Page 44 of Space Daddy and a Boy Called Twink

“Finished early, and now I have some other things to look into.”

“I’m not taking the bait,” Eric said, turning the page of his comic, and really, I was surprised he’d been able to read while we were chatting.

“That’s fine because I wasn’t gonna tell you anyway,” Roger said. “It’s official, top-secret business.”

Eric rolled his eyes. “I feel that’s somehow supposed to make me more intrigued.”

“And you’re not gonna tell your best friend about this?” I pressed.

“I was coming to tell you, but…”

Roger eyed Eric, who said, “Okay, I’m getting up. Let me know when you’re finished with your little secret meeting.”

Roger glanced over his shoulder, as though waiting for Eric to be out of earshot before he shared anything, which really couldn’t have been that big of a deal.

I started cleaning the counter. “If this is another guy you met on Sniffies—”

“What? No.” He bunched up his face. “Nothing to do with guys. You know that podcast I listen to?”

“The one about violent serial killers?”

“The other one. About aliens.”

I was emptying the coffee grinder into the trash as he said it, and I was so shocked that I missed the trash can altogether, essentially dumping grounds onto the floor. Fuck.

Why the hell was Roger suddenly bringing up aliens? Not that that was weird for Roger. He’d always been into aliens and conspiracy theories. No, I was being paranoid because of Daddy.

“Dude, you made a mess,” Roger said, oblivious that my fumble was triggered by what he’d said.

“Podcast…?” I prompted, bringing his attention back to what I really wanted to hear about.

“So, a bunch of guys have this astronomy club that gets together in the park to stargaze, and they posted this video recently…” He pulled up a TikTok video showing a ball of fire falling from the sky. A burst of light exploded from it before it descended and was lost to sight amid some mid-rises.

That was the area where Daddy’s ship crashed. Holy fuck. Someone had it on video? That couldn’t be that bad, though. Not like there’d be a way for them to figure out where it was based on that video. Right?

“A meteor maybe?” I asked, hoping to get him off the scent.

“Have you ever seen a meteor burst with light while it was falling?”

“I don’t watch a lot of meteors, Roger.”

“They don’t do that,” he insisted. “This is a UFO, and that was by the Spire condos, near the club.”

“Okay, so a weird thing caught on video. Why is that so interesting? I’m sure there are videos like this all over the world.”

He didn’t seem convinced. “Maybe, but then someone broke into the Halloween costume store over on Ponny and Way just a couple days later.”

I hadn’t heard about this, but it made tension knot up in me. I didn’t like that he had something else to connect this video with. Had Daddy broken into the costume store? It wasn’t something he’d mentioned.

“Oh, really?” I said, keeping it short so I wouldn’t accidentally reveal anything.

Roger seemed frustrated I wasn’t as into this as he was, but I was stressed as fuck that somehow that was gonna tie back to Daddy.

“Okay, Mr. Skeptical, keep watching…”

I sighed, hitting Play again, and the video switched over to what looked like security-camera footage. I recognized the inside of the gas station a few blocks from my place. A woman with long hair and wearing a floral-patterned dress entered the store, her gait unsteady, like maybe she was drunk or feeling unwell. But as she moved closer to the camera, it became clear there was a lot more off about her.

A mask covered her face, like the kind you’d find in a Halloween store, maybe, but creepily, it was made to resemble a distorted human face. The dress draped over her oddly, like it was trying to accommodate something strangely shaped andmuch larger than expected beneath it. She reached out to the cashier, her hands covered in gloves—those big ones you use to scrub down the kitchen. There seemed to be some discussion before she turned and started for the door.