Intermix Nation

Aldrik slams the door shut behind him.Nazirah rubs her temples, eager to be free of them both. She soonrealizes, however, that Adamek still leans nonchalantly against thewall.

“That’s cute, Nation,” he says. Adamek walkstowards the window, nodding to the random figures Nazirah drew inthe dust. Much to her chagrin, he doesn’t leave, instead sittingdown in the seat Aldrik just vacated. He looks at the picture Catogave Nazirah, picking it up from her nightstand. “Yes … realcute.”

“Why are you still here?”

He remains fixated on the photo, ignoringher question. “Never would have taken you for a fisherman.”

Nazirah reaches for the frame, but hedoesn’t return it. “I’m not,” she says. “Cato caught it.”

Adamek smiles cruelly. “Caal catches thefish, but not the girl,” he says. “Story of his pathetic life.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what you think it means.”

“I can’t be caught, Morgen,” Nazirah snaps.“Not by Cato. Not by anyone.”

“Saying something out loud doesn’t make ittrue.”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

“I’m not calling you anything,” he says.“Who was that guy today?”

“Who?”

“The one who wanted to string you up by yourjugular.”

Nazirah groans. “That would be CanderCaal.”

“Caal?”

“Cato’s older brother,” she explains.

Adamek looks at the picture again beforesetting it down loudly. “Of course it was.”

“What do you want?” she asks.

Adamek leans back casually against thewindow. “Just trying to figure out what you see in that loser,” hesays.

“Cato’s not a loser!” Nazirah says. “He’sthe best person I know, the best friend I’ve ever had! He’s kindand selfless. He’s always there when I need him. Cato’s been moreof a brother to me than Niko ever has.”

Adamek stifles a yawn. “Let me stop youright there,” he says, “while I go and find my violin.”

“Cato is a good guy,” she hisses spitefully.“He doesn’t fuck every girl he can get his hands on.”

Adamek’s eyes flash dangerously and he leansin close to her. “I guarantee you he isn’t happy about that.”

“I mean that he doesn’t use girls,” shestresses. “He’s not like other guys.”

“Not like me, you mean.”

“You said it, Morgen,” she tells him. “Notme.”

“You know what,” Adamek says coldly, “fuckyou, Nation. You know shit all about me and my life. And you mightwant to take another look at your so-called best friend beforeru

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” he says, smiling nastily. “Do youreally think he slept alone last night?”

Nazirah is afraid Adamek might be tellingthe truth. “Can you just go?”

She doesn’t expect him to and he doesn’tdisappoint. She wonders if this is Adamek’s personal retributionfor her reaction to Cander’s question. As soon as Nazirah thinksit, she knows she’s right. “You ever wonder why no one tells youanything, Nation?” he asks quietly. His voice is even, but Nazirahcan sense the hardness behind it. “Why people never confide in you?You tell yourself alone at night it’s because you’re better thanthey are. They know you’re not interested in their petty gossip,because you’re above it all. But that’s not it.” He leans evencloser, placing his hands on either side of the mattress. “No,that’s not it at all.”

“What is it, then?” she asks softly, hatingthat she’s allowed him to crawl under her skin.

He pulls away. “It’s because no one wants tohear holier-than-thou judgment, especially coming from a frigidprude like you. Something no one wants from you anyway.”

“You wanted it,” she says defiantly,bringing up the taboo topic neither of them has discussed sincethat day in the classroom.

Adamek rises, causing Nazirah to stumblebackwards. She stands on the opposite side of the bed. He swiftlywalks around it. “I wanted to knock you down from yourself-constructed pedestal, you selfish bitch.”

Something about his words seems inauthentic,almost like he’s trying to convince himself of their truth. “Idon’t believe you,” she says boldly. “Why did you show me the samememory as Cato in the Iluxor?”

“I thought that much was obvious,” he says,a little maliciously. “I wanted to show you something I knew yourfragile mind could handle, so I used what I had already seen. Itwas an added bonus that it didn’t have your parents.” He takes astep forward, cocking his head slightly. “Was that not what youwanted to hear, princess? Did you want to hear that I was jealous?That I wanted to see you like that? You’re sorely mistaken.”

“If that’s what it takes to let you sleep atnight,” Nazirah says, tired of this game.

She pulls the door open for him. He slams itshut again with one hand. “What do you know of sleepless nights?”he asks.

“A lot actually,” she snaps, “thanks toyou.”

They glare at each other, the momentextending for an eternity. A couple, clearly inebriated, stumblesdrunkenly into the hallway. The sound of their loud laughter snapsNazirah and Adamek out of it. Adamek wrenches the door open.“People are complex, Nation,” he says quietly, before leaving. “Noone is perfect, not you, not even your precious Caal. Just rememberthat. A man is not defined by one thing.”

The room feels blissfully empty without hispresence. Nazirah throws herself onto her bed, inhaling deeply. Sheyells out, sitting up, because the scent of Adamek Morgen iseverywhere. It is in the air, in her pores. It is spice andcardamom and sage. He has invaded her room, invaded her head. Hehas completely invaded her life.

Nazirah grabs an old cap of Cato’s and pullsher hair up into it. She walks out of the room, exiting the i

She heads out into the darkness, searchingfor solace but fearing she may only find solitude.

Chapter Sixteen

Shadows drift over Nazirah like smoke acrosswater. She walks cautiously through the familiar streets, keepingher head low, avoiding the main thoroughfares. Nazirah cuts acrosstown fairly quickly. It’s late now, so dark that she can see barelya few feet in front of her.

Rafu is changed. It’s quieter, more desolateand impoverished than Nazirah remembers. Several of the bungalowsare dilapidated, boarded up with musty wooden planks. Beggars onthe streets shakily wave tin cans, wailing babies in their arms.Nazirah hugs her chest as she passes. In the air is the chill ofmisery.

Nazirah doesn’t know where she is goinguntil she is already there. Turning onto the Caals’ street, Nazirahrealizes that she has been walking there all along. She breathes inthe smell of the surf: salt stinging the air, mulch, andseaweed.

Nerves crawl over her, itchy and restless.What if Cato’s family rejects her, doesn’t want to see her? Shealready knows how Cander feels, but what about the rest of them?Would they harbor so much resentment as well? It would devastateNazirah to be turned away. The Caals have been like family sinceshe was a little girl. She has always been welcome in their home,even though she is intermix. Even though she is a troublemaker whostole their son’s heart and then stole their son for goodmeasure.

Nazirah hops the short gate she’s enteredcountless times before. She skips up the front steps. Holding herbreath, she raps on the door. Nazirah stuffs her hands into herpockets. “This is stupid,” she mutters. “They’re probably allsleeping.”

But she hopes they aren’t. And, even thoughno one comes to the door, Nazirah stays. And she waits.

A mangy dog howls in the distance, probablypart of the mutt packs that roam the boardwalk at night, scavengingfish bones and carcasses clean off the shore. Nazirah glancesanxiously over her shoulder. She shouldn’t have come; Aldrik wasright. But she needs to see them, these people from her past.

A light flickers on. The door opens,revealing Cato’s father. Cameron is dressed in a worn blue robe andstriped pajamas. Nazirah looks into his face, wanting to smile orcry or both. Cameron looks older than Nazirah remembers, gaunter.His face has more lines and his hair is grayer. But his kind browneyes, Cato’s eyes, are exactly the same.