Redhawk Caldera wake the devil

The girl melted before his eyes. She burrowed against Niamh and began to wail which was shocking on various levels to Reyes, who had come from a pretty tight-knit family but not one where such garish displays were welcome. He was out of his depth and the look on his face proved it; briefly wild-eyed and bristling while Meerkat's keening notes stabbed through the air. 

It was weird to see Niamh being motherly. It made his skin crawl in watching how close they were with one-another and how comforting Niamh appeared. Reyes did not give two shits towards the reason Meerkat was here and sobbing like this. The boy had no frame of reference for this kind of situation and was ready to bolt. Then, as if remembering he was there with her, Niamh called his name.

For a moment Reyes looked bright-eyed and then he scowled. Having done a pretty good job of staying off of his aunt's radar up until this point, Reyes wasn't so keen on taking orders from her. He knew it was unavoidable in the heat of the moment so he huffed and moved to lend his aid. Yeah, c'mon then, but don't get any snot on me. While he was there in the periphery to help, Reyes kept a few inches between himself and the sobbing Meerkat's body and would side-step further if necessary, as if she were radioactive.

This day kept getting worse, he thought.