The rest of the day proceeded similarly to our previous days here. Finn and Aidan took turns on the TV, Zephyr was near the end of his book, and Maverick was nowhere to be found. Okay, that last part was different.

  “Did he say when he was going to be back?” I asked Zephyr from my spot on the couch, where I was petting a very content Dimitri. Finn sat to my left, and Aidan next to him. Aidan was lanky, and Finn wasn’t much bigger, yet it felt like I was running out of room on this couch.

  “Maverick? No. He didn’t say where he was going either,” Zephyr replied. He was kind enough to put his book aside to give me his full attention. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon. I did promise him I’d cook beef stew.”

  “What’s that—” Aidan was quickly cut off.

  “Meat again?” Finn exhaled loudly. “Why did Sylvis give us all this meat?!”

  “To be fair, she was accounting for it just being me and Maverick, and I won’t turn down a good steak. Stew on the other hand…” I mumbled the last part.

  “Would you be happy if I prepared something else—”

  “Yes,” the three of us answered in unison.

  “All right, all right.” He raised his hands defensively, his thumb still inside his book, keeping track of where he’d left off. “Consider it done.”

  With a sigh of relief from all of us, Aidan and Finn continued with their game that they were taking turns on — still the dinosaur falling block game — and I continued petting. Poor Dimitri, I hadn’t gotten him any toys. Maybe I could find a slipper in Maverick’s room…

  Maverick…

  As much as I hated the guy, I didn’t want anything to happen to him, and I still wanted him to return as soon as possible. ...Mostly so he’d be able to protect us if anything went wrong.

  “I can do that, you know.” Finn gave me a sad smile, and I knew he thought I didn’t trust him enough.

  “I’m sorry, but if it’s between you and an Ethereal, I’m going to take the Ethereal,” I replied.

  “W-what are you two talking about?” Aidan looked frantically between the two of us.

  “Ella doesn’t trust us to protect her if something happens. She wants Maverick.” Finn drew out Maverick’s name teasingly.

  “I would also feel safer under Maverick’s protection, yes.” Zephyr didn’t bother to look up from his book this time.

  “Come on! You don’t trust yourself to be able to protect us?” Finn whined.

  No response.

  Finn’s expression shifted to something I couldn’t read before returning to his natural aloof smile. “Well, I’d put money on me and Aidan.”

  “Y-you think I could p-protect us?” Aidan’s mouth widened, and the controller fell out of his hand.

  “With my help? Definitely!” Finn beamed.

  “Way to ruin the moment…” I muttered while rolling my eyes. Even Dimitri gave a disapproving bark.

  I waited and waited, and still no Maverick. Aidan had gone to bed first, Zephyr joined him hours after finishing his book, obviously only staying as long as he did out of concern for me, and Finn was the last to leave. I had to practically beg him to go to sleep.

  I wasn’t the type of person who could go to bed after a fight that hadn’t been resolved. I mean… sure, I went to bed last night, but it was literally the middle of the night! And also Maverick hadn’t disappeared! If I had known he was going to leave, maybe I would’ve said something… anything… to keep him from leaving.

  It wasn’t long before I started jumping to worst-case scenarios. What if he didn’t come back? What if he thought I was safe with the other three? What if he’s trying to convince Rosalie to watch me, and that’s what’s taking so long?

  I lost track of how many glasses of water I had gone through trying to ease the nausea of my worry. This was so stupid. It wasn’t even my fault he was pissed! He’s the one who wronged me, and here I am waiting up to make sure he’s okay.

  I curled up on the couch, blanket over me, Dimitri sleeping peacefully at my feet. Memories of my mom flooded back to me. I wondered what she thought about me being missing. I never really wondered that until now. Funny how thoughts worked.

  Ever since the divorce, my mom had grown more distant from me. It was gradual, at first, anyway. They had joint custody. Three days with my mom, four days with my dad, then four days with my mom, three days with my dad. Slowly, she stopped paying attention to me, snapping at me any time I annoyed her. I remember snapping right back, but the look she gave me was enough for me to never make that mistake again. Things only got worse when my stepbrother was born.

  Yet, I still longed for her attention. I’d try to set up little “dates” for the two of us to do things. Maybe we’d watch that new movie she had talked about wanting to see, or go to the mall. Sometimes they worked out. Most of the time, they didn’t.

  Once high school started, my dad practically had full custody of me. They never made it official in court or anything like that, but I spent weekdays with him and weekends with my mom. Even then, she didn’t make a fuss if I asked to miss a weekend. That’s how I had ended up at Carol’s party to begin with.

  Despite everything she had put me through… I still somehow always found myself apologizing. If our plans didn’t work out, I’d take the blame. If I had caught her at a bad time with a question, that was my fault, too.

  Oh well. That’s who I was. Not like it was going to change now.

  I didn't know what time it was when I fell asleep, but it was 4:00AM when Maverick walked into the room. He looked tired, but not as tired as I felt.

  “Y-you’re back?” My voice came out hoarse, having just woken up.

  “Finn told me to talk to you.” He sat at the edge of the couch, sitting on Dimitri’s tail. The latter growled before moving to one of the chairs.

  “I thought Finn shared a room with Aidan." I wiped the sleep out of my eyes while trying to shift to a position where I was sitting up.

  He shifted in his seat, probably trying to get comfortable. “Well, he was in my room tonight.”

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  I paused. He had slept in Maverick’s room to make sure that if he returned, he’d talk to me…?

  “Where were you?” I asked. I meant it as a simple question, yet it came out like a petulant demand.

  “We weren’t getting very far in finding the Magus of Historia, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. And then I had a hot dog.”

  “How was the hot dog?”

  “Fine. I now know what this one would taste like.” He gestured with his head over to the sleeping dog.

  “…You know they don’t use real dogs, right?” I tried not to sound as horrified as I felt.

  “Then why is it called that?” He looked genuinely confused.

  “It’s because—” I facepalmed. I didn’t have time to explain that. “D-don’t ever leave like that again!” I cried. Stupid tears! Why do they always show up when you’re emotional? I guess I just answered my own stupid question!

  I wiped my eyes with the blanket, and once my vision was no longer blurry, I could see him staring straight at me. His multi-colored eyes looked black from here. As usual, they held no light. It was hard to see in this lighting, but I could faintly make out a frown. He shifted awkwardly, his hand resting on my foot that was still covered by the blanket.

  “Missed me that much?” He smirked, but not for long. I threw the pillow I was lying on at his face. The oomph of the pillow hitting Maverick’s proud nose disturbed Dimitri momentarily, but he went back to sleep without a fuss.

  “Can you at least try to be serious?” I crossed my arms — or at least tried to. They got tangled under the blanket. I watched as he watched me struggle, making me all the more frustrated.

  “I am trying.” He sighed. “I’m still here and not in my bed for some reason.” He did have a point. Or, a quarter of a point. “I didn’t mean to make you worry. You made it quite clear last night you didn’t want anything to do with me. I honestly didn’t think you’d care where I went.”

  “Of course I care.” I grabbed a fistful of the blanket from underneath. “Just because I don’t want you following me doesn’t mean I’m okay with you disappearing without a trace, not knowing if you’re safe or not. …Or if I’m safe. You’re an Ethereal, so of course you were safe.”

  “If the leader of the Magus of Historia were to face me one on one, that would be another story entirely.”

  “Have you met her before?” I asked, surprised that there was anyone strong enough (besides Sylvis) to stand a chance against Maverick. It made me wonder who would win in a duel between him and Rosalie.

  “I don’t think “met” is the right word. We certainly haven’t fought before. I don’t think Sylvis would have allowed it.”

  “How come?”

  He moved his head and shrugged his shoulders in a way that implied he didn’t know the answer. “She’s never said.”

  “Speaking of Sylvis..." My stomach sank while remembering what I wanted to ask. "Why didn’t she want me knowing you were stalking me?”

  “Because she knew you’d be upset," he paused. "She didn’t want to upset you more than you already were.”

  “Well, that’s a stupid reason.” I pouted.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault that it’s stupid—”

  “For not telling you, I mean.” He glanced away, down at my feet. What was with my feet tonight? I was suddenly very glad I had a blanket over them.

  “O-oh.” I bit my lip, unsure how to respond.

  “I hated you, Ella.” That stung. “You were the embodiment of everything about humanity I hated. Weak, optimistic, somewhat cringeworthy—”

  “I hope you’re going somewhere with this." My voice came out quieter than I’d intended.

  “That’s why I didn’t want to interact with you. I was around you all the damn time, constantly watching every moment of your pathetic life. I couldn’t stand it. It was driving me insane.”

  “Mhm…” I turned away from him. Was he just here to complain?

  “But then I realized how you drew people together. You had an effect on people unlike I had ever seen. You’re not strong like Rosalie, or pretty like Letheria, or bubbly like Aqua, yet you managed to grab people’s attention. Probably just because you were from another world and unusually weak, but…” Did every statement have to be a backhanded compliment? “But then you pushed your luck with me.” He sighed. “I don’t have an interest in talking to humans. I find them quite boring most of the time.”

  “You speak as though you aren’t one yourself.”

  “Can we really call Ethereals human? We’re immortal,” he paused, getting back on track. “I started to realize the problem wasn’t you. I don’t hate you, I just hate humans.”

  I couldn’t tell if I felt better or worse after this conversation. He didn’t hate me—he just hated everyone! How was I supposed to feel after hearing that? At least it was nothing personal. Except for when it was, apparently.

  “Why?” I asked. At first, I didn’t even know what I was questioning. Why was he telling me this? Why was he like this? I decided to go with the latter. “Why do you hate humans?”

  “Didn’t I just—” He closed his mouth and exhaled through his nose.

  “Is finding them different and annoying enough to hate them? Have you ever tried to understand them? Thought back to a time when you were still your definition of human — free from this power?”

  “I think about it all the damn time, Elaina!” he shouted through gritted teeth, his fist centimeters away from pounding my foot. “I… I want what they have.” His voice was so quiet I could barely hear it.

  He didn’t need to explain any further—I felt the same. It was funny how everyone sought eternal life—feared aging—and yet the two of us had that. We had it, and we wanted nothing more than to be free of it.

  “I’m sorry.” I crouched forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me in surprise. Was he… crying?

  “If you think you’re getting a big soppy backstory, I’d think again,” he muttered.

  “Letheria was right. You are a flower waiting to bloom, and it’s not that time yet.”

  “Huh?” He looked at me with utter confusion and judgmental disbelief.

  “N-never mind!” I said quickly. I realized how stupid I sounded saying that out loud. “Um… Did you have friends before? When you first became an Ethereal?” I asked, wondering if maybe he was like me. Over time, would I stop bothering to make friends the way he and Rosalie seemingly had? Would the pain of losing them be too much to risk forming new connections?

  “More like before I became an Ethereal.” A fond smile crept onto his lips as if he remembered something dear to him.

  “What about after?”

  His smile widened in humor, and I could hear his airy chuckle. “You’re not ready for that.”

  “No, you’re not ready.” I crossed my arms, quite certain I could handle whatever he didn’t want to tell me.

  “Trust me, you’re not ready.” He smiled and ruffled my hair. Whatever it was couldn’t have been too bad if he was smiling.

  “Fine.” I rolled my eyes. “Why didn’t you make friends after?”

  He paused for a long while, taking my question seriously for once. “I guess I never wanted any.”

  “Well, you have friends now, whether you like it or not.” I flicked his forehead, snapping him out of his thoughts.

  “Ow. What was that for?” He rubbed the sore spot.

  “To lighten the mood. You were all quiet and serious.”

  “I thought you wanted a serious answer.”

  “I did.”

  Silence followed as we both tried to think of something to say.

  “You really want to be my friend after the whole stalking thing?” he asked, his tone serious rather than sarcastic like it normally was.

  I nodded. “Then you get to follow me without it being stalking! Besides… you’re the only one like me. Well, besides Rosalie, but she’s never around. I’d like to have someone who can relate to me.”

  “Trust me, the two of us will never relate.” He ran his hand through his messy hair. “But… I guess we have a few things in common.”

  I nodded. “I think the others would like to get to know you better too. Besides Aidan. Well… I’m sure he’ll warm up eventually. You and Finn already seem to be close…ish.”

  “Kid was having a hard time when he first arrived. I’m still not sure what I saw in him but… Whatever. I’m glad he’s doing okay now. A little too okay if you ask me.”

  “Seems you could be doing better yourself. Finn’s always surrounded by others, and you’re the opposite. Maybe once you start making real friends, you’ll understand what you’re missing.”

  “Maybe.”

  I couldn’t fathom not wanting friends. As a kid, I’d always had friends. They would come and go, some faster than others, but I had always been desperate to make new ones. To not have that desire… I felt like that would be a very lonely existence.