Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Chapter Eight

The women perched awkwardly in the mess of the living room. Lady had made a token attempt to stack the wreckage to one side, but her furniture was ruined. Kath had replaced the books — or at least, piled them up — and the few words they spoke echoed into the high corners of the almost completely empty room.

Half an hour later, there was a knock at the door. Lady glanced through the slats of the blind, and smiled — briefly, but brightly.

"Pes," she said, her voice palpably relieved and oddly caressing. Kath glanced at her, but she was already hurrying into the hall to open the door and greet her visitor — her friend.

And for the second time in less than a week, Kath got to stare into the eyes of someone whose appearance took her breath away; this time, not with astonished glory,  but with horror and pity.

Pes was a man, perhaps their age, perhaps a little older; tall, lanky, and dressed in a long, heavy greatcoat. But that didn't even begin to cover it. He, too, had the strange glow to his deep-set dark eyes that Lady had; his long black hair was limp around his shoulders, but it wasn't even that. His face...

Kath forced herself to look away, painfully aware that everyone who met him had to stare like that at the scars and pockmarks ravaging his thin, pallored face, his pale lips. He looked a step from death, and yet he smiled at her — he smiled like he understood, and forgave her her stares.

"This is Pestilence," said Lady, sliding around him into the living room, a head shorter than him. "My oldest friend." She glanced at Kath, and back to Pes...tilence, frowning a little at Kath's expression.

"It's fine," the man's gentle smile widened. His voice was hoarse, but cheerful enough. It was an incongruous mix. "I can only imagine. I am pleased to meet you, Seer."

"Kath," said Kath on autopilot, taking the gloved hand he held out to her and shaking it. She couldn't help but wonder if the white gloves were a deliberate choice to not put people off touching him skin to skin. His eyes crinkled up at the edges, reading her thought and apparently finding it amusing.

"Very few living beings can see me at all," he said with aplomb. "I just like gloves." He tipped her a little salute with his fingertips. "I am not human."

Kath blinked. "What a line," she said, weakly. He laughed at that.

"Oh, well, since you can see me anyway, at this point, I thought I wouldn't bother with hiding it."

Lady had come up to his side, pressing close, arm to arm. He smiled down at her, warmly. "What are the odds, eh?" He glanced back at Kath to include her in the comment. "Of you finding us — or us finding you?" He swept his gaze over the mess of the living room, and raised an eyebrow. "Party or attack?"

"Both," Kath riffed, unable to stop herself, and he laughed again.

"Lady says you want an explanation. Not unreasonable." He glanced at Lady. "Do you think...?"

"I would assume so," Lady's lips were pressed tight together.  "So we should...?"

"I think so," Pes said, tilting his head. "At least for the moment, perhaps?"

Lady gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Until we work out how to proceed."

Kath's gaze followed the exchange back and forth from one to the other. "Hmm? Stop being so...calm at me." She waved a hand. "And no riddles. D'you know, this time yesterday, I was at work and it was all normal. Now I've been attacked — twice! — I met things that shouldn't exist, that other people can't see..."

"Pes isn't a 'thing'," said Lady, sharply. Kath shook her head, folding her arms over her chest.

"He told me he's not human! What am I...please, look, come on. Tell me what you are. Don't talk over my head, stop all this you can't know..." She raised a finger to point at Pes. "You're right. What are the odds? I told her yesterday. I grew up with this, hearing...stuff. What's the deal?" Her eyes narrowed. "And you said, you owe me some sort of debt. Well, I call it. Tell me."