The yellow school bus rattled down the street.

It was packed. Bodies, backpacks, noise.

Aden sat in the middle, by the window. He wore noise-canceling headphones, but they did nothing against his new hearing.

He could hear the scratching of a pen three rows back. He could hear the gum snapping in someone's mouth.

And he could hear the squelching.

It wasn't just Emily.

He scanned the bus. He lowered his sunglasses just enough to peek.

The thermal vision flickered on.

Three rows ahead, the captain of the football team sat with his arm around his girlfriend.

Inside his chest, wrapped around his lungs, was a cold blue mass.

Two seats behind him, a freshman girl was reading a book. A parasite was coiled in her stomach.

Aden counted.

One. Two. Five.

Seven infected students on one bus.

He felt sick. It was an invasion, and no one knew.

The bus hissed to a halt in front of Argent High.

Aden got off. He kept his elbows in, avoiding contact.

The hallway smelled of floor wax and that underlying rot. The scent of the infected.

He reached his locker. His hands were steady as he spun the dial.

Whack.

A hand slammed onto his shoulder.

Aden spun around. His fist was already clenched, ready to strike.

It was Chadwick.

"Whoa, easy, tiger," Chadwick said, hands up. He was grinning. "You jumpy today?"

Aden exhaled. He scanned Chadwick quickly.

Warm red heat. Normal organs. No blue shadow.

"Sorry," Aden said. "Just... tired."

Chadwick looked down at Aden's legs. "Dude. Where's the stick?"

"The cane?"

"Yeah. You're standing. Like, actually standing."

"New meds," Aden lied. "Doctor said I might have been misdiagnosed. It's... remitting."

Chadwick punched him lightly on the arm. "That's awesome, man! Serious. We can finally play co-op without you needing a nap every hour."

"Yeah," Aden said. "Awesome."

They walked to history class.

Aden kept counting.

The infection rate was staggering. At least thirty percent of the students he passed had the rot inside them.

They walked differently. Smoother. More predatory.

He sat at his desk in the back.

Mr. Henderson was writing on the whiteboard.

"Today we discuss the fall of Rome," Mr. Henderson said.

His voice had a strange resonance. A low hum that made Aden's eyelids heavy.

Aden shook his head. He looked at the teacher.

Mr. Henderson turned around.

A nictitating membrane-a second, translucent eyelid-flicked across his eye and vanished.

He was one of them.

Aden gripped the edge of his desk. The wood creaked.

In the front row, Chloe Lane was filing her nails. She was the queen bee of the junior class.

A large fly buzzed around her head.

She swatted at it lazily.

The fly moved to the girl next to her. Jessie.

Jessie was staring straight ahead. She didn't move.

The fly landed on her collarbone.

Aden watched.

Jessie's jaw unhinged slightly.

Thwip.

Her tongue shot out. It was too long, pink and wet. It wrapped around the fly and retracted in a blur.

It happened in a tenth of a second.

No one saw it.

Except Aden.

Jessie chewed once and swallowed.

Then she turned in her seat.

She looked directly at Aden in the back row.

She smiled. The smile went too wide. It stretched her cheeks until the skin looked like it would tear.

She raised a finger to her lips.

Shhh.

Aden felt a cold drop of sweat slide down his spine.

They knew he could see them.

The bell rang.

Aden grabbed his bag. "We need to go," he whispered to Chadwick.

"What? Why? It's taco Tuesday."

"Just come with me."

Aden dragged Chadwick toward the boys' bathroom. He needed a place to think. A place with no eyes.

Aden pushed the bathroom door open. It swung shut behind them.

"Dude, what is your problem?" Chadwick asked, adjusting his glasses. "You're acting weird. Weirder than usual."

"I just need a minute," Aden said. He splashed cold water on his face.

The intercom crackled.

"All students, please report to the auditorium immediately for a special assembly."

Chadwick groaned. "Great. Probably another pep talk about school spirit."

Aden dried his face with a paper towel. "Let's just get it over with."

The auditorium was a sea of bodies. The hum of conversation was loud.

Aden stuck close to the wall. He felt exposed.

Principal Myers tapped the microphone.

"Quiet, please. Settle down."

The room hushed.

"We have a new student joining us today," Myers said. "Please welcome Elise Tucker."

A girl walked onto the stage.

The air in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.

She was striking. Platinum blonde hair that fell to her waist like liquid silk. Her uniform was tailored perfectly, looking more like a costume than school clothes.

She stood at the podium and looked out at the crowd.

Her eyes were blue, but cold. Like glacial ice.

She didn't smile. She looked bored. She looked like she was inspecting livestock.

Aden felt a sharp prick in his chest. Instinct.

Elise's gaze swept across the rows.

It stopped on him.

She narrowed her eyes. Her nostrils flared slightly.

She had smelled him.

The assembly ended ten minutes later. Aden tried to blend into the herd of students leaving the hall.

He made it to the corridor near the science labs.

A hand shot out and grabbed his arm.

It wasn't a gentle grab. It was a vice grip.

Aden was slammed into the lockers. Bang.

He gasped.

Elise stood in front of him. She was shorter than him, but she loomed.

She wore black velvet gloves.

"No clan marking," she said softly. Her voice was melodic but sharp. "A rogue?"

Aden played dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't insult me," Elise said. "You smell like old pennies and desperation."

She reached for his pocket.

Aden tried to push her away. It was like pushing a marble column. She didn't budge.

She pulled out his phone.

"Hey!" Aden shouted. "Give that back!"

"You were going to call someone?" Elise asked. "Maybe your sire? Or the police?"

"It's my phone, you psycho!"

Elise looked at the device with disdain.

"Signal is jammed anyway," she said.

She squeezed her hand.

Crunch.

The glass screen shattered. The metal casing buckled. Sparks flew.

She crushed the phone into a ball of debris with one hand.

She dropped the wreckage on the floor.

Aden stared at it. That phone cost him three months of bussing tables.

"You owe me a thousand dollars," Aden said, his voice trembling with rage.

People were stopping to watch. Whispers spread.

Chadwick pushed through the crowd.

"Hey! Back off!" Chadwick yelled. He stepped between them.

Elise looked at Chadwick. She didn't even blink.

She just radiated... pressure.

Chadwick froze. His mouth hung open, but no words came out. He looked like a deer in headlights.

Elise turned back to Aden. She reached up and patted his cheek with her gloved hand.

It was humiliating. Like petting a dog.

"Meet me on the football field after school," she whispered. "If you run, I'll hunt you down. And I enjoy the chase."

She turned and walked away. Her heels clicked on the linoleum.

Aden leaned against the dented locker.

He looked at the pile of plastic and glass on the floor.

She wasn't a parasite. She was a hunter. Or a rival predator.

And she wanted him dead.

The cafeteria smelled of grease and disinfectant.

Aden stood in the lunch line. He didn't take a tray. He didn't take food.

He reached into the bin of cutlery.

He grabbed a heavy, tarnished, silver-plated spoon. He slipped it into his pocket.

He scanned the room.

The parasites were clustered at tables near the exits. They were watching the doors.

Elise was sitting at a round table in the far corner. She was alone.

No one dared to sit near her.

She was drinking from a red thermos. It wasn't juice.

She saw Aden. She raised an eyebrow, challenging him.

She expected him to cower in the shadows.

Aden took a breath. He was tired of being afraid.

He walked past the tables. He didn't go to the dark corner.

He walked straight to the floor-to-ceiling windows on the south wall.

It was noon. The sun was blazing.

Aden stepped into the beam of light.

He sat on the window ledge, bathed in sunshine.

Elise stood up. Her chair scraped loudly against the floor.

She stared at him. Her face lost its composure for the first time.

She waited for him to burn.

Aden stretched his legs. The sun felt good. It warmed his bones.

He pulled the silver-plated spoon out of his pocket.

Elise walked toward him. She moved fast, but she stopped just outside the patch of sunlight.

She flinched as the edge of the light touched her shoe.

"What are you?" she hissed. "Daywalker? That's impossible. Only the Progenitors..."

Aden looked at her. He held up the spoon.

He put the bowl of the spoon in his mouth.

He bit down hard.

SNAP.

The metal sheared off.

He crunched loudly. It sounded like he was chewing on gravel.

Elise's face went from shock to disgust. Her nose wrinkled.

"Gods," she said, her voice dripping with contempt. "You... you eat metal? What kind of silver-eating freak are you?"

She looked at him like he was a cockroach.

"I thought you were a threat," she scoffed, regaining some of her composure. "You're just a scavenger. A genetic mistake."

Aden swallowed the metal. It slid down his throat, warm and energizing.

"You still want to meet at the field, Princess?" he asked.

Elise's eyes flashed red. "Don't call me that. I can still gut you, sunlight or not."

"Try it," Aden said.

The intercom beeped.

Wooooop. Wooooop.

The emergency alarm. It was a sound that drilled into the skull.

"Lockdown. This is not a drill. All students seek cover immediately."

Boom.

The floor shook. Dust fell from the ceiling tiles.

Through the window, Aden saw a plume of green smoke rising from the industrial district a few miles away. The chemical plant.

"What did you do?" Elise asked, looking at the smoke.

"Me?" Aden stood up.

In the cafeteria, the students who were infected stood up in unison.

It was perfectly synchronized.

They stopped talking. They stopped moving.

Then, they opened their mouths.

A shriek tore through the air. It wasn't human. It was the sound of tearing metal and screaming pigs.

Chaos erupted.