Page 52 of First Kiss with a Mothman

I pull at my towel and reply, “I’m not decent!”

“Hurry up then! I need to see you!”

I roll my eyes then give Mort a pained smile. “Sorry,” I murmur.

“No worries. Do you want me to stay?” he asks in a low voice. “I can like, um, fly out the window.”

“No, please!” I stand up and reach out to him. He takes my hand, and I squeeze his. “I…want you here.”

“Okay.”

I quickly reach the wardrobe on the other side of the room and get dressed. I feel for the Braille on my hangers, with shirts on the left arranged by thickness and pants on the right. My underwear is in the same drawer it’s always in, and I’m glad my clothes didn’t end up disorganized tonight.

Do I give Mort a show of my ass when I hike up my boxers? Maybe. I’m an innocent blind boy just trying to get dressed, not a cock-tease, I swear. For all I know, he’s looking away, like the gentleman he is. But I not-so-secretly want him to see all of me.

With a T-shirt and pants on, I make my way to the door. I barely open it before Mom comes crashing into me in a big hug. “Ooh, Arie, baby, you’re alive!”

“Yes, Mom.” I try not to sound too annoyed as I pat her on the back.

“I thought you got abducted by a flock of birds!”

“No, that’s not…” I scrunch my eyebrows together as we walk to the bed. “Wait, who told you that?”

“That would be me.” I hear an unfamiliar woman’s voice walk in and shut the door. “I’m Dean Yaga. Pleased to formally meet you.”

“Your dean called me to say that you were abducted by monsters!” Mom continues to stress out and pat my arms. I think she’s trying to make sure my limbs haven’t fallen off or something.

“That is not quite what I said, Miss Baker.” Dean Yaga sounds like she’s smiling, and her tone lets me know she’s trying to talk my mom down off the ledge of anxiety. “I said he transformed into his monster qualities. Tonight we had a blood moon.”

“There was blood?” Mom yelps.

I frown and place her hands off my face onto her lap. “No. Wait, who told you that, Dean Yaga?”

“Your friend, Kovi Sampath!” she chirps.

“He told you?” I ask.

“At my behest,” Mort says. “I asked him to get someone in the faculty.” Mort steps closer to me and continues, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do or who else to turn to.”

I shrug and give a half-smile. “It’s cool. I’m glad to know you told Kovi to call the dean and that he’s not some random gossip.”

“Who are you?” Mom asks in an accusatory tone.

“This is Mort Rain,” Dean Yaga says in a jovial tone. “Our former child star, part of our university Greek life.”

I tense up at the mention of Mort’s past, but Mort doesn’t seem fazed. In fact, it sounds like he’s smiling when he says, “Nice to see you again, Miss Baker. We met briefly at the concert.”

“Oh right. I didn’t recognize you with the um…wings.” Mom sounds unimpressed and dismissive of Mort. This night continues to be so embarrassing. “Anyway, sweetheart, what’s this about you being turned into a monster?”

“We’re fortunate that Mort found your son,” the dean says cheerfully. “Clearly an upstanding student in the monster community like him can help your son in this transitional period.”

“He became attuned to over a hundred birds. I’m not sure if he’s like a harpy or something.” Mort moves closer, and I yearn to reach for him despite my mom holding my shoulder.

“I heard. Based on your description, we suspect he’s an avian whisperer,” Dean Yaga says.

“Avian…whisperer?” I murmur.

“Think of it as a cross between a witch and a harpy. You told me he had minor bird alterations to his form?”