Chapter Two: Here to Stay is a New Bird

The next morning, Estelle's throat felt a lot better. She'd drunk some tea that soothed the inflammation and she could talk without it hurting. Her voice was still raspy and her neck itself was swollen and bruised, but she felt otherwise ok. After eating breakfast, Estelle stood in front of the mirror in her room. Finger-shaped bruises encircled her throat in dark purple lines. It looked ugly, and anyone looking at her would be able to tell what had happened. She couldn't bear to spend the entire day answering questions, so she pulled a rusty red wrap from her draw and tied it around her neck. It was loose enough to not bother her, and when she positioned it right it completely covered the bruises. The scarf wasn't exactly part of her school uniform, but she hoped she could get away with it.

She rode the bus in silence. With her backpack still absent, she felt oddly empty on the commute. All of her homework had been in there, as well as a few textbooks, and most importantly, her wallet. She really hoped Judy could put her in touch with Yuri.

She hopped off the bus and walked a block to the school itself. She passed the line of cars of parents dropping their kids off and headed up the steps and into the building. It was hard not to feel a flicker of envy at the sight of all those parents. Her mom used to drop her off and pick her up, too, but now she rode the city bus to and from school.

Inside, Christmas bombarded her. On a table in the main entrance was a small wooden manger with ceramic figures, and shiny red and yellow garlands were strung along the walls. Boxes wrapped in colourful paper asked for toy and clothing donations and the tree in the corner was covered in school-themed ornaments. Somehow, she had forgotten how festive her school got every December. In years past, she recalled enjoying the decorations and excitedly participating in all the Christmas-themed arts and crafts in class, but she just wasn't feeling it this year.

Estelle walked down the hall toward her first class. She wove through the throngs of students, trying not to be noticed. The last thing she wanted was a conversation about why her voice was so hoarse today. She arrived in class early, but without her backpack she had nothing to set up. Hopefully Ms. Kaufman wouldn't be too upset with her. The rest of the class gradually filed in, and after the bell rang the last half streamed in en mass. Estelle didn't have any friends in AP Economics, so she kept her head down and tried to ignore the joyful chattering around her. Some of them were discussing their Christmas break plans, while some guys in the corner loudly argued about hockey standings and a group of girls behind her debated whether one of them should or should not go on a date with a boy.

When Ms. Kaufman arrived, the class fell silent. All around her, students had pulled out textbooks, binders, and pens, but all Estelle had was a pencil she'd shoved in her coat pocket from home.

"Good morning, everyone." Ms. Kaufman picked up a clipboard with the attendance list and quickly glanced around the class as she went through it. As she made a check, she said, "Estelle, please take off your scarf in the classroom."

Every eye in the class turned on her and Estelle sank into her chair. "Um… I'm sorry, but would it be ok to keep wearing it just for today?"

Kaufman's eyes snapped to her. "It's class policy to remove any outside garments. You can leave it with your jacket by the door."

"It isn't distracting anyone, though."

From behind her, Estelle heard a girl loudly whisper, "Bet she has a hickey."

There was a chorus of giggles and she shrank into the chair even more as her cheeks burned.

"Is there a reason you feel you should be exempt from the policy?"

Estelle hated making a fuss. Kaufman was already so kind to her, and had stood up for her when the school threw a fit after she dyed her hair pink. She didn't want Kaufman to think she thought this meant she could get away with anything. "Um, Ms. Kaufman, can I talk to you in the hall?"

Kaufman hesitated for a moment and met her eyes. Seeing the desperation, she nodded. "All right…. The rest of you, open your books to page 207 and read the first section."

Estelle slunk out of the classroom after Kaufman. The hall outside was empty and they stood next to the door to talk. "Now, Estelle, what's this about? Is everything all right? Are you getting sick?"

"No, it's not that." Estelle hugged herself as she spoke. "Last night, when I was walking home, there was this… this weird guy. He attacked me." She lifted her hands to her scarf and pulled it down enough to reveal the bruises.

Kaufman gasped and her face narrowed in concern. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, really. The police caught him."

"Do you need to see the nurse?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. It's sore, but it's ok."

"What about the school counsellor? I know this has been a difficult year for you, and I hate to think what additional problems this has caused you."

"I'm fine, really. But, I did lose my backpack. I'm sorry, I don't have today's homework."

Kaufman shook her head tersely. "Don't worry about it. The important thing is that you weren't more seriously hurt. I'll write you a note if any other teacher asks you to take the scarf off."

"Thank you."

Back in class, Kaufman gave her paper and a folder and instructed the girl next to her to scoot over so they could share the book. She could feel the eyes of the girls behind her boring into the back of her head, but ignored them. This class was challenging enough without worrying about drama.

When the bell rang, Estelle put her paper away in the folder and headed for the door.

"Hey, Estelle," Droite followed her on her way out. Estelle did her best to ignore her. "So, what did you say to Kaufman to not get in trouble?"

Estelle kept her eyes ahead and continued walking.

"Arf, arf! You're such a dutiful little teacher's pet."

Thankfully, Droite's next class was on the other side of the school, so she couldn't follow Estelle around the corner. Estelle rubbed her eyes as soon as she was alone and stopped to press her forehead against a cold metal locker. Lately, a well of tears constantly lurked just behind her eyes, and it seemed like any little thing could set her off. She wasn't getting special treatment because she was a suck-up, it was because she had… extenuating circumstances. Some students gave her a dirty look when she left school at 3 instead of sticking around for one of the usually mandatory co-curricular activities, but it wasn't like she was going home to goof off. She had a job. The school let her skip an after school club because she had a job instead and they recognized that she needed the hours and it was just as character building as a chess club.

She got through her next class without much difficulty. Her teacher tried to give her flack about the scarf, but the note from Kaufman explaining that there were, once again, 'extenuation circumstances' calmed her down. When class finally let out, she rushed across the school to the stairwell near the library. Waiting for her was the one person she wanted to see more than any other.

"Oof!" Rita said when Estelle embraced her. "Good morning, Estelle."

"It's so good to see you, Rita."

"Yeah, ok." Rita pried her arms away from her neck. "I saw you just yesterday. What's with you?"

"Wait until you hear what happened." She fell to the step and leaned against the well. Rita sat across from her and listened intently.

Estelle had been vaguely aware of Rita's existence for most of her life. They went to the same church and had been at the same school since primary grades. It was only in the past couple of years that they properly met, though, because Rita was two grades below. In grade eight, they'd started sending her to the upper school for math and science classes, and she'd been in Estelle's classes ever since.

When Estelle finished her story, Rita stared at her with wide eyes. "Oh my god, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, sort of."

"Estelle, that's crazy! Who the hell does that guy think he is?"

"I don't know. He was really strange."

Rita shuddered. "Do you think he's been watching you for a while now? How else would he know your route home?"

"Don't say that!" Estelle held herself tight. "I don't even want to think about that."

Rita folded her arms and said, "I bet he was some kind of serial killer."

"Rita!"

"Ah, sorry, I - I didn't mean to scare you. But that sounds like the M.O. of a serial killer, scoping his victim out in advance and stuff. If he was just some homicidal wacko he wouldn't have stopped to consider security cameras and he wouldn't have watched you in advance to figure out what way you walk home."

It made a sickening sort of sense and the stairwell felt a lot colder. "Well… maybe. But I'm sure we would have heard if there was a serial strangler in town."

Rita shrugged. "Maybe you would have been his first victim. That's a good thought, isn't it? You helped stop a serial killer before he could hurt anyone else."

Estelle frowned and puffed her cheeks. "I don't really think I helped. I mostly just cried."

"You managed to alert help, though, so I think you should get some credit."

The bell sounded and they climbed to their feet to head to AP Calculus. "I still haven't figured out that homework," Estelle lamented on the way through the hall. They passed a bulletin board covered in announcements, including a message from the choir director advising rehearsal times for the Christmas concert, a note from the administration reminding them that the last day of school was December 19th, and an announcement in bold black letters stapled in the middle and attributed to Isaiah 9:6 proclaimed that unto them a child was born.

"I can come over tonight to help, if you want," Rita offered. "It's not actually that hard once you understand the core concept."

Understanding the core concept was Estelle's main problem. "That would be really helpful. Can you come over tonight around 6:30? I don't have work today."

"Sure. You'll need to borrow my textbook anyway."

Rita often ended up coaching Estelle through math homework. They'd become friends in the first place because they sat next to each other in Algebra two years ago and Estelle found herself constantly asking for help with worksheets. As far as she was concerned, it evened out because Estelle proof-read all Rita's essays, which usually needed a lot of proof-reading.

When class got out, Estelle still didn't understand what she was supposed to do but the promise of Rita coming over to help her figure out the homework reassured her. The same situation reoccurred in Chemistry, which was equally baffling, and then she was finally free to leave for lunch. She waved goodbye to Rita and set out for the front of the school. Usually they ate lunch together, but today she had to meet Judy. Hopefully, Judy hadn't texted her to re-arrange their meeting because she still hadn't gotten her phone back from Yuri.

When she left the building, she didn't immediately see Judy. She didn't see a police car, either. Then she spotted someone waving and hurried forward to Judy sitting on the side of a planter. She wasn't in uniform today, and with her simple jeans, bomber jacket and indigo hair streaked with purple, she could have passed for a student. Not a student here, of course, since Estelle couldn't imagine her in a pleated skirt and knee-high socks.

"Good afternoon," Judy said. "You didn't text me back about what time your lunch started, so I got here a little early."

Estelle winced. "I'm really sorry. I left my phone in my backpack, and my backpack in Yuri's car. Can you get a hold of him to get it back?"

"Uh-oh. Don't worry about it, I'm sure he put it aside and is wondering how to get a hold of you to give it back. I'll text him later. So, how much time do we have?"

"An hour. I have to be back for History by 1:45."

"We won't go too far, then. I thought we could sit down in a coffee shop and discuss this. Are you ok with riding a motorcycle?"

Estelle noticed the helmet sitting on the planter next to Judith and the motorcycle parked not too far away. "Well, I never have before, but it should be ok."

"Good. I figured if your classmates saw you drive away in a police car, the rumours would be merciless. I don't have any other car, so this will have to do."

Estelle followed her to the bike and Judy tossed her a spare helmet. "Just hold on." She tilted her head with a smile and then put her own helmet on. "I promise not to go too fast."

The motorcycle zipped through traffic. The streets were crowded with people trying to take their lunch breaks, so the motorcycle was both less conspicuous and faster. Estelle had always thought they would be scary, but rushing through the chilly December air on the back of one was thrilling.

Judy parked on the side of the road down a smaller street and then led Estelle inside. "What would you like for lunch? My treat."

"Oh, no, that's ok." She didn't have any money on her because her wallet was still with Yuri, but she wasn't very hungry and didn't want to force Judy to pay for her.

"If you don't pick, I'll just buy something and hope you like it."

"Um… any sandwich is fine."

"Sounds good. Take a seat and I'll be over in a minute."

Estelle sat in an armchair by the window. "Frosty the Snowman" played over the radio and the chalkboard menu above the counter was covered in drawings of reindeer and stockings. Estelle rested her cheek on her fist and watcher pedestrians outside. It was a cold, windy day and she saw black winter coats up and down the streets. Why were black coats so popular? It would be nicer if people wore colourful jackets, but instead the stores only stocked black. It was like the entire city was preparing for a funeral every winter.

A few minutes later, Judy came to the table with a tray. "Hope you like hot chocolate."

"Thank you very much."

The round wooden table wobbled as Judy set the tray down, but nothing spilled. Estelle's sandwich had chicken, lettuce, and tomato, which she happily ate. Swallowing was more difficult than usual, but it wasn't too bad.

"So, how do you feel?" Judy asked between bites of a chicken and lettuce wrap. "Is your neck ok?"

"It's fine. Sore, but that's it." She didn't mention the trouble swallowing was causing her.

"That's good. And you got home all right last night, right?"

She nodded stiffly. "Yes. Yuri was very nice."

"I told you he was trustworthy."

"If you don't mind, how do you know him? He doesn't really seem like someone who would hang out with the police."

Judy nodded. "Yes, I can see that. Actually, we first started hanging out because I arrested him."

She lowered her hot chocolate with wide eyes. "Really? What did he do?" It couldn't have been anything dangerous, right? Judy did say he was trustworthy.

"Driving without a license, speeding, and driving without insurance. I was going to just give him a hefty fine, but he didn't give me any ID or proof of registration. I thought he might have stolen the car."

Estelle leaned forward, hands clasped around the warm mug. "But he didn't, right? Yuri's not a criminal."

"No, he's not. It turned out all of that was due to… extenuating circumstances."

Estelle took a sip of hot chocolate. She certainly knew what that was like. "What sort of circumstances?"

Judy put on a secretive smile. "You'll have to ask him yourself. While the things he does aren't exactly legal all the time, he's genuinely a good guy and I let a lot of things slide with him."

The need to find out what kind of 'extenuating circumstances' could lead a police officer to let crimes slide consumed her, but Judy was right. If it was a personal matter, she should ask him directly. She wouldn't want someone blabbing about her own circumstances behind her back. "Can you at least tell me how you started trusting him? You were going to arrest him, but then what happened?"

"Oh, that's easy. It's something you and I have in common, actually - he saved my life."

"Really? How?"

Judy nodded and then swallowed the last of her wrap. "It happened when I was younger. On our way back to the station, he remembered me and re-introduced himself. I figured I owed him a favour, so I let him off and got some coffee instead. We ended up becoming good friends. I'll give you the full story some other time. For now we need to talk about yours." She pulled a notepad out of her bag.

Estelle's face fell and she remembered why she was here. She'd much rather hear the story of how Yuri saved Judy's life and won her trust than retread the traumatic events of last night.

"I know it might be hard to talk about, but I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what happened, as clearly as you remember it. Can you do that?"

Estelle nodded and launched into her story. She began with Cumore showing up in the shop and the creepy questioning, and kept going until she reached the part where she passed out. When she'd told the story to Rita this morning, she skimmed over the actual attack. Judy wanted a full report, though, so she mentioned the emotions she'd seen on Cumore's face. It was important, she felt, that it had not seemed like a crime of passion. This had been planned and he had gone about it like a job to be completed rather than something for pleasure.

"Interesting," Judy said when she had finished. "I'm glad you told us his name. He wouldn't give it to us."

Estelle stared into her hot chocolate. "It was probably a pseudonym."

"Probably, but maybe he's used it before. We haven't been able to get any information about him at all."

Estelle raised her eyes. "Nothing?"

Judy shook her head. "Not a thing. His fingerprints aren't in the system, he won't give us a name, and I passed his picture around to the other stations and no one has ever seen him before. I tried checking the car, but it's unregistered. I thought it might be stolen, but there are no reports from anywhere around of a car of that make and model going missing. It looks shiny and new so I figured maybe a car dealer around her remembers selling it, but I spent all morning making cars and no one has heard of it. It's like this car just materialized out of thin air and Cumore with it."

"Huh…" Whoever this Cumore guy was, he obviously was no ordinary criminal. To have hidden his identity so completely, he must be a professional. That just raised the question of why a professional assassin or whatever he was had any interest in her. The only thing she could think of was that it was about money, but even that didn't make sense. She wouldn't have full access to her funds until she turned eighteen, and if she died, the entire fortune would go to charity as the trust fund had already arranged.

"Now that we got a name, I'll see if I can find anything this afternoon. Can you think of any reason someone would want you dead?"

She shook her head. "No. I haven't been involved with anything of the sort. I always figured that if I would be a victim of anything, it would be kidnapping. My family has a lot of money, so they might want ransom."

Judy jotted something don. "And he clearly wasn't attempting to abduct you, correct?"

She nodded. "He didn't try to get me into the car or anything. He just strangled me."

"You said your parents are wealthy. Have they made any enemies, perhaps?"

"I don't think so." Her eyes turned back to a whirl on the table. "My parents are both dead."

Judy paused and glanced up. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Thank you. Even then, I can't think of any enemies they might have had. Most of our money is… well, it's old money. We've always been wealthy, and over generations it just kept getting passed down and building up interest on stocks and stuff. My mom most spent it on charities."

"What about your father?"

"He was a doctor. He was wealthy in his own right before he married my mom, but he died when I was still a baby. I can't think of anyone who would be so mad at him they'd try to kill me seventeen years later."

"That does sound odd. We don't have any other leads on this case, though, so anything helps."

"But the important thing is that you've already caught him, right?"

Judy nodded. "That's right. We caught him red-handed so I don't think there will be any problem getting him convicted." She reached across and gently rested her hand on Estelle's wrist. "He's going to prison for what he did to you. You don't have to worry about him again."

Estelle forced a smile. "That's good to hear."

"I'll keep you updated on what we find. If he doesn't take a plea bargain, we'll need you to testify in court. Is that ok?"

She nodded. "Yes, I can do that."

"Good." Judy pulled out a slip of paper and a pen. "Here," she passed a phone number to her. "That's my number. If you think of anything else that might be relevant to the case, give me a call. You can also call me for any other reason if you want."

"Thank you." She slipped the number into her bag.

"Are you done?" Judy nodded at Estelle's mug.

There was only a little left, so she quickly downed it. "Yes. Thank you very much for lunch."

"It was my pleasure. Thank you for talking to me. Now, let's get you back to school."

Estelle walked down the stairs, glad to be done with today. It was a relief she didn't have work today. She knew she needed to get back on the horse, but after last night, the idea of spending another evening alone in the bookshop was frightening. She was looking forward to a quiet afternoon at home, where hopefully she could track down Yuri and get her backpack returned.

She paused on the steps when she spotted an old, banged-up car in the loop of driveway where parents picked up and dropped off kids. Since everyone else was at their co-curricular activities and wouldn't be leaving for another hour, it was otherwise empty. Yuri leaned against his car, arms crossed, watching the sky.

"Hello." Estelle approached the car and Yuri looked down.

"Yo," he said with a grin. "Forget something?"

Estelle folded her hands in front of her. "Uh, a little bit, yes."

"Judy gave me the name of your school. Do you want a ride to work?"

"Actually, I don't have work today. I was just going to go home."

"In that case I can drive you home. Or, we could head downtown and wander around for a bit."

"Why?"

"Because downtown Zaphias is a cool place."

"No, I mean, why do you want to go now?"

Yuri shrugged. "Why not? I have nothing else to do today and it's always more fun to hang out with someone else."

She very nearly refused. A strong part of her was ready to go home and curl up in bed feeling miserable, but she'd been doing that a lot lately so maybe it was time for a change. "Well… ok."

Yuri opened the door for her and then walked around to the driver's seat. Her backpack still sat on the floor, precisely where she left it. Glad to have it back, she unzipped it and looked through the contents.

"I'll have you know I didn't steal anything." They pulled away from the school and turned toward downtown.

She paused with her hand over the front pocket where her wallet was. "I trust you." Part of her still wanted to check, but that would look rude. Instead she looked out the window at the grey day. The smudges on the window made it seem more dreary than it really was. "Judy said she arrested you once."

"Heh, figures. She loves that story. She told you she dropped the charges before we even reached the station, right?"

Estelle nodded as the car rattled. "She said she dropped them because you had 'extenuating circumstances', not because you didn't actually do those things."

"I was only speeding a little bit."

"You didn't really steal this car, did you?"

"Did she imply that? I'm offended."

Estelle gave him a dubious look. "That wasn't an answer."

Yuri shook his head. "No, I didn't steal it. Trust me, if I was gonna steal a car it would be a lot nicer than this one. It's a bit of a story how I got it."

"Oh? What's the story?"

They pulled to a stop behind a row of cars at a red light. "It was a gift, actually. It's a long story, but the gist of it is that on my way to Zaphias, I found myself stranded at a gas station. I ran into this guy, some things happened, and then he handed me the keys and insisted I take his car."

Estelle frowned. "'Things'? What kind of things were they to get a free car?"

"He was a very devout Christian. I think he was trying to do God's work by… helping a stranger in need, you know."

"Still, that's very generous." Estelle knew a lot of Christians through her church and she didn't think any of them would give away their cars to a total stranger. The answer must lie in the 'things' that had happened. It probably had to do with Yuri's 'extenuating circumstances'. Questions burned on her tongue, but he'd clearly been vague on purpose. "Were you coming to Zaphias for a job?"

The light turned green and they were finally able to move again. "Not really. I just thought it was the place to be. Actually, it's lucky I got this car, because when I first got here I was living out of it for a little while."

"Oh, that's horrible. You took you a while to find a job and an apartment, huh?"

Yuri nodded. "Yeah. To be honest, I was a bit naive when I left home for here. It was a bit of a slap in the face, but I eventually found work and I'm settled now."

"Where do you work?"

Yuri pulled into an underground parking garage. "That's a story, too."

"Everything is a story with you, isn't it?"

He gave her a grin as he pulled into a parking space. "What can I say? I lead an interesting life."

After the warmth of the heated car, the underground garage was freezing. Yuri explained the rest of his story on their way to the stairwell. "When I first got to Zaphias I didn't have any money. I was sleeping in my car and scrounging for food. There's a diner downtown that I hung around in the evenings. The alley was fairly clean and deserted and they always had leftovers to toss. Anyway, the owner caught me in the act one night. He said he'd seen me pilfering from their dumpsters for a while and at that point I was getting pissed. I thought, who's this asshole who's mad that I'm stealing something he already threw out?"

"That's right," Estelle said, nodding along. She followed Yuri into the stairwell, where their voices resonated around the cold cement. "It makes no sense to get mad at someone for stealing from a dumpster. What a jerk."

"Hold on, the story gets better. He said it was an insult to his cooking to eat cold, stale leftovers. Then he pulled me inside, handed me a broom, and told me that if I cleaned up well he'd give me a burger for free."

"That's so nice of him."

"Yeah, Hanks is a good guy. I started cleaning the floors and busing the tables in exchange for food, and then one day one of his cooks was out sick and I offered to help in the kitchen. I started working full time for him, sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes cleaning up, whatever he needs. Technically I'm not an official employee, and we have an understanding that I show up when I can, but it's good. He pays me in cash and my place is low-key enough that my landlady is cool with getting the rent in cash, so it works out."

They left the stairs and entered the mall. It was, once again, decked out for Christmas. They walked through the atrium lined with lights and walked past a Christmas tree so covered in twinkling lights she could hardly see the needles. Wire mesh reindeer glowing with lights and tiny blue stars around their antlers stood guard by the escalator. "I feel like this stuff lies in wait all year long and then ambushes the world the day after Halloween."

Estelle giggled. "Pretty much. It's lucky most public places don't actually put any of it up until December… if we're lucky."

"Even though they sell it in September." Yuri hopped off the escalator and stepped aside. "It's funny. There's such a big deal about not putting Christian things up to keep it secular, but all of this stuff is very Christmassy. Just because Jesus' face on it doesn't mean it isn't associated with him, you know?"

"A lot of people celebrate Christmas even if they aren't religious themselves."

They walked down the main drag, past empty benches and tiny trees in large planters. On a Tuesday afternoon, there weren't many people here. "I just think it's weird. It's still celebrating Christmas. Removing all the obviously religious things just turns it into… Christianity-Lite or something. It's like it's half-assed. Either celebrate Christmas or don't. People are weird."

She glanced up at him. "Are you religious, Yuri?"

"Me? Nah. Not anymore, anyway. I sort of grew up with it, though, so I'm familiar with how it works. Are you?"

Estelle sighed and watched her feet. Her professional black shoes squeaked on the shiny floors. "I don't know. I used to be. My mom and I went to church every Sunday, but I'm not really sure how I feel anymore."

"Well, I won't tell you what to do. All I'll say is that I used to be sort of religious, but I gave up on that and I haven't been this happy in a long time."

Estelle let out a long sigh. She'd been questioning whether she wanted to start going back to church, but Yuri didn't seem like a neutral advice giver in this respect. "Either way, the decorations are kind of annoying. You can't go anywhere without being smacked over the head with Christmas spirit."

"I wouldn't say I mind it that much. They're pretty, and Christmas is a nice time of year."

"I'm just…" she took a deep breath, which was harder than she'd expected. "I'm just so sick of all this Christmas stuff. Everywhere you go it's Christmas this and Christmas that. There's never any peace! It's on the radio in every store, in every add on TV, and the streets are covered in decorations. I just want some peace from the constant reminders that it's Christmas!" Somehow tears had sprung up in her eyes again and she hastily rubbed them away. She took a few more deep breaths, struggling to get all that air through her sore throat.

Yuri paused, clearly not sure what to say. She hadn't meant to flip out at him, and looked for a distraction. They passed the bookstore so she stopped. "Do you mind going in?"

"Oh, sure."

Estelle had always felt at home in bookstores. She knew that somewhere in those shelves was a story that could become a piece of her heart if only she searched long enough, and she knew that everyone else in there was looking for the same thing. In the back of her mind, Estelle had always believed that no one who liked books - who really liked stories and got emotionally invested in fictional characters as if they were real people - could ever truly be a bad person. Even if they did terrible things, anyone who could get misty eyed over the suffering of someone fictional at least had that amount of empathy going for them.

Yuri seemed slightly less enthralled with the bookstore. The split up, Estelle wandering toward the fantasy section while Yuri skulked around the aisle of CDs. Christmas music played over the radio and every display advertised what store items would make the best gifts, but she tried to ignore all that. Books had always been her favourite way to lose herself, and just browsing them helped put aside her Christmas-born irritation. In the fantasy section, she strolled down the row of books. Sometimes she spotted one she'd read before, at which point she pulled it off the shelf and flipped through the pages with a smile before slipping it back in the row. It was like sharing a secret look with a friend when you both understood an in-joke.

She was in the middle of reading the back of a book she'd already read when someone tapped her shoulder. When she turned, a plastic Santa mask was in her face and Yuri dropped his voice to a booming, "HO HO HO."

Estelle gasped and jerked backward while Yuri whipped the mask off with a grin. "Careful. He watches you while you're sleeping. I wouldn't trust him."

Over her initial fright, Estelle laughed and put the book away. "Go put that back."

"Are you sure? I was thinking I could use it to scare a friend of mine."

It would certainly work. The mask had dead blue eyes with tiny holes to let you see, and a grin that looked like it had been designed by an alien who only knew about the concept of human smiling from a description. "Do you mean Flynn?"

"Nah, I have another friend I used to babysit. This kind of thing would really freak him out. Flynn is… it's complicated."

"Is he a friend of yours?"

Yuri leaned against the bookshelf and fiddled with the stretchy string around the back of the mask. "We were friends for a long time, but we got into a pretty heated argument a few years ago and parted ways. I don't talk to him anymore."

"I'm sorry. What does he do?"

"To put it simply, he helps people. Hey, come on, I want to show you something."

Yuri had changed the topic pretty quickly, so Estelle followed him across the store with increased confusion. Everything about both Yuri and Flynn was supremely odd. She didn't want to seem nosey, but she was fascinated by who they could be. Yuri didn't look like he was that much older than her, but she got the impression he had lived a lot more. Even his story about moving to Zaphias was beyond anything Estelle had ever experienced. She'd grown up in a nice house with a wonderful mother and gone to the same private school since she was five. She'd never had to worry about money in her life and with such a large inheritance coming, she knew she would never have to. She certainly didn't want to complain, because her life was very comfortable, but it also felt very insular.

Yuri led her to the children's section and knelt in front of a large train set. "Look how cool this is." Glittering white cotton had been placed under the tracks and all the pipe-cleaner trees had been sprayed with something white. Yuri grabbed the train engine and pushed it along the track. "The train is running well today, except - oh no!" He picked up a plastic snowman and set him on the tracks. "Frosty's frozen to the track! He's going to get run over!"

Estelle couldn't help giggling as Yuri reached for a construction worker. "Bill is going to save you, Frosty!" He tottered the figurine over. When 'Bill' reached the tracks, he 'slipped' and fall face forward. "Uh-oh, he slipped and licked the track! Now his tongue is stuck and he's going to get run over, too."

He pushed the train forward, making 'choo-choo' noises. Estelle spotted a fireman standing in front of a plastic firehouse and pulled him over. "Don't worry, John has a bucket of warm water." She tilted him toward Bill, saying, "Pssssh, there that should free his tongue. Now they can work together to save Frosty."

"It's too late!" Yuri pushed Frosty toward Bill and John. "Frosty pushes them aside. 'Save yourselves!'" Then the train smashed into Frosty and Yuri rolled him off the tracks making choking noises. "'Goodbye… friends… I'll be… back… again… some… daaarghhh…"

Estelle glanced over Yuri's shoulder and spotted a mother and child watching them. The child looked intrigued while the mother looked horrified. "Um, Yuri, maybe we should leave."

Yuri glanced over his shoulder and then quickly turned back to the table. "But wait! What's this?" Frosty jumped to his feet. "It's a miracle! The power of Frosty's hat has revived him! A mere train is no match for a snowman." Yuri turned around and held the figurine out to the little boy. "Here, you can play now. Be careful, he's pretty powerful."

"Cool!"

Yuri got to his feet and Estelle ushered him away from the train sets. "I'm getting kind of hungry. Do you want to grab some food?"

"What time is it?"

Yuri pulled out his phone. "Quarter after five."

"I could eat. Hey, is the diner you work at nearby? I'd like to check it out."

"Sure, it's not too far. If we drive it'll be five minutes."

She smiled. "Let's do that, then." Hopefully she wouldn't have trouble eating. Drawing breaths was becoming increasingly difficult and she didn't want to worry Yuri about swallowing. She was pretty sure it was just her neck getting sore and swollen after talking too much, so she'd try to tone it down.

Yuri led the way back through the mall and to the parking garage. By the time she walked down the stairs, Estelle was out of breath. She sucked air through her mouth and rubbed her aching throat.

Yuri held the door open for her and then watched her with concern. "Are you ok?"

"I…" she choked out. "I c-can't…" It was like breathing through a straw. Her chest heaved from the effort and her hands went to her neck as if someone was strangling her again. That was what it felt like and her heart sped up with fear both real and remembered.

"Estelle?" Yuri's hand went to her shoulder. "What's going on? Are you hurt?"

She stared at him with scared eyes and tried to suck in more air. She had none to spare for talking. I can't breathe, she wanted to say.

Yuri looked around with panic in his eyes. "Are you choking? Did something happen?"

She shook her head and leaned against the wall of the stairwell. It was hard to keep standing when she felt so lightheaded. Panic set in and her hands instinctively clawed at her throat while she gasped for her.

"I'm taking you to the hospital." Yuri tucked one arm under her legs and the other around her back and scooped her up. He didn't seem bothered by her weight at all as he dashed toward his car. Estelle could barely pay attention to what was going on as he seatbelted her into the car and sped off.