Enzo seems a bit perplexed how we’re planning on getting through this door with me on his back. He doesn’t want to scrape me off, so he looks back at me like he wants to know what he should do now.
There is absolutely no fucking way I can get off this horse after that last scene. I’d literally rather have Enzo scrape me off and leave me to roll down the stairs than have to dismount so Enzo can get through the door only to need Leo to help me back on.
“I think the door is too small,” Leo says as if I haven’t noticed and weren’t contemplating that very issue.
“Not at all,” I say as I urge Enzo forward. He steps through the door until my body is flush against the wall above the door before stopping. I have to lean back to keep my face from being smashed against the wall.
“I can help you back on once you’re on the other side,” Leo says.
“No, thank you,” I say as I try to squat down which is extremely unpleasant with my wounded side. I feel like I’m doing some kind of sadistic limbo through this doorway, twisting my body just enough that we pop through the other side, in slightly more pain but dignity intact.
“Sometimes, I feel like you look like an idiot just being yourself, but that was so embarrassing that I hope you never have to see Leo again. We might as well eat him,” Dyame says.
“Shut up, Dyame. I think I pulled it off,” I say as the horse heads down the stairs. Horses aren’t generally the grandest at going down stairs but with my horse being dead and a bit magical, he cruises down them with ease.
“You look ghastly,” Dyame assures me.
“How can you even tell what I look like, you’re in my head.”
“I can just tell how ghastly you look. And throw that paper away.”
I clutch the paper with Leo’s address on it to my chest. “Absolutely not.”
“It’s a trap.”
“It’s not a trap. You just trust absolutely no one.”
“For a good reason,” he says as I feel him try to come forward. I do my best to fight him off, refusing to let him go anywhere near the driver’s seat of my body. “Let me throw it away.”
“You will not,” I say as I memorize the address in case he gets ahold of my body and does just that.
We battle with each other all the way down to the ground floor where we reach a door that’s thankfully a little taller. We slip out with a lot less theatrics. And then Enzo is off as Dyame tears me back from the driver’s seat and shreds the paper before tossing it off the horse.
I don’t care.
I have it memorized.
And I’ll leave him to get me free while I take a nap.
Leo
I take a deep breath before turning to the door. I can no longer hear the sound of Etienne and his horse, but now that I’m alone, I’m just feeling overwhelming dread. Slowly, I start down the stairs, wondering what the hell I’ve gotten myself into while regretting giving him my address.
I’m going to regret all of this, but what can I do?
When I reach the ground floor, I see that they have not, in fact, caught Etienne. How he can elude them on the back of a large horse, I’ll never know, but he seems to have a knack for it.
I don’t get far from the building before Terrance walks toward me.
“Did you give him the paper?” he asks, expression stern.
“I did,” I say, hating myself for it. Who gets their life saved by someone only to toss them to the wolves?
Terrance pats my back. “You know this is best to keep yourself out of prison. I mean… what would happen to your niece in this city?” He shakes his head and tsks, but I can tell he’s overly pleased by this turn of events.
“I know. I’m heading home. I want to get my niece out of the house before you all destroy it trying to catch him,” I say.
He sets a hand on my chest, instantly stopping me. “Different plan,” he says as he grabs my hand and drops a set of handcuffs into them. “These will nullify his magic. You just have to get them on him. Be quick. Even if you just get it on one wrist, it’ll help.”
At first, I don’t close my hand around them, but I know I have absolutely no choice. They found proof that instead of stopping Etienne on the roof before the building had imploded, we’d just been talking. According to Anders, that means I was consorting with the enemy, and those who consort go to prison. I don’t get a trial. I don’t get to sit through court. Instead, I’m instantly shipped off to prison because Anders says so.
Such a fair life we live here.
“Is there an issue, Officer?” Terrance asks.
“What a loaded question,” I say as I close my fingers around the handcuffs and yank them away from him. He knows I’m displeased, but he also knows there’s nothing I can do about it.
“What’s that?” he asks, voice deep.
“Nothing at all. I’m heading out.”
He says nothing as he watches me go. I don’t know how many times I thought about turning my back, about rushing off without saying a word to Etienne, but I can’t if I want to protect my niece. This is all I can do. Etienne might have saved my life but it’s my job to make sure my niece’s life is never at risk.
I drive home in silence as I think about Etienne’s words. It’s not that I don’t know what’s going on here, it’s that there’s nothing I can do about it, and that makes me feel even worse.
When I walk into the house, I see Dahlia sitting on the couch with a textbook on her lap. Instead of studying, she’s playing with our cat Mousy who really thinks the end of Dahlia’s braided hair is worth chewing on. Dahlia’s fifteen years old and looks more and more like her mother, my sister, every year. She has rich auburn hair that falls in waves, especially when it’s wet. Right now, her eyes, as brown as mine, are watching me closely.
“What are you doing home early? Did you get hurt again?”
“No, I’m fine. Just… shit to do,” I say. If she knew what I was doing, she’d be pissed. Dahlia has always been one of the most kindhearted people I know, which is why I can’t let them take me from her. She would be destroyed in a world that’s too hard to thrive in, especially when you have no family to support you.
“You alright?” she asks, always able to read me when something is wrong.
“Yes, no… The guy who helped me—”
“The guy who is wanted?” she asks as she slides her textbook closed.
“Right. They made me deliver something to him… he thinks I’m helping him, and instead, I’m leading him into a trap because if I don’t, I’ll be tossed in prison for refusing to comply.”
Her face pales. “W-What? They can’t do that,” she whispers.
“They can do whatever they want.”
“So… you have to do this?” she asks, her distaste for the situation clear on her face.
If I want to keep you safe, I do. “Yeah.”
“Fucking hell,” she whispers.
“Dahlia.”
“Sorry,” she mumbles.
“So I need you to go to a friend’s for a bit, okay? I’ll call you when you’re free to come home.”