PROLOGUE:

‍ ‍The persistent whistle of the teakettle pierced the air of the cluttered studio apartment. It remained unaddressed as Lara Winters sat on her bed, chin to knees, trying to process the words the boy sitting next to her had just uttered.

“I wanna just be friends.”

            “Oh...” she finally managed, stumbling to her feet.

            “Sorry?” he offered awkwardly, standing up with her.

            Lara retreated to the kitchen to turn off the burner. She mechanically poured hot water into the two mugs with teabags, braced herself against the countertop, and stared into the swirling pools of light amber.

            He wandered into her peripheral vision. “I just don’t get it,” he half chuckled, running his fingers through the long black fringe in his brown eyes. “All those girls...and I can never commit...” he trailed off.

“I dunno. Just...with my current lifestyle, I can’t... I don’t think I’m ready for a girlfriend,” he finished, his eyes darting out the window.

            Lara’s brain flooded with questions she could ask. Were the last three months a lie? Was he bored of her? Was there someone else? Was it the age difference? Was it her lack of experience? Did his friends secretly hate her?

Did he ever really love her?

            She continued to stare into the teacups, gently nibbling her cuticles. He took a cautious step towards her. Then another.

            “But I really do want to be friends,” he insisted quietly. “If...it’s okay with you...”

            He peered into the side of her face for what seemed like hours until she suddenly released her fingers from her mouth, beamed brightly into the teacups, removed the teabags, and said, “Yeah...! Actually, I’d like that!”

            He coughed out a laugh. “Really?”

            She dumped the teabags into the trash. “I mean, it’s finally summer vacation in a couple weeks. And I was looking forward to teaching you to paint and everything...”

            “Yeah... Yeah!” he agreed, breathing rapidly. “Of course we can still do those things... So you’re not mad?”

            Lara drizzled a spoonful of honey into one of the cups of tea and stirred until it melted.

“Of course not. I understand.” She followed the honey with a splash of half and half. “And to be honest, I’d barely even finished realizing you were my boyfriend. It was all so new to me.”

            She held out the prepared cup of tea, looking just shy of his left ear. He quickly held up a hand and shook his head.

“I have to go... Rehearsal...”

            Lara smiled and nodded, taking a sip of the tea meant for him.

            He stood there for a few moments, taking her in. Her big green eyes, turned downward; her long black hair hanging in her face; her thin, bare ankles and feet, rolling inward and outward on the floor. His last visit had ended with a long hug and kiss at her front door. Now, she held her teacup to her chest like a shield and stared into it. He scratched his forearm and turned around.

            Lara’s brain flooded once again with things she could say. But she silently brought her lips to the rim of the teacup, her heart pounding in her ears as Jimmy Wong walked out her door.

Lara didn’t see him walk down the stairs outside. She didn’t see him walk to his red Honda and fumble for his keys. She didn’t see him turn and look up to her window on the second floor.

But someone else did.

His fingers hovered over the smartphone floating in front of his face as he watched Lara. She finally turned away from the kitchen countertop, walked straight through the man, and returned to her bed to sit. Coal quickly jumped up to join her, purring and giving her hand a headbutt, but she didn’t acknowledge him.

            The invisible man snapped some photos of the walls of her studio apartment—a mosaic of paintings ranging from unicorns in dark forests to severed hands in pools of blood. The apartment was poorly furnished: a wooden chair at a secondhand computer desk, black bookshelves jury-rigged with hairpins and crammed with art reference materials and fantasy books, a small bed with a black bedspread—which served as both her bed and her couch—and a small TV atop a mustard-colored pleather ottoman which had been badly scratched on one side. He snapped photos of these as well.

            Then his phone played a little tune. Neither Lara nor her cat reacted.

            “Hey,” he answered.

            “Hello, Adumir,” a voice on the other end said through the speaker. “Have you finished your pre-study report?”

            “Just finishing it now. Will send it on to you and the Council in a minute.”

            “Good. I just assumed I’d have to nag you.”

            Adumir chuckled. “I’m not that irresponsible.”

            “Says the Yllime who refused to take a study for centuries.”

            “Meilyn’s study convinced me it was time.”

            There was a pause on the other end. “Is that still the story you’re going with?”

            All traces of levity vanished from Adumir’s voice. “Keinrad. Let’s not go through this again.”

            Keinrad sighed. “I trust you and Meilyn. If you insist you’re keeping a secret for my own good—”

            “For her own good,” Adumir corrected. “And you—the less you know, the safer you’ll be.”

            Keinrad sighed again. “It’s your safety I’m worried about, Adumir. Whatever your plan is, it can’t be very safe.”

            “I’ve made my decision,” Adumir snapped.

            The two let the words hang in the air. Then Keinrad’s tone softened. “How is she?”

            “My subject?” Adumir glanced at the young woman on the bed. There was no discernable expression on her face. “She just got dumped.”

            “Oh—I’m sorry to hear that. Well, I’ll leave you to it then. Our next communication will be in a week.”

            “Bye-eee.”

            The call ended. Adumir’s phone stayed in the air as he floated over Lara, turned a somersault, and landed across from her on the bed. Even a look into her eyes from up close revealed very little, aside from their green color.

            Then a car engine started outside the window. Lara’s large forehead prickled slightly from the sound. Adumir glanced out the window to see Jimmy Wong’s red Honda pull out of the guest parking spot and drive out of the parking lot—for what would probably be the last time.

            A muffled whimper brought Adumir’s focus back inside. Lara’s eyes were now an intense green, pried open defiantly, and sparkling with tears. Her jaw was clenched tight, her skin even paler, save the red around her eyes. She still just sat there, motionless.

            Adumir’s violet eyes softened. “I’m so sorry... But you’re going to have to be strong. What you’re going through right now is nothing compared to what you’re about to go through.”

            Adumir vanished from Lara’s bed and rematerialized in front of his hovering phone near the kitchen. After reading over his entry again and making a couple quick edits, he attached the photos and hit Send.