Library

"I'm telling you David, that's not Clair!"

Hod was usually a pretty calm guy. David had never known him to get really agitated the entire time they'd been friends. Beheaded stuffed toy, stomped sand castle, demolished snowmen (Hod made the best snowmen), and he never even flinched. Broken computer, being pushed around, whatever it was Hod never lost his cool. He was their for David when Anne had... well, during that whole thing. He'd been incredibly calm when his parents split up, when his dad remarried and when his mom gradually stopped asking him to come visit. He'd written a beautiful, almost funny poem when his dog Never died, saying he could see Never better than when he had been alive. Hod stared down indifferent blizzard and cold human hostility alike with the same stoic attitude that he approached everything. 

So when David saw his best friend this upset, he knew something was going on. Even if what Hod was saying made no sense. 

"Alright, Hod, but I still don't understand. How can you be so sure?" 

Hod had pulled aside David right after the school meeting. They were both missing class, huddled around a desk in a corner of the library, whispering. David didn't understand why they were whispering, but it seemed appropriate. 

"David, didn't she seem strange to you? Like she wasn't herself?" Hod stared straight ahead, cold sweat beading on his forehead. "Didn't she sound different?"

"No I didn't. She didn't seem quite as organized as usual, that's all. But she was pretty good about getting everything together once I reminded her of what was going on." David hesitated, "There was one other thing," he said reluctantly. It had seemed strange then. It was still strange. "Just after everyone else had left, when Clair and me were the last people in the room, Clair- she kissed me. It was really quick, but..."

"But Clair and you haven't gone out since the 9th grade, I know." Hod's voice held a note of pain. "David, remember when I told you about that mystery girl I was talking to on the high school forums?"

"I think so, yeah." David said. Hod had actually said something a couple times, and even though he sounded really casual about it, David knew it was big. Hod never mentioned girls ever, except in a generalized way. He felt a cold chill. "Wait. You mean... that was?"

"It was Clair. I found out a couple weeks ago. It... it wasn't the best experience." Hod gave a chilly smile. "I don't know if you've noticed but we haven't been able to be in the same room together for awhile now." The admission seemed almost dragged out of him.

"You think she kissed me to get at you?" David could believe it. Clair could be pretty mean at times, especially when she felt hurt or ignored.

"No, David, you're not listening. I think that the... person... who kissed you wasn't really Clair. I think it might now even have been human."

"You think it was a Spook?" David shivered. Every once in awhile something strange would happen to David and Hod. They didn't tell anyone else, but it was part of what made them such close friends.

"David, I swear on my life it's not her. It might look like her, but it's not. I know it."

A weird shimmer, like a heat wave, rippled out from them, but they were too caught up to notice it. But someone else did. 

"I believe you." David put his hand firmly on Hods' shoulder. Hod slumped a little in relief. "But if it's not her, who is it?"

"I don't know." Hod said, voice breaking slightly. He set his shoulders, pulling out his walking cane with a snap. "But I'm going to find out, David. And I need you to help me."

"Of course Hod. You know I got your back," David said, checking his phone reflexively. "Dude, we're already late for Chem. We should get going."

"Okay, but after school, we have to figure out what's going on."

"Where do we start looking?'

"We follow whatever it is home. Maybe it will lead us to the real Clair."

"Maybe it will."