SHADOWS

10. INVISIBLE STRING

2 weeks had passed.

There were several animal attacks, which for some reason piqued Dean's curiosity about who was threatening the town. Since his conversation with Toji, he had known something was up. But he never saw Toji again. However, he was pretty sure that what happened to Acey two weeks ago wasn't caused by an animal. When they all came to talk to Acey, she appeared traumatized; perhaps this was the reason she hadn't attended class since the day she regained consciousness. She never talked at all, or spoke about what happened.

Acey's parents took her to see a therapist, but the session ended in failure because she spent the entire time staring at the wall, quiet and unable to talk. It seemed as though she was the only person in the universe and that no one else existed. She was locked inside her own head. She was consumed by thoughts of that horrible experience. The memory circled back and forth in her mind until it became an uncontrollably recurring nightmare that she couldn't escape from.

Dean and Ilena were growing closer and closer. Though Ilena wasn't sure what was going on between them yet, she thought it was admirable that Dean had given her some sneaky glances, held her hand, and made other courteous gestures. She was unable to stop herself from becoming more attached to him. Dean is in the same boat. Though most of Dean's desires were to be there for Ilena, to be happy with her, and to spend time with her, he harbored fears about what could happen if she discovered the truth about who and what he was. It was stressful. Nonetheless, it was as if there was some kind of an invisible string, tying them together.

It was September 7, Thursday.

Ilena climbed inside Dean's Mercedes. Dean had been the one to take Ilena out of their house and drive her to school ever since the back-to-school party by the lake. In contrast, Dean requested Jharrett's consent. Because Ilena had mentioned that ever since Jharrett got his motorcycle, every day he would drive her to school. Well, though, that stopped when Dean asked Jharrett if he could drive Ilena to school everyday instead. Nonetheless, Ilena never voiced any complaints about it. She was able to spend more time with Dean and get to know him better. Jharrett was also rather cool with that.

As Dean maneuvered his car through the morning traffic on their way to school, Ilena couldn't help but sense a subtle unease in the air. She decided to break the silence with a casual question.

"Hey, did Kaia invite you to her birthday party?" she asked, glancing at Dean.

Dean nodded, but there was a hint of hesitation in his response. "Yeah, she did."

Ilena's forehead tilled, "And...???"

Dean sighed, shrugging, "Still thinking about whether I'll go or not."

Ilena raised an eyebrow, her eyes narrowing. "Okay... that's it." She turned her frame and faced him, "You've been a bit distracted lately, spacing out. What's going on?"

Dean's gaze lingered on the road for a moment before he exhaled and responded. "Just stressed out about you know... school stuff."

Lie.

Ilena scoffed, shaking her head. "Has anyone told you that you're terrible at lying?" Her nose wrinkled, adding, "Come on, be for real... you're literally one of the smartest students in our batch. It's hard to believe that school stress gets to you."

Dean shot her a sidelong glance, and Ilena could see a flicker of vulnerability. "Okay, fine. I'm not stressed about school. It's just... there have been a lot of animal attacks in town lately."