It was the first sleepover the three had held together. Freddie's mom hadn't been hard to convince. She loved having company over, and she had grown fond of Carly in the short year the three had been friends. The real problem came, surprisingly, from Carly.
She'd resisted, at first, changing the subject whenever Freddie or Sam brought it up. Arison would freeze in place for a few seconds, before hiding behind her as though suddenly, overwhelmingly shy. They were used to his odd behavior by then, and neither they nor their daemons questioned him. They had their own share of secrets they were keeping from the Carly and her daemon, and they knew they didn't mean any offense when he hid from them.
But, this time, they'd been in Carly's living room when Freddie mentioned that Sam and Ferus would going to be sleeping over at his house that night. Sam was at one end of the sofa, with her wolf daemon sprawled across the middle cushion, and Freddie on the opposite side. Varinia had been lounging across his shoulders, grooming the fur on Ferus' head. He'd long ago given up pretending that he didn't enjoy it, and had his eyes shut in contentment.
Carly and Arison had taken the armchair off to the side of the TV, and were watching avidly as the newest episode of Girly Cow played across the screen.
Spencer had been in the kitchen, cutting one of the twenty watermelons he'd bought into pieces for them, and Clarimantha had perked up her ears from her perch on top of the computer.
Spencer, grinning widely, wielding a watermelon knife, and looking almost ridiculous in the tuxedo apron he wore to keep juice off of his clothes sauntered in and leaned against Carly's chair with one elbow, and planting the other hand on his hip as he tilted his head to the side.
"What's this I hear about a sleep-over?" His voice was wheedling, and his eyes were bright with childish excitement.
And now it was almost two in the morning, and they were all sprawled out on the floor in Freddie's room in various piles of pillows and blankets.
Sam and Ferus were snoring softly, their backs pressed together as they slept as though they were a single, inseparable being, the dark golden curls of her hair turning to the yellow-amber of his fur without any sudden shift to indicate the end of one, and the beginning of the other.
Freddie slept on his back, with Varinia curled up on his chest, with only the tip of her nose sticking out from beneath his sleeping bag, the steady rise and fall of her breathing making the material ripple in the dim light every few seconds.
Only Carly and Arison were still awake. She was lying with her back to the room, curled up on her side with her arms wrapped around her knees. Arison was pressed against her legs, his eyes wide open and glittering in the darkness.
It wasn't until almost three hours later that Carly finally fell asleep, curled up in silence with her back to the room like a shield.
And it was only the pull of her slumber that kept her daemon from lying awake the entire night.