Brightly (Flicker #2) Read Free Page A

with Filo, Lee spent much of her time in this apartment, learning how to treat wounds and brew healing potions. She liked acquiring these practical skills—and besides, it was a good excuse to spend time with Nasser.
    Toweling his hands dry, Nasser returned to the table and sat in a chair beside Filo. Somewhat reluctantly, Filo lowered the washcloth and winced as the other boy inspected the deep gash. Lee handed supplies to Nasser as he requested them, watching as he cleaned the blood off Filo’s forehead, then disinfected and numbed the area.
    “Close your eyes,” Nasser instructed, as he threaded the needle with thin black thread. “And don’t squirm.”
    Filo hesitated, eyeing the needle, then obliged. Though he was numbed to the pain, he sat with his fists clenched against his legs and his mouth set in a thin line.
    “Lee, you want to tell me what happened?” Nasser asked, as he began sewing the gash shut, slowly and methodically. As she explained how Filo had been injured, Lee watched him work, fascinated: the bright focus of his gray eyes, the steadiness of his hands.
    At last, Nasser finished the final stitch and tied off the end of the thread. “Done,” he announced, and Filo instantly slumped down in his chair. “Now let me see your arm.”
    While Nasser examined the bite marks and started a good-natured lecture about taking more care in the field, Lee excused herself.
    In the bathroom, Lee inspected her reflection, squinting at the faint pink that still stained her cheeks, though she’d wiped her face off as best she could before getting on the bus. She’d missed a few flecks of blood, now dried on her forehead and throat. Sticky globs of blood were matted in her hair where the Bloody-Bones had grabbed her.
    After she’d cleaned up, she felt a little better. When she returned to the kitchen, Filo and Nasser were still sitting at the table. Jason was pawing through the fridge.
    “Your first Bloody-Bones, huh?” Jason asked, without looking up.
    “Yeah,” she said, pulling up a chair. “When did you get here?”
    “Just got in.” Jason removed a carton of milk from the fridge, but as he raised it to his mouth, Nasser shot him a warning look. Jason grabbed a cup and poured the milk into it. “Filo says you did all right.”
    “I said she was a little slow,” Filo grumbled. “That Bloody-Bones almost ate my face before she did anything.”
    “Speaking of,” Lee started, wrinkling her nose, “did you absolutely have to kill it?”
    “Do we have to talk about this now?” he asked.
    “It just bothers me,” Lee said, a bit quieter. “The poor thing looked so sad, right before you…” She grimaced. “Before you did it.”
    Filo exhaled sharply through his nose. “Lee, do you know anything about Bloody-Bones? They’re carnivorous, for one thing. They usually start with small animals. Raccoons, cats, dogs—stuff like that. What they don’t eat, they absorb into their bodies.”
    “Is that why it looked like that? All… misshapen?”
    He nodded. “As they get bigger, they start killing bigger animals—deer, cattle, horses. But if they can’t find big animals, and they get hungry enough, they start hunting humans.”
    Unbidden, an image entered Lee’s mind: a Bloody-Bones like the one they’d seen, except with weirdly human proportions. Long, clawed fingers. Humanlike eyes. With a shiver, she forced the thought back.
    “Bloody-Bones can’t live in populated areas,” Filo continued. “Not without eventually killing humans. Sometimes you can relocate them. But that one was too big, and it was too used to prowling the suburbs. If it had gotten out, it could’ve started in on humans any day. On kids. Understand?”
    “Yes,” Lee admitted, because it did make logical sense, even if the whole thing made her feel queasy. “But—”
    “But nothing.” His voice was sharp. “That’s the way it has to be sometimes. Don’t try to make me feel guilty. I didn’t want to kill it. I