? Noon sounds safe, which means we’ve got four hours until we can do much. I check my email to see if any of our contacts have gotten back to me in the...three hours since I sent out the requests. Unsurprisingly, my inbox is still empty. Most of them either aren’t up yet, because their circadian rhythms work, or they are still working and haven’t gone to bed yet.
“Think I wanna go for a run,” I say to Lia when she gets back.
“After that night? Okay...have fun.”
“You should too,” I cajole in a sing-song to her. “You’re gonna regret it if you don’t get moving.”
“Sleep burns calories, I’ll just do that some more.”
In the end, we find something on YouTube after our coffee and do a halfhearted workout for about thirty minutes. Still better than nothing, I try to tell myself as I head to the shower.
We kill time for a couple hours—going to the laundromat, restocking on protein bars. It’s big news when we learn that our favorite brand has a new flavor.
It’s ten o’clock and we’re back in our room, flipping channels.
“Think I’m just going to take a small nap,” Lia says, eyes already closed.
“Yeah, getting up this early was dumb. And stupid,” I mutter, laying down myself.
“Yeah. This world is poo, with the waking up on weekends and the monsters.”
I sink into blissful oblivion, only to wake up precisely twenty minutes later. Fuck my life. I can’t help but agree with Ophelia this time. This world is poo.
I spend the next hour quietly resting, hoping at least to recuperate enough energy to get me through a shift at Finnegan’s. I let my mind wander but it obsessively keeps circling back to feet.
Pigeon-footed. High boots. Seductive. A race of monster that has both males and females and preys on both males and females. I can feel it staring me in the face and I still can’t see it.
I let Lia sleep as long as possible. At noon, we drive over to Alpha Psi Mu’s house on Greek Row, the fraternity that “El Duche” belongs to.
Lia rings the doorbell, and a bleary eyed guy answers the door.
“Yeah?” he says by way of greeting. Ugh. The girls at Chi Kappa Kappa have way better manners.
“Umm, we’re looking for a Mr. La Roche?” I query. The guy looks over his shoulder.
“Dan!” he yells violently. We both jump a little at the sudden
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