Part 1, Fledgling: Chapter 3, Oh Liquid Love and Chapter 4, Blooms and the City of Burned Clutches Summary

Jody walks the three blocks home, finding herself afraid of the nighttime city. When she gets to the apartment, her car is missing. She sees a light in her apartment. Behind her, she thinks she sees a shadowy figure. Jody buzzes up to her boyfriend, Kurt, telling him she doesn't have her key. The shadowy figure is gone. Jody goes upstairs to her handsome, blond, want-to-be stockbroker boyfriend, who angrily asks where she's been. Jody tries to explain that she was attacked, but Kurt is obsessed with himself instead of helpful or sympathetic. Jody's car has been towed. She's been gone a whole day.

In a fit of anger, Jody throws a potted plant at...