# HNTBL 67: Keep Things Quiet

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

How Not To Become Lunch: 67 - Keep Things Quiet

Fiona’s tail wagged happily in time with her steps as she walked with Jack along the well-manicured path. She’d been in a good mood the whole way there, and only seemed to be getting more excited as they gradually climbed the hill toward their destination.

Jack was holding his friend’s furred hand with mild apprehension. The last pred party he had followed her to hadn’t gone so well, and while he had plenty of reason to think this one would be different, he wasn’t having an easy time explaining that to his nerves.

“So we’re really not supposed to bring presents?” he checked. The last thing he wanted to do was show up to Sarabeth’s birthday party and seem rude by neglecting to bring a gift.

“Yes,” Fiona confirmed (for the second time). “It says not to on the invitation. ‘In high society, receiving a gift puts one in the debt of others.’” She spoke with the confidence of someone who had attended several of these before, and her choice of words seemed to echo Sarabeth’s. “Besides, there’s not much we could give her.”

“Is her family really that rich?”

“Well… take a look for yourself.”

They passed a few trees planted along the winding lane, leaves catching the long rays of the setting sun, and finally came into view of the Beatricia manor. Fiona felt a tug on her arm and looked back to see Jack had stopped firm in his tracks to gape. She gave him a moment.

He had been expecting a big house, but not that big. He stared at a large, ornate, multi-wing mansion, draped in the orange-red light of the fading day. Rows of decorated, wood-framed windows stared back at him, contrasted by the elaborate shutters hanging around them and shadowed by overhangs that sat imposingly above them like a stern, lowered brow. The structure dominated its hillside perch, and seemed almost to glare down on all who stood in its view, not unlike the vampire who he knew called the place home.

“I know, it’s big, right?” Fiona asked.

“Um, yeah.” He regained hold of his fumbled composure and started walking again, but his nerves were now further out of his reach than before.

It wasn’t ‘big’, it was terrifying! The massive, old wooden building loomed before them, half bathed in twilight shadow, and the other half in the increasingly blood-red of dimming daylight, with the rising moon hanging overhead for good measure. Long shadows crept eerily across its exterior, and in each of those unblinking windows danced the flicker of candlelight. And none of that was even accounting for the fact that he knew the place was home to a family of man-eating vampires! He’d seen haunted mansions in comic books that were tamer than this! And here he was, walking right up to it like one of those poor suckers who never seemed to have a clue what they were getting into. He envied them.

He somewhat reluctantly followed his werewolf companion up the stairs of the entryway, her tail happily swishing, and right over to the big wooden double doors. He might have stood there for several minutes while he worked up the nerve (or grew scared of standing out in the dark), but Fiona without hesitation casually raised her furred fist and confidently gave the gentlest of knocks.

*knock* *knock*

Within hardly a moment, one of the doors glided open with a big, eerie… silence. Jack had expected a loud, teeth grinding creak to match the aged wooden frame, but the hinges swung with the absolute silence of a ghost, an unnerving absence of sound, like a predator sneaking up behind you.

A man stood in front of the parted doors, with another behind him. Both were dressed similarly, clothed in stately suits and brimmed hats, and wearing distinguished, flat expressions. Jack instantly assessed this new person in front of him and was somewhat surprised to notice a wand stationed at his hip. A wand seemed to indicate a mage, which would imply a human. This implied human spoke.

“Miss Lupella, a pleasure seeing you here again,” he addressed.

“Thank you. Happy to see you too, Mr. Belv,” she replied politely. He shifted his glance to her company, and something in it shifted as well, though Jack couldn’t say what.

“And you must be Master Eten, then. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Um- Nice to meet you too,” Jack replied, trying to make up for his momentary stammer with a polite smile. Mr. Belv didn’t seem to react.

“Please, do come in.” The man opened the silent door wider, stepped aside and gestured welcomingly.

Jack still had his eyes on the well-dressed mage when he felt Fiona’s grip tugging him along. Stepping through the doors, he spared a quick glance at the other man who had been standing inside. The silent figure quietly reached up and tipped his hat, revealing a pair of fairly prominent, large ears. Jack nodded politely back at the vampire as he passed by.

“The festivities are being hosted in the northern drawing room; I trust you know the way?” came Mr. Belv’s calm voice.

“Third set of doors on the left,” Fiona recalled.

“Very good, Miss.”

“Come on, Jack,” Fiona urged excitedly, tugging a little harder.

“I’m coming, I’m-” Only then did Jack finally turn and fully face the hallway they had stepped into. It was a wide passage lit entirely by flickering firelight and a bit of twilight slipping in through the front windows. Lantern-bearing chandeliers hung from above, and elegant candle posts adorned the walls at regular intervals. The result was a large, dimly lit hallway with dancing shadows. And that wasn’t even mentioning the walls and ceilings themselves, covered in uneven surfaces like the most knotted tree ever grown, some smooth and some jagged, flowing and shifting down the length of the corridor in strange, irregular patterns, almost seeming to move in the flickering light. It gave him the impression of a gullet.

It was all foreboding enough to make Jack reflexively glance back longingly at the spooky hillside he’d just come from, but the silent doors had already swung shut behind him when he wasn’t looking, leaving only the strange Mr. Belv and his wordless vampire associate staring back at him.

He quickly picked up his pace to keep step with Fiona. As usual, she was now the only island of safety he had.

“Cool place, huh?” she asked.

“Um… kinda creepy,” he replied honestly.

“Creepy?” she responded, sounding a touch confused.

“Yeah, um, dark, hard to see, strangely… quiet,” he glanced down at the old wooden floors as if expecting them to creak with each step, but instead he found his own footsteps somehow a bit duller than normal, and he couldn’t even hear the soft padding of Fiona’s paws. He thought back to a horror comic he’d once read and recalled a line: The perfect dwelling for all creatures that go bump in the night.

“Dark? I mean, it’s not really any different from outside with the sun going- Oh, well I guess it would be pretty dark for you,” she realized.

“You mean you can see fine?” he asked, understanding what she’d meant.

“Yeah, this just feels like normal for me,” she answered honestly. “I mean, I can tell the difference, but it’s not hard to see or anything.”

Jack peered a bit harder into the dim light, but saw only the fact of evolution’s handywork: a hunter with eyes all the keener to catch her prey. It quickly started to make sense to him why she wasn’t put off by any of this. While he’d grown up with a healthy fear of ‘the things that go bump in the night’, she was ‘the things that go bump in the night’, the hungry predator lurking in the shadows for her next human meal. What did she have to be afraid of?

As enlightening as that was, though, it didn’t do much to lighten the dark creepy hallway.

“Kinda wish I had pred eyes right now,” Jack admitted.

“I mean, it’s not all that great,” she replied, feeling a touch guilty and trying to cheer him up. “Sure, most of us can see in the dark, but at least you don’t have to worry about going blind during the day. Sarabeth told me once that if a vampire looks straight into the sun, even accidentally for a second, they can permanently damage their eyes. Apparently they’re way oversensitive to sunlight.”

“Really? Heh, I remember this one comic where a vampire could only come out at night, and they started to burn if they ever touched direct sunlight.”

“Ha,” Fiona laughed. “Who would believe a thing like that?”

“I know, right?” Jack agreed. This was one comic ‘fact’ that he hadn’t fallen for… Okay, maybe for a few years when he was little, but that’s all!

“I do get what you mean about the quiet thing, though,” Fiona added, one ear twitching. “That’s a vampire thing. All this stuff on the walls messes with the echoes to keep the noise down for them.”

“Oh yeah, they’ve got, like, amazing hearing, right?”

“Yeah, apparently each wall ‘sounds different’ or something so they can find their way around using that.”

“Whoa, cool,” Jack marveled.

“Yeah,” Fiona admitted. “I mean, I don’t think it’s as cool as being able to smell your way back to the entrance without needing directions, but yeah.” She smirked a bit, half joking.

“Oh, of course!” Jack agreed, just as playfully.

They laughed together for a moment before Fiona stopped them and interjected:

“This is the one.”

They turned and faced the doors.

Jack felt a bit of apprehension return, which surprised him. He wasn’t surprised to be feeling apprehensive about walking into a party full of predators, but rather he was surprised that he had stopped being worried for a moment there, and he hadn’t even noticed. He glanced back to Fiona and smiled, feeling his hand in hers.

“After you, ‘Miss Lupella’,” he offered, mimicking the welcome at the entrance.

Fiona giggled and pushed open the doors, and together they stepped inside.

For Jack, it was almost like stepping into the lunchroom at school. He braced himself for the (potentially hungry) eyes of strangers and followed Fiona into the large chamber. From the second the wooden entryway parted, indistinct, overlapping chatter reached his ears- softer than the cafeteria on account of the number of people involved. But the school didn’t have a classical string quartet playing gentle melodies for ambiance. And really the similarities only broke down further with every new detail he noticed.

The mansion’s ‘northern drawing room’ was a grand, open space, with a ceiling high enough for winged preds to fly in comfortably, even while avoiding the massive chandeliers. Large windows lined the tops of the walls to let in the dying light of the sun and the growing glow of the moon, mingling with the flickering firelight. A great long table had been placed, out of the way along one wall, and the rest of the floor was largely taken up with elegant seating choices of every sort; just about every size and shape of couch and armchair you could want, each one stitched with elaborate designs for taste.

This was nothing like Arthur’s little ‘party’, with his small pack of friends in his parents’ house. There were easily two dozen people there with more still arriving. What’s more, it seemed like the majority of them were actually humans. Jack took a little bit of relief from the fact as he realized it. If most of the guests weren’t preds, maybe he wouldn’t have too much to worry about after-

“Ah! No- wait NO!”

That was an uncomfortably familiar sound.

All eyes shifted toward the scene. A fox had pounced on a boy toward the middle of the room, knocking them both to the ground. The pred scrambled off the human’s back but grabbed hold of the boy’s ankles before he could try for a getaway.

“Yes! In you go!” The fox replied, just before shoving both his prey’s feet between his jaws and swallowing with a loud:

*GULP*

The baffling on the walls did something to deaden the sound, but it was a particularly hard one to miss.

“No!”

*gulp*

“No no no no!”

Yes, the fox thought to himself, savoring the taste of his newly acquired meal. You’ve done it this time Wily, you’ve got a tasty human right where you want him.

*gulp*

“Let me go you stupid dog!” The boy protested, trying to kick his way free only to stuff his legs further into the predator’s eager gullet.

Dog!? I’m a FOX you gut stuffing. Whatever, who cares what food thinks.

*gulp*

Ah, yes, that’s right. Right down into my belly. Nothing’s gonna stop me this-

“BERTRAM!” The loud, piercing, furious call of a woman’s voice shot above all other sounds for a moment.

It wasn’t five seconds later that the door Jack and Fiona had just cleared a moment ago silently burst open. And the first thing through it was a wand. Mr. Bertram Belv, the mage who had greeted them at the door, blew into the room like a mansion draft, wand trained, quietly muttering a string of incantations that Jack couldn’t catch, and suddenly the sound of the scuffle grew mute.

Jack’s eyes flicked from the mage back to the pred devouring his prey. The prey in question still seemed to be pleading just as intensely, but neither the boy’s words, nor the fox’s gulps made a sound. The pred didn’t even seem to notice. That is, until he began to float off of the ground.

It was a curious sight. The carnivore’s face went from satisfied to confused, through concerned and into panic. His throat and jaws were moving in a way that certainly should have been accompanied by some manner of alarmed grunts or squeaks leaking out around the meal stuffed halfway down his gullet, but he was completely silent. The entwined pair hovered a few feet into the air, then drifted at a swift, even pace over toward the door.

“Take him out the back. We don’t need new arrivals seeing this vermin.”

“Of course, madam.”

Jack watched the half-stuffed-fox drift by.

Right, he thought to himself. That’s why all these humans are here, food for the other guests…

On his way out, the floating fox caught sight of the human-werewolf duo standing by the door and his already gaping jaw dropped.

Wait, is that JACK!? Wily thought. He was coming to this party!? And I wasted my chance on THIS kid! The fox began to wriggle in muted protest. No! Let me go! I’ll cough this one up! I’ll behave! NO!!

The doors closed quietly as Mr. Belv exited. The string quartet continued playing.

Then, suddenly, Jack recognized the voice which had given that last order. He turned and looked across the room.

Useless, idiotic, fur brain, Sarabeth cursed silently to herself. I knew inviting him would be more bother than he was worth. In fact, she had specifically decided against inviting that fox. She knew all too well how much he wanted to eat Jack, she’d overheard him muttering to himself about it enough times. You’d think that would have made him a perfect candidate for invitation to a party more or less centered around the goal of getting that marked boy gurgled, except the fox had already proven himself on multiple occasions to be a hopeless, bumbling excuse for a predator, who couldn’t catch Jack or any human without causing a scene in the attempt. He had somehow gotten lucky enough to stumble upon a discarded invitation and find his way inside anyway, which Sarabeth had been willing to overlook, but then he makes this loud ruckus!? This rough, ragged excuse for a catch, right in the middle of her drawing room!? Getting himself expelled before Jack even arrives!?

“Hi Sarabeth,” Fiona called at a reasonable volume with a little wave.

I stand corrected, Sarabeth thought. Just as Jack arrives. She broke away from the group of vampires she’d been standing with and made her way to the newly arrived pair. Her mood quickly improved as she set eyes on Fiona, despite the marked boy’s presence.

“Hello Fiona, welcome,” the vampire greeted, in just about the most enthusiastic tone she ever employed- which to anyone unfamiliar might sound more like she was maybe responding to something she found mildly entertaining. “And to you as well, Jack.” Her voice went somewhat less ‘enthusiastic’ at that, then she added, “Apologies for that unpleasantness.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Fiona replied. “Actually, I’m glad he’s getting kicked out. I recognize that fox, he’s gone after Jack a few times already.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed.

“Ah, yes. Well, a predator of that character doesn’t have any place here,” responded Sarabeth. I need ones who will actually make their kill, she finished internally, but she quickly brushed the thought away. She needed to focus on the immediate present. After all, getting Jack out of the way was only half of her intentions, only a subordinate step to her main goal.

“Ahem,” she cleared her throat quietly. “Fiona, I would like to point out that your midriff is lacking in excess girth and so forms neat, orderly curves which flow smoothly with your attire.”

There was a moment of silence, just brief enough that it was impossible to tell exactly how awkward it was.

“Oh, um, yeah. I know better than to fill up before coming to one of your parties. Don’t worry, I saved plenty of room,” the werewolf replied.

The vampire took a curt breath and her eyes widened slightly, barely staving off a blush.

No! That was supposed to be a compliment! Curse my charmed tongue!

“Very good,” Sarabeth said, managing to keep her composure and steal a moment to think. She realized they were all still standing by the door, and quickly remembered the next phase of her planned reception. “Come inside, why don’t you. Allow my family and I to give you a proper greeting before you mingle with the other guests.”

“Sure,” Fiona agreed. “Sound good, Jack?”

“Your family?” Jack asked, sounding a bit more nervous and reluctant than he probably should. “I’d be honored to meet them,” he finished, saving himself and making an effort to sound as mannerly as possible.

As you should be, Sarabeth thought, but what she said was, “This way, then.”

Fiona followed happily as the vampire turned to lead them, and Jack kept pace this time, not wanting to seem reluctant in front of their host. But he did begin scanning the room, putting his guard up against any other hungry predators who might be nearby-

*gurgle* went Fiona’s tummy idly.

-Besides her.

Fiona was starting to catch on to Jack’s nerves, though. That scene with the fox had interrupted her excitement and given her a reminder, and now she noticed the slightly tense way in which Jack was gripping her hand.

“You nervous?” she asked him.

“A little,” he admitted. “You know… marked human walking into a pred party.” It sounded like the setup to a bad joke, one which didn’t end well for the human. “Especially with all these other guys here just to be… food.”

Fiona’s tail drooped a bit. “You’ll be fine. I promise.” She didn’t speak the words lightly, as if she was brushing off his concern; she spoke them like a vow. “Right, Sarabeth?”

“There should be no need for concern,” Sarabeth confirmed, lying through her fangs. “I’ve personally made certain that every predator here knows of your status.” Technically, that part was true. Every pred she’d greeted knew that there’d be a marked human in attendance to be on the lookout for. She just might have omitted the part about not eating him.

“Thanks,” Jack said with more than a hint of relief. Fiona could feel his grip relax a little. “I really appreciate you doing that, Sarabeth.”

“…Yes, of course,” she replied.

As she finished those delayed words, they arrived before the group of vampires she’d previously left. Three mature predators stood ready to greet them, though somehow ‘mature’ seemed inadequate as a description for any of them.

One was an obviously elder lady, whose extravagant yet elegant attire concealed most of her body and her age, except for her long white hair and wrinkled face. The other two, a man and a woman, both stood tall and imposing, dressed in immaculate robes with demeanors that exuded an almost regal air, to the point where Jack almost felt he was committing some kind of offence simply by approaching them. All three of them wore the same flat, composed expression, and yet each felt distinctly different, its own flavor of rigid, noble superiority.

“My father and mother, Lord Diaemus and Lady Lavia Beatricia. And my grandmother, Madam Antoinette Bathory,” Sarabeth introduced.

“Fiona Lupella. A pleasure to see you again,” Fiona responded in her most practiced, mannerly tone.

“…”

She nudged Jack as inconspicuously as she could.

“Oh- Excuse me,” he requested- or more accurately, begged. “Jack Eten. I’m- pleased to make your acquaintance,” he introduced, stealing the line he’d been greeted with at the door. Then, in an effort to save his poor, delectable soul, added, “I hope you can forgive my nerves; I’m not used to being in such… magnanimous company.” He wheeled out the most elaborate, vaguely applicable word he could muster.

“I’m sure it can’t be helped,” Sarabeth’s father replied, almost dismissively. Though it hadn’t been clear from his appearance alone, paired with his voice his expression seemed fairly… disinterested.

Sarabeth’s mother spoke next, the same voice which a moment ago had pierced the room to call for Wily’s expulsion. It was much more subdued and focused now, a practiced, soft-spoken elocution, but devoid of any emotion one might actually describe as ‘soft’. In fact she too sounded fairly disinterested, as well as maybe a touch annoyed. She addressed her lupine guest.

“Whether you elect to partake in our invited selection, or the dinner you have brought with you, please do make an effort to avoid a cacophony,” Lady Beatricia instructed.

“Oh, um,” Fiona began to correct, in as mannerly a manner as she could. “Actually, Jack is a friend of-”

“Yes, that’s quite alright,” the vampiress interrupted flatly.

Fiona glanced away, discouraged, and Sarabeth noticed. She made her move while the chance wasn’t completely gone.

“Mother, I was hoping you might spare a few moments to converse. I’m sure you’ll find Fiona-”

“Perhaps another time, dear. We shouldn’t keep the other arrivals waiting.”

Now it was Sarabeth’s turn to look discouraged, maybe even more so than Fiona, though she hid it better. They’d said something quite similar when she’d invited her fancied werewolf to her previous birthday party… and the one before that. It seemed their time was just a smidge too precious to spend mingling with their daughter’s little friends.

“Why not share a moment with your grandmother instead,” her father offered.

Sarabeth glanced over and suddenly noticed the scene starting to develop. The elder vampire’s eyes had widened a touch, nose twitching. She was leaning forward and had taken a half-step in Jack’s direction. The pathetic human looked as if he might start to sweat, but more pressingly for Sarabeth, Fiona’s tail was stiff with apprehension, and the werewolf was shooting her discreet looks in the hopes she’d intervene.

All she’d wanted was just a few moments to really introduce her parents to Fiona, but no, evidently she was fated to discuss Jack with her grandmother instead. She heeded the fond werewolf’s silent call and turned to address her elder.

“Grandmother, these are my frie-”

“Excuse me?!” The old vampire’s head turned in the direction of her granddaughter as if with surprise. She spoke calmly, but her voice was unpleasantly loud, like she was trying to talk over a noisy crowd that no one else could hear.

Sarabeth tried again.

“Grandmother, these are my-”

“What was that sweety?!”

“These are my-!”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid you’ll need to speak up, dearie!” The elderly vampire put a cupped hand to her ear.

“THESE ARE MY FRIENDS!” the young Beatricia bellowed. There was a mortifying moment of silence as Sarabeth fought to maintain her composure, nearly blushing at being forced to scream out like that in the middle of a busy room. It was even harder knowing that Jack was included in that statement. Meanwhile, the aged Madam Bathory seemed to take a moment to process the words she’d just (hopefully) heard.

“…You have split ends?! Oh, your hair is always giving you trouble, isn’t it?! I’ll go get the comb, dear.”

The grey-haired predator turned to walk off. Sarabeth turned red. Jack and Fiona both just barely managed to stifle a laugh, with Jack biting his tongue and Fiona inconspicuously gripping her tail uncomfortably tight.

Lady Beatricia intercepted, putting a hand on her mother’s shoulder to stop her. “That’s alright, mother,” she said, her lips right up to the old bat’s ear, in a distinctly loud yet still well composed voice.

“Oh, sorry my dear, did I mishear you again?!” the old woman asked rhetorically.

“You’ll- *ahem*- have to forgive my dear grandmother,” Sarabeth told her guests, very much forcing her composure back into place like a stubborn corset. “Age has taken its toll on her.”

“Living with my dear mother-in-law is always such a… stimulating experience. Truly,” her father said, his noble demeanor not breaking in the slightest despite his choice of words.

“It is a burden we must faithfully carry,” Lady Beatricia added.

“Yes, when are you going to find a good vampire boy to marry?!” asked the grey-haired vampiress, as if naturally following the conversation.

“I’ve been married for twenty years, mother,” Sarabeth’s mother replied, but in a quieter tone this time, which might have sounded almost like a grumble coming from someone less refined.

“What’s that, dearie?!”

“Nothing mother,” she answered, this time intending to be heard. “I believe it’s time for your nap.”

“Ah, yes. Sounds delightful,” the old woman agreed with a modest smile.

“Sarabeth, we’ll be tending to your grandmother. I do hope you and your guests enjoy yourselves,” Lady Beatricia informed. Then, as if they’d both been waiting for a cue to leave, Sarabeth’s parents turned and walked away, not even sparing another glance, guiding the elderly vampiress by the shoulder as they went.

A mixed mood hung over the children as they watched the adults leaving, each feeling something slightly different. Sarabeth stared after her family with a cold, blank gaze. Jack let out his breath and stifled a smirk. Fiona released her tail as she finished suppressing the last of her urge to giggle, leaving her with a twinge of sympathy. She was the first one to break the silence, but she waited until the elder predators were safely out of the room and out of earshot, beyond the sound-isolating doors.

“Wow, it’s a shame when preds get old like that. A vampire who can hardly hear. Just sad…” she said in a respectful tone.

“Yeah, I guess they kinda become like banshees,” Jack agreed.

“Like what?” asked Fiona, confused.

“You never heard of banshees? Those creepy things that wander around screaming? Don’t they always show up in-” Jack stopped himself as he realized his mistake. “…In comic books.” He trailed off, embarrassed.

Fiona’s giggles came back and this time she didn’t quite stop herself, but she put a friendly hand on Jack’s shoulder in apology. A stray thought crossed her mind and she voiced it.

“Do humans get like that when they get old too?” she asked, curiously.

“I’m not sure, we don’t usually live that long.”

“Oh… right…” Fiona stopped laughing. For just a moment her clawed, predatory hand felt a tad heavy on Jack’s human shoulder, but she pushed the feeling aside. “Um, Sarabeth?” she asked.

It took a moment, but the vampire did eventually pull her gaze off of the closed door and shift her attention to her friend. She still said nothing, but looked on expectantly.

“Your parents didn’t really seem to get Jack being here as a guest guest. Are you sure they won’t try to… you know?” To be fair, Fiona didn’t have the best track record with assumedly trustworthy family members not trying to make a meal of her friend.

“Not to worry, they won’t be in attendance,” Sarabeth replied, with a tiny frown that could almost be confused for her not-unusual scowl. “Please, excuse me for a moment.” She turned without another word, breaking all eye contact and walking off.

There was a moment of awkward silence. Fiona and Jack looked to each other with hints of concern.

“I’m gonna go talk to her,” Fiona decided. “Why don’t you go say hi to some of the humans,” she suggested.

“Um, sure,” he replied. He felt a small jolt of apprehension at the thought of her leaving him alone here, but he fought it down.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping my eyes on you,” Fiona reassured him. She pointed two clawed digits at her eyes and then to him, in a gesture that no other human would ever want to receive from a werewolf. “Oh, and if you make any friends, come introduce them to me, I’ll leave them out of the taste test.”

“Taste test?” Jack echoed.

“Oh, umm, I’ll explain later. I wanna make sure Sarabeth’s okay.”

“Right, yeah, go,” Jack agreed.

She smiled at him encouragingly one more time, then turned to head off after the birthday girl. A moment later, Jack shifted his attention to the crowd.

‘If you make any friends’. He mulled her words over in his mind. That’s kinda what parties were for, right? And there were plenty of humans his age there, a frankly concerning number. His unique friendship with Fiona and Sarabeth explained his presence, but he couldn’t help but wonder, as he began to wander: How do other humans even end up in a place like this?

Originally Published: 15-Mar-2023