Page 49 of Marked by the Demigod

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* * *

She's going crazy, and that's the only word for it.

She sees flashes of him, flashes of Iakov, everywhere. Everywhere.

Sometimes it's a silhouette, someone with his distinctive long nose, his long hair. Sometimes she swears she sees his face, deep in a crowd, and it's insane.

There's no reason why this should be happening (at least, not according to Katya), unless he actually is showing up.

Which Katya says is possible, with a grim set to her mouth and a furrow to her brow.

The hollow feeling in the center of her chest doesn't go away, as she travels and as she jumps from convention to convention.

* * *

After hearingnothing from Dave for a while, she's almost shocked when she gets a work order to troubleshoot their systems, but she dutifully packs up her diagnostic bag and heads over to Pasadena.

Dave raises his eyebrows when he sees her, but otherwise doesn't comment as she sits down with her toolkit.

"Hi Dave, great to see you too," she says, only a bit sarcastic.

She starts the basic diagnosis system that doesn't generally find anything worth fixing but is a good thing to do in case there's the totally obvious fix.

It's a quiet moment, one where she's able to solve a tiny problem, one they're probably not even aware that they're having, before letting the program continue.

He sighs again. "People like me are being targeted. And I don't know why." He fidgets, and the only other time she's seen him fidget was when he had to break the news to her about the marriage. "More people've shown up dead, more than I've ever seen happen."

And it's in line with what Katya's said, and her skin crawls, thinking of the large packet on her coffee table and the things Iakov says isn't true. "I've heard."

His eyes narrow as he watches her type. "You know something of this?" He ventures.

And again, she wishes she could tell him. "Only a bit." She admits, twisting in her chair to face him. "Remember that dryad that punched me?" She waves at the tiny scar that remains of the split lip. "Katya said he died."

His eyebrows flash up, then back down. "Right." He frowns at the computer.

There's a lull, before Dave tips his head back and stares at the ceiling, blinking . "Be careful who you talk to," he rasps, and his voice seems strangely affected. "Not...not everyone in this strange little community is altruistic."

And the computer dings again, to a much bigger problem that would indeed cause the issues they'd been having, and she swivels back to the computer, her heart racing. "I've been getting that impression."

* * *

Later that day,she impulsively invites Katya out to the mall, after Katya's off work. It's one of the funniest things she's ever seen.

Katya's still wearing the suit and the combat boots, and though she hasn't seen it, Aimes would bet money that she still has her pistol tucked into the holster at her side.

Katya's face is spooked as they poke around the tiny stores in the Glendale Galleria, as if she expects everything to have to boil down to her work in the end. And, after a brief stop in Target, she blurts out, "Have you heard from Jake recently?"

Aimes shakes her head, trying not to smile at Katya's obvious discomfort. "Nothing you don't know about," she says, ducking into the Bath and Body-works and smelling some of the candles.

Katya follows her, her brow furrowed. "Then why invite me out?" She seems so honestly bewildered.

"Because you don't seem to relax, so I thought doing something semi-normal would be fun?"

Katya raises an eyebrow at her.

"I mean, the most personal information you'll share is about your receptionist, so --".

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