Eddy’s black eye stuck out along with his swollen busted lip. His hair couldn’t decide which direction to lay. He took the ice pack off his face and sipped on a glass of water.

“Are you alright dude?”

“What do you think, Sean? I had to call out sick from work.”

“I just chased those guys away. I didn’t realize you were still here.”

“Yeah, they caught me in the parking lot and thrashed me. Trying to find you I guess.”

“I’m so sorry dude,” I said. He stared at me, searching for an explanation, one I couldn’t give him. “We should call the cops.”

“Already did. They just left. I didn’t get the feeling that they’d do much of anything. If it wasn’t for Tain —”

“How did you get Tain to help?”

“Those punks were worried somebody would see them beating me up. So they forced me to let them into the apartment. I guess they were going to continue to interrogate me until they either found you, or you showed up. Good thing Tain knew what to do right after we opened the door.”

Eddy worked graveyard shift, so he slept during most of the day. He would have just been waking up for work and super drowsy when those guys attacked him. Was I partially to blame for the beating Eddy took? Anger would have burned in my chest if I did not know that Tain already took care of the gangsters, for good.

Eddy continued. “Tain basically saved my life.”

His eyes went wide as he recalled the situation. “Something changed with Tain. He seemed bigger, stronger. Almost as if he grappled those thugs off me. But that’s impossible. Still, everything felt different. Like there was something electric in the air. I felt the same way last week when we found Chuck’s car totaled. Something just isn’t right.”

I fought to keep my face neutral and ignored those comments. While the Glamour effect kept Eddy from seeing things that should not exist, it did nothing to stop his gut instincts about magic. I felt pretty guilty about what I’d done to Chuck’s car, but part of me believed that had been Asen Scáth. I was not truly responsible. The Keening curse took advantage of the situation and made me enraged. I redirected my thoughts and the conversation back to the here and now.

“I followed them in my car. Tain chased them too. He got to them before I could stop him. They won’t be a problem anymore.”

“Really?”

I ran my fingers across my throat. “Gonners.”

“Oh crap.”

“Yeah, we can’t tell the cops if they come asking about it. They’ll put Tain down. And all he did was the right thing.”

Eddy nodded, remaining stoic.

“Do you need me to help you with anything?”

Eddy turned from staring at the wall to stare me in the eye.

“Actually, yeah. I’ve been thinking, Sean. Sometimes you don’t pay me rent on time. Like last week. I know things are tough but obviously you’ve gotten into some shady business with questionable people. Even from our brief interactions I can tell that you’re hiding some stuff from me, man. You scratched up the paint job of your dad’s car. You love that car. And you didn’t even say anything to me about it. Didn’t even complain once. I know how much the car means to you.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to seem like a complainer.”

“And you went and pissed off the landlord. You know we’re not supposed to have animals here, yet you have a dog and a cat. Now she wants a pet deposit from us. You know I’m allergic to cats even though somehow I’m not allergic to your new cat. Still.”

I tried to apologize. “Sorry Eddy. My mom needed me to watch Tain once, and now it’s turned into a thing. The cat is a long story.”

Eddy rolled his eyes. “That’s not the only thing. Last week we invite you out to breakfast and you blow up on us for no reason. The guys were just bustin’ your chops. You need to get it together, man. Now I’ve got gang bangers showing up at the place looking for you. They could’ve killed me, Sean. Because they were trying to kill you. Obviously you need to take a look in the mirror and figure things out.”

I nodded in agreement. “You’re right bro. I’m sorry. I am figuring things out. This is the worst of it. And like I said, Tain took care of it.”

Eddy looked at me for a while, saying nothing. After an awkward pause he sighed. “Sorry doesn’t cut it bro. Personally, I can’t live with somebody who other people want dead. Maybe you got mixed up in the wrong crowd or just got desperate and tried to make money some crazy way. Either way, you need to figure things out on your own.”

“What are you saying?”

“I need you to find another place to live dude. I’m sorry.”

I stood there dumbfounded. It wasn’t my fault that the gang bangers figured out where I lived. It wasn’t my fault that I’d been awakened to my innate powers. I was the one doing the right thing and fighting monsters night after night trying to keep people like Eddy alive. But if I tried to say anything of a monster hunting nature to Eddy, he’d think I was a literal nut job.

We used to be best friends, but with his graveyard job, my schooling, my volunteer work, and my monster hunting, I guess we grew apart and I didn’t even notice. I really wanted to argue with him but I couldn’t. Like it or not, the circumstances I brought home were impacting him. All I had to do was look at his purple, blood stained face to see that.

He was also right about the gang. Though Tain neutralized the threat for now, they could always come back. The first place they’d look for me was where I lived.

Anger, frustration, and doubt all wrestled for dominance within me. But I could not lose it in front of Eddy. Through gritted teeth I said in a quiet voice. “Okay bro. That sucks, but if that’s the way it’s got to be.”

With a clenched jaw he nodded. “You got until Saturday. I can bring boxes from work if you need them.”

Two days! My insides burned. I was livid. I noticed he hadn’t offered to actually help me pack anything. “Don’t bother dude. I’ll figure it out myself. I know a guy with a Datsun pickup.”

I didn’t have a room to go to and slam my door. So I stood there awkwardly waiting for Eddy to leave. He didn’t take the hint. “Could you gimme some space please?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

He went back into his room while I sat on my bed trying to figure out where the heck I was going to move.

After showering I lay in bed trying to brush off the anger and frustration so I could sleep.

I guess I could always admit defeat, throw in the towel, and move back to Mom’s house. I was trying to be a man, but it was hard. I really wished Dad were around for me to ask him what to do. He’d set me straight. I wished I could remember more of his sayings, more of his advice. But when you’re a dumb teenager you hate listening to your parents and think things they say are stupid. You hate all the advice they’re giving you because they’re usually dead right. Now my dad was dead and I didn’t have another man to talk to.

Well that wasn’t true.

There was one other guy I could talk to.