The shift in the school was instantaneous.

  Whatever it was that Ethan did back in the courtyard had caused everyone to tone it down.

  Oh, they still watched, still went quiet when I walked by, still changed posture when I entered a room. But the glances didn't linger, and their bodies seemed to move away instead of toward me. It was like Ethan had built invisible walls all around me, and the only people allowed inside were he and Nell.

  In math class, he looked at me just once, like he was only making sure I was exactly where I was supposed to be, then dropped into his usual seat. He didn't look at me again. Didn't talk to me.

  The minute he sat down, the room relaxed. Shoulders loosened. Anyone who, by chance, had been leaning toward me snapped upright.

  Part of me was relieved. Another part squirmed. Whatever had happened back there, whatever was happening now, was part of something I clearly didn't understand. And it unnerved me.

  Nell was already waiting in the hallway when the bell rang. She leaned against the wall opposite the door, arms folded across her chest. As I greeted her, she pushed off the wall and fell into step beside me without a word.

  Ethan slipped out of the classroom a second later.

  The crowd shifted as he passed, opening and closing behind him like a breathing organism.

  In a few strides, he caught up, settling at my other side. Nell glanced at him but said nothing. We walked like that for a while. Me in the middle. Nell on the left. Ethan on the right.

  "You know," I muttered, "if you guys put on some sunglasses and earpieces, you'd look like real agents."

  Nell's gaze flicked to me. "Lower your voice."

  I bit back a snap. "Why is everyone acting like they got some memo I didn't? Yesterday I was the main tourist attraction. Today everyone turns their head away as soon as you two show up. What changed?"

  "Perspective," Ethan said, a smug smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

  I glanced at him. "You enjoy being cryptic, right?"

  His eyes glinted. "It's a hobby."

  "You are not helping," Nell said tightly.

  "Neither are you," he replied.

  We turned a corner. A boy sprawled along the lockers straightened so fast his backpack slammed against the metal, reminding me of a soldier when a general suddenly walks by.

  "Sorry," he blurted, staring at Ethan's shoes.

  Ethan didn't even glance at him.

  "See?" I hissed. "What is this? All of this..." I drew a circle in the air. "...is not normal behavior."

  Ethan's gaze brushed mine for a fraction of a second. His mouth still held that amused smile. "You ask a lot of questions for a newcomer."

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "And you give too few answers for someone who does the knight-in-shining-armor act every time someone stares me half to death," I said. "And before you say anything, I know how ridiculous it sounds. I've regretted it the moment it came out of my mouth."

  Beside me, Nell snorted.

  "Do you?" he repeated, the smile spreading up his cheeks. "Knight in shining armor?" He cracked a laugh. "I've been called a lot of things, but certainly never that." He looked up, like he was tasting it in his mind.

  "It was sarcasm. Ever heard of it?" I murmured, my traitorous cheeks heating up again before he could say something to embarrass me further.

  He looked back at me with wild amusement. "You are... quite vibrant, Kelsey Blackwell."

  I almost stopped. What an odd thing to say.

  Nell quickened her pace and stepped in front of Ethan. "We need to talk."

  "Now? You are on duty."

  "Lunch is in ten minutes. We have time." Her eyes cut to me. "You. Wait by the stairs. Do not go anywhere."

  My spine stiffened. "Do I look like a dog to you?"

  "Do as I tell you," she said, her tone cutting. "Go."

  My mouth fell open. Before I could say anything, she was already dragging Ethan toward the far end of the hall.

  The stairs were only a few steps away. I moved there because standing frozen in the middle of the hallway looked worse.

  I watched them stop near a dark classroom. They were speaking too low to hear. Then Nell shoved him inside, and the door closed with a soft click.

  The hallway around me cleared. The door where Ethan and Nell disappeared remained shut, inviting.

  Eavesdropping is bad, I muttered to myself, but curiosity outweighed manners.

  I walked over and leaned against the frame, eyes on the opposite wall. Their voices came in fragments.

  "...not your call," Nell was saying. "Dad put this on me."

  "He did," Ethan replied calmly. "And you are persistently failing."

  My jaw clenched.

  "I am not."

  "You saw her outside. Alone. Surrounded. You let it play out far too long."

  "She was halfway across the yard when I saw her. You saw that."

  "I saw you blow the whistle when it was already starting," he said. "Three of them had already moved within reach."

  "They would not have touched her. Not here. At school."

  "You sure about that?"

  Silence.

  "I had it under control," she said.

  "Yeah, tell yourself that," Ethan said. "What happens if they begin losing respect? If they decide they could test Dad?"

  Dad. Jason.

  My grip tightened on my bag.

  "You are not taking this from me," Nell said. "You are not swooping in because they listen to you faster."

  "That is exactly what I am doing."

  "This is not a competition."

  "You made it one."

  "No. You did, when you stated a claim in front of the entire school." Then, quieter, "Do you think I don't see what's going on? How she's affecting you? You think you're above others? You're not. She's messing with your head just the same. Only you're too deep in your ego to acknowledge it."

  A sound followed, a low, deep vibration that made the little hairs on my arms stand up.

  "Watch it, Nell."

  Whatever that noise was, it didn't seem to bother her. "Or what? You're going to fight me?"

  For several moments, the only sound I heard was my own breathing.

  "Do you want Dad to hear how you lost her?" Ethan asked softly. "How close that circle got? How you reacted when half of them were in too deep to hear you, let alone respond."

  My stomach dropped.

  "You tell him, then," Nell said. "If you think I am so weak."

  "I won't," Ethan said. "Unless you do."

  The bell rang, sharp and loud. I jumped away from the door.

  By the time they reappeared beside me, their faces were smooth. No one mentioned it.

  I pretended I hadn't heard anything, even though my heart was pounding. These people, this town, were abnormal in ways that crossed the boundaries of cultural difference. If I was being completely honest, they did not act human at all.

  The thought sent a chill down my spine. It was ridiculous. I was getting paranoid.

  There was no such thing as...

  I didn't allow myself to finish the thought.

  bloodkin.