The bar scene at one in the afternoon was deader than dead, even at Top Deck. Go figure.

I figured I deserved a drink or two, though. Getting Claudie out of bed and into Eclipse was more hassle than it should've been. I mean, thought I was badass when I was sixteen, too, and I'm pretty sure I was, so I guess I couldn't really blame her. But I knew that once Claudia got the hang of that deck, she'd wreck every last one of those kids. Then she'd come home with full honors and I'd tell her I told her so, and everyone would live happily ever after. In short, I did a good deed. Good deeds should be followed up with good beer, and Top Deck had good beer.

I just happened to be halfway through my third good beer when this girl sat next to me. She was a real piece of work, halfway between a raver and a leather dom. I almost choked on my beer at the spiked collar she had on, that's how much it blindsided me. She had the whole half-shaven look, too, with a bright-green flip on the side she grew out. I was impressed, so I bought her a drink.

"Come here often?" Yeah, because I hadn't heard that one a million times before. I let her slide.

"They better hope I do," I bragged, "I'm free publicity, they're cheap beer. Everyone wins."

"Sounds like you've got it made."

"Sure does, huh?" I was having a hard time placing this girl. She wasn't a fangirl and she didn't seem like she was looking for a quick fuck. Either she was playing the mysterious act really well, or she was an undercover reporter. Either way, I had enough beers in me not to care.

"Word on the street is that your little sister's in school now." Collar-girl gave me a weird little smile, like she knew something I didn't. I'd almost forgotten my whole stunt to cut the line, which is how I guessed she knew. People and their fucking smartphones, these days.

"Who would I be if I didn't give the younger generation someone to worry about?" I sounded like such an old codger. Twenty-four years old and I already wanted to build a legacy through my kid sister. Claudia would have to pick up the slack for me one day, though, making her competent was an investment in the future.

"You're not worried at all?" I looked at collar-girl when she said that. She took on a tone that I didn't like, that kind of asshole confidence that made my skin crawl. Just like before, she gave off the impression she knew something I didn't.

"Worried about what?" I gave her a major stinkeye. If looks could kill, and all that shit.

"Sending her off on an island, all on her own?" Collar-girl put her cheek in her hand and put her elbow on the bar, turning around to look at me like it was some cutesy routine. I was more than ready to fuck her up. "Eclipse Academy wasn't reopened out of nowhere, even you should know that. There are things going on behind the scenes, and they might cause problems for little Claudia."

"I'm sorry, is that a threat?" She didn't answer. I stood up, "Let me rephrase, do you want to leave this club alive?"

"Simmer down, champ. I'm not gonna do anything to your baby sister, okay? I'm just saying, if you want to be in the know about what kind of things might be happening at this academy, you might want to listen to people like me."

"Alright, I'm listening. You've got three seconds to tell me why I shouldn't bust your head open on this bar." Now, who the fuck comes up to a girl minding her own business and starts talking all this mafioso shit? Somebody who doesn't value their safety that much, that's for sure. Right then, I was still too buzzed to give a shit what this girl was after, I just knew that there were certain people in this world you didn't fuck with, and she'd just fucked with both of them at once.

"You're a lot of bluster for a world champion, Kimmy." Collar-girl was grinning at me. I wanted to punch every last tooth out of her head. "Go on, hit me. See where it gets you."

Anybody else would've backed off. Club security, a taser, maybe a knife. Nobody says 'come on, hit me' unless they're in control, but I won the championship by showing assholes like her what control really is. I swung, hit her jaw and it shattered like glass.

No, really, it shattered. Pieces of pink skin scattered all over the bar and the floor. The teeth of her lower jaw bounced off my legs and rolled like dice away from me. Porcelain white flesh crawled up and down collar-girl's head, taking her eyes and nose and replacing it with a big clump of downy, white hair that draped low across her back. Ruby-red lips peeled back, giving me that same 'fuck you' grin. Her arms got long and thin, her nails growing out and ending in nasty points.

"What... what the fuck are you?"

"Shouuuuld've liiiiistened." Her voice was human where nothing else was, mocking me. Her arms came up. I couldn't run, couldn't scream, couldn't do shit except watch her get ready to claw my face off.

I sat up. It was dark, I was panting like I'd just run a mile. My tank-top was stuck to me; sweat, I knew. I groped for the nightstand, fumbled with the switch. My eyes stung when the light came on. Shitty bedroom, shitty apartment, home sweet-fucking-home.

Bullshit I'd been dreaming, right? It was three in the afternoon, the bed next to mine was empty. Claudia wasn't there, she wasn't there 'cause I dropped her off, then I went to Top Deck to have a drink. That's how it happened, how I knew it was supposed to have happened. I didn't want to think about it. I figured I'd just blacked out, somehow got home and dreamed the whole thing. I didn't know right then, I didn't care because I had to piss something fierce.

I stumbled into the bathroom, bleary-eyed and sore-headed. I splashed some water onto my face, shook off the hangover as best as anyone could, and looked up. There was a sticky-note on the mirror, placed so that it'd sit right in front of my good eye.

LISTEN