I walked out of the theater positively vibrating with energy.

  Middle of the week a night for the test Disney movie meant that there weren’t as many families attending as there would be on the weekend during an earlier showing. And generally being a happier, uplifting movie, there was a lot less fear and chaos during which to hide an attack. It had beeively safe for me to attend alone, but I hadn’t actually been alone.

  There was a rge enough audiehat I’d been filled to the brim with amusemeement, longing, and all the other kinds of feelings a reasonably det Disney flick spark in a child or a teenager. And they’d all been potential wito any sort of demise I might have faced. If anything had happened in that room that had sparked fear and terror from those arou would have drawn attention and could have escated into something just as dangerous for the hunter as for me, the hunted.

  But as I’d ehe building and navigated it to my seat, I’d seen little Sharpie graffiti here and there on the walls that marked the presence of Felicity. She’d told me that they’d be there, including in the women’s restroom. And she’d said they’d allow her to spread her presend keep an eye ohing. I didn’t kly how that worked, but I had a rough idea.

  As every human caught a glimpse of the little doodle of a monster eye, it would open up a sort of psychic portal in their mind made of metaphor and symbolism, and Felicity could extend a tendril of herself into their mind. She could even jump her whole self over from one vessel to another, in order to reach me as quickly as possible when it was necessary.

  It also allowed her to keep her primary vessel, which could be reized, off the premises entirely.

  But she couldn’t reside in my psyche because I’m a monster, another emanant. Once she attempted to enter my mind, she’d initiate feeding, and presumably her of us wahat.

  And, she only inhabited a minor pertage of the crowd. Enough to be nearly everywhere, but there were still plenty of people who weren’t host to her. Not everyone happeo g one of her glyphs.

  This all made the idea of me trying to be caught alone ihroom really terrifying, because she wouldn’t have actual eyes on me in there. But, it would probably be the only way to lure a predator to strike if there was oalking me.

  However, we’d pnned for that. If there redator stalkihey wouldn’t be waiting in the restroom, they’d be followio see where I went. So Felicity would hopefully have eyes on them right up to the point that they decided to ehe restroom with me. And she’d strike as they stepped in.

  Or something like that.

  As I walked across the hallway, humming the movie's theme song to myself, hands in my legging pockets like a dork, I gave a look around at the crowd.

  There were a couple of families making a bee-line for the restroom, along with a couple other people, so when I went in there I’d have to use a stall or do my makeup or something until everyone else left. That was to be expected. Taking the disguise of a woman made it a little easier to stall, because womeo be expected to do a wider range of things while in a restroom.

  And, I caught a glimpse of two other women behind me yawning simultaneously. Strangers in perfect synization.

  That was Felicity’s signal. She’d spotted her target, and everything was in position.

  So the pn was a go.

  And I moved forward with it.

  Felicity hadn’t left anything to that restroom. Her glyph was nearly everywhere. It was on the side of the dryer closest to the doht in front of aering the room. Then, when I went into a stall to sit and pretend to evacuate my bdder, I saw it on the inside of the stall dht at eye level. It retty easy to assume it was in every stall. And nearly everyone ihroom would bee her eyes and ears just by entering the pce.

  So, by following a small crowd in, I was still being watched, and could receive an abort signal right up to the st minute.

  I decided I o be out where I could see and hear everyone before they left, so I made my “peeing” quick. Then I went to a sink to wash my hands, and then reached for my purse. Unzipping it, I pulled out a pad brush and started toug up my fa the mirror. I could pull anything out of any bag I had on myself, of course. But I went out of my way to make it look logical, and to imply that I’d be a while.

  And fixing up my makeup after watg a movie that might have made me cry seemed like a reasohing to do.

  A lot of women and girls in the Portnd area didn’t actually wear much makeup. It was just not a major part of the culture. But there were enough that did that it wasn’t unusual to see someone messing with her face at any given time.

  Mothers helped their girls wash their hands and straighten their clothing, arguing with them and their sisters about hurrying it up and whether or not they could go anywhere else befoing home to bed. A teearted w on her makeup in a mirror, too, but was going about it faster than me. Another woman came in as one of the other adults left. And it took a while to clear out.

  I’d expected that, a my patience, even though I could feel my energy slowly burning off and being repced by raw nervousness. But nervousness is alertness for me, and that was good.

  And, so far, no one gave me the “bug out” signal. It was still all going as pnned.

  What made me extra nervous was that I couldn’t perceive the target, my hunter. Felicity had let me know she had eyes on them and knew where they were, but I had no idea which dire they would be ing from.

  And I khat would probably be the case, but it still felt Very Bad.

  It meant that I had to y a lot more trust ihan I was fortable with. And I wasn’t fortable trusti all.

  But she knew who I was and what my daily habits were. She’d already stalked me. So, if she was going to betray me, or eve me, she’d had plenty of better opportuo do that already, during times when I was less alert and less aware of my immi danger.

  What made me nervous was that if the hunter was faster than Felicity, I wouldn’t see it ing.

  And I still wasirely clear how she was going to catd eat it.

  I’d seen nearly everything up to this point, but there’s always surprises, netations. And “nearly” isn’t “entirely”. There’s always a ce I’ve missed something.

  I khat a teratovore like Felicity eat someone from the i. But in my experiehat usually requires eye tact. And that might not be possible in this case. My hunter might not even have eyes! I had no clue as to what my hunter even was or how they worked. And if they did have eyes, they’d be watg me. So, sihe pn was a go, Felicity would have a differehod of poung on them.

  Wouldn’t she?

  I just didn’t know.

  I don’t like not knowing.

  But there was nothing I could do about it but remai and poised to run for the door.

  However, it was very possible the hunter would e from the dire of the door, to er me.

  So as the group of restroom users dwindled down to oher woman besides me, I became more and more tense.

  Then, just as she finished drying her hands and walked out, applying lotion iermath of washing, someone else walked in, passing her right at the door.

  Shit.

  A gothy twenty-something, if I could judge a human’s age that well, wearing big headphones and carrying a fat bck leather purse with studs all over it.

  Out of the er of my eye, I tracked her, or them, and tried to keep all of my seuo their presence.

  Nothing about them screamed monster, but they were looking down at the purse when they entered and passed the first dryer. So, they might not have Felicity riding with them.

  I’d been in there so long, I was just doing fiddly touchup with my makeup, with the tips of my pinkies.

  The goth smiled at me and joined me at the sinks to check out their makeup.

  Then they decided it was fine and moved to the big accessible stall at the far end of the bathroom. They were skinny and walking with assurity in their ptform knee high boots. I could see someoh the girth I rojeg choosing that stall because the others were too narrow. But I didn’t say anything. I should have, for the sake of any chair user who might have rolled in, but like so many humans I just didn’t.

  To this day I regret that.

  But the sed that stall door closed, I gnced in the dire of the restroom entrance.

  Nothing. Nobody.

  It was just me and the goth.

  And the restroom got very quiet. So quiet, I could faintly hear the musi the goth’s headphones. All that came from them was a tinny, rhythmic hissing.

  The smell of the pce wasn’t great. It had obviously been ed fairly retly, because I could detect the strong sts of the ing fluids, but underlying that was urine and feces, and a hint of vomit. Typical of a restroom that’s been heavily used retly.

  One of the lights flickered a little bit as my eyes insisted on pig up little unimportaails for ck of any a.

  There was a wavy line of scratches in the mirrors, like if left by somebody keying a car. I was uain how it was made, but obviously some care was taken to make the lich up from mirror to mirror.

  There were little bits of toilet paper all over the floor. Someone had taken several squares of it and shredded it like fetti, sometime before I’d ehe facilities, and thrown it all over the pce. And then the scraps had been kicked around by everyone else’s shoes.

  Other tiny bits of graffiti besides Felicity’s monster eyes sparsely dotted the walls, usually in pencil or ballpoihe one closest to me said, “If we were in love, you wouldn’t have missed.”

  And I tore my eyes away from it and g the entrance again.

  I o make an excuse for staying in the room lohah newbie, so I started the sink running as if to up my hands from doing my makeup and began to think about what other activities I could imitate.

  But just as the water hit the bottom of the sink, there was a disturbing ch, a scream, and a terrible spttering noise from the accessible stall behind me.

  theInmara