I frowned, confused and underwhelmed. "What, like 21 vampire years?"

Ruby scoffed. "We live according to the same years as you. We have birthdays just like you do."

"So...Liam is 21,000 years old or something?" I asked, still not comprehending the significance.

"I didn't say that, did I? I said 21," Ruby said. "As in, born in 1997."

1997. As in, 4 years before my own birthday. My eyes widened. That couldn't be possible. 

"But...isn't he an ancient being? Like, been alive for centuries or whatever? He told me..."

"Nope! He lies about his age to make himself seem more powerful. Actually, though, he and I are the youngest ones here. I'm...well that's not important. The point is, Liam's just a baby. And he'll hate me for telling you. Now," I felt the door hit my back as it creaked open all on its own. "You go tell LiLi to talk to me, okay?"

"Yeah sure," I said, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the sunlight in the hallway. 

The door slammed shut behind me, without another word from Ruby. I stared at her strange, shiny black door for a minute, thinking. 

What should I do with this new information? What could I do? From the sound of it, Ruby wanted me to tell him, wanted him to know that it was she who'd exposed his secrets. But I didn't exactly want that. There was surely a smarter way to go about handling this.

I decided to keep my knowledge a secret, at least until I knew what that smarter way was. I turned away from Ruby's door. 

When I got back to Liam's room, the first thing I noticed was the discarded mug in front of it, tea spilled all over the floor. Oops. Not my problem, though. 

I entered the room, looking around through new eyes. Maybe I was imagining it, but where before I'd seen an elegant and sophisticated room, I now saw the overload of accessories favored by people who want to seem older than they are. Much less intimidating.

I sat on his bed. He wasn't in his room, so he must have still been working out with Helena. Happy to not deal with Liam just yet, I reclined on his bed.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang to my right, jolting me back upright. There was Liam, closing the door to his closet. 

We stared at each other. He looked different from before. Calmer, maybe. Definitely less hostile.

"What were you doing in your closet?" I finally asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Not important. How's that arm doing?" Liam asked, sitting down next to me.

"I...it's doing better," I said, trying to lift my arm. It worked! "Wait a minute, answer my question."

"I did answer your question-not important," Liam said quickly. "What is important is my apology."

I rolled my eyes. "Not important isn't a good answer-Wait, apology?" I asked, his words finally sinking in. He nodded. 

"I've been acting rather...strangely since I came home. Some of the things I said and did were completely uncalled for, and I believe I owe you an apology for them. So I'm sorry," Liam said, not looking at me. 

"You're serious?" I asked, too confused to really be suspicious. He nodded, finally glancing my way. 

Liam looked...hesitant. Uncomfortable, even. Like he didn't quite know if he was saying the right things. 

"And Helena? You apologized to her?" I asked, eyes narrowing. Liam shrugged. 

"More or less. I don't really apologize to subordinates, but I think my message came through. Helena's fine," He said, giving a half shrug. 

I considered that for a moment. It wasn't perfect, but honestly, I didn't really have any room to complain. I had no clue how vampires were supposed to interact with one another. 

Then I realized how strange his words were. He didn't apologize to people directly under him, but prisoners were fine?

"Hold on, but you apologize to prisoners?" I asked out loud. Liam opened his mouth to protest, then closed it.

"I guess? I don't know, not usually. You're just weird," Liam said, the corner of his mouth raising in a smirk.

"Hey, man. You're the one who hangs out in closets for fun. If anyone's weird here, it's you," I shot back. Liam snickered, elbowing me in the arm. I elbowed him right back, happy to use my newly functioning arm. 

"You offend me, Blythe. You really do," he said, punctuating the sentence with a dramatic sigh. I snickered.

"But seriously, are we okay? Because I know I was being awful and I don't quite know how to make it up to you." Liam said, voice low with emotion.

Yet again, I realized, I was witnessing one of his complete personality changes. I was still confused, apprehensive, and more than a little spooked by him. But at that moment, he looked completely normal. Just a 21-year-old human being, worried about his relationship with a friend. 

A friend? I was shocked at myself for even thinking it. We weren't friends, not even close. We may have been friendly a few times, but really, our relationship was purely kidnapper and kidnappee. And this kidnappee wasn't staying hostage for long.

"Actually, you could do something," I said, almost nervous to even try what I was about to do. 

"Yeah?" Liam asked, perking up slightly. I shuddered at just how different he was, how quickly he'd been able to become so normal.

"Tell me something secret about you," I said, bracing for a slap or something. 

But he didn't. Liam just sat there, seemingly looking at nothing. He was silent for so long that I was about to tell him to just forget it, when he finally spoke.

"I can't read minds," Liam said simply. "I've gotten good at predicting what people might say and saying that to make them think I can, but I can't."

"But Helena said..."

"Helena thinks too highly of me. I'm not nearly as good a leader as she says I am, but you've already seen that. My, uh, father was a great leader, though. Had all the special vampire powers, so I should have them too. But nope," Liam said, all in one mouthful. His face was a mix of sadness with just enough anger to make me wary. He chuckled a bit, and I jumped, surprised at the sudden sound. "That was probably more than you wanted, huh?"

I shook my head vehemently. My collection of Liam's vampire secrets just got a bit more valuable. "No, that was fine! Thank you for telling me."

I patted his shoulder on impulse, the instantly regretted it. What was I doing, comforting my enemy?

Liam smiled a melancholy sort of smile at me, squeezing my hand on his shoulder. "Now you tell me something," he said.

My eyes widened. "Me?"

Liam laughed. "Do you see anyone else?" I blushed at my dumb question, quickly moving to clarify.

"No, but, like, I was just surprised. No one's really...asked about me like that," I said, words coming out jumbled and awkward.

"What, not even your friends?" He asked. I scowled. 

"My friends-friend actually-doesn't really care about me like that," I muttered, thinking of Andie. She probably hadn't even noticed my disappearance yet. 

"Well, hey. I can be your best friend," Liam grinned, poking my arm. "I'll let you braid my hair, paint my nails, all that stuff."

I giggled at the image of Liam's short hair in tiny little braids, toes painted bright pink. "I'll take you up on that, I think," I said, poking him back.

"Fine with me. But first, you have to tell me one of your secrets," Liam challenged.

"Okay, okay. Uh," I thought for a moment, finally deciding to go with the obvious. "I don't know anything about my dad. I suspect my mom must have had like a one night stand or something, but she won't even tell me whether that's true. But recently, that theory's been looking a little inaccurate and...I just don't know anymore." I said, finding myself talking way more than I intended to. 

Liam considered that, nodding. "That sucks."

"Yeah. It really does." I said, somehow feeling like he understood. Like I wasn't completely alone.

I smiled a little. It was nice, something that I wasn't quite used to. 

And then I groaned internally. Despite everything I hadn't wanted to happen, I couldn't stop myself from becoming actual friends with Liam.