Chapter Two: The Boy Called Nobody

“Erm, excuse me?” a diffident voice asked, when Kaliyan and I had stopped laughing about a particularly funny joke. “Could I sit here? All the other tables…well, you know, they’re full.” The tall, chocolate-haired boy looked at me curiously as he spoke.

I nodded. “Of course,” I said, and he took a seat in the chair next to me, which was right across from Kaliyan. “What’s your name, anyway? Mine’s Emily, and that’s Kaliyan.” Something was nagging at me in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t think of what it was. The boy looked somehow familiar to me, but there was nowhere that I could have met him…

The boy grinned widely, and I noticed that his canine teeth were significantly larger than the rest of his teeth. Whatever, I thought, dismissing my fantastical thoughts. It couldn’t be. “I’m Skylar,” he answered in his clear, melodic voice.

“Cool,” Kaliyan said shortly.

I smiled as I took one last sip of my iced coffee. “So, anyway, what’s—”

“Oh, my god!” Kaliyan interrupted, her voice silencing the many people surrounding us. She waved a hand to them, and conversations slowly picked up again. My best friend looked Skylar in the eye and narrowed her eyes slightly. “You’re a werewolf.”

Skylar sighed. “Yes, I am. You’re telepathic, and she’s psychic,” he responded monotonously. “I’m telepathic as well, if you’re wondering why I know this.” He frowned. “And I prefer the term ‘lycan.’”

My smile widened. “So I was right,” I said without thinking, then stuttered, “That is, I, um…isn’t it hot outside today?” I laughed nervously.

“You noticed my teeth,” Skylar broke in. You’d think I’d be used to this by now, I thought, Kaliyan being telepathic and all…But of course I’m not. “And yes, you were right. You’re very observant, you know. Not many people would notice such a small thing.”

Kaliyan shrugged. “I would have noticed it, too, if I was sitting right next to you like Emily is,” she harrumphed, tossing her empty cup into a trash can. “Anyway, we should probably get going. We wanted to go over to Valley Fair today, remember, Emily?”

I laughed, then answered, “Yeah, but that was at 1. It’s only 9:30 in the morning right now. We have plenty of time.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Skylar looked from me to Kaliyan. “You want me to leave, don’t you?” he asked Kaliyan. After a very brief pause in which Kaliyan opened her mouth to protest, he added, “And you’re somehow sad that you have a boyfriend, whose name appears to be Dusk. Cool name, but why would you be sad to be his girlfriend? He seems cool enough to me, from your memories.”

“Dusk’s plenty cool,” Kaliyan said. “But being single has its perks, too. That’s all.” She laughed lightly, then adjoined, “By the way, Emily thinks you’re hot and that your eyes are really pretty and blue. Just so you know.”

Blushing, I sank down in my chair. Suddenly my shoes were very interesting. Behind all my embarrassment, I heard Skylar laugh. “I think my eyes are pretty, too. Don’t worry about it, Emily; it’s fine. They’re your own personal thoughts, after all.”

Suddenly I felt a warm hand beneath my chin, which was lifted up so I was facing Skylar, who was smiling down at me. “She shouldn’t have intruded on them in the first place,” he stage-whispered. This time it was Kaliyan’s turn to blush and descend.

“Well, I am telepathic,” she muttered. “’S not like I can help it.”

Skylar sighed. “You could if you tried hard enough. Anyway, whatever. It’s fine.” He ran his hand tiredly through his hair.

"You know what? I don't care what you think. Shut up." Kaliyan crossed her arms across her chest, but grinned at Skylar.

Then it clicked. “You’re that guy from the forest!” I shouted loudly, but thankfully we were almost alone now. The few people that were in the shop were too focused on their drinks or laptops to pay me, a lone 14-year-old girl, any mind.

Eyes widening, Skylar abruptly stood, beckoning me to do the same. “Let’s go somewhere more private to discuss this,” he requested, and I nodded immediately. I wanted to find out more about him, especially now that I knew why he was so familiar.

Kaliyan just looked confused, but she stood and followed us down the long hallway and out into the warm summer day. The three of us strolled briskly down the busy street, Skylar in the lead, until we reached an empty park. “Here,” Skylar said shortly, taking a sharp left into it.

“Why?” Kaliyan asked.

Skylar shook his head and headed for an empty picnic bench. Kaliyan and I sat on one side, with him on the other. Then I unleashed my curiosity. “Who are you? Were you the wolf that you supposedly saw? Why did you save me? Who are you? What—”

“Hold on,” Skylar laughed, holding up his hands, “one question at a time. I’m Skylar, or Skye, a 15-year-old lycan who you just happened to have meet as you were walking to…well, as you were walking somewhere in the preserve. It was nothing.”

I nodded, lost in the memory of that day…

Creak. Creak.

“Erm, excuse me?” a diffident voice asks. “Could I use this? All the other ones…well, you know, they’re taken.” The slim boy, who looks to be about my age, is smiling cautiously as he gestures to the swing beside me. His voice is high-pitched, as young boys’ often are, but almost musical. I like it.

First I take a moment to absorb his short chocolate brown hair and bright turquoise eyes, and his evenly tanned skin, a fantastic feat for living in Minnesota.

Then I nod. “Of course,” I say, and he sits gingerly down in the swing. “What’s your name, anyway? Mine’s Emily.”

The boy grins widely, and I notice that his canine teeth were significantly larger than the rest of his teeth. “I’m nobody,” he answers in his clear, melodic voice. Then he starts pumping, and soon he’s swinging just as high and fast as I am.

“Your name’s Nobody?” I ask jokingly. “Nobody what?” He apparently takes it for a serious question, though, since he shrugs his skinny shoulders.

He looks back up at me, his unfathomable eyes sparkling in the summer sunlight. “I don’t have a name,” he says plainly, “so you can call me Nobody if you want to.” He bites his lip and scuffs his bare feet in the sand as his swing passes it. “What’s your name?”

“If you don’t get a name, I don’t get one either,” I say like the stubborn little girl that I am. “You can call me Somebody.” I smile, then ask, “How old are you?”

He shrugs again. “I dunno. Probably ‘bout 8 or 9. How ‘bout you?”

“You dunno your own age?” I ask incredulously. “How come you don’t know your own age? I’m 8 and a quarter years old.” My new friend Nobody nods, then returns my smile, his short hair already windswept from the swing.

He then shrugs for a third time, then slides off the swing. “I just dunno,” he says.

“Where’re you going?” I ask him, and slide of my own swing. “Don’t leave; you just got here! Besides, you should know how old you are.”

Nobody frowns and crosses his arms. “Well, I don’t,” he says sharply, “and I gotta go home now. My family’s gonna worry about me.” He nods vaguely towards the nature preserve by my house, then takes off at a speedy pace.

Without thinking, I follow him to the forest; I know the whole reserve like the back of my hand, and am confident that I can find out where he lives and get back home in no time. He quickly runs over the wooden bridge and slides off at the corner like I often do, to get to my treehouse. That makes me grin to myself, as that’s the part of the reserve I know best of all.

I slide off the bridge as well, and am soon running down a dirt path, my hair streaming behind me. I can see Nobody, who just spun right onto a smaller path, and quicken my pace a little bit. “C’mon, Nobody, cut me some slack,” I whisper to myself, my legs churning beneath me as I turn right and go full-out for a little while. My breath is already coming in short bursts.

Nobody is now running at about the same pace as I am. His hands are strangely stuffed inside his jean pockets and he’s whistling a beautiful song as he sprints along. I follow him for a long while, but suddenly he hooks a sharp left and disappears into the woods before I can turn the corner. I can’t see him anywhere, and am already far too tired to start sprinting again.

“Hello?” I call. “Nobody? Where’d you go?” There’s no answer. “Come on, Nobody, this isn’t funny! I know you know I was following you.” I keep yelling for a good few minutes, but he was either very good at waiting or gone. I guessed the latter.

I sigh, then look around to take in my surroundings. Dread settles into my gut; I don’t recognize this place at all. The trees seem to lean in around me, and a cold fist closes on my heart. I had thought that I knew the whole place, but right now I feel like I don’t know much of it at all.

The boy called Nobody has led me to what seems to be the only place in Hyland Reserve that I don’t know.