of demon species was nearby.
His gaze went to a flash of pink approaching them. It was Brynna Addams—one of the first friends Nick had made at St. Richards and an all-around sweetheart.
Smiling, she touched Kody on the arm. “Hey hon, I was wondering if I could borrow you after school? LaShonda and I got drafted to do the decorations for the Fall Out Dance, and I could really use some help.” She turned her pitiful begging look to Nick. “You, too, Gautier. Want to help a sister out?”
“I would love to, but I have to work today. Kyrian has some returns I have to make, and a pickup from Liza’s.”
Brynna pouted before she turned back to Nekoda. “Please, Kody?”
She hesitated, then nodded. “Sure.”
Squealing, Brynna hugged her. “You’re the best!” She dashed off, vanishing into the crowd.
Nick laughed. “Thank goodness she grabbed you . I don’t want to be in the dog house anymore.”
“You’re still not in the clear, buddy.”
Nick sighed. “Story of my life.”
The warning bell sounded.
“You better go,” Kody said. “I don’t want to see you get another detention.”
“ You ? At this rate, I should just make a bed on the floor of Richardson’s room. Tell me again why she couldn’t have gotten eaten by a zombie?” Nick fell silent as he contemplated a way to facilitate that happening. It wasn’t too late. “I wonder if Madaug has any more copies of that game laying around.”
Kody paled. “Don’t even joke about that. Now go.”
Saluting her, he turned and headed toward his first period, where Caleb was waiting at their computer lab table.
Either Caleb or Kody was with him in every class—something they’d both insisted on. After what had happened last year with the coach who’d sold his soul for victory—literally—and who had then blackmailed Nick into helping him get items he could use to kill students, the two of them were paranoid something would grab Nick in the middle of the day if one of them wasn’t nearby.
Nick’s home was considered a safe zone since they’d set up protection symbols and sealed the apartment. However, the school was a public building with hundreds of people in it—including some known preternaturals who were supposed to be there, and who posed no threat to him. There was no way to make it completely safe without banning those students, too.
Nick sat down at the same time Caleb shot to his feet. “Something wrong?”
Caleb narrowed his eyes as he made a slow circle around his stool, scanning every corner of the room. “There’s something here. Can you feel it?”
“I thought I saw a shadow in the hallway a few minutes ago.”
Caleb’s eyes flashed orange.
Nick glanced around to make sure no one else had seen him do that. “Yo, D, the freak eye thing? Dead giveaway, man. Sit down before the wings pop out, and we both end up in a real science lab, under the microscope.”
“Malphas?” their teacher snapped. “You have trouble finding your seat?”
Caleb turned at Mr. Tendyk’s question. “No, sir.” He sat down beside Nick.
The bell rang.
After closing the door and dimming the classroom lights, Tendyk turned on the overhead projector that displayed his desktop for everyone in the class to see. Nick sucked his breath in sharply while the rest of the room erupted into chaos.
Instead of the boring icons they were used to staring at on a vomit green background, Tendyk’s desktop wallpaper was a montage of Brynna Addams naked, doing extremely lewd things.
Tendyk almost broke his computer as he fumbled to turn it off. “Who’s responsible for this?” he demanded angrily.
Utter silence rang out.
Until Stone laughed again. “From the looks of it, I’d say Brynna Addams. Who knew that was hidden underneath all those high buttoned shirts and sweaters?”
Laughing, Mason high-fived him.
Pandemonium returned as everyone had a foul or gross comment to make. Everyone except Nick and Caleb. Nick was too horrified by how