"You're leaving me again?" she said in an angry tone. "Are you not even curious about what I have to offer?"

"Of course I am." I looked her up and down. She was undeniably sexy and cute but that not entirely human part of her gave me the creeps. Catlike ears. Rough tongue. Feline eyes. Was she some sort of cat woman? My internal catalogue of fantastic creatures grew by another entry. Not that I knew which of the ones I'd looked up online were real. I wondered if she could turn into a cat. Shape-shifting didn't seem all that far-fetched anymore. Maybe she was some sort of werecat. "I made a counter offer but you refused."

"I have explained myself quite thoroughly," she said and sniffed.

"What is it with women and disdainful sniffing? Are you gonna start tugging on your braid too?"

She wrinkled her forehead and gave me a puzzled look. "I think it rather obvious I have no braid."

Light from a streetlamp reflected eerily off her amber eyes just like a cat's would. Her vertically-slit pupils dilated until they were round.

"You are one strange cat," I said, meaning it literally.

"I am exceptional."

"You'll get no argument from me, Cheetara," I said.

"Who, pray tell, is Cheetara?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." My turn to be mysterious, babe! I made a show of checking my watch. "I really need to go home. Gotta get up early for school."

Musical laughter tinkled from her red lips. "You amuse me, Justin. I would so dearly love to keep you safe from harm. I promise I would love you to death."

"See, that's the kind of creepy stuff that drives away guys," I said. "Mentioning the whole love and death thing in one sentence. It scares us." I paused and decided to take a stab at her identity. "You're a werecat, aren't you?"

Her eyes widened and a smile lit her face. "You're a clever one, my lamb. Perhaps that will be enough to keep you alive." She stood on tiptoe and kissed me on the cheek with hot lips, then sprinted away into the darkness. Not so fast, I thought. I wanted to find out where she lived, and I was overflowing with fresh energy. I knew I'd have no problems keeping up. I dashed after her and tripped over a tree root on the other side of the street, nearly braining myself on a low stone wall. I climbed to my feet and brushed the dirt off my pants. A sigh escaped my lips. What good were super powers if I was too clumsy to use them?

I went home and wasn't a bit surprised to discover Dad was still gone. A message blinked on the landline phone. I checked it. Another private eye had left a message, telling Dad he was off the case after a single tiny black cloud appeared out of the clear blue and rained frogs on his agency. The Conroys again. Next time I saw Dad, he and I were going to have a little talk. I wondered if he might be stalking women down at the Laundromat again.

I jogged to the strip mall but he wasn't there staring at old women with those strangely blue eyes of his. Then it hit me. His eyes and mine were the same color—hazel. And his had been ice blue that day—the same color mine had turned. Was he a faerie too? I snatched a bottle off the ground and hurled it angrily, expecting it to fly a few feet and smash into the pavement. Instead, it sailed over the other end of the parking lot, over the strip mall, and out of sight. Enough with the mysteries and ignorance. I had to find Dad and demand answers.

* * * * *

School the next day was a miserable affair. Nyte and Ash had troubled looks on their faces when I entered the gymnasium.

"I'm really sorry about you and Elyssa," Ash said.

"Sucks, man," said Nyte, his ginger complexion flushing red.

"Uh, what did she tell you guys?" I asked.

Ash answered. "Just that things didn't work out and she was taking a break from the group."

That sounded like one of Elyssa's rational reasons. Of course it was utter crap. I felt ill just thinking about her. My knees turned to jelly and my stomach soured. I dropped onto the bleachers, trying desperately to keep from crying and throwing up all at the same time.

Ash squeezed my shoulder. "I really thought you two were a great couple."

I couldn't answer. It took everything I had not to sob uncontrollably. The bell mercifully rang. I got up and stepped into the aisle to walk down the stairs. A thudding noise warned me at the last second that something was wrong. I jumped back just as Nathan's shoulder rammed the empty air where I'd been. Caught off balance, he tumbled down seven stairs before face-planting with a crunch on the hardwoods below. He howled in pain, rolling onto his back as blood poured from his nose and down the sides of his face. It reminded me fondly of our first encounter.

Laughter rippled across the bleachers while his football buddies rushed down to help him. Concerned cheerleaders sprang to his side and soon all the pretty people were loudly admonishing those who were laughing.

Then Mr. Barnes showed up. He saw Nathan bleeding profusely on the gym floor and yelled for the nurse. His eyes locked onto me. He glowered. Walked over to Adam and started talking to him. I tried to attune my hearing so I could pick up on the conversation, but the general hubbub formed a sonic barrier against eavesdropping. Adam pointed at me, a scowl on his face. Barnes gave a nasty grin, one I was sure he'd practiced over and over in the mirror, and motioned for me to come to him.

Ash and Nyte collectively groaned. I gritted my teeth and grabbed my book bag off the bleacher where it had fallen and strode toward Mr. Barnes. I knew nothing I said would exonerate me. If only my brain had gotten an upgrade in addition to my brawn. The little demon on my left shoulder told me to grab Mr. Barnes and fling him through a basketball hoop and then to beat Adam and Steve into bloody pulps. I didn't have an angel on my right shoulder—more like a nerd with glasses who kept telling me in a nasal voice that physical violence would only get me booted from school and in trouble with the police.

I had to agree with the nerd.

"So you've graduated to tripping people, Case," said Mr. Barnes. "March yourself down to the principal's office and wait there."

Adam and Steve smirked at me. Aside from their hair color, they could have been clones.

"Looks more like a case of steroids interfering with motor coordination," I said.

"You little—!" Adam sprang at me, grabbing me by my shirt and shoving me backward. I had no problem maintaining my balance.

"I do believe he just physically assaulted me, Mr. Barnes," I said.

"I didn't see anything," Mr. Barnes replied. "But I heard a verbal assault which I'm adding to your report."

My face burned. Rage suffocated the last shred of resistance and the cautious nerd within me hightailed it out of there. Everything seemed to slow as the adrenalin in my body spiked. I balled my hands into fists. I would crush these morons. These bugs.

A familiar face caught my eye. Elyssa stood in the doorway. Her eyes glistened with sadness. Or were they narrowed in contempt? I uncurled my hands and let my arms drop to my sides. A tear sparkled like a diamond down her cheek and then she walked away.

I trudged down the hallway to the office and took a seat in front of the secretary.

"Back again already?" she asked in a mouse-like voice. She tsked. "Kids these days."

I ignored her. The image of Elyssa haunted me. I closed my eyes and she was there smiling, her face full of light and love. I opened my eyes and saw Mr. Perkins's butt in my face as he flirted with the secretary.

She laughed. "Oh Mr. Perkins, you're such a card."

He turned to face me. "Into the office, Case."

I walked in and sat down, resigned to my fate.

"You still haven't learned your lesson, I see." He leaned back in his chair with an alarming squeak from the springs. He rested his hands on his rotund belly. "I suspect Ms. Foreman will be sorely disappointed to learn her detention wasn't enough to set you right." He tapped his lower lip and an evil smile curled his lips. "I may just have a cure for you, boy."

I smiled as I left his office moments later. That idiot thought he was punishing me? It was all I could do not to laugh out loud at the secretary's confused look.

"Well I never," she said in a huff. "Rotten kids!"

Ash and Nyte waited anxiously to hear what had happened when I joined them for lunch. When I told them about my punishment, they grimaced in horror.

"This is an outrage," Ash said. "They'll murder you."

"Dude, you're gonna get destroyed," Nyte added helpfully.

"I think they'll be surprised," I replied.

"You've been working out?" Nyte asked.

I nodded.

Ash covered his face. "I can't bear to watch."

Nyte sighed. "I'm definitely gonna watch no matter how bad it is. Maybe I should video it for proof."

"Proof of what?" Ash said. "Homicide?"

I sighed. "Calm down, guys. Nobody's getting murdered. Trust me."

"What do you want for your epitaph?" Ash asked. He waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Never mind. I'll come up with something. It'll have to mention how bravely you faced doom."

"Lay off with the melodrama," I said with a laugh. They were killing my confidence.

As I left the lunch room, Tweedledum and the Tweedledee clones pushed themselves off the wall where they'd been leaning, obviously waiting for me. Nathan with his very bruised and bandaged nose tried to smile while his two lackeys imitated chimpanzee grins. Word of my punishment had spread predictably fast.

"You're all mine, Case," he said in a stuffy-nosed voice as he poked me hard in the chest.

"Sorry, Nathan, but I only go for girls, not apes."

Nathan roared and grabbed my shirt.

"Save it for the field, Mr. Spelman," said Ted Barnes from a few feet away.

Nathan reluctantly let go of my shirt. He smoothed it out with a gruesomely bruised smile plastered on his face. "You're right, Mr. Barnes. I wouldn't want to get his street clothes all dirty."