June stood in a long, dark, brick hallway. Behind her the wall closed upon itself in a dead end. On the opposite end of the hallway stood Dr. Chase, monstrous and horrible. June, however, remained perfectly normal, wearing an ill-fitting, flower-covered dress and glasses. She tried to Shift, but nothing happened. Dr. Chase grinned wickedly at her and slithered closer, slowly, savoring the moment. June strained and struggled to Shift, without success. Her right arm hung limply at her side. She noticed Brendan now standing between them, frozen in fear. She tried to run to him, to put herself in front of him, but she moved like a sloth—she’d never get there in time.


    “I know what you are, you ssshowed me, remember?” Dr. Chase hissed. “It won’t matter, though. The boy isss mine.”


    Finally, June Shifted, though the transformation hurt immensely. But she could finally move forward with speed. Dr. Chase reached Brendan first, however, and when he opened his mouth, fire poured out and consumed Brendan. By the time June reached him, he was gone, just ashes, and Dr. Chase laughed cruelly. He fixed his vile snake eyes on her as he loomed above her and opened his mouth again. She tried to claw him, but her arms wouldn’t move.


    June shot up in bed, her body coated in sweat and her sheets drenched. She took in her surroundings: the familiar glass-topped desk, the window seat, the plump, roly-poly shape of a cat by her feet that glared at her through one open eye. After several deep, sucking breaths, her heart stopped hammering in her ears and the tension in her body eased.


    June reminded herself it was just a nightmare. She clenched and unclenched her right fist, raised and lowered her right arm. It had fully healed after the fight—in less than thirty minutes, in fact. Nothing remained to evidence that her injuries had ever existed, and if anything, her speed and reflexes had improved since that fateful night. What did remain, however, were the nightmares.


    In real life that snake face will be lined with gashes and maybe even missing an eye, she told herself. That, more than any breathing exercise, made her feel better. But deep down, a slow-burning fear reminded her that she had failed to remove Dr. Chase’s heart, which meant he was still out in the world, somewhere.


    The clock on her nightstand read 5:17 a.m. There was no use trying to go back to sleep; she would need to get ready for school soon anyway, and today was a very special day. Four months to the day had passed since the Battle of the Laboratory Fields, as Brendan had dubbed it; June preferred the Battle of Labworts, but who can argue about names with someone wrapped up in bandages like a mummy because they saved your life? And today, Brendan would finally be back at school.


    She had only been able to see him a few times since he’d been moved out of his months-long stay in the ICU. And those visits were brief. Heavily bandaged, he had limited mobility, and was oftentimes loopy due to the pain medications he had to take. On her last visit, he had been far more lucid, but his parents had been in the room too, so they couldn’t talk freely.


    Speaking of Brendan’s parents, they had handled things since the Battle of the Laboratory Fields pretty well, all things considered. Cordelia had insisted they needed to know the truth, and June liked Cordelia’s newfound insistence on honesty. So, about a month ago, June and Cordelia had visited the Todorokis and told them what had happened—everything that had happened. The Todorokis didn’t laugh in their faces or demand that June and Cordelia leave and go check in to a mental hospital. They just listened.


    Cordelia made it the whole way through the story and explained that it was a lot to tell them and a lot to ask of them. She assured Brendan’s parents that they didn’t face any danger now, as the monster responsible had been grievously injured and wouldn’t return. June had looked sidelong at her, wishing she could be as certain of that.


    The Todorokis didn’t have any questions, but they did ask to see June Shift, which she did under one of the more awkward circumstances she would ever face, which is saying a lot. She walked to the tiny guest bathroom, removed her clothing, and Shifted while struggling not to break anything. She wasn’t successful, as a little vase shattered in the process. When she lumbered back to the living room, the Todorokis just stared at her with wide eyes and open mouths until Cordelia nodded to June that it was time to Shift back to human form.


    In the end, the Todorokis thanked June and Cordelia for protecting Brendan and saving his life. They pledged to keep the secret of Shifting safe. And then they asked if June could give them time alone with their son when he returned home from the hospital, which meant she couldn’t contact or visit him. June obliged—although it felt like torture—so she hadn’t seen or talked to Brendan in over a month.


    The Seven Falls authorities were surprisingly willing to chalk everything at the lab up to a terrorist group who had recruited Dr. Chase. Cordelia had ensured the camera system at the lab was destroyed and any video recordings gone with it, so there wasn’t anything to counter her story. There were a lot of raised eyebrows when Cordelia explained how June and Brendan had snuck out to the lab to try to stop the terrorists themselves, resulting in Brendan’s near-death experience. The evidence left at the scene did support the explanation, however: the military-grade rifles on the roof and in the field, the earlier break-in and theft, the extent of the destruction, the injuries to Brendan from said rifles, and a rare weaponized venom that wasn’t used or studied at the lab but that appeared consistent with terrorist methods of weaponizing things.


    The police attributed all the missing people in Seven Falls to this terrorist ring and the town filled with various types of federal agents from numerous government agencies. Most of them, at one point or another, had staked out June’s house, and so her time in the forest had been woefully infrequent.


    Dolph’s and Rudolph’s bodies were never recovered. June suspected scavengers of various sorts had taken care of their remains—maybe even the bear she had first fought so long ago. Likewise, Dr. Chase had seemingly vanished into thin air, his house abandoned, no trace of him left. Detective Abernathy had been unable to find any evidence that a Dr. Hartford Chase had ever existed. June had made sure to point this out to Cordelia whenever Cordelia insisted she was right about something.


    And with Cordelia committed to honesty, June had asked her whether she was, in fact, a demon, as Dr. Chase had claimed. Cordelia didn’t fully know. At first, she’d feared the serum had made June into a demon. But June also had some characteristics of a Shifter. So, while she wasn’t a full demon, she wasn’t a full Shifter, either. But Cordelia did reinforce several times that June should never eat people. And aside from that bit of stellar motherly advice, Cordelia dodged repeated attempts to fully resolve the issue, despite several arguments about it.


    In light of Cordelia’s stonewalling, June tried not to think about the fact she checked the box on several demon traits. At least she knew why her body acted with a murderous mind of its own oftentimes, and that helped her to control it. And June had no desire to increase her own power or longevity—at least not by eating people. She did train a lot when she could though, and she certainly didn’t mind healing from injuries within minutes.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    All of which brought June to today. As she got up and dressed, she felt like a kid on Christmas Eve—school couldn’t come fast enough. When Cordelia dropped her off, however, June was surprised to discover that she had a pit in her stomach and her excitement had morphed into something else. Something like worry. Her first few classes brought no sign of Brendan. As she closed her locker to head to science, she wondered if, after a month away, he even wanted to see her. Without drugs in his system, maybe Brendan even blamed her for what happened to him.


    She barely heard the whispered and not-so-whispered talk about her that swirled as she walked by. Insults had been replaced with rumors stemming from what happened at the lab, but the end result was the same: shunning, distance, and sometimes hostility. Jennifer Hammond yelled something at June, but despite her enhanced abilities, June did not hear her.


    June reached the science classroom at a near run, and her heart sank when she saw hers and Brendan’s usual table was still empty. She dropped onto a stool like a deflated balloon on its last gasp. The disappointment stung her eyes, and she fought back tears. She leaned down to pull her science book out of her bag. When she looked back up, she almost fell out of her seat and blinked rapidly—Brendan was standing right in front of her.


    “Why the long face, June?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.


    “Brendan!” She hopped up and wrapped him in a hug. People hooted and someone yelled “gross!”


    Sitting back down, she was unable to suppress one of the widest smiles her face had ever known. Brendan wore a navy hoodie, which said Blimey! Detectives across the front, a gift from June while he was recovering. But snaking out and up from his collar a few inches, and poking out under his left sleeve, were twisting scars—the venom had burned him like acid. Thankfully, his face was untouched.


    Still, the sight of the scarring made June’s stomach hurt and her smile faded. She dropped her eyes. He wouldn’t have those injuries if not for her. If Dr. Chase hadn’t seen me Shifted at his house, he wouldn’t have known what I was, he wouldn’t have come to Aunt Violet’s, he wouldn’t have seen what I was capable of. Then he wouldn’t have been so prepared for me, and Brendan wouldn’t have almost died. In her mind, she had a brief glimpse of the nightmarish snake face that haunted her dreams. I should have fought harder, and then I wouldn’t have needed Brendan to rescue me and get hurt.


    Brendan, watching her intently, must have read her thoughts. He sat down next to her and touched her shoulder. “June, this isn’t your fault. I made my own choices, and I would make them again. Plus, I received a surprise gift when I woke up in the hospital that I’ll have to tell you about later. And it changes everything.”


    The playful, knowing look he gave her was unmistakable. June remembered her conversation with Brendan the day after her birthday. Her eyebrows shot up questioningly. “Later,” he promised with a wink.


    “I have a surprise for you too,” June said. “I spent the last month reading The Lord of the Rings.”


    Now Brendan’s eyebrows shot up. “...And?”


    “It’s not bad.”


    “Not bad?” Brendan asked, playfulness infusing his words. “Not bad? How about—”


    “Slightly better than mediocre,” June cut in and smirked.


    Brendan shook his head in mock disgust. “Well, I had a lot of time on my hands recently too, and I may have read all of the Harry Potter books in the last month.”


    “Brendan Todoroki! You didn’t!”


    “I did. They were marginally above average.”


    June narrowed her eyes at him. “How dare you. Does ‘marginally above average’ get its own theme park? Plus, I saw you on that medication. I’m not sure you could even understand the books.” She tried to suppress a laugh at his expression but failed. Despite the scars, Brendan looked good. Healthy, even…strong.


    “How are you feeling?” she ventured.


    “Great, actually. How are you feeling?”


    “Stronger. I’ve been doing a lot of training while you were gone.” She paused and swallowed a quickly forming lump in her throat. “There are so many things I should have done differently. I should have stopped him long before you had to...” She looked down at the ground again, unable to maintain eye contact.


    “To rescue you? June, look at me.”


    She looked up.


    “Don’t ‘should’ on yourself.” He grinned.


    She managed to roll her eyes despite the lingering shame.


    “You have nothing to apologize for,” he continued. “We’re a team, remember? Considering how many times you rescued me, it’s the least I could do. And who would have thought that goblin could spit venom?”


    “Did I tell you he looked like a goblin?” she asked with surprise.


    “No, why?”


    “I always thought he looked like one too,” she replied. “I guess great minds think alike.”


    “Are you going soft on me now?” Brendan tapped the side of his head. “You finally admitted I have a great mind.”


    June snickered, but before she could reply, Mrs. Hatcher walked in, ending the conversation.


    “Welcome back, Brendan!” she said with a bright smile. “You missed the rest of our section on snakes, unfortunately, but I’ve no doubt you’ll get caught up quickly.”


    Brendan and June gave each other a sideways glance.


    ***


    June finished paying for her lunch at the checkout counter. She had two plates of spaghetti and extra meatballs. Brendan had gone ahead to find a table. As she entered the cafeteria, she heard someone say, “Welcome back, loser,” long before she saw the group surrounding Brendan.


    Luke Crane was standing directly in front of Brendan, his friends encircling him. Michael Lark had never returned to school after that fateful day June had chased him through the woods—June was certain Dr. Chase had eaten him and regretted that her actions had cost Michael his life. Accordingly, Luke had risen to claim the top of the bully pyramid and inherited Michael’s henchmen. As June rushed toward the group, Luke poked Brendan hard in the chest. Rage boiled in June’s stomach, and she thought about all the different ways she could hurt Luke.


    Quickening her pace, June reached the back of the circle and shouldered her way in, hard. Several boys went stumbling sideways. She stood next to Brendan now, scowling at Luke.


    “You know, June, you move pretty quickly for someone of your size,” he said, to peals of laughter from those who hadn’t been sent staggering away.


    “Walk away now, Luke, and you don’t have to get hurt,” Brendan said calmly and confidently.


    June smiled inwardly—Brendan was still confident in her ability to protect him. Luke only laughed.


    “Are you being serious? I’ll give you credit, Brain-den, you’ve gotten bold while going from crispy back to well-done in the hospital.”


    This was too much—June felt certain that steam was coming out of her ears now. It took tremendous restraint not to maul him then and there. She had to be careful, though, not to do anything that would stand out too much. If he tried to punch Brendan, perhaps she could snap his arm in half and make it look accidental.


    “Clever.” Brendan chuckled. “Walk away Luke. Last chance.”


    June whispered sideways. “I’ll take it from—”


    “Or what?” Luke shouted as he lunged for Brendan’s lunch tray. June saw her moment to strike—in a blink she could slam Luke headfirst to the ground. Brendan would be untouched; Luke would have a minor concussion.


    But before she could act, Brendan was already moving. His speed stunned her and she froze. Luke suddenly found himself stepping toward no one. Before he could adjust, Brendan had extended his foot, and Luke’s momentum carried him over the foot and down to the ground face-first. He moaned in pain. The rest of the group around them gaped at Luke in confusion. Mr. Walker, the math teacher, finally noticed the scrum from the other side of the cafeteria and approached, yelling, “What’s going on over there! Break it up!”


    June gawked at Brendan, her mouth hanging open. He had moved fast—inhumanly fast. He caught her stare and winked at her. “Surprise!” he said and then nodded before she could even ask the question.


    “But you…you aren’t…how?”


    “I know right! I realized it when I got home from the hospital. Talk about a shock.”


    June stared at him as her mind whirled. “Do you Shift?”


    “Oh yeah. Wait until you see me. We’re going to be a superhero pair!” Then he flushed. “I mean, not like a couple-type pair, just, like, er, partners, I mean, you know, friends.”


    June beamed at him. Maybe they could find a few more scorpions that needed squishing, and there was almost certainly a snake out in the world that needed to be dealt with too.