A/N

I really am trying to find the time to post more than once a month with this story, but life has been a struggle of a balancing act for me. Be that as it may, I have still found the time to begin working on Dick's POV. But I won't post that until this story is complete because there are major spoilers all through his side of the story, and I want you all to stay in Kory's world for now.

Also, even though this story is not categorized as a romance, I still like having these little snapshots of intimate moments between my favorite ship. This series is meant to be a slow burn on purpose, so if ya'll stick around long enough, you might witness those spicer moments between our two main characters. ;)

Enjoy the ride!

Chapter Ten: The Nightmare

I ran down one of the school's long corridors as fast as possible to escape the darkness closing in on me. Every time I looked back, black nothingness was getting closer and closer to me. But no matter how much I ran, it seemed I was not getting any closer to the end of the hallway. It felt like I ran for hours to escape whatever was chasing me. There were no other students or faculty to call for help. I was utterly alone to deal with whatever was pursuing me at that moment, and the more I ran, the more the walls seemed to have caved in all around me. The space getting tighter as I moved forward. The world seemed to be shrinking before my eyes.

I heard screams and cries of pain and anguish around me. Screeches and calls for help, I heard something like my voice saying, "Let them go!" in my head. The darkness had caught up with me, and I found myself running forward with no end point to reach. But I kept running, regardless of being unable to see anything. I had to keep running. I had no other choice.

Then, as if someone had turned that light switch back on, I found myself in the woods. Only everything was on fire now. The smell of blood and burning flesh was all around me, and I halted to a stop before I fell over the side of a cliff that had dropped off into a sea of flames. Unsure of where else to go, I turned and desperately looked around for a clearing in the woods not already engulfed in flames. When I turned back around, the masked figure I encountered at the cave stood face-to-face with me.

"What do you want with me?" I asked him.

And just like before, he said nothing. But this time, when he reached out to me, he took my hand and brought it to where his lips should have been, then moved my hand to press my palm against the side of his face. "Join me," he finally said, his voice strangely distorted as if the mask was also attempting to conceal his voice. "You are just like me."

"What?" I asked breathlessly. My heart began to beat a little faster at the physical contact. But his voice...it sounded so familiar. If only he would take the mask off so I would know for sure.

He responded by dragging my hand down the side of the mask and then bringing it to the center of his chest. I pulled my hand back and gasped when I saw the blood streaked across his mask from where my hand was. I looked at my hands to confirm that they were covered in blood. How did that happen? I did not remember falling or getting injured while I was running.

"No," I shook my head furiously as I stared at my hands, "I do not understand!"

I felt myself forcefully being turned and pushed toward the edge of the cliff, and I gasped as I felt that thrilling sensation again of being pressed against a warm body with my back. His hold on me was the only thing keeping me from slipping into the fire.

"Look at what you've done," He purred in my ear, the voice becoming clearer from who it belonged to.

I obliged and leaned forward just enough to look at what was beyond the edge. The fire has turned into a sea of bodies so mangled that it was difficult to tell if they were all human or another species. "No!" I cried, "I would never! Please! Let me go!"

He turned me back around, now chest-to-chest, as he pressed my body incredibly hard against his. The mask was now off, and I could only see those breathtaking blue eyes. His face was barely an inch away from mine. A rush of conflicting emotions had then washed over me. There was the sensible part that wanted to run and make as much distance away from him as possible. And then there was a new curiosity that challenged me to close the distance between us and give in to the human way of expressing passion.

"Trick or treat, Koriandr'" He said and then pushed me off the edge of the cliff to fall into the pile of corpses. Hands grabbed at me to pull me deeper into darkness as Dick watched with no remorse while I was being dragged away.

"Kory!"

I felt my body rising from my bed with a start once I heard Rachel's voice call me back into the day world. Gasping for air, I looked around my surroundings. There were no more stretching hallways, no more trees on fire, no more hands grabbing at me, and most importantly, no more...him.

"Did you have a nightmare or something?" Rachel asked, not hiding the concern on her face.

"Yes," I gasped and buried my face in my hands. I could feel how warm my face was, among other things that I was feeling for the first time that made my skin feel like it was on fire. "Just a bad dream," I muttered to myself.

"Do you..." Rachel hesitated as if she did not want to ask, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" I shot back quickly—perhaps too quickly. "I mean, no, thank you. I need to go to the bathroom."

With my body still feeling like it was burning alive, I slid out of my bed and headed directly to the bathroom. I turned on the cold water and splashed my flushed face until I felt my body was at an appropriate temperature. I turned the tap off and looked at myself in the mirror, ashamed of what I saw. "What is wrong with you?" I asked her before turning to leave the bathroom.

"Is it warmer in here than usual?" I announced to the room as if other people were there besides Rachel. I was desperately looking for any reason for feeling so flushed at that moment.

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. It is getting colder here, so the school may have started turning the heat up. Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh yes," I lied, "I feel perfectly...wonderful! I may have had too much candy at the Halloween party last night, but I am sure a little walk around the school will cure any unwellness I may be feeling."

"Ok," Rachel said slowly, suspicion clear on her face. At this point, I have determined that I am not very good at lying because I notice similar expressions from everyone I have not been entirely truthful with. "Would you like for me to go with you?"

I was shocked that she asked me that, considering she was holding a book that I must have kept her from reading due to my nightmare fit. "No, that is fine," I told her as I searched my wardrobe for a sweater and jeans for the day. "I would not want to disturb your time with your books."

If it was any other day and Rachel were to ask me that same question, I would have squealed with delight that she would want to spend any time with me outside of our dorm room. But today, I wanted to be alone. Too many thoughts and unusual emotions were going through my head, and I felt I would not be present enough to enjoy my time with her.

"Are you sure?" She probed. "I'm not really feeling this book right now, and we could always get some breakfast before then."

"Yes, I am sure. I am not that hungry at the moment," I reassured her while pulling on my jeans. I could hear my voice getting slightly annoyed, and I could tell it only made Rachel more suspicious of the true thoughts I was trying to conceal.

"But perhaps we could get lunch together when I return from my walk?" I asked her in an attempt to soften the look she was giving me.

"Sure," she said, but her concerned face did not fade. "But actually, wear a jacket today. It's going to be quite cold. I'm surprised you have not caught a cold from your lack of clothing."

"Yes, Mother," I replied sarcastically, smiling that I had successfully used another sarcastic Earth phrase.

"And I do not know what you mean by lack of clothing," I told her while grabbing the fashionable 'pea coat' I bought at one of the shops in the town that Rachel insisted I purchase so that I would blend in better with humans during the winter months on Earth. "I feel like I am wearing too much clothing here. Considering that I do not feel the cold weather on this planet, I do not understand why I have to wear all of this."

'This' was demonstrated as I looked at myself in the single large mirror in our room and held my arms out to show that every inch of my body from the neck down was covered in clothing. Though, I had to admit, the black pea coat was quite flattering to my figure, and it was not the most unattractive Earth garment I have seen.

"Because if you had it your way, none of the guys here would be able to focus on their studies. There is a dress code for a reason." Rachel pointed out, even though I was barely listening to her. Images of my nightmare and similar events that happened the night before began clouding my mind again.

I attempted to shake those images away when I said, "I will be back soon!" Knowing full well that I was ignoring her last statement as I left.

Despite not feeling the discomfort of cold, the crisp November morning air seemed to subdue the flushness I had felt since I awoke. Of course, I was still trying to figure out why I felt that way to begin with. Since the fall of Tamaran, I have had similar reoccurring dreams of familiar surroundings being on fire, but none of those dreams had included other people being involved. And those dreams had certainly never made me feel this bizarre sensation before.

Everything was so confusing. It was a terrifying nightmare, but why was I still feeling something of...pleasure? Ever since Dick gave me his last remarks last night, I could not help but feel something like a wild animal deep within my core was begging for my attention. It was as if something new was unlocked within, but I could not explain it entirely. I have heard from my elders that once I reached a certain age, my body would start responding to my environment differently and that the Tamaranean instinct for certain urges would start making themselves known. The ancient Tamaraneans were descended from a feline species. In other words, once the body is suitable to produce offspring, female Tamaraneans will go through heat cycles in addition to mensurating. I have already begun my mensuration cycles, so maybe...

No! I violently shook my head to myself. There was no way I could be in heat. My body may have matured early, but that instinct would not be unlocked yet. But then again, I was removed from Tamaran before I could have that talk with my elders. So, it might have been...could Dick have triggered that instinct? Did my body mistake him for being a potential mate for me?

I laughed at myself for even having such a thought. That could not be it! I had no desire to mate or, as the humans say, sleep with Dick. I have been so appalled by the idea since I heard of him. No, it most definitely had to be something else. Perhaps with all the unsettling events I have been witnessing recently, this was how my body was dealing with the confusion. It was not the desire to mate with another being. It was a desire to solve the mystery at the school and stop whatever sinister movement was occurring. Yes, that must be it.

Finally, I was able to get my thoughts off of Dick and get back to the new developments I have recently discovered. I thought about the cave and the mysterious, wordless masked man I met. He must have had something to do with the gruesome transformation of the person being tortured in the cave. But who could it have been? Even though I wanted nothing more than to suspect Dick, he was hiding from the hooded figures at the same time I encountered the masked man. And unless he could be in two places at once, it was unlikely to be him. But the masked man seemed to be able to instantly transport himself to different locations. He could have transported himself to that hiding spot, but how could he quickly change outfits? Maybe he could transfigure outfits as well? Regardless, Dick was not crossed off on my suspect list. Also, none of the Elites were at the Halloween party and disappeared quickly after the race. Where were they during all of that?

My thoughts seemed to have materialized again as I heard Victor's deep voice booming from the next courtyard I was entering. My name was mentioned, and naturally, my interest had peaked. I quickly made myself invisible by hiding behind one of the corridor pillars so that none of the Elites could see me, but I could still hear their conversation.

"You can't keep blaming everything on Kory, Babs," Victor said, his impatient tone evident. "The race wasn't even her idea, so saying she was the distraction is not entirely true. It was Halloween last night. And I think we are allowed to have some fun every once in a while."

"Well, that fun led to us making another mistake I had to hear about from Bruce." I heard Bab's demeaning voice say. I rolled my eyes at how similar her dialect was to Dick's. "And I was not talking about the stupid race. I meant how Dick's leadership decisions have drastically changed after Kory's arrival. Not to mention that she keeps getting in the way of everything."

"Is she getting in the way of everything?" Victor challenged. "Or is she just getting in the way of you and Dick?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Vic!" Babs spat. "That's highly irrelevant."

"I don't know..." Garth's voice was heard next, "Dick has seemed a little obsessed with Kory lately. He and half of the guys here are, I suppose. But it's interesting how much he always checks in on her and wants to know where she is. And her file is the most clicked on in the database."

"Well, yeah, that's because she's not from this planet, and we need as much intel on her as possible," Babs interjected, "We know nothing about her! How are we supposed to know if she's not allied with another alien race that's enemies with Earth? And she wasn't supposed to be enrolled here. That decision was made behind our backs. Even Bruce didn't know about it. And do you all honestly think Dick would sleep with an alien?"

There was a long pause of silence among them.

"I mean...I wouldn't put it past him," Wally's voice finally said. "This is Dick we're talking about. And we all know his type and how he thinks. Pretty redhead. Must fu-"

A painful groan was heard from Wally before he was able to finish that last sentence.

"Dick is too busy to have playthings right now," Babs said. I could hear how angry she had become. "And I can honestly care less who he chooses to mess around with. The point is, everything was going according to plan until Kory got here."

I heard multiple dings and beeps from the group, and I could only assume those sounds were coming from their mobile devices.

"Well, speaking of the devil," Victor said, "That looks like our cue to head back to the mansion. I hope he has good news this time."

I stayed where I was until I knew they were gone. I knew the mansion was in the opposite direction from where I was currently. Therefore, I was not concerned that they would find me eavesdropping. But as I waited for them to leave, I replayed their conversation in my head. What Babs said had confirmed that I was not wanted here, at least by them anyway. And what was also confirmed was that they were all up to something since she mentioned the word 'plan' and I was getting in the way of it. Though, I do not understand what she meant by that. I was not interfering with anything they were doing in particular. Unless they were involved with the masked man and the cave incident. But I have always kept my distance from them the best I could.

And then there was what Garth said about how Dick was always trying to check in on me. That was clear to me. He always seemed to know where I was, but why? Why was he so obsessed with controlling everything I did and needing to keep an eye on me? At first, I thought it was because I challenged him and he was seeking revenge, but now it seems much more than that. Something else about me had caused some concern within him to target me like he does. Was I an actual abnormality to this mysterious plan of his? Or was there some conspiracy around me that he knew about and I did not. They keep saying how I was not supposed to be here, and Dick does know my official name. That information is not known by many outside the Vega system, and I wanted to know who or where he got that intel.

This mystery was getting more and more complicated by the day. It was not just the school and the town now. I was somehow involved in this mess on a more personal level without knowing it. So, of course, I will investigate this more fiercely. Dick said he would not give me the pieces to this puzzle easily. What did he mean by that? Was that an invitation to try to figure this out on my own, or was it a threat that if I continued, I would not like what I was about to find? Why did everything have to be so vague with him? I wanted to punch his beautiful face for it.

Deciding that I did not want to spend any more time asking myself complicated questions, I moved away from my hiding spot and began walking in the direction of the cave. I did not want to waste another moment in my personal investigation, and I was sure that if I went back to the cave, I would be able to find something that could give me another clue about what was going on.

I froze for a moment when I realized that I would have to walk in the direction of the Elite's mansion, and I would not be surprised if Dick had some surveillance system set up to detect me if I came within a certain parameter of their space. I would have to take the long way around by leaving the campus through the front main gates instead of the back entrance that I went through last night while I followed Dick.

Thankfully, there were not a lot of students wandering the campus grounds that morning for anyone to stop me and ask where I was going or what my plans were for the day as I reached the front gates. I knew there were cameras at the entrance gate, so I did my best to make it look like I was only going out for a leisurely stroll along the campus's stony walls. When I was completely out of sight of the cameras, I would start taking a different path, leading me closer to the cave.

I thought it was a good plan until I realized I was also walking along the side of the main road leading to the town and heard a mechanical-sounding whine from the distance. The whine became louder, and then the source of that sound appeared as a motor-run bicycle driving down the road toward me. The bike began to slow as it got closer until it stopped directly by my side. Curious and nervous that this person would ask where I was going, I approached them on the bike. When the bike's operator turned the motor, they removed their helmet. I let out a sigh of relief once I recognized who it was.

"Hey, cutie," Xavier greeted, "What brings you out here? Are you hiding from Grayson?"

"Maybe," I returned with the same playfulness he had shown me, trying not to make him suspect what I was doing. "I am just out for a little hike. I needed a break from the school for a little bit."

"I don't blame you," Xavier laughed, "Would you like some company? I can park my bike somewhere so Grayson and his buddies don't suspect it."

I did not wish to be rude to Xavier, for he had shown me great kindness since the first day I met him, but I did not want him to know my true intentions either. I thought of something that might make him lose interest in what I was doing. "I am unsure if you would want to join me in where I am going. For you see, I am still in the Halloween spirit, and I heard about this cave that might be haunted. I wanted to see if it was true. And I do not know if you would be brave enough to go on that adventure. Everyone else was too scared to go with me."

My plan backfired.

"Oh, you think I would be scared, huh?" Xavier flashed a mischievous sideways smile. "I'm not afraid of ghosts. If you really want to go ghost hunting, I know of this old abandoned house just off the side of this road ahead that I heard is quite haunted. I can take you there."

"I do not know..." I said, looking toward the direction where I really wanted to go.

"Come on! It will be fun," Xavier prodded, "And you still owe me a date for helping you with your cemetery assignment."

"I do not remember agreeing to those terms," I told him, crossing my arms across my chest playfully.

"Fine," Xavier rolled his eyes, "I guess you're just too scared. I get it."

"I am not scared of anything!" I retorted. If he had known about the opponents I had taken down as a child, he would definitely be 'eating those words' as the humans say.

"Oh, yeah? Prove it." Xavier said while patting the empty space behind him on his bike seat.

I knew he would not leave me alone until I said yes. So maybe I should get this over now and return to my own investigations later. And I was sure Rachel would understand if I missed my arrangements for lunch with her. She did have Gar to go to lunch with, after all.

Finally, I let out a sigh of defeat. "Okay, fine. Show me where this haunted house is."

"Excellent," Xavier said, putting his helmet back on before moving forward a little so I could straddle the bike's seat behind him. There was little room for me, so I had to sit close to him. "I don't have my helmet with me today, so you'll want to hold on."

To what? I was about to ask until Xavier turned on his bike's motor and began speeding it forward. I let out an audible "eep" and my arms instinctively wrapped around Xavier's waist and held him tightly.

"You alright back there?" He asked loudly over the whine of the bike, and he increased the speed down the road.

"Yes, I am fine!" I yelled, hoping he could hear me. "I was not expecting to go that fast so quickly!"

"It's quite a thrill, isn't it?" He called over his shoulder.

I did not give a response when he began to pick up the speed even more, which caused me to hold on tighter. I could not help but feel he was doing this on purpose, so I would continue to hold onto him like that. This was the second day in a row where I was in close contact with a human male, but fortunately for me, this time, I did not have that same overwhelming feeling I had when I was pressed up against Dick. This concluded that I was, thank X'hal, not in heat yet, for I felt like I would react similarly to any male if I were this close...Right?

Though I was questioning my hormones, I was indeed enjoying my time riding the bike. I could see why Xavier loved it so much. There was certainly a freeing feeling to it all. With the rush of air blowing past us, going at unbelievable speeds without being confined in a stuffy container, it felt like flying, in a way. If I could fly, that is.

I felt the bike beginning to slow down until we had stopped completely at the side of the road. I looked around and did not see a house in sight. All I could see were almost completely barren trees from all the leaves that had fallen off them.

"Where is this haunted house?" I asked Xavier as we climbed off his bike.

"It's only about a quarter-mile walk from here," he said, rolling his bike off the side of the road to park it next to one of the trees. There really isn't a road or a path to get there, so we'll have to go the rest of the way on foot."

"Okay," I said hesitantly. I could not imagine Xavier wanting to cause me harm, but I could not help but feel the circumstances were suspicious. We were alone in the woods, and considering there might be something out here to harm us, I was beginning to doubt whether going along with Xavier was a good idea.

Xavier must have heard my concern when he said, "Don't worry, cutie. I'll protect you."

I rolled my eyes once he turned his back toward me and began walking further away from the road. He had no idea how willing and able I was to defend myself.

After several minutes of walking and making light conversation, we reached a small clearing in the woods and found the house that Xavier was talking about. That is if you could call it that. The structure before us was the shape of an Earthly dwelling, but it did not look like it would remain standing for much longer. All the windows had been completely broken, or there was nothing where the glass should have been. Most of the paint had been peeled off, leaving the wood underneath to look gray, and the steps leading to the front porch were all broken.

"Are you sure this house is safe to enter?" I asked Xavier as we approached the dilapidated house.

"Probably not," Xavier shrugged, "But that's part of the thrill. A little danger makes it fun."

I looked at him with unease, and then he laughed. "Are you thinking about chickening out already?"

I glared at him since I knew what that phrase meant. "Not in the slightest. Now show me your most fearsome ghosts."

"You got it!" He declared as he jumped to the porch's top step from the first one without effort. "But be careful with these steps." He said, offering his hand to me so I could take it while carefully climbing the broken wooden planks.

The inside of the house did not look any better than the outside. The first thing I noticed was a staircase leading up to the second floor of the abandoned home, but there was no way we were about to climb those stairs. Each step had rotted through completely, and the railings looked like they had been chopped up into pieces.

"Ugh," I heard Xavier say as he moved around the old house. "It looks like squatters were here recently."

"What are squatters?" I asked him. That Earth term was new to me.

"Homeless people who like to break into abandoned places and camp there since they have nowhere else to go," he replied, examining an old painting on the wall that looked faded from dust and sunlight over the years.

"That sounds sad," I said, feeling slight empathy since my brother, sister, and I were unsure if we would have a home once our money was out and we could not return to Tamaran.

Xavier shrugged as he mindlessly picked up a few stray items from the furniture in the house, only to put them back down again. "I guess it can be if they had absolutely no control over it, but most of the time, they put themselves in that situation."

I was about to ask him to elaborate on that more since he seemed a little apathetic to the people who are homeless, but he changed the topic quickly.

"Well, whoever was here last, they were apparently reading up on all the latest gossip and controversy with the bat family," Xavier said while looking over what appeared to be a copy of a newspaper he picked from the floor.

"The bat family?" I asked.

"You know, Batman and Robin," he said. "I think there is a Batgirl now, too. You haven't heard of them?"

I shook my head. "I have not. But it sounds like they have strange names."

"That's just their hero aliases." Xavier continued. "They do that to protect their actual identities, I guess. I find the whole vigilante thing kind of dumb if you ask me. But I'm surprised you haven't heard of them with being so close to Gotham. I'm sure their names would have come up in conversation eventually."

"I do not believe they have," I said, feeling a little nervous that Xavier might suspect me of being something other than human, given my lack of knowledge of certain things. "I am still new here and not exactly from around this area. You might say I come from living under a rock."

I had heard that phrase being used once before in a similar context, and I had hoped that I said it correctly.

Xavier laughed but in a playful manner. "I guess so. So you haven't even heard about the Justice League either?"

"Oh, I have heard of them," I said confidently, remembering what Rachel had told me about Wally and his connection with The Flash. "The Flash is a part of them, correct?"

"Yep, and among others like Wonder Woman and Superman," Xavier said, "I guess they are supposed to be the group's leaders. I heard Batman is among their ranks, too, but he mainly keeps to himself in Gotham and trains his sidekick while being the main protector of the city."

"Sidekick?" I asked, curious about the strange title.

"Yeah, Robin," Xavier said, and I could not help but notice the slight distaste while he said the sidekick's name. "The kid that helps Batman fight crime in Gotham. A lot of the bigger-named heroes have younger sidekicks. I guess they are supposed to be the next in line in case something happens to their mentor, and then they are supposed to take up the alias or something like that. I really don't care about who's in who in the superhero business. They're just another class of stuck-up celebrities who thrive off being in the limelight whenever they save the day. But I have enjoyed hearing about the Boy Wonder being under some heat for once."

"Boy Wonder?" I inquired. My head hurt slightly from trying to keep up with all these hero aliases.

"That's what many people call Robin as well," Xavier said, rolling his eyes slightly. "Apparently, he is the perfect prodigy of a teenage hero, and everyone expects him to be the next Batman once the current one steps down. But I have heard lately Batman has been having a difficult time controlling him. The Boy Wonder has suddenly turned slightly more violent on his patrols. Nearly beating petty criminals bloody now. When before, he was not like that. It kind of makes you think what might be going on behind closed doors in the bat family, doesn't it?"

"I guess," I half-heartily agreed with him, beginning to get lost in my thoughts again. I felt like I could almost relate to this Robin. With everyone depending on you to uphold a certain standard set so high that it's almost impossible to reach. I wondered if this was the same standard set from Batman to Robin.

"I'm sorry," Xavier apologized, breaking me from my trance, "I'm boring you with all this superhero talk."

"Oh no!" I blurted out, "I find all of it rather interesting."

He scoffed. "Yeah, right. I don't. Here I'm trying to impress a girl by showing her creepy anomalies, and now I'm boring her with celebrity gossip."

I watched his eyes look at something over my shoulder and then smirked at whatever he was looking at behind me. "Actually, I might have just found your first grisly apparition." After he said this, he made a notion with his head to have me turn around to see what he was referring to. Dick was slowly starting to make his way toward the house in the distance.

I gasped and pulled Xavier into a room where we would not be noticed by Dick. "He cannot find me here!" I screeched but quietly so that my voice would not carry over to Dick. "I am already on his ill wishes this week, and I do not want to give him another excuse to give me a stupid punishment."

I was not sure why the lies were coming out easier this time, but I did not want to tell Xavier the reason why I was avoiding Dick. I felt like I was not ready to face him after the strangely intimate dream I had of him and from the way he behaved the night before.

Xavier looked almost amused by my current dilemma. "You really don't want to be seen by him, do you?"

"Is that not obvious? Please, Xavier!" I pleaded, "Will you do the covering for me?"

He laughed. "Only if you let me take you out to lunch after this. Remember, you still owe me a date."

"Fine!" I cried, "Just please do something about him!"

Xavier left the room with the biggest malicious smile I had ever seen on him. He looked as if he was looking forward to the conversation he was about to have with Dick.

I crouched low out of the room to not be seen by the newcomer from the windows and then hid behind a low-standing cabinet. Peeking over just enough so I could watch Xavier and Dick without being noticed. What was he doing there? This was not the usual path that Dick would take since it was far from the school. Was it possible that he had followed me?

"What's up, Grayson?" I heard Xavier call out. "Are you out here ghost-hunting? Looking for some inspo to terrorize the students back at the academy?"

"Spare me with the insults, Xavier." Dick's unenthused but silky voice was heard next. "What are you doing out here? You are currently trespassing on private property."

"Oh, you know, the usual," Xavier taunted, "Smoking, drinking, selling drugs, vandalizing the private property that I'm trespassing on and that you are trespassing on as well. Oh! And I might have some prostitutes swing by later. That might be more up your alley, playboy."

"Charming," Dick said, sounding irritated, "No one else is with you?"

"No, Dick," Xavier said, really empathizing with his name, "I was just trying to capture something paranormal here for some content. And you have no right to interrogate me since Daddy Bruce Wayne doesn't own this part of town. But I'm curious...what are you doing out here?"

I leaned closer to hear what Dick had to say until I heard something like a glass object being dropped to the floor behind me. I gasped at the sudden and unexpected sound and then instantly covered my mouth with my hands, realizing that I might have given myself away. I quickly looked behind me to see where the sound came from but saw nothing unusual. Perhaps an object fell from the breeze coming through the house? I was not about to believe that this house was actually haunted.

"Are you sure no one is with you?" I heard Dick ask again. My stomach dropped at the thought that he most likely heard that sound and now might come in to investigate.

"Besides the ghosts that are currently inhabiting the house, yes, I'm sure," Xavier said impatiently, "And I feel like I might have missed my chance to film something cool, no thanks to you. Can you leave now?"

There was a painstakingly long pause, and I felt my heart pounding in my chest in anticipation of what Dick may say or do next.

"Fine," Dick said finally. He sounded almost exhausted. As if he had not gotten any sleep the night before. "I would not recommend being out here much longer. The paranormal out here may not be what you think they are."

The last part he said sounded like it was not meant for Xavier. It was as if Dick he was making a decrypted announcement to another being entirely. Could he have known I was here? No...not possible.

When Dick had left and Xavier came back to the house, he said, "What a dick. Literally. I could see why you would want to hide from him. He seems a little on edge. Well, more than usual, I suppose."

"Thank you, Xavier," I said, emerging from my hiding spot. "I really appreciate you doing that for me."

"Hey, it's worth it as long as I get my date with you," Xavier winked at me. He had a smug look until it transformed into a panicked one within seconds.

"Kory!" Xavier shouted my name while grabbing my arm and pulling me to him. His one arm wrapped around my waist, protecting me while he kicked at something on the ground repeatedly. I heard a squeal from under us and then a squishy pop.

I did not see what Xavier was kicking at, for he had me pressed so close to him that I could not look around me. But once he stopped moving, he released me so that I could turn back around to see what he was so panicked over.

"What was that?" I asked as I looked at the ground where a mess of goo and what might have been eight long legs at one point before it was stomped on to death.

"A very large spider," Xavier said almost out of breath. "One of the most poisonous in the area."

"Oh!" I gasped. "I suppose you were my hero twice today."

Xavier laughed, but it was not his usual playful laugh. "I guess that means two dates then. But I think I have had enough creepiness for one day. Maybe we should start heading back?"

"Yes, I agree," I said and did not hesitate to begin leaving the house. If this was what the actual haunted houses were like on Earth, I no longer wanted to be entertained by them.

"I'll meet you out there." Xavier called after me, "I think I dropped my phone somewhere while kicking that spider; give me a second to find it."

I nodded and then left the house without saying anything else. I suppose I could have stayed and helped Xavier find his phone, but something about that spider was unsettling, and I wanted to get as far away from it as possible.

After waiting a few minutes, Xavier exited the house to join me by the broken porch stairs. "Hey, cutie, I'm sorry to be a bummer, especially after dealing with all that." He motioned toward the house. "But I just got a text saying my one co-worker called out at the coffee shop, and now I have to pick up their shift. So I'll need a rain check on that lunch date."

"Why are we checking for rain?" I asked, confused.

"I meant, we'll have to set a different time for our date," he said, and then I felt embarrassed because I had missed another Earth idiom.

"Oh, it is fine," I said. I was not really disappointed because I had other arrangements for lunch. He seemed more disappointed than I was, however.

"If you say so," He said, walking backward toward where his bike was so he could say, "But you still owe me two dates."

A/N (again)

Honestly, I was not planning on having Kory recognize her hormonal instincts until the next book, but why not start the slow-burn torture now? *evillaugh*