The needle broke with Gabriel’s movement, and Gabriel laughed as the bald man swore under his breath again.
“You broke another one,” the man complained.
“If that’s your only fear about tonight, we should be fine. You won’t turn into a gigantic albino man,” Gabriel reassured her. “Going through the change won’t make you any less you than you already are. Nothing can change who you are.”
Arianna ran back out the door past Molina, who had been listening to the conversation while she waited. Arianna made it up halfway the stairs before pausing and returning to the kitchen of the diner. With her increased senses, she easily avoided the organized mass of workers to grab food for her friends who were waiting upstairs.
As per normal, Mary Ellen and Tish were already seated on her bed, gossiping as she returned. Arianna sat down on the floor, and they all used her bed as a makeshift table. Arianna looked at her friends again. Neither one was a night human.
“So, spill it,” Mary Ellen started to grill Arianna.
“How do you get two gorgeous boys to follow you around, begging for your attention?” Tish asked. “I need to know your secret.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Arianna replied as Tish and Mary Ellen both shook their heads, mocking her.
“Come on,” Tish complained, nudging Arianna.
“Really,” Arianna replied. “They just started to follow me around on their own.”
“So which one is your boyfriend?” Mary Ellen asked, wanting to know more juicy details.
“Neither,” Arianna replied. Again her friends didn’t believe her. “Really. Devin works for my grandfather and Turner is my keeper.”
“Then they’re not your boyfriends?” Tish asked, disappointed they weren’t going to get details.
“Your keeper?” Mary Ellen repeated and Tish stopped and stared also. “But don’t you guys normally wait years for that?” Arianna stared dumbstruck at her two best friends.
“But? How?” Arianna sputtered.
“We’re your best friends,” Tish added. “Of course we know what you are.”
“Sometimes I wish I could be one also,” added Mary Ellen, turning the bowls of fries so they could grab more.
“But?” Arianna repeated.
“My dad is a dearg-dul,” Mary Ellen added, noticing her friend’s confusion. “Remember all those trips? He was going to the Randolph estate for annual meetings.” Mary Ellen picked up a fry and popped it in her mouth like she was having any normal conversation with Arianna.
“And my family has several baku and tengu in it,” Tish added. “Though the gene was lost somewhere in my parent’s generation.” Tish grabbed a fry also.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Arianna complained, taking the fries from her friends and holding them hostage. “This past week has been so confusing. No one told me any of this before, and then it was just plopped on me.”
“Your aunt asked us not to,” Mary Ellen explained like it was a logical answer.
“She told me I couldn’t be your friend if I told you,” Tish replied with a better answer.
“Then everyone was in on the secret but me?” Arianna asked. Mary Ellen looked to Tish and nodded.
“But we didn’t know you were a purebred,” Mary Ellen quickly explained. “We just thought you were another dearg-dul who needed to be protected since your parents were gone.”
“I’m not just a dearg-dul,” Arianna added glumly, grabbing another fry. Her friends hadn’t lied to her on purpose, but on orders from Aunt Lilly.
“Of course not. You are the blue-eyed dearg-dul,” Tish added to what she had heard through the gossip.
“Yeah, but after tonight I’ll also be a baku,” Arianna explained. “That’s why my aunt probably had to let you be my friend, Tish, even though she hates baku and tengu.”
“I always wondered why they would let me be a friend with you once everyone knew you were a dearg-dul,” Tish replied. Tish actually didn’t take sides like most people and didn’t care what Arianna was going to be once she changed.
“That makes no sense. How can you be both?” Mary Ellen asked. “It is so unfair. I just want to be one and you get to be both.” Arianna laughed, not being able to reply to her friend and her absurd suggestion.
“It isn’t as fun as it seems,” Arianna replied. Tish nodded in empathy.
“My cousin complains all the time. He said that it’s the blood that drives him nuts,” Tish reached over and grabbed another fry. Arianna’s mind drifted at the mention of blood. Turner and Devin were coming back now.