Skinwalkers

Chapter Fourteen

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Chapter Fourteen

Zave began to suspect that Fey had lied to him when he watched her and Clueless get on the bus. For a bus with no vacant seats, there seemed to be a lot of them that weren't being used.

His suspicions were confirmed when he boarded his own bus, four hours later, and it immediately set off in the opposite direction than Fey and Clueless had gone.

That filthy little... he thought, face turning red with anger. How dare she trick him like this? As if he didn't have a right to help escort his own dog to safety.

He was about to jump up and demand the driver let him off, but something about what had just passed through his head made him pause halfway out of his seat.

...to escort his own dog to safety.

He sat back down, shame welling up in his chest. Clueless wasn't his own dog anymore, was she? She wasn't a dog at all. In terms of sentience, despite the obvious difficulties she was facing, she was practically human. And yet, whenever he thought of her, he couldn't help but think of her as his own dog.

Maybe it's better this way, he thought, staring blankly at the back of the seat in front of him. As big of a jerk as Fey had been, she did know more about skinwalkers than Zave ever would. Maybe she knew that Zave wouldn't have been able to shed his mindset of Clueless being his pet in a couple of measly days—maybe not ever. Maybe she'd known that the best thing for Clueless was to get him away from her quickly, like ripping off a bandaid. And could he really argue with that? He was, after all, the one who had named the poor girl Clueless.

Besides, what was he supposed to do? Fey had never told him what their destination was. Probably to keep him from following them just like he was considering doing. Feeling like his insides were being coated in cold, heavy mud, he sat back in his seat and just let the bus take him wherever it was going. Where was he going? He hadn't even looked at his destination before climbing onboard. Hopefully it wasn't too far from home.

And then what? Go back to his normal, everyday life? Get up every morning and go to work, just to come home and be greeted by an empty house? He wasn't sure if he could, not after everything he'd seen. Most of it had been bad, true, but at the same time there had been this sense of...rightness. A feeling of belonging that, despite Fey's constant bad attitude, made him feel more at home than when he was at home.

He sighed. The feeling would have to pass. If it didn't, he was going to be miserable for the rest of his life. Maybe he could start over, adopt a new—the sharp pain in his chest stopped that thought in its tracks. No. No more dogs. As lonely as he might be, he knew that if he got another dog, all he would ever see was Clueless. All he would ever feel was that cold, biting sense of loss.

Zave glanced out the window, and was surprised to see that the sun was setting. He must have been lost in his self-pity for hours! A moment of panic struck him, but then he realized there was an overhead light above his seat. Flipping it on, he sat back again, sighing in relief. At least he wouldn't have to go through this in the—

"Lovely weather we're having."

Zave jumped, and was stunned to see the smiling man sitting next to him. His unnatural grin, his black marble-like eyes, his papery skin, everything was exactly the same as Zave remembered from...had it really only been a day ago?

"How are you today?" he asked in his odd way, like a parrot repeating phrases it didn't understand.

"I'd be a lot better if you stopped doing that!" Zave looked around, but there were only two other passengers besides him and the smiling man, and they were both at the front of the bus. Neither looked back to see what the commotion was.