Chapter 6: O fall from what high state of bliss into what woe. – V, 542-543

Kisho hates the smell of hospitals. The sterility reminds him way too much of the Alchemists – the inhuman humanoid medical anomalies that’d turned him, Rhys and Holland into chimeras back in the day. Honestly, he still has nightmares. 

So, every time he comes to Pine Grove Memorial with Miles, he has a right mind to ask him if he can just wait outside. It’s not like he’s ever any help, anyway. But he also knows that if something dangerous were to happen, Miles’s self-defense skills are nonexistent. 

So, Kisho goes, without a word of protest. Today, though, he’d like to protest against coming here for absolutely no reason.

“Okay, but there was a dead body,” he puts in, Miles frowning next to him.

“I don’t know what to tell you two,” Charvi Varma says, scribbling something on a chart. “Curtis hasn’t been here in days, and we haven’t received another body for autopsy since the one they found in the industrial sector.”

“This makes no sense. Even I heard Lissie scream,” Miles says, and Kisho can see the gears turning behind his eyes.

“Okay, but she was in the woods just off campus. And Banshee-screams travel. Maybe you were just close enough?” Kisho tries to soothe him, putting a comforting hand to Miles’s back.

“No doubt, but it’s not her I’m worried about. Holland texted Lissie this morning and she says she never saw Curtis, either – and he’s been investigating these weird murders.”

“Curtis,” Charvi chimes in, finally looking up from her chart, “is a Hellhound, and a police sergeant. He can take care of himself. Don’t you two have class?”

Feeling promptly dismissed, the two of them leave in a hurry. 

Kisho’s own parents have never cared as much about him as Nihira’s mom does. He sometimes wonders if this whole sorry town wouldn’t simply fall apart without Sheriff Williamson and Dr. Varma. Hell knows, it tries its hardest to. 

Miles speeds out of the hospital parking lot, suddenly remembering he’s a college student first, and matters of the paranormal variety come second to Psych II. Instead of driving them straight to campus, though, he makes one more stop At the sheriff’s station. 

Where they run into Holland, who looks about as frazzled as they feel.

“No one has any clue. Val’s Curtis’s partner and she says he did tear outta here randomly yesterday afternoon, but that’s the last anyone’s seen or heard from him. We went to his apartment this morning and he didn’t leave – he’s just not there. I’d be running this town flat if Val hadn’t threatened to make me drop soccer if I missed classes.” 

Her frustration is everyone’s frustration.

“Text your sister that I’ll drive us, and she can keep looking for him,” Miles offers, and Holland does just that as she slings her bag into the backseat of Miles’s car.

“Have you heard anything else from Lissie?” Kisho asks as they leave the parking lot.

“Just that her dad might move them away again. He’d been led to believe that Pine Grove was a safe place for supernaturals, and he doesn’t want to live anywhere that could be dangerous for Lissie.”

Holland’s eyes are out the window, like she thinks she might spot Curtis just coming down the sidewalk and that’ll somehow stop all this craziness from happening before it even fully starts.

“So, her family knows about her?” Miles frowns.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, she and her brother were heralded as divine by her tribe. She still is, but her brother was hunted down by one of Gabriel’s followers. Seems they learned how to kill Hellhounds.” 

With this last comment, she meets Miles’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

No one says anything else until they get to campus. By the time they turn into the student lot, Kisho feels like he’s suffocating.

It isn’t that much better when they reach the rest of their friends. They find Lissie talking to Sawyer, their heads bowed together. Their exchange looks intense. Kisho guesses supernatural business, since both of them look like someone died. 

He cringes at his mental word choice. 

“...could get himself into a lot of trouble,” Lissie finishes, pulling away from Sawyer to look up at each of them in turn.

“I’ll keep an eye on him, okay? He’s going through a super tough time right now, but he’s not unreasonable,” Sawyer replies, gripping nervously at his backpack straps.

“Not unreasona–– I’m sorry. Are we talking about Rhys? Because everyone knows him to be pretty damn unreasonable,” Miles adds, making a face.

“We’re not having this conversation agai––” The old bell tower cuts off whatever argument Sawyer is about to make, but that doesn’t stop him from glaring daggers at his best friend.

Taking a few deep breaths, which Holland recognizes to be his preferred way of trying to keep his temper in check now, Sawyer looks like he’s still struggling. Instead of storming off, though, he just wraps his jacket – no, Rhys’s jacket, tighter around himself. 

Holland decides she needs to know more about when her supposedly straight ex had fallen for who she considers to be the devil, but right then her attention is on Lissie, who looks like she barely slept.

“They’re showing a movie in Sociology today,” Holland murmurs to her. “You can sleep in the back. I’ll keep lookout.”

Lissie’s usually easy smile flashes, then, gratefully. Without thinking about it, Holland reaches out to brush a stray tuft of hair out of Lissie’s eyes, leading to the other girl walking closer to her. 

Holland tries her hardest not to smile all the way to class.