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Secrets of the Night

Maizie stood with Brenna, her jowly jaws set against the coming onslaught. The things outside were pushing closer to the house, and Brenna thought she heard one just outside the door. William was conferring with the others, and strain as she might Brenna couldn't make out what was said.

"He's asking them if they all know a way to repel their own kind without harming them. The house does something crazy to them, and he's afraid that those that come uninvited to the house will attack savagely." Lily whispered in Brenna's ear. "He's also trying to find a way to save the humans. Evan is human, and so is Maizie technically speaking."

Brenna noticed that she had not been included in the human category, and neither had Lily. William grabbed Evan and pulled him aside. Lily watched in fascination.

"He's telling William to stay with Amalia, because no matter how he feels about her, she is his mother. She will protect him even at the risk of her own life, and he can't afford to be choosy right now. He says he'd rather take his chances- I don't think he means that though." Lily continued speaking and looking at Evan as he slouched his shoulders and walked toward Amalia. She smiled warmly at him as if he had not forsaken her before. "Maizie, you need to shield yourself and fast. Brenna can't destroy your bubble from the outside."

"What about you?" Brenna asked looking at Lily.

"I'm going to get my suit on, and I'll be ready to play with the big kids." Lily said, "I'm not human either. Cheer up, you aren't the only one."

Brenna stumbled back, because she hadn't become more graceful even if she had the ability to fling people around, and because she couldn't conceal her astonishment that Lily was not the human girl she appeared to be. She supposed she had known, but hadn't really wanted to acknowledge it. Brenna stumbled into the glittering figures whose heads were bent low and whose eyes had gone to extreme colors. The man's eyes had gone to an electric neon green and the woman's were the palest cornflower blue Brenna had ever seen. She stood up and it felt like separating herself from their auras which had become thick and heavy with an energy her body seemed to want to fuse with but that she didn't understand.

The man reached for her, and rand a finger over her cheek. "So precious."

"Battle suits boys and girls." William growled as he moved toward the door. William walked over to Brenna and pulled her from her dazed rapture of the beautiful ones. "Brenna, focus. This is going to be bloody. You could get hurt, badly. I want you to be careful."

Brenna didn't know how to be careful, she wanted to scream that at William, but he had already turned his back to her. The creatures that had surrounded their house by night crept closer. They seemed to be hypnotized by some great power that Brenna couldn't comprehend. Perhaps in living where she had as a child she was immune to it. Brenna watched the others start out of the kitchen into the backyard. She wondered how long it would be before the fifty or so things overwhelmed her small but strong posse.

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