27

"Well, look who finally came out of his room."

You turn around to see Sonia and Max approaching you. Sonia is wearing a pair of sunglasses, while Max is wearing almost an entire uniform. The vampire sits down on the steps next to you, while the werewolf remains by the door, leaning against the wall.

Sonia nods. "You know, they're not too bad," she says with the air of one who's come to this decision over a considerable amount of time. "For humans, I mean. I think I could even get used to the accents, if I had enough time." She glances at the rest of you before adding, "Not that I'm suggesting we spend every day together or anything."

You glance at Michelle, who arches an eyebrow.

For a while, no one says anything.

"Still," Sonia says as though continuing out loud a train of thought that had been passing, unspoken, through her mind, "we won. Didn't we? Renzfal's finished."

The rest of you nod.

"Just think," Max says eventually. "Two werewolves, two vampires, a ghost, a teenage cyborg-zombie, and three humans, and we saved the entire world."

"Yes," Michelle says. "And didn't get any reward for it, thanks to it being our vice principal who did it in the first place."

The others murmur in agreement, but the complaining has an amiable tone to it. After all, a few days before, it seemed that you were all striding towards extremely certain and highly unpleasant death. And now, sitting out here in the sunshine, with the sound of Mr. Simmons bellowing cheerfully in the background, the possibility of some private, uninterrupted moments with Will, not to mention an extremely unhealthy breakfast in your hands…

There are, you have to admit, worse ways that it could have ended.

Silence spreads over your group. Everyone seems content, at least for a while, to remain where they are and simply enjoy being—to one degree or another—alive.

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