Malachi looked like he wanted to argue, and I couldn’t blame him. I would so much rather patrol by his side, but I’d already thought this through. Henry and Jim didn’t even know how to spot a Mazikin, and I suspected Malachi would end up throttling Jim if I paired them up. “What is our course of action if we discover a Mazikin?” Malachi asked.

“Unless it attacks you, I want you to stay out of sight. Text me your location, and follow it. We need to find the nest, and that’s more important than eliminating a single Mazikin.”

Malachi smiled. “I think those are excellent orders, Captain.”

His words brought warmth to my chest that I badly needed—because I could tell he meant them. “Thank you. Be careful, okay?” I said it to him, but then shifted my gaze to Henry, who eyed me for a second before nodding.

Jim and I trudged up the block and turned left onto a smaller side road. It was about nine, still early, but already dark enough to make me grateful for every streetlamp. We zigzagged through the neighborhood for over an hour, but saw nothing more suspicious than a group of teenagers heading into a duplex that was practically shaking from the bass pumping inside. I was about to suggest that we return to the street where our car was parked when I heard running footsteps and male laughter. I sniffed at the air, trying to detect a hint of incense that might tell me whether they were Mazikin, but all I smelled was the garlic and spices coming from someone’s kitchen nearby. “Let’s get a little closer and see what’s happening,” I said to Jim as the laughter was punctuated by shouts and crashes.

“Sounds like someone’s having a good time. That’s a crime around here?” Jim asked.

I ignored him, tensing when I heard a familiar voice say, “Dude, don’t point that at me. Aden, I’m serious!”

It was Ian Moseley, our classmate. My stomach churned as four guys rounded the corner several yards ahead of us. Aden, Ian, Greg, and Levi. Dressed in jackets, with beanies pulled low over their ears, they had the loose-limbed grace of privileged boys who thought the world was a giant amusement park. Aden was in the lead and holding what looked like a paintball gun, with a long, narrow tube for a barrel.

“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing,” he slurred to the others, shaking the thing and sending several pellets splattering onto the concrete in front of him. “Oops.”

Ian, his hair concealed by his cap, was reaching out to take the gun away from his friend when he noticed Jim and me watching them. He squinted at us like he couldn’t quite believe it. “Lela?”

“Hey.” I waved spastically, realizing in that moment how awkward these next few minutes would be.