Page 65 of Possession

Henry nods, and I lean back, troubled. For some reason, the thought of him and Aris working together… bothers me. I should feel relieved that Henry is on our side, that an apocalypse didn’t start in my absence, but my chest feels oddly hollow.

They spent a whole month together, while I was just gone. Erased.

Now who’s jealous?

I am not jealous. I just… feel bad for him, having to spend so much time with you.

But Aris is not just inside of me; he is me. He knows my thoughts and feelings as well as I do. So, we both know I’m full of it. He need not call me out.

“He asked for my…” Henry’s lips quirk. “Assistance. He much prefers that word to ‘help.’”

Sounds about right. “Yes, because why would the great Aris ever need help from a lowly, insert vermin or insect metaphor?” I mutter, eyes widening when Henry laughs.

“You two have spent a lot of time together, haven’t you?” Henry remarks, humor fading into something wistful.

I pause for a moment before answering. “Yes. We have.”

He studies me, looking for—I don’t know. I try to look as agreeable as possible, because certainly a smile can’t hurt, but the expression on his face doesn’t change. “We figured out how to move Aris,” he finally says.

I understand the words separately, but not together. I try to shove them in the same sentence, but it doesn’t make any sense to me. “Move… Aris?” I ask.

“I’ll be able to get him out of you.”

“Out?” I repeat. I’m so stunned that I’ve turned into a parrot, but what do they expect? It was only five minutes ago that I was downstairs, living a completely different life. Half of me is still stuck in the fight Aris and I were having. And now… this.

Looking through all of those books, they actually found a way to get Aris out of me?

“Yes,” says Henry, appraising me. And, somehow, that’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

I stand so quickly that my leg bangs against the top of the table, but I’m moving to the door before the pain even registers. Henry calls after me, which only quickens my pace. For once, I don’t want to talk to him or be around him; I just want to go.

In the hall, I start towards the room Aris and I have been living in, unsure if it’s even still ours or if our belongings will still be there. As Henry just proved, a lot can change in a month.

“Mary!” he calls again.

“I just—I need a moment alone!” I say, slamming the door to our room shut and sliding down to puddle on the floor. Thankfully, everything in here is the same. I’m not sure I could’ve handled any more change.

Wrapping my arms around my legs, I pull them tight against my chest, trying to ground myself in this moment. I feel on the verge of tears, and my vision is blackening from how quickly I’m breathing. I need to calm down.

Shuddering, I count from one to ten three times. It’s slow work, almost impossible at first to think about numbers instead of the world collapsing around me, but I manage. By the time I finish, my breathing has even started to slow.

Finally, he speaks. Sweet Mary, why are you scared?

I feel the need to cry again, eyes stinging, and I don’t know why; I don’t know how to clarify myself. I can’t explain the churning in my stomach, why it feels like I just stepped off a rollercoaster or spun in a circle for a minute at a time.

It’s just… a lot. It’s too much at once. I’m overwhelmed, I tell myself. That’s it.

Aris presses on my heart, embracing it, and for a second, I could swear that it's beating irregularly. But then, he eases his pressure, and everything is normal again.

Mary, let’s talk. His voice is quiet, like a mother coaxing a child to sleep. Soothing, even. I haven’t had anyone to talk to for some time now.

I lean against the door, somewhat settled but unable to abate the tears in my eyes. Our room is blurry, distorted. What did he mean that he can get you out of me? Is he going to take you out?

Aris pauses, then says, Let me explain. You’ve missed a lot.

Chapter fourteen

By the time he’s finished, I’ve been silent for some time now. Thinking. Everything he said seems possible, though my knowledge of magic is rudimentary. It could work, couldn’t it?

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