The senior Felipe Castillo drummed his fingertips along the side of his borrowed truck and sighed. Perhaps borrowed was the wrong word. He’d stolen it, but just for a little while, just as he’d done numerous times in the past. He was always careful, always returned the items he’d used, and usually in a better condition than when he’d found them. That’s how he’d made his way in the past thirty-some odd years. He really was invisible in that he rarely left a trace. Invisibility could only get him so far, though. Phasing used to be easy for him. He could pass from solid to air in the blink of his eyes and feel no strain from it when he shifted back, but the shifts were getting harder now. His mother had warned him when he was a young man not to stay as air for too long or snapping back would be harder. Eventually, impossible. He’d heeded her warning for many years, but what choice did he have now? He was too far gone. Maybe one day he’d fade away all together—to never be able to pull his body back into its physical shape.
