“Russell?”“Yeah! You got my back now?” Russell asks in a sour tone, looking over the railing from the tower above. “’Cuz one of them freaky demon things almost ate me after y’all left!”“A Riser nearly ate you?” Reed asks with humor in his tone“Yeah, whatever—it’s not funny!” he calls down, sounding irritated. “Next time, I want Zee for my wingman.”“That is because I am the ultimate assassin,” Zephyr replies from behind Reed.”

“Wanna hang out for a bit?" "You tryin' to get in my pants now that you know I'm queer?" he asked in an impudent tone. "No!""Yeah.""Yeah, what?""Yeah, I wanna hang out." He smiled over at me.”

“I ate civilization. It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then," he added in a lower tone, "I ate my own wickedness.”

“Hey, sexy. Why haven’t you called?” The cooing sound came from behind me, and I glanced back over my shoulder to see a familiar-looking brunette. “Because I’m the asshole who never calls,” I replied with a wink.”

“Linc?""Yeah.""About the other thing my dad said to you," I cringed."What else is he supposed to think?" he asked, a smile in his tone. "You're over here all the time. If not training, we're hanging out. I'm surprised he hasn't warned me off sooner. It's good to see he's paying attention.”

“I slump against the cushion. “How am I going to protect him, if I’ve completely alienated him? He thinks I’m creepy…” I say sadly.“You are not creepy,” Reed says soothingly, taking my hand.“You’re not a good judge of creepy, Reed, since you’re creepier than I am,” I say warily, looking over at Zephyr when I hear him laughing at my comment. “I wouldn’t laugh too hard, pal, because you’re the creepiest one of us all.”