The War of Elevens| Book 1 of the Space Thief Chronicles

Chapter 7| Metamorphic Mist

Lilly woke up the next morning to a pink-orange sky radiant with rising sun. Summer morning chill whispered through the living room from an open window. The dew, sea, and boat motor oil turned the air in the living room thick with fragrance. 

Lilly sat up and pressed her back to the couch, her legs tangled in the sheets. Next to her, Melissa lay tucked beneath an old quilt, her dark cloud of twisted locks spilled across the pillow. Last night, Melissa suggested they sleep in the living room together, so they had rolled out blankets, pillows, and quilts to create a pallet on the floor. It was a fantastic idea...Lilly would not have been able to go to sleep if Melissa wasn't beside her, whispering stories about silly dragons and opera-singing walls until they both fell into an uneasy slumber.

Lilly sighed, working her hands through her curls. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and plucked at the fine stringy bandage around her hand. Maybe everything she learned last night was all a dream... whatever had come out of her hands at Khofie's, the giant killer slug with bat wings, Melissa crying in the kitchen.

"You might wanna brush your hair, Kettle Fire."

Lilly jerked her head around toward the open window across the room. There was a tired face poking through it, and it took Lilly a moment to recognize the features, but once she did, she sucked in an annoyed breath.

She was not in the mood this morning.

If anyone were to lurk around a house at five-thirty in the morning and wait for the occupants of that house to wake up so that he could speak with them at the crack of dawn, it was Jake Ecscent.

Lilly did not know him personally...he was Ghost-Guy, Shadow-Shy, the Melter. People called Jake names like one jabs shovels into the ground, vicious and determined. He had such a bad reputation because of his bizarre practices: Lilly would be walking by his house on the way to the co-op market and see him hanging upside-down off the edge of his roof. Every day for lunch, he drank a strange neon blue drink with candied bugs at the bottom. He skulked beneath the bleachers at Eldnac lacrosse games. He often wore his shirts inside out. 

Lilly got up and went to the window, careful not to wake Melissa.

"What do you want?" she whispered in the most irritated tone she could manage.

"You nearly burned my eyes off last night," Jake whispered back.

"How do you know where I live?"

"I did my science project on you last year. I followed you home."

He what?

Lilly reached up to pull the window down. Jake withdrew his head and added hastily, "I'm not a stalker, I promise."

"I'm about to wake my cousin up," Lilly hissed. "She keeps knives strapped to her arms."

"Please just come outside. I have to tell you something important. Mornings are the best times to share important information."

He was crazy.

"Jake, I barely know you." What important information could he possibly have for her since the only time she'd spoken with him was during an English project they were paired up for last semester?

"Trust me," Jake replied.

Lilly paused. She wasn't sure Jake knew the definition of normal, but she wanted to explode on him without waking Melissa up, so she shut the window, filled a mug with ice and water, and met Jake on her back porch. She was in shorts and a t-shirt, and the morning cold cut her to the bone. The wood beneath her bare feet felt like ice.