Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 13 - The Emerald City (Part III) - IX

  Natalie watched the sun come up through the small gap of sky. The small homeless camp was quiet. Cars hummed along in every direction nearby as the city kept moving on as it always did, heedless of the drama of the night.

  She was wrapped up in her jacket, laying very close to Cinza, who was still asleep. For a few minutes, Natalie watched her chest rise and fall with every breath. She looked so quiet and peaceful, yet another side of the strange grey-robed girl that Natalie had never known.

  The moment Natalie moved to scratch an itch she just couldn't resist anymore, Cinza's eyes flew open.

  "Hi," Natalie whispered.

  "Good morning." Her voice had returned to its floaty, echoing state. To Natalie, that was a comfort, a step back to the familiar world she wanted so desperately to return to. Cinza sat up and stretched out. "Did you sleep all right?"

  "No," she said. "I kept getting woken up by stuff, and the concrete hurt to lay down on." Not the real reason I couldn't sleep... I kept seeing him. Every time. Waiting. Trying to trap me again. Trying to...

  "Ah." Cinza held out a hand, which Natalie refused. Cinza didn't react, just stood up as if it hadn't happened. "Want some breakfast?"

  A few blocks away, they ate pancakes and bacon from a tiny restaurant that seemed impossibly busy. Natalie and Cinza had to eat out on the curb, but it was a nice day out without a drop of rain coming from the thick puffy white clouds, so they didn't mind.

  "What about my phone?" Natalie asked through a mouthful of pancake.

  "By now, it's totally worthless. If he managed to sell it, he's going to have a very unhappy customer," Cinza smirked. "We laid a few pieces of remote code in our custom ROM. The moment they turn it on, it'll already be gone. It may even melt the battery, if we did it right. Tezofarl quite enjoys tinkering with malware."

  "...Good." She could always get a new one, and she liked the idea of a bit of quiet revenge on the two men that had caused her so much trouble.

  "Did you decide what you're going to do on Monday?"

  Natalie shook her head. "I've got all weekend though right?"

  "I suppose, though if I were you, I'd head it off tomorrow. It'll be much easier to deal with if you don't have to explain in the middle of school, I presume?" Cinza shrugged. "Although, I've never actually been to school..."

  "You haven't?"

  "One of many regrets."

  "...Tomorrow then," Natalie said firmly.

  She nodded. "Whatever you decide, I'm sure it will be the correct decision. Let me know what happens, though?"

  "It'd be easier if you talked more online," Natalie said petulantly.

  "If I... I'm sorry?"

  "You never chat online. I was really surprised you answered me at all. I'm really glad you did," she added quickly. "It's the only way a lot of us have to talk to anyone, you know. It'd be nice if you showed up more."

  Cinza smiled. "You're right. I've been neglecting our extended family. I'm sorry."

  "S'okay," she mumbled, a little embarrassed.

  Their bus pulled up a minute later. It was a long ride. Cinza took the aisle seat, making sure no one would sit near Natalie as she leaned against the window, watching the city blocks pass by one by one. Every single shadowy alleyway reminded her of another nightmare she'd lived through that night, but Natalie had made it.

  She was still alive, even if she wasn't totally intact anymore. Something was missing. She felt like she was still broken. Parts had been fixed, but not the whole thing, and someone had shoved new uneven pieces in that didn't belong. She wasn't sure what it was, and she didn't know if she'd ever find out. Cinza had told her it was just the scar on her face, but Natalie felt like it was more than that.

  As she got home and trudged in the door, she didn't even bother to think about what Lily or Kendra might say—and to her total lack of surprise, they barely noticed her. Lily saw the bandages and made a passing comment about being careful when she went out, but her eyes flicked back to the laptop screen in an instant. Percy was nowhere to be found. His perch was empty and the window open. Natalie assumed he was out hunting.

  She wandered up to her room and shut the door. She threw the blue dress away as if it were on fire, deep in the corner of her closet, and found her favorite pajamas. She pulled them on, desperate for anything that could bring comfort. Leaving her window open for Percy, she curled up on her bed, shut her eyes tight and tried to block out everything.

  But she still couldn't sleep. Horrible images dogged her brain—of Tom and his friend, of the sleepwalking dead-faced people in the park, of Tattoo-face and his gang. Of a voice in her head. Of Meltyface and the girls in the horrible building, of Niddles and Harley. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw one of them, leering at her with sunken eyes and horrible smiles.

  Sunday rolled around, and Natalie had only slept a few hours at most, fits and starts forced upon her by sheer fatigue. She couldn't take it anymore. Even Percy's return was of little comfort. She texted Quinn, using a new phone Cinza had given her. She gave Lily the excuse that she was going out to the library, which wasn't actually a lie.

  As she stared down at the very same library table they'd sat only a few weeks before, hidden from the cameras and deep in the stacks, she waited and stewed through her options. No one else was around. This section of the library wasn't a very popular one, apparently. She had the whole wing of the place to herself. It only took a few more minutes for Quinn to show up.

  Since he walked up from behind her, he didn't see the bandage on her face until after he'd already sat down. He opened his mouth, about to say something—and in that moment she could see.

  Quinn didn't look eager, and he didn't look excited. All the stuff she'd hated about him from the last few days evaporated from his face the instant he saw her in real pain. He looked worried and concerned. It wasn't fun or cool anymore, it was scary. He saw she was hurt, and his first instinct was to try and comfort her, do what he could to help.

  You should not tell him.

  He's a good person. I need that.

  It didn't matter what he was going to say. That was enough. She made her decision, in spite of everything Rachel and Hailey had told her to do.

  "Hi, Quinn."

  "Jenny, are you okay? What happ—"

  Natalie held up her hand, palm flat and upward. A tiny flame burst into life in the center of it. It danced in place in her palm, unmistakable.

  She stared at it, too afraid to look up at his expression.

  "Magic is real," she whispered, as much to herself as to Quinn. Magic is real, and I really hope it can help me out here, because everything in my life is horrible. The world is an awful, evil place, full of scary people, and I might be one of them, and I'm about to introduce you to all sorts of terrible dangerous things because I need you as my friend and I'm too scared to go through all of this alone anymore.

  Please don't hate me.