Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Mercy
The minute I stepped off the train, I felt... strange.
And that was saying something for the fact that I was a literal soul without a body.
But it was like everything inside of me was trying to push through my skin, like an earthquake was brewing inside of me.
I felt a presence. Watching me, like a ghost. I looked all around me, but all I could see was the dense crowd at the station, nothing out of the ordinary.
But I could feel the energy inside of me bubbling, and the strange scent of rain assaulted my senses. The world in front of me shifted, the sunshine flickering to darkness, and the rain hitting my skin like a chilled whip.
And then it was just... gone.
“What do you see?” Valory asked.
“It’s not what I see... it’s what I feel...” I told her.
She stepped up beside me, Endor hovering behind the both of us.
“What do you feel?” he asked carefully, his tone edged with concern.
I heard his wings unfurl, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the familiar black feathers curl around me.
But they also curled around Valory, who did not open her wings.
“My entire body feels like I have just been plugged into a socket,” I said as the daylight and darkness flickered like lights at a rave.
I took a step forward, feeling the intense stare of strangers.
I knew they could see me, but I was also acutely aware of what I must have looked like babbling to myself. Or at least, Valory was visible, being sheathed and all.
Still.
Valory walked with me as Endor continued to walk behind me with his outstretched wings. I looked every which way, the scent of cafeteria food and petrichor dueling for my attention.
And then I saw him.
Standing across the station, just beneath a tall clock. His dark gaze met mine, his hair blowing across his face in the wind. He stood there with his hands in his cargo pants pockets.
I stopped, dead in my tracks.
Miles.
Was he...
But soon enough, someone stepped in front of me, and Endor’s wings flexed of their own accord. I fought to push them away as the rude woman disappeared, and I looked back underneath the clock, but he was gone.
He was gone.
“No,” I said, my eyes watering. I just saw him... I couldn’t have lost him so soon...
You’re getting nuttier by the minute, Mercy. Good lord.
“Mercy, what’s wrong?” Endor asked, his voice tinged in alarm.
I could feel the onslaught of a vision, and I tried to fight it. I couldn’t have a vision right then, I needed to find him. I needed to find Miles...
“Nothing,” I lied, and then I saw his face, slipping around the corner.
His dark gaze found mine and he smirked, nodding for me to follow him.
Something about the action felt familiar, though I couldn’t place it. I didn’t think, I just reacted.
I ran.
“Mercy!” Valory called after me, and I heard Endor’s footsteps thudding on the ground behind me, but I couldn’t focus on them.
Miles shifted through the crowd, like a red herring, and I knew I couldn’t let him out of my sight.
My leg muscles tightened, my heart beating like a drum as I made my way through the people, running as fast as I could. Valory and Endor called out to me, but their voices were white noise. I slipped through the station, ducking and turning and following Miles until I realized I was lost.
Valory and Endor had disappeared, and I was surrounded by people.
So many people.
I sucked in a breath, my lungs aching from my run and the onslaught of adrenaline. The world shifted like a light switch going on and off, dark and light, dark and light.
The sun disappeared, giving way to darkness, and then darkness ebbed as the sun took its place, over and over.
I couldn’t breathe. Something about the dense crowd and the ever-shifting planes made me feel more than overwhelmed.
They made me feel terrified.
A hand settled on my shoulder, cold to the touch.
I looked up, startled by the contact, but when I saw familiar dark eyes, every muscle in my body loosened, and the earthquake stopped.
“Mercy.” Miles’s smile was like seeing the actual sun.
The shift of day and night echoed around me, blurring reality with what I feared were hallucinations.
He couldn’t really be here, could he?
“Miles...” I breathed his name as I reached out to touch him, grazing my fingertips over his jaw.
His skin was smooth. Cold, but smooth.
Like marble.
He settled his hand over top of mine, using his free hand to pull me close.
“Are you real?” I asked, the world around me like white noise. All there was, was the beating of my heart, and the touch of his hand on mine.
He squeezed my hand, the chill spreading like ice.
“What do you think?” he asked, as he leaned down and softly kissed me.
His lips were cold, like his touch, and I knew what that meant.
His hand squeezed my hip and his chill was a stark contrast to the heat running through me.
I grabbed his face with both hands, overcome by emotion, by his touch.
I slid my tongue into his mouth, needing to feel every bit of him I could before he disappeared.
When he broke away, he leaned his forehead against mine.
I wanted to speak, but words were difficult. I laughed, but it was not humorous. It was a laugh of despair, of pain.
Because somehow I knew if I did not keep my eyes on Miles, he would slip through my fingers like sand, and I didn’t want to lose him.
Not again.
I looked up at him as he rubbed his thumbs over my cheeks, his gaze holding mine.
His eyes were so full of hope.
Stupid, daring hope.
“I’ve been trying to reach you, Mercy. I?—”
“Get your hands off of her,” Endor’s voice cut through the haze, and I froze.
Panic formed as I realized they had indeed found us.
My grip on Miles tightened as I turned to face them.
Endor didn’t look all that thrilled, but Valory looked... lost. Sad, even.
“Over my dead body,” Miles said, his demeanor shifting. He pushed me behind him.
Endor’s fist flared with energy.
I guessed his Go-Juice was back on tap.
“That can be arranged,” he said, but it was Valory who stepped forth.
“Stowe your power, Endor. This... this soul is lost, too.”
Miles growled at me. “Stay back, baby.”
And I realized he didn’t know what they were. Their wings were sheathed.
“No, don’t hurt them. They’re?—”
Miles’s gaze and form flickered like a bad Korean ghost movie.
Like an avatar.
“Miles... don’t... you can’t?—”
“Endor!” Valory bit, and then the glow overcame her. Her wings popped out and Endor growled, his wings unfurling almost instantly as he stepped forward toward her.
Valory stepped in front of us. “He is lost!”
“I am no such thing!” Miles said. “I am not lost. I am?—”
I watched him flicker and understood all at once the weight of their words, and the awful truth.
“No, he is not, Valory. He is...”
The heat built and so did the sweat. I recognized the oncoming vision, and I cursed.
“No... No... Not now... not like this...”
“Mercy...” Miles’s voice shook, and I grabbed his arm.
“Please, stop...” I told him, trying to gain control of my words. The energy rolled like a tidal wave inside of me, trying to take me under.
“We need to get her to safety!” Endor said as he pushed past Valory and headed for us. He reared his arm back, but Valory caught it.
I reached for him, needing to ground myself to my guardian of death, because the vision that took me was the strongest one yet.
And when darkness came, it was more than comforting.
It felt like I was exactly where I belonged.