Chapter 33. Fluent

Wren POV

I didn't freeze this time.

That was the first thing I noticed, later, when I could think again. Two months ago, I'd have stood at the window with my hands over my mouth until the sky went gray. Tonight, my thumbs were moving before the man under the maple had even lowered his hand.

ME: Collar. Under the maple. Now.

Term six. If anyone follows you, you tell me fast.

I'd never been fast before.

STALKER: Lock the window. Stay away from the glass. 3 min.

It was two. I heard the bike before I saw it, screaming around the corner with the headlight off. By the time it hit the curb, the man was already gone. Not running. Just gone, between one blink and the next, back into the dark at the end of the street.

Silas stood under the maple, breathing hard, turning in a slow circle. Then he crouched and put his hand flat on the ground where the man had been standing.

Dom came down our front steps a