by Emma Hamm
A red light blinked on and stuttered for a few moments before light burst inside the room. Wren was blinded for a few moments before she was nearly deafened as a massive boom echoed around her. This time she looked up and was startled to see black clouds swirling at the peak of the ceiling.
A fat drop of water hit her cheek. Brushing her fingers over it, she glanced up at Burke once more.
“What did you do?” she asked.
“A little weather spell,” Burke replied as he started to drag her through the crowd.
The clouds opened up and poured water down upon them. Wren had never seen rain such as this. Nor had she felt such discomfort as everyone around them began pushing and shoving to get out of the warehouse.
Women were shouting that their dresses were going to be ruined. Men were desperately attempting to placate the tears that were streaming down their partner’s faces. But in the end, they all looked like a sodden mess within seconds.
It would have been a hilarious situation if Wren hadn’t been watching for the people who were looking for her. Every face that was hidden by melting makeup made her worried she was missing a detail. Burke hadn’t told her everyone to watch out for.
His hand tightened around hers every time someone tried to shove between them. He was her only tie in this ocean of people that made certain she didn’t drown. Wren hated that and loved it at the same moment. She could swim on her own without him. Yet he hadn’t given her a choice in the matter.
Her fingers curled tighter around his.
A man was staring at her. He wasn’t moving through the crowd but standing directly in the middle. People parted like waves around him and he the only rock in the river. She did not know who he was. Nor did she know his purpose or that he was even looking for her.
His eyes met hers, and her soul froze. He had unnatural eyes. Not black. Not blue. Not white like her Curiosity eyes. Darkness swallowed the whites and a ring of red seemed to glow where his irises should be.
“Burke,” she whispered.
He didn’t hear her. He continued to drag her towards the man as though he didn’t see him. Perhaps he truly didn’t see the man, as Wren could see a fine glimmer of smoke around his form.
“Burke!”
His head turned towards her, and that was enough. She tugged hard at her hand until he almost lost his grip on her.
“What?” The words were angrily tossed back at her.
“It’s him.”
She didn’t know why she was so certain of it. Any man could be standing there. Any Curiosity like her who probably wouldn’t appreciate the evil notion she had place upon its shoulders. But Wren knew deep in her soul that this wasn’t just any man.
This was Malachi. This was the man they were all so afraid of.
Burke stopped. Wren slammed into his back as she was jostled forward by the crowd, but he did not move even as others shoved past them. His hands steadied her against his spine and his eyes scanned the faces around them.
“Where?”
Wren peeked around his shoulder but could not find the apparition that had so frightened her.
“I don’t know. Gone.”
“Fantastic,” he growled.
She tried to find the man in the crowd around them, but quickly realized that he had disappeared into thin air. Had he been there at all? She didn’t know if it had been a trick of the light or maybe a figment of her own imagination.
Wren would have bet her entire life’s savings that the man had been real. Those eyes weren’t something she could think up on her own. Nor were the shivers that traveled up and down her spine something that she had created.
“Come on.” Burke growled. His face was entirely blank as he gripped her hand once more. Wren found this expression far more intimidating than any other she had seen. He looked ready to kill.
And he very well might have to. Her eyes caught on a woman who was walking towards them in the crowd. All the other guests were trying to get out of the building. But this woman had her gaze locked upon the two of them as she shoved a woman with green skin out of her way.
“Burke.”
He didn’t hear her or was ignoring her. Wren found herself propelled forward as his hand clenched hers in a vise like grip. The woman in the crowd was already getting too close for comfort.
Wren planted her heels into the ground and leaned back against the hand holding her captive. She jerked hard once, twice, three times until Burke finally paused for a moment to glare at her.
“Seriously? You do this for a living!”
He blinked at her before following her pointed finger. The woman seemed to notice at that moment that she had been spotted. She burst into motion, shoving people aside as she started to sprint towards them. Wren swallowed hard. That was definitely not good.
“Shit,” Burke swore. He turned on his heel and pushed her in the other direction. “This way then.”
He planted his hand on her back and shoved her towards the back of the warehouse.
“Nope!” she shouted and hoped he could hear her. “Not that way either!”
There was a man with pitch black eyes making his way towards them. Wren had no idea how she knew he was bad news, but the determined stride towards them was likely a bad sign.
“To the right!”
They both swerved to avoid another hand that was reaching for the long length of her dress. There appeared to only be three of them chasing them down. Wren felt a flash of terror as she realized just how much danger she had been in. Somehow, she had managed to tell herself that she wasn’t in trouble at all.
She was wrong.
“Door!” Burke shouted. He let go of her hand to charge forward and slam his shoulder into the metal that blocked their escape.
It folded beneath his weight and clanged against the wall as it flew open. He stumbled into the fresh air and hit the wall on the other side of the alley. Wren could hear the whoosh of breath just before he propped himself against the crumbling brick.
She quickly turned on her heel and pushed the door shut. The metal was bent at an awkward angle and wouldn’t close the entire way. So she turned and placed her back square against the door as she peered at him in the moonlight.
“You okay?”
“Forgot how much that hurt,” he wheezed.
“Right,” she muttered. “How long until this door goes flying open again?”
“Not long.”
He looked worse for wear. She wasn’t convinced he had fully inhaled since he had attempted to become one with the brick. Which left them in a very precarious position as Wren needed Burke, apparently.
“I’m glad I wore these shoes,” she said.
He slowly blinked at her. “What?”
Wren stuck her foot out. The velvet slid from her skin to reveal the long length of pale skin and black shitkickers. “Wouldn’t be able to run this fast without them.”
“Huh.” He was staring at her shoes as though they held a hidden answer for him. “Fantastic.”
“I thought so.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and frantically pushed herself against the door as it shuddered behind her. They had been found.
“You okay to run again?”
He was out of breath, but he nodded.
“Let go of the door then?” she asked.
He shrugged and opened his arms wide. “Might as well.”
“Might as well,” she repeated. “It’s like you don’t do this every day.”
“I don’t exactly do this every day. Most of the time it’s just sitting around eating donuts.”
She gave him a censoring look. “Really? That joke is ancient.”
He shrugged. “You’re the one still holding the door. Which is impressive, by the way. How strong are you?”
“Stronger than I look.” She gritted through her teeth. Really, they weren’t trying all that hard. It was almost as though they knew she was holding the door, and they were still within reach.
Of course, the
re was a gap next to her so they could probably see her.
“Running now?” he asked.
“Lead the way.”
As soon as he turned on his heel, Wren let go of the door. They two of them sprinted down the alleyway as the door smashed against the cracked pavement. The sound of feet hitting the ground echoed around them as the chase began once more.
“Left!” she directed Burke as he paused at an intersection.
“Right!” he yelled back at her as they rounded another corner.
They ran next to each other through the Labyrinth of alleyways that made up the city around Pitch’s warehouse. Together they managed the best they could, though it seemed as though the streets were changing before them.
“Seem fishy to you?” Wren asked him.
“Not near the docks.”
“Not everything needs to be humorous, Burke!”
“We’re being herded,” he responded grimly.
He wasn’t out of breath, but she was. She was gasping in deep breaths as she tried to keep up with him. Wren’s legs were starting to ache, and her chest was burning.
They turned a corner and found themselves staring at a dead end. One of the creatures behind them had to be controlling something. There was no way that both Burke and Wren had missed something as important as that.
Or had they?
Out of breath, they both skidded to a stop as they stared at the stone wall blocking their path. The creatures behind them slowed as their prey had already been trapped. Now all they had to do was capture them.
“Burke?” Wren whispered.
“Yeah.”
“Are we screwed?”
“Probably.” He turned around to glare at the three standing at the mouth of the alley. One woman and two men. Fighting them should be easy enough, except the woman already had flames licking up her arms.
“Wow,” Wren said. “That’s not something you see every day.”
“I’m going to need you to help me fight.”
“I don’t know how to fight,” she said with a scoff. “I can’t help at all.”
“You’re going to have to, because otherwise those three are going to kill me and do who knows what to you.”
She swallowed hard and wished she had taken self defense classes. She was a small person with weak arms. Running this long had winded her, because she wasn’t the type to work out. How much help did he really think she was going to be?
Both Burke and Wren took a step backwards as the other three began to walk towards them. Burke yanked two deadly knives out of his jacket and held them with practiced hands.
“What are knives going to do?” she asked him. Wren chose to ignore the fear that made her voice tremble.
“Better than guns. One of these is likely an illusionist. Now reach into my back pocket, there should be another knife there for you.”
“I can’t fight, Burke!”
She felt a stirring inside her head. Like the flutter of a butterfly it rose from the base of her spine and unfurled into the expanse of her mind. She blinked hard and stumbled backwards as a blinding headache nearly split her head in two.
“Wren?”
Burke turned towards her and watched as her hands rose to press against her forehead. His eyes widened as she shuddered.
“I can’t fight,” she muttered. Her eyes flipped backwards in her head, but the milky white gaze stared back at him with intelligence.
“But I can.” The voice was Wren’s but not. It was laced with another voice, a darker voice that made Burke severely uncomfortable. This was her creature. The Curiosity that sometimes inhabited her body.
“Good,” he said although a tingle ran down his spine, “let’s get out of here then.”
CHAPTER 4
“A mind is a fragile thing. I didn’t mean to hurt her; I was trying to protect her.”
“Well, what else did you think you were going to do?”
“It didn’t matter at the time! She was in danger. I did what I had to.”
“You did what you selfishly thought was required and look what happened!”
“And you were the one asking for someone to fight with you!”
Wren groggily came back to herself. Her mind felt scrambled as though someone had stuck a fork in her head and swirled it around. Brains weren’t meant to feel like spaghetti.
“What?”
She sat up slowly and rubbed her hand against her head. Memories started filtering into her conscious mind as she pressed her forehead firmly against her knees. She had been in that alley, staring at those people, and Burke had been telling her to get a knife and then… Nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing but a blank void where a memory should be.
The realization made her heart jump hard in her chest. Wren had never blacked out before. She had never forgotten facts so completely that there was simply nothing where she should have remembered something.
Her head raised, and she fully expected to be laid out on the pavement staring up at the people who were going to kidnap her or worse. She was shocked to see that she wasn’t there at all. In fact, she didn’t think she was even near Pitch’s warehouse any longer.
She didn’t recognize her own apartment immediately. Instead, all she saw was the peeling walls and the dim lights.
“I’m dead aren’t I?” Her voice didn’t sound like her own. It croaked from her throat and fell dull into the air around her.
“You’re not dead. Just a little confused.”
“Burke?”
She turned her head and tried to find him. He was beside her with a hand holding onto her arm. Funny that she hadn’t felt his touch at all. Wren stared hard at the strong fingers holding onto her flesh until she finally felt them against her. The warmth seemed to banish a bit more of the fog that had hold of her mind.
Those green eyes were staring at her. Worry had turned them so dark that she could see the forest in his gaze. His hand smoothed down her arm before he leaned away from her.
Perhaps he thought she needed space to breathe. Maybe she did. But in that moment, she could have sworn that he was leaning away from her because he had wanted to lean closer. But that was a foolish dream to be stored away with thoughts of princesses and princes.
“How did I get back here?”
“You don’t remember?”
“No.”
He stood then to grab a stool from the side of her tub.
Tub?
Wren felt around and realized she was sitting in cold water with all of her clothing on. Immediately, she began to shiver as the ruined black velvet clung to her skin.
“Burke, what the hell.”
He dragged the stool closer to her and shrugged. “It was E’s idea.”
“E?”
“You wouldn’t come to. It thought if your body was cold then your mind would wake up.”
Wren grumbled as she tried to raise her shivering hands to her chest. Of course E had wanted to dunk her into a tub full of freezing water. Memories flipped through her mind as though she were turning the pages of a vaguely familiar book.
“Are those people… Did we get away?” she asked.
“You don’t remember?”
“No. I don’t remember anything after the alley.”
Burke stared at her in confusion. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he clearly tried to figure out what to tell her. She knew how odd it was. She should remember what happened to them, but she didn’t.
Wren cleared her throat. “Why don’t we start from the beginning. How did you find me?”
“I followed you to the club.”
“But how did you get in? You weren’t invited, and Pitch has the best security I’ve seen in this district.”
“I flashed my badge.”
This time it was Wren’s turn to look confused. “Your what?”
“My badge.” At least Burke had the decency to look sheepish. “I still have my badge from when I was one of M.O.M.’s intelligence.”
“They let y
ou keep those things?”
“Well… Not usually.”
Wren didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to be dragged into whatever nonsense he had created in his life. The last thing she needed was M.O.M. to be following him into her home, because he was illegally saying he worked for the government.
“Right. So, you flashed this illegal badge, and they just let you in?”
He made a sound of agreement. “He has good security, I’ll give him that, but I also knew one of the gargoyles at the gate.”
“Of course you did. I think I know what happened after that. Flash forward please.”
“We ran into the alley and had to fight those creatures off.”
“I remember that.”
“You weren’t comfortable fighting.” Burke’s voice had quieted as his eyes searched hers for any sense of recognition. “I turned around to convince you, but you weren’t… well to be honest, you weren’t you. One second you were frightened and the next something else was telling me it knew how to fight.”
“E?”
“Yeah.”
“Did it?”
“Did it what?” he asked.
“Know how to fight.”
Burke paused for a few moments before slowly nodding. “Yeah. Yeah it did.”
She listened for a moment for the voice inside her head. Surely E was going to say something. Surely E would explain what happened and why there was a blank space in her mind. But the creature inside of her stayed quiet.
“Did E explain what happened?” she asked.
“A little.”
Her arms splashed as she shifted in the water. A tiny block of ice floated past her arm and drifted to hit her knee. He really hadn’t spared any effort when E had told him that ice water would wake her up.
Her teeth started to chatter.
“You shouldn’t still be in the water,” he grumbled as he leaned towards her. “I’m sorry. I should have noticed sooner.”
“I can do it.” Wren slapped his hands away from her arms as he tried to scoop his hands under her armpits.
“You’re freezing.”
“Mhm,” she mumbled the affirmative as her blue fingers clutched the edge of the bath.