Black Ice

Chapter Two: The Black Eyed People

Cassian's room was at the very end of the hallway. Harper stood outside for several minutes, eyes glued to the dark brown wood. The confidence to knock refused to come. She could hear him softly playing his guitar, a familiar lullaby about crossing a river to find an ancient city of fire. She thought about humming along, longing to be a little girl, blind to the world, being sung to sleep. Emotion panged inside her. Quickly, she shoved it away. She could deal with grief later. 

When the music stopped, Harper took a deep breath, but of course that was the same time Cassian decided to open the door. They both jumped back, Harper's mouth falling open in surprise. Her heart beat ferociously.

"How long have you been there?" Cassian exclaimed. "Were you listening in on me?"

"No! Of course not, you weirdo. I just wanted to let you know I'm alive. Since I so graciously saved you, I figured you'd like to know." 

Silence overtook them for a long, uncomfortable moment. "Oh." Cassian said. 

He did not just 'oh' me. 

"Well, I'll leave you be then." Harper gave a tight lipped smile before spinning on her heel and skulking off. Embarrassment hung heavy on her cheeks. For once she was glad her dark hair hid them. 

"Harper!" Cassian called out. By then she'd reached the end of the hallway, and contemplated acting like she hadn't heard, but when he called her name again, she forced herself to turn. 

"I'm glad you came back." 

"Yeah, um, me too." Internally, she died. "And you play really well." 

Harper could have swore Cassian's cheeks flared, but his bronzed skin made it hard to tell from where she stood. Another silence. She shifted her weight, hands fidgeting with the lint stuck to her shirt. 

"So what happened with that guy?" Cassian asked. "Do you want to talk about it? I mean, I get it if you don't. You don't have to, I mean, if you want to -" 

"I do. There's no one else besides Ezra who saw him, so it'd be nice to talk to someone who saw...it." 

"Ezra?" 

Uh oh. 

Harper explained, growing more nervous with each inch Cassian's brows furrowed. His jaw tightened, but he didn't say anything. When she was finished, he nodded slowly, sighing. 

"You did the right thing. I just don't know how I'm going to feed everyone." He is admitted. "We'll have to take another trip out tomorrow morning." 

"We'll need to find weapons. Remember, before that man came at us, he said there were more of them, so we need to be prepared." 

"If only we could carry around blow torches." Cassian said. He thought for a moment. "We'll need matches and lighters anyways. With the way you said that guy burned, I'm guessing whatever turns them makes them flammable." 

"What do you even call someone like that?" Harper asked, shaking her head to clear the memory of sizzling flesh replaying in her mind. The image of him running towards her would surely keep her up tonight. 

 "Rattlers. Because of that sound he made. I've never heard anything like it come from a human." Cassian said. 

"I don't think he was human anymore." 

The door burst open and there stood Bird, wide eyes."You guys are going to want to see this."

The pair followed him down the hallway, into an unused bedroom, caked in dust and water damage. Bird stood on the bed and pulled down a string hanging from the ceiling, revealing the entrance to the attic. With a grunt, the limber man bounced on the bed and hoisted himself into the space. Harper and Cassian followed.