Page 31 of A Subtle Scar
It was…in a way, it was like when he’d asked why I worked so much. The way I’d been rudely woken up was probably what got me so upset about that. Unsettled. Closer to the past. I didn’t get like that anymore, but I did in that moment. And Ihatedit.
“Leave me alone,” I said. Some emotion rose inside of me, something hot that made my throat feel tight and my esophagus raw. “Get the fuck out.”
The immortals didn’t move even a fraction of an inch. Charon turned his head as he looked around, the movement sending ripples of reflected light along his dark river of hair. I had no idea what he was seeing or what he was looking for. I didn’t display any photographs of…us. Still, I felt exposed.
“Baby, you’ll feel better with us here, won’t you?” Hermes said.
“No,” I said and pointed to the door again. “Get out.”
They looked at each other again. Then back at me.
“We’ll be near,” Charon finally said.
“Very near,” Hermes added.
“We’ll know you need us from the tiniest fluctuation in your human warding,” Charon said.
“Or if you scream. Ronny will come right through the door if you scream, and I’ll teleport to your side immediately,” Hermes said.
I must’ve looked at them like my ability to process language had left me. Then I said, “All of that? No. Not happening. Now, get the fuck out.”
After a long moment of no one moving, they finally did, reluctantly, like mules being forced uphill, looking back at me as I herded them toward the exit.
Hermes pulled the door open, and Charon used that to turn around and—hug me.
Yup, the shadowy immortal who ferried the dead in all the myths, bent down—yup, down, because they were both taller than me—and hugged me.
It wasn’t an uncomfortable hug. It was very light as hugs went. But he was doing something else too, something magical, only I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what, because the sizzling of something happening there was almost subliminal, like a sound so low you couldn’t be sure if it was really there.
And then he pulled away, and I remembered the hugs people had given me long ago, back when I’d lived with my parents, before I’d spent most of my time, most of my life at school in a different country, an ocean away. Back before everything.
My chest closed up all over again. I was furious. Furious about the amount of control it took me to keep it together, to keep calm. I was always in control. I had worked hard to always be in control.
“Sleep well, darling,” Charon said, his voice hardly more than a whisper against the shell of my ear.
The next thing I knew, Charon ushered Hermes out, and the door closed, and the two of them were gone, finally.
I stood there for long minutes until my bare feet had gone cold. Once I got back to the couch and under the covers, I was still tired, but also wide awake, in that uncomfortable place past exhaustion where your brain just wouldn’t shut down.
It took me a long time to fall asleep. My dreams were strange, made up of uncomfortable memories.
I woke up late the next morning, or late for me. It was around eight, and whatever sleep I’d gotten after last night’s interruption had left me exhausted.
After I’d stumbled into the kitchen, I eyed my coffee maker and came to the conclusion that all of that was just too much work, so I mixed water and coffee grounds in a pitcher, heated the whole thing up with a spell, then made it so the sediment stuck to the bottom of the pitcher while I poured myself a large mug. While sipping that, I went over to my doughnuts and opened the box.
“Oh, come on,” I said.
Hermes had incinerated the small sugar overdoses. The cardboard wasn’t singed at all, and a part of me appreciated the skill it would have taken, but it was a small part, and the bigger part of me would have very much liked a damn doughnut with my coffee.
I never even managed to stumble over to the couch with my coffee, because once more, someone was knocking on my door. This time at least it was normal knocking and not the incessant banging from last night.
Sighing, I infused my wards with magic and headed toward the door to open it.
The sight outside was not something I wanted to deal with on any morning. Two rabid immortals had a delivery guy pressed up against the wall opposite my door. Hermes was growling and showing his teeth, and Charon was doing a death stare.
“What the fuck?” I said. “Leave the delivery person alone.”
Both immortals barely acknowledged me. The delivery guy looked freaked out. Great. I’d have to have everything sent to the office now because this apartment would be permanently blacklisted by any and all delivery services.
