Page 29 of The Deer and the Dragon
Despite seeing little more than the back of his head, I caught his profile as he suppressed a sneer. He turned down the music and allowed me to remain with my thoughts.
My eyebrows bunched as I returned to Silas’s implication. On the one hand, it didn’t seem horrible to make someone who’d already saved me twice responsible for my ongoing wellbeing. On the other hand, I had no idea what sort of implications might come with such an agreement. And if I were Shiva and had third and fourth hands, they would force me to consider both that Silas had unequivocally said no and that Caliban had left me.
The driver pulled up in front of the warehouse, and I exited without saying goodbye. My card let me into the building, and it was with sinking disappointment that a new, unfamiliar face greeted me from the receptionist desk. She was chipper and talkative. I instantly disliked her, though my dislike for friendliness was hardly her problem.
My mind opened like internet tabs, one after the other, new thought after new thought running simultaneously until the computer of my brain slowed, each new page sluggishly sorting through thoughts and possibilities.
The house.
The basement.
The child.
His smile.
Oh god, that scabbed, toothy, horriblesmile.
The six-year-old had unhinged his jaw like a snake. If he had been given five more seconds, his sharpened teeth would have sunken into my flesh. He was going to eat me. I couldn’t explain how I knew, but I felt it in my bones. Perhaps my dread had been sensing him all along. I’d detected the predator slinking in the basement wearing the humanoid skin of a boy.
The elevator doors opened, and I forced my feet forward. Another card, another pad, another beeping door before my apartment swung open. I switched on the light closest to the door to reveal…
My heart dropped.
I was not alone.
“What…”
Silas turned to me from where he’d been eyeing the photos on my wall. His arms remained folded across his chest. His eyes darkened, nothing particularly friendly greeting me as he surveyed me.
“How did you get here?” I’d meant for the question to come out with force, but every piece of myself that had broken and scattered at the sight of the childish entity cracked once more. Renewed fear coursed through me. The ground wobbled as I realized how little control I had over my own life, my own autonomy, my own safety. A locked door meant nothing when beings like Silas, Caliban, or the Cheshire cat could slither in. “How did you get in? How did you get here so much faster than me?”
“Come in so you don’t look like a lunatic shouting at an empty apartment,” he said.
“No.”
I remained planted in the doorway, watching the man who stood in beige and white in the middle of my living room, knowing he’d stood in the exact spot only weeks before.
“How did you get in?” I insisted.
His lips remained pressed in a tight line. He huffed animpatient puff of air before saying, “Anything can get in. For all you know, there are beings in your closet and under your bed at this very moment.”
“That’s not funny.” I swallowed.
“Good, because I’m not joking.”
I tried to breathe. Tried to remember that he hadn’t hurt me. Tried to convince myself that he wasn’t my enemy…but then again, he’d very nearly let me die in a locked basement less than two hours prior. Apparently, two hours had been long enough for him to vanish into whatever hole he came from and reappear with a conscience. Perhaps he’d come to apologize for valuing my life so little.
His eyes softened. He looked at me for a long time. Finally, with resignation, he said, “I’ll do it.”
I blinked.
The veil.
I lurched into my apartment on autopilot, closing the door behind me. I didn’t trust him enough to move any closer. I eyed him for any sign of deception. I’d barely been able to convince him that my life was worth saving, and a moment later he wanted to offer me the gift of sight?
I shook my head. “But…the bond. You said…”
“I’ve had time to think, and I changed my mind.”
