Paranoia (The Night Walkers) by J. R. Johansson Page A

name a single song that played. It wasn’t quite five o’clock yet, but Mom’s car was home already. Climbing out of my car, I pressed my hand to the metal of her car hood. It was cool—she’d been home awhile. That alone made my hair stand on end. My mom worked hard, long hours and only took time off when she was sicker than sick … or when I needed something.
    I bolted toward the back door, but Jack caught my shoulder with a quick shake of his head before I could go crashing in. When I turned back to face him, I saw Darkness standing by the car, fists clenched tight by his sides and madness in his eyes. Seeing my darkest thoughts and desires played out on his face—my face—was really messing me up.
    Jack walked around me and placed one steady hand on the knob. He turned it and silently opened the door. Music played, some of Mom’s oldies, but I still felt on edge until I heard her laugh coming down the hall. Jack’s shoulders relaxed, but he crept through the kitchen without a sound. I stuck close behind him; Darkness followed us like a shadow.
    When we turned into the doorway of the living room, I saw Mom and Mr. Nelson dancing far closer than I’d ever wanted to witness. Intense relief tainted by a bit of revulsion smacked me across the face, and Darkness and I groaned in unison. When I gave him a startled look, he frowned and faded back into the shadows. Mom and my physics teacher spun to face us and Mom wiggled out of Mr. Nelson’s arms, stepping awkwardly to one side.
    “Hi, Parker.” Her smile was half-apologetic, half-embarrassed, and she seemed to be looking at everything in the room but me. “I didn’t realize you’d come home.”
    “Obviously,” I muttered, watching Mr. Nelson smile, then frown, then put his hands in his pockets, then pull them out again. I decided to cut them some slack and let it blow over. At least Mom was okay. “Hi, Mr. Nelson.”
    “I already told you, Parker … ” Mr. Nelson stuck the smile back on his face, but it fell again when his gaze settled on me. He leaned his head to one side with a slightly confused expression. “When we’re not at school, you can call me Tom.”
    “Right—Tom—I’ll work on it.” I didn’t mind the guy. There were definitely worse men my mom could be dating. I guess that would have to be enough for now. Turning back to Mom, I waved my hand for Jack to step forward, but she’d started looking at me odd, too. Then she gasped and rushed over.
    “What happened to your face?” She stood on tiptoe and grabbed my chin, pulling it down so she could inspect the scratches I’d gotten from Thor in the parking lot, which ran up my left cheek, and the ugly black eye on the right side of my face. I’d almost forgotten about that. At least my mind found an explanation easy enough.
    “It’s nothing, Mom.” I gently pushed her hands down and looked over her shoulder at Mr. Nelson. He was frowning and looked almost—angry? What was that about? “I was at the mall last night and some guys felt like having a chat about the school fire.”
    Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time I’d come home with a black eye. Some of the guys at school were pretty angry about Jeff’s death. It was even worse because I’d dragged Mia and Finn out of the fire in time to save them, but I hadn’t saved Jeff. Top that off with the fact that I’d blamed the whole thing on Jeff and yeah, they were angry and pretty vocal about it.
    And by vocal, I mean they liked to talk a lot.
    And by talk a lot, I mean they pinned me against a wall and punched me until I wasn’t able to form words to disagree with them anymore.
    “I thought you said that was over.” Mom shook her head. “I’ll go in Monday and talk to Principal Lint.”
    “No, it’s just because Finn’s out of town. He’ll be back tomorrow. They’re not as willing to attack when you travel in packs.” Not exactly true. Finn had come home with a couple of black eyes himself, but Mom didn’t