"Live it up a little, Bod," Bod mumbled to himself. He had stopped regretting his decision to attend the party several hours ago. Now, he was just determined to survive until daybreak. This is what you wanted, right? You owe it to yourself. He was used to staying up through the night, quietly occupying himself by exploring or playing small games. But everything here was too loud, too chaotic. And too warm. People, of whom there were far too many for one house, gave off waves of heat. Bod gave up on trying to mingle and jostled his way to a relatively empty corner of the room.

"Hey, don't be a people-hater! Get over here!" A pink-haired girl shrieked at him. He smiled back weakly and shook his head. No thanks, I'm good. She frowned, pulled the arm of the girl beside her and started whispering conspiratorially. Her friend glanced toward Bod and whispered something back. No, I mean it, I'm good. He'd been consciously trying not to Fade, trying to meet people instead. Now, circumstances had changed. There were pushy girls who were about to make him dance when he really wanted to just breathe…

Bod Faded just as they both looked back at his corner. A slight expression of puzzlement crossed the first girl's face as she regarded the empty wall. Then she shrugged and pulled her friend back into the crowd.

His fellow wallflowers were mostly couples pressed against the chipping paint and each other. There was a pair standing nose to nose, a pair kissing enthusiastically, a pair who seemed to enjoy biting each other, and a dark young man who was talking to the host's dog. Bod blinked. The two sat in the corner adjacent to his. The boy growled to the dog, who barked a reply softly into his ear. He chuckled. Suddenly, his back tensed and he swiveled around slowly to face Bod's stare.

Bod instinctively faded further. Possibly the boy was staring at the cannibal couple. Dog boy got to his feet and took an uncertain step. No, he was definitely squinting at Bod's corner, or at least trying to. The dog nosed his hand curiously as he took in a deep breath, let it out in frustration, and closed his eyes. That's right, just a trick of the light.

Then, he proceeded to take four quick strides forward, right into Bod. The Fade broke.

"Oof!"

"Hah."

"How did—"

"I knew there was someone here. I could smell you." He had a heavy accent.

Well, that answered his first question. He waited for the inevitable.

"How did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything." Straight-out denial usually worked, even when they had seen—or hadn't seen, as was the case—as much evidence as this. Denial, then misdirection. "Why were you talking to that dog?"

The boy raised his eyebrows. "I was not talking to anyone."

So that was how it was going to be. Bod wondered how he could worm an answer out of him without needing to give one in return. Dog boy seemed to be doing the same.

"Why are you here, if all you want to do is hide by yourself in a corner?"

"So were you," Bod noted.

Another eyebrow-raise. "I was having a conversation."

"So you admit you were talking."

"Hah. You got me. So, we see that neither of us is enjoying this."

"Then what are you doing here?"

Dog boy shrugged, looking around at the oblivious partygoers. "This is what people do. Especially people of my age. Why don't you leave?"

"Because… That wouldn't be very friendly."

"Being invisible isn't very friendly."

Bod considered this. It turned out he was a lost cause after all. "Good point. Let's go." Too late, he realized that he'd given himself away. They were even, then.

The noise died away as they stepped out into the cool night, and Bod felt better immediately. Together, they ambled along the hushed street. Unlike the one they had just left, the other houses were dark and still. He himself had no particular destination in mind and wasn't terribly familiar with this part of town. But he didn't mind, not really, because he knew there was nothing in the night to be afraid of. On the other hand, his partner continually scanned the dim surroundings, as if to check that they had not changed since he last glanced that way.

"So," Bod finally said by way of conversation, "What's your name?" I don't think I can call you Dog Boy.

The other boy squinted at him warily. "It's an Indian name. You can't laugh."

"I won't," Bod consented. It couldn't be much worse that Nobody, anyhow. He'd gotten plenty of strange looks for that one. Now he usually just said "Bod," if he gave a name at all. Or, once in a while, "Owens."

"Mowgli." He waited for Bod's reaction.

Bod remained stoic. "I'm called Nobody. Bod for short." To his irritation, Mowgli laughed.

"I get it. I didn't see you, because you are Nobody." Oh, great, back to this. "So, Nobody, how did you do that?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me why you were talking to a dog."

"He was more interesting than most of the people there."

"That's not what I meant."

"All right. I'll come out with it. I can talk to dogs because I grew up with wolves. They aren't all that different, you know. Especially the ones who think they are still wild."

"What was it like?"

"It was fine," said Mowgli shortly. "Now you."

Bod sighed. In light of Mowgli's revelation, he felt that he should give him the honest answer. And if the other boy were lying, then he'd probably think Bod was, too. "I was raised by ghosts." There.

Mowgli's eyes widened. "Are you dead?"

"No. I'm a live person. Guess I don't act much like one, though," Bod said bitterly.

"At least they were people, though. Or used to be people."

Bod fell silent. If he was having this much trouble learning how to be alive, what was it like to not even know how to be a person?

Around them, the distant rush of cars had died away. Mowgli had led him to the edge of a city park. The glint of water reflected past a dip in the land. We didn't have a lake, thought Bod. And the stream was buried under all that brush. His companion sat down on the grass and gazed over the carefully clipped landscaping. Bod remained standing.

"It was nice spending people time with you, invisible boy."

"You, too."

They stayed like that for a while longer, each thinking of other places.

Then Bod turned around and walked back into town.