They’re back now, and while I try to ignore them, they creep me out like everything else in this town and just make the sense that something is wrong even more pronounced. On the plus side, they’re friendly, and if something is hunting me, I’m betting they’d bark their heads off.

Moving to the front lawn to avoid waking them, I set up my telescope, but the view of the stars isn’t much better out here. I touch the coin on my neck and whisper to my poppa that I miss him every day. It’s like a wound that won’t heal.

“You know there’s a curfew, right?” a low voice whispers, and I squeak and spin around to find Shy leaning against a tree.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

Shy grins and I feel it down to my toes. “Breaking curfew.”

A raven caws from above and then there’s a rustle of wings as it takes off. Shy watches it for a moment, then turns back to me. “How come you’re up so late?”

I’m grateful it’s dark so he doesn’t see my skin flush. “Couldn’t sleep,” I mumble.

He looks at me speculatively for a second, then rubs his chest. “No, that’s not it.”

My hackles go up. “Why are you asking me questions when you’re the one at my house after midnight? What are you doing here?”

He scrubs a hand through his hair, the color almost silver in the dark. “Honestly, I don’t really know. I just…wanted to see you. I thought maybe…I don’t know. I wanted to see you.”

His admission stuns me for a moment, and as I stare, I’m once again wrapped in the heat of my dreams. I’m not sure what to say but I still open my mouth to speak when a growl erupts from behind me.

The dogs.

I turn toward the sound, and the whole pack has come around the side of the house, snarling. At first, I think they are targeting me, but then they bolt past toward Shy. I pivot to warn him, but he’s nowhere to be found. I scan my surroundings, but he’s literally disappeared. Though the dogs bark at the base of the tree he had been standing beneath.

“Knock it off,” I hiss at them, and they whine but finally quiet down.

I glance through the trees one more time, feeling even more uneasy than before. There is no way Shy could have escaped that quickly, right?

At least, I hope.