Marked by Monsters

Quiet Days

*6:40am. Balete University. Library.*

For the first time in three years, Shiloh wasn’t running.

She had finished her night shift at 6am, taken the first bus to campus instead of going straight home, and she was sitting by the window on the third floor of the library with a cup of coffee that she had actually paid for with her own money, and she was not checking the time every two minutes.

Her textbooks were open, but she wasn’t reading them with the frantic, desperate focus she used to have, because she was no longer trying to absorb three chapters in ten minutes before a quiz she wasn’t prepared for.

Across from her, Maya from Accounting slid a highlighter across the table. “You missed this part in Chapter 7. Professor Reyes always asks about depreciation.”

Shiloh blinked, took the highlighter, and underlined the paragraph. “Thanks.”

Maya grinned. She was loud and bright and the kind of person who talked to everyone, and for reasons Shiloh still didn’t understand, Maya had decided on the second week of classes that Shiloh was not allowed to eat lunch alone anymore.

“You look less like a ghost today,” Maya said. “Did you sleep?”

“Four hours,” Shiloh said, which was a lie, but it was closer to the truth than it had been in months.

“Progress,” Maya said, and bumped her shoulder against Shiloh’s. “Come with us later. The org is having a booth fair. Free food. You need to eat something that isn’t pandesal from the market.”

Shiloh almost said no out of habit, but then she thought about the office with the buzzing fan and the stack of receipts waiting for her at 10pm, and she nodded instead. “Okay. For an hour.”

---

*12:30pm. University Courtyard.*

The courtyard was full of color and noise in a way that used to make Shiloh’s head hurt, but today it didn’t, because she was sitting under a tree with Maya and two other girls from their block, and someone had handed her a paper plate with rice and fried chicken on it.

“Eat,” said Liza, who was in Finance and who talked with her hands. “You’re too thin. Night shift people always look like they’re about to disappear.”

Shiloh took a bite, and it tasted like something, which was new, and she realized halfway through the meal that her shoulders weren’t up around her ears.

“You’re smiling,” Maya pointed out, pointing with her spoon. “That’s the second time this week.”

Shiloh touched her face, surprised. “Am I?”

“Yes,” Liza said. “It’s weird. But good weird.”

For an hour, Shiloh didn’t think about tuition, or the logbook, or Stacy, or the way her hands sometimes shook for no reason.

She listened to Maya complain about her groupmates, and she laughed once when Liza tried to balance an empty cup on her head, and when her phone buzzed with a reminder that she had to clock in at 10pm, she didn’t feel the usual spike of dread.

She felt, strangely, like she belonged somewhere.

---

*9:55pm. Balete Night Market. Accounting Office.*

Shiloh clocked in on time, because she always did, and Ate Grace handed her the logbook with a nod. “Quiet night so far. Don’t let Kuya Bert shortchange you again.”

“I won’t,” Shiloh said.

The office was still small and the fan still buzzed, but she had brought a small plant from home and set it on the windowsill, and Nanay Rosa had packed her dinner in a container instead of just pandesal.

At 11:40pm, Lena came in with two cups of coffee. “Break.”

Shiloh took the cup. “Thanks, Ate.”

“You’ve been different lately,” Lena said, leaning against the desk. “Lighter.”

Shiloh shrugged. “School’s okay. I made friends.”

Lena smiled, a real one. “Good. You should have friends. You’re nineteen. You’re not supposed to live like an old woman.”

Shiloh didn’t answer, but she drank her coffee and it didn’t taste like nothing tonight.

When she clocked out at 6am, the sun was coming up, and she walked home with music in her ears instead of silence.

---

*Meanwhile. 2:14pm. Monreal Tower. 40th Floor.*

Silas stood at the window, looking down at the city that spread out beneath him like a map he had memorized years ago.

His phone was on the desk behind him, and the call had been going for seventeen minutes.

“Yes,” Silas said. “I’ve found her.”

The voice on the other end was distorted, older, and it didn’t bother with greetings. “Are you certain?”

“I’m certain,” Silas said. “She’s at Balete University. Business Administration. Works nights at the Calder market. She doesn’t sleep. She doesn’t eat much. She reacts to stress in ways that are... noticeable.”

There was a pause on the line.

“And the others?” the voice asked.

“Don’t know she exists yet,” Silas said. “The Calder boy hasn’t connected her to that night three years ago. She doesn’t remember him either. Or if she does, she isn’t saying.”

“Good,” the voice said. “Keep watching. Don’t make contact beyond what you already have. We need her stable. We need her to trust you.”

Silas’s fingers tapped once against the glass. “She’s making friends now. She’s relaxing. She’s smiling.”

“That’s good,” the voice said. “A calm vessel is easier to work with.”

Silas didn’t answer right away. Outside, a cloud moved over the sun.

“I’ll keep you updated,” Silas said finally.

“Do that,” the voice said, and the call ended.

Silas put the phone down and turned back to the window. In the distance, he could see the lights of the Balete Night Market, even though it was still hours before it opened.

He thought about Shiloh in the library, with a highlighter in her hand and another student talking beside her, and he thought about the way she had looked at him in Room 204, like she was trying to decide if he was safe.

“Stable,” Silas repeated quietly. “For now.”

He didn’t call again that day.

---

*Thursday. 4:00pm. Room 204.*

Shiloh knocked, because she had a question about the midterm, and because the hallway was empty and she didn’t want to walk across campus alone.

“Come in,” Silas said.

He was grading papers again, but he looked up and gestured to the chair. “Ms. Beltran. How’s school?”

“It’s fine,” Shiloh said. “Better. I... made friends.”

“That’s good,” Silas said, and he meant it. “You should have people around you.”

Shiloh sat down. “I had a question about the elasticity problem set.”

They talked for twenty minutes, and Silas explained it twice without making her feel stupid, and when she left, he walked her to the door.

“Be careful going home,” Silas said.

“I always am,” Shiloh said.

Silas watched her walk down the hall, her steps lighter than they had been two weeks ago, and then he closed the door.

He didn’t make another call.

Not yet.

---

*Saturday. 1:00am. Balete Night Market.*

The market was busy, and Shiloh was behind the counter, and Maya had shown up with Liza to buy milktea and to “check on her” during her break.

“You have to come to the org Christmas party,” Maya said. “It’s next month. We’re doing a dance number. You’re joining.”

“I don’t dance,” Shiloh said.

“You will,” Liza said. “We’ll teach you.”

Shiloh rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, and when Dax did his rounds at 2am, he saw her laughing with two other girls by the coffee stall, and he kept walking without stopping.

He didn’t know why that made something in his chest feel different.

Shiloh clocked out at 6am, went home, slept for five hours, and woke up to a message from Maya:

*`Study group at my place. 3pm. Bring notes.`*

She replied: *Ok.*

---

*Sunday night. Monreal Tower.*

Silas sat at his desk, and the city was quiet outside.

He opened a file on his laptop. It only had one name at the top, and under it were photos, transcripts, work schedules, and a note he had typed himself three days ago: _Making friends. Adjusting. Not hostile._

His phone buzzed. The same distorted voice.

“Status?”

“Stable,” Silas said. “She’s comfortable. She trusts me enough to come to office hours. She’s not a threat to anyone right now.”

“Keep it that way,” the voice said. “We’ll move when the time is right.”

Silas ended the call and closed the laptop.

Down in the city, the market was opening, and Shiloh was probably on her way there, and for the first time in a long time, she was not walking alone.

And Silas, for reasons he didn’t examine too closely, was glad for that.