Heavy silence followed Mattiaz’s question. Steve paled, wishing he could slap that stupid grin off Mattiaz’s face. Instead, he gulped and rapidly shook his head no, hoping his classmate would recognize this was not a friendly interaction.

“So, you’re not spiriters, huh?” A voice asked behind Steve. Before he could even decipher his tone, a kick to the back of his knee brought him to the pavement. He braced himself, hissing as the uneven concrete abraded his palms. A sharp punch to the gut prevented him from standing, knocking him flat on the ground.

“Hey! What the fuck?” Mattiaz yelled as he sprinted towards Steve to help. “Let him—” A kick to his abdomen stopped him in his tracks. Mattiaz quickly caught his breath, but his assailant was faster, nailing him in the back of the head with his baseball bat before Mattiaz could strike. He crashed to his knees, struggling right himself and come to Steve’s defense.

Halfway to his feet, Mattiaz swung his fist toward the first person he saw, but got a knee to the face in return. He fell hard, head bouncing off the concrete where it landed, momentarily blacking out his vision. Disoriented but determined, he propped himself up on one elbow. Even this was quickly quashed as the dull end of the bat pressed his neck to the pavement.

“Fuck you, spirit scumbags!” someone shouted from above.

“Shut your stupid ass up. You wanna get us caught?” said the only boy who had yet to hit either Mattiaz or Steve—the tallest one of the group. He approached the boy with the bat, tugging at the arm that held Mattiaz down. “Get off him already. You think beating their asses in broad daylight is a good idea?”

“Fuck, Johnny. We’re doing this for you! After what those spiriters did to your b—“

“Chip! Shut up!” Johnny shouted, clearly frustrated with the single-minded actions of his friends. He waved to the other two, who were dragging Steve away from the carnage, holding his weakened body by the armpits. “Dennis! Ralph! Are you listening?”

“Well, what the hell are we supposed to do with them now?” Ralph shouted from the opposite end of the alleyway. “We can beat ‘em bloody and they won’t even remember what happened!” His dog barked in Steve's face as if agreeing. Steve shrunk into himself as much as their hold allowed him.

“No, please don’t! Please let us go! I have money!” he cried, struggling uselessly against them. Dennis kicked him in the stomach to silence him.

Johnny shot them a scowl for encouraging the violence. He would expect this from Chip, but with their assistance, the situation was miles beyond his control.

“Why the fuck would we beat them up? You’re all stupid!” His shouts echoed off the narrow alley walls, his annoyance palpable. “Yeah, my bro is gone because of some spirit scumbags, but these guys are just some weak newbies. They probably don’t even know how to use spirit.”

“Exactly!” Chip howled, momentarily loosening his hold on Mattiaz to adjust his grip as he twisted his arm against his back, pressing it there with his foot. Mattiaz writhed in pain beneath him, but that only seemed to encourage Chip to push harder. “That’s why we should beat their asses before they go and terrorize innocent civilians like us for fun.”

Johnny sighed, frustrated but touched by his friends’ dedication to him. Johnny knew only he could stop this—he had to make a call. Should I help... or stop them?

“I’m not…” Mattiaz grumbled, tasting his own blood. It flowed thick into his eyes, stinging and obscuring his vision even more than the pulsing pain from the blow to his head.

Chip frowned, turning his ear to Mattiaz, straining to hear him while his face was pressed to the concrete.

“What did you say, lil guy?” he asked, pulling harshly at Mattiaz’s hair and loosening his bandanna. He crooned with pride as he saw the blood oozing over Mattiaz’s face. “This one’s already done.”

Johnny picked up on Mattiaz’s mumbling, quiet as it was. A feeling of dread prickled his skin as he imagined what Mattiaz may have up his sleeve. After all, he was still a spiriter. Cautiously, he approached Chip.

Mattiaz’s head rang, every word spoken above him blaring like thunder. He grit his teeth to endure the pain, unwilling to submit.

“I’m not… fucking weak.” Getting his free hand under him, he pushed off the pavement, managing to lift his chest despite the boy holding him down.

Suddenly, the pressure on his back was gone. But Mattiaz couldn’t react fast enough, his senses dulled by the beating he’d already suffered. Johnny’s fist closed around the fabric of Mattiaz’s jacket, flipping him onto his back so they were finally face to face.

“You wanna say that again?” Johnny challenged, punching Mattiaz with enough force to knock his head against the pavement.

A hit like that would cost him a tooth. Mattiaz spat blood onto the concrete, a final show of resilience before the barrage began in earnest. Assaulted from all sides, fists and feet collided with his body, but Mattiaz could barely feel it. Numb to any new pain, Mattiaz felt his consciousness slowly slipping away; he tried to fight it, but the pull of the darkness was too strong. As he clung to the last of his awareness, he heard Steve’s desperate pleas for help.

Then everything went black.

…

A bright light welcomed Mattiaz into consciousness, stinging his drowsy eyes as it poured in from the uncovered window. Realizing he was in an unfamiliar room, he swiveled his head to take in his new surroundings. His packed bags were deposited on the floor beside the second bed, his own bed opposite in the room. With barely any furnishing and its shady blandness, it was unlikely to be a hospital. He exhaled and reached for his aching head, curious fingers meeting a foreign piece of cloth.

“Look who’s awake now.” A silvery voice rang in his ears. Mattiaz turned and spotted an unfamiliar teenager sitting in a shadowy corner of the room, his happy-go-lucky smile contrasting with the somber shade. With a resonating thud, he closed the book in his hands.

“Who the fuck are you?” Mattiaz ignored his pounding head. Throwing his legs over the edge of the bed, he sat on the fabric. The sudden movement wracked his wounded body with fresh pain, but he resisted every urge to rest, concentrating on steadying his ragged breathing.

The boy stood and walked into the daylight. His smile widened an inch too far, brown eyes emotionless. His short fringed black hair reached above his eyebrows, one of which was shaved in three spots as if a cat had scratched him.

“I’m your roommate, Lusio Xavier.” He bowed and offered his hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Mattiaz.”

Mattiaz shook his hand but remained seated. He rubbed his dull forehead, keenly aware of the bandages—not his bandanna. That was when he remembered the beating, the taste of blood, Steve’s screams for help... Unnerved, he scanned the room, but couldn’t spot his lucky bandanna anywhere. Not on the empty nightstand, not thrown across the carpet, not by the wooden desk... He cursed under his breath, hating that it might have been left in that alleyway, or worse: destroyed.

Lusio sat cross-legged on the second bed and resumed reading. His auburn skin gleamed in the light, his smile persistent, hair hanging before his eyes as they roamed the words on the page. He showed no interest in conversation with Mattiaz.

“How did I get here? Where's Steve?” he asked, clearing his ragged throat and scowled up at Lusio.

Lusio’s head bobbed up from his book, his smiling expression unfaltering. “Do you remember getting beaten up?” he asked.

Mattiaz swore that Lusio’s smile widened at the mention of his beating. He shot his roommate a glare. “Yeah, I remember that.”

“Of course you do. The cute nurse said your injuries weren’t bad enough to cause amnesia, after all.” When he was finished, his eyes went straight back to his book.

“Can you fucking answer the question?” Mattiaz spat. “How did I get here!”

Even his aggressive tone couldn’t kill Lusio’s smile, though it did twitch a little as he met Mattiaz’s glare.

“Ah yes, my bad. The nurse didn’t tell me much, but she said a guy named Roy saw the incident, so he helped you and Steve.”

Mattiaz bit back a nasty curse. “What about the attackers?”

Lusio looked up from his book again with that identically frozen smile. “What about them?” he asked.

Tired of Lusio’s dodgy responses, Mattiaz asked a simple yes or no question. “Did they get away?”

Lusio blinked, averting his eyes from Mattiaz and focusing on the open window instead. It lasted only a moment before they locked eyes again. “I don’t know.”

That lingering doubt concerning Lusio’s intentions remained, but Mattiaz no longer had the willpower to deal with him. Lusio’s piercing eyes and fake smile contrasted harshly with Mattiaz’s irritation, bathing the room in discomfort. All these little annoyances were piling up: he was irritated by losing his bandanna; irritated by the humiliating beating; irritated by his spreading headache.

I don't have time for this bullshit... he thought, standing up. Mattiaz didn’t have time to waste socializing with a creep like Lusio. What he needed now was answers. He scratched his neck—a nervous habit—before he knelt and pulled his sneakers on. Without a word, he went to the door, hands shoved in his pockets.

“Where are you going?” Lusio asked from his bed. Unbeknownst to Mattiaz, Lusio had followed his roommate's every move with his cautious gaze. He set his book neatly on the bedsheets and gently placed one foot on the carpet.

“None of your business,” Mattiaz hissed. Annoyed, he grabbed the door handle and pushed it open.

Or, he tried to. Mattiaz froze, an uneasy frown crossing his face as he noticed an unfamiliar hand pressed against the wood. He whipped around and took a step back.

Lusio stood next to him, his ever-smiling face mere inches away. The expression looked almost sinister now, his eyes cold and unblinking. Mattiaz had no idea when Lusio had stood from his bed, nevermind how he’d raced to the door in time to prevent him from leaving.

This guy is definitely a trained spiriter. He deduced. No normal person moved that fast.

“Actually,” Lusio said, breaking the dreaded silence. The corners of his smile rose even higher, eyes narrowing in a look stolen straight from a horror movie. “It is my business, since the nurse asked me to keep an eye on you.”

Mattiaz would be lying if he said the situation didn’t affect him. Lusio unnerved him like no one else. Despite his best effort to hide it, sweat poured from his forehead. Yet he stood his ground and raised his head as if to prove his confidence.

“So what? You won’t let me go out?”

The answering silence was unbearable. Lusio’s hold on the door didn’t waver, and Mattiaz refused to step back. Just as Lusio's smile lingered, so did Mattiaz's scowl.

But then, Lusio let go of the door and slid his palm inside his hoodie pocket. Mattiaz blinked in surprise, settling into a confused daze. Lusio’s smile lingered, but something in his attitude had shifted.

“I guess I’ll just have to go with you,” Lusio announced, motioning for Mattiaz to lead the way like a proper gentleman. He even held the door open for him, the old wood creaking with the movement.

Mattiaz frowned—he didn't need a babysitter catering to him because of a minor head injury. But something about the fight made him question how strong he truly was. If he couldn’t land a hit against a group of regular people, he stood no chance of escaping from a spiriter like Lusio.

“Whatever,” he hissed under his breath as he walked out the door. Just like Lusio promised, he followed. Mattiaz knew it would be impossible to lose him.