Page 116 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

Sawyer

Sawyer sat on his couch with Pearl’s head resting in his lap. She was snoring softly, the excitement from earlier having worn her out. Unfortunately, the events of the evening had left Sawyer with the opposite problem.

He was wired. Confused. A little angry. Hurt. He’d seen a side of Draco he hadn’t known existed, and learned that the man he considered his best friend had been keeping some very big secrets from him.

Draco had promised to explain more later and had delivered Sawyer and Pearl home with a quick hug—for Sawyer— and ear scratch—for Pearl— that had only served to annoy Sawyer further. He’d been treated like a child, like a bothersome kid brother who was trying to play with the big boys.

Draco hadn’t treated him that way in years, not since he had been a pesky sixteen-year-old and the hot older guy closer to his big brothers’ age moved in across the street. Sawyer had worked hard on his friendship with Draco and it had become the most important relationship in his life. He did not plan on going back to the way they’d been when they first met.

A quiet knock on his front door pulled Sawyer from his thoughts. Pearl hadn’t even budged. Some guard dog she’d turned out to be. He slid from beneath her, laughing at her annoyed huff at him daring to move his leg from its position as her pillow, and walked slowly to the door.

He opened it to find Henry standing on the porch, looking mischievous and ready for trouble. His light brown hair was tousled, and his blue eyes sparkled. He was definitely going to get Sawyer in trouble. So Sawyer opened the door further and gestured him inside.

“I bet you’re confused, huh?” Henry asked.

“Something like that.” He wasn’t quite able to keep the hurt, anger, and confusion from his tone.

“Well, I don’t blame you for being cranky. You aren’t the only one in a mood. Thing One and Thing Two didn’t want to let me out of their sight. It’s like they forget that I can take care of myself.”

Sawyer didn’t know what to say so he stood quietly aside while Henry walked around his small living room, glancing at the little mementos he had sitting around. He touched a few things, smiled over at Sawyer, then continued to circle the room.

“Do you have any junk food?” Henry asked.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve got some stuff. Chips. Soda. Cookies.”

“Yes to all of those.”

Sawyer led the way to the kitchen and pulled out the requested items. Henry leaned against the kitchen counter and opened a bag of sour cream and onion chips. He chomped down on one and made a happy noise. Sawyer snagged a couple cans of Cherry Coke from the fridge and sat one down in front of Henry before flipping the tab on the second and taking a long gulp.

“We’re going to be friends,” Henry said suddenly. “Good friends. I can tell. I wish I could let you in on all of our secrets, but I can’t. I mean, I’m already going to have to make you forget a few things you heard earlier. But don’t worry. It won’t hurt. It’s better this way. Maybe one day I can get permission to tell you more, but now’s not the time for that.”

“What do you mean, make me forget?”

Before Sawyer could even blink, Henry had reached over and grabbed his wrist. His eyes glowed blue and Sawyer tried to pull away. He couldn’t. The skin on his wrist heated and Henry’s grip tightened. Henry was stronger than he looked.

“Henry, you’re scaring me.”

Henry frowned and looked down at his hand on Sawyer’s arm. “What the ever loving—”

Sawyer jerked his arm away, rubbing the now-tender skin where Henry had held onto him.

“Henry, I think you should—”

“Holy crap. You’re a null. What even is that? How even is that? I don’t know. I don’t even know.” Henry stood and began pacing the small distance between the kitchen and living room. He kept glancing Sawyer’s way. “This is gonna be interesting.”

“Henry. Stop. I think you should go.”

“Oh! Oh, shit! I totally just scared you, didn’t I? I bet I did. See, I thought it would be okay and you just wouldn’t remember. I wasn’t going to like… erase your memories completely or whatever. It wouldn’t have changed much, I promise. Dang it. Now you think I’m some weirdo but honestly, I’m like… honor bound to protect the secret but I can’t take the memories away from you. Which makes my life once again a bit of a conundrum. I love the word conundrum, don’t you? Anyway, you’re not supposed to know about us. That’s kinda rule number one. Crap. Uncle Meshaq is going to be so ticked off with me. I’m going to have to call him. And he’ll have to come here, but look, I know he’ll probably scare you even worse, because seriously, he’s like the scariest looking guy, but he’s— well, he’s totally scary actually but he won’t hurt you. I promise. But there are rules and I had to make like a million promises to my family before they let me out of their sight, even with Dumb and Dumber showing up like dark angels to watch over me.”

The front door burst open and Draco ran inside. His eyes were a deep amber, glowing in that same unnatural way that Henry’s had earlier. “What did you do to him?” His voice was low, deep, scary and furious.

Sawyer had seen Draco annoyed about a million times. He’d even seen him pretty ticked off a time or two. But he’d never seen him truly pissed off until this moment. His voice had bottomed out, and he was shaky in a way that Draco never was. He looked at Sawyer’s arm where he held onto his sore wrist before snarling at Henry.

“Okay, okay. It’s okay, Dragon. I just… did you know he was a null?” Henry asked.

Draco glanced at Sawyer and shook his head. His scowl had deepened and he looked just as confused as Sawyer felt. He maneuvered his way between Sawyer and Henry, his breath still coming fast and his hands clenched into fists.

“Well, he is,” Henry continued when Draco remained stubbornly silent. “I thought I’d be helpful and just…. Take away those couple of words that he shouldn’t have heard. Like, you know, dragon. Probably not one he’s heard you mention, huh? And that way he wouldn’t have to know and I could talk to you and figure out exactly what he is to you without an issue. But he’s a null. It didn’t work.”