Spades and Angels

You Already Know Your Enemy, Don't You?

Maddox

We're all on edge. We already had been mind you, before all of this but after the supposed inside job the Spades orchestrated to frame me - if Lo's words are to be believed - the tension is worse than ever.

"How would they even know to frame you for it?" Mal asks the same question we've all had on our minds for the last few days and I sigh, having no new answers for her. "I mean I get them being mad at Lo. You to Mads. But framing you for arson? What would they stand to gain from that?"

"You mean besides putting me in a jail cell hell I don't know Mal," I mumble, seeing her give me a hurt expression from my uncharacteristic harshness. "Sorry, just tense."

Lo sighs then, Mal giving me an odd look. Not that I was sure why. "I mean my theory has credit and some water since it would be a Spade MO, but at the same time also helpful since it would show we know who we're dealing with. The problem is it seems too easy a solution to reach."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning maybe we're not thinking it all through enough. Maybe there's more to it." I give her an odd look but she just sighs, "I can't say for sure it...it's just a feeling. That's all, a feeling and nothing more." She sounds troubled and I wish I could help her but I know Lo knows I have no more of an idea how to solve this than the rest of us.

She falls silent then, keeping near me. Her eyes are troubled but she doesn't say a word. After all, what was there to say? We knew who we were up against. We knew some of what they could do since Lo and Riv had inside information we'd need to make sure this gets finished. Before either Riv or Lo end up trapped. Or worse.

I give Lo a look then where she's still quiet, eyes distant. "Hey, can...can I ask you something?" I whisper to her, seeing her eyes flash to mine with a puzzled frown. "It's not about this. Don't worry. More about...well about what you said last week." her frown deepened and I sighed, "English class? Your take on the book?"

Now she flashes me an eternally sad smile, "You mean my spin on being broken and holding onto old pain rather than letting go and moving on? You think I was talking about you and me don't you?" I give a shocked look and she smiles. "I wasn't per se but I guess about my life more than anything. About how people have hurt me, hurt those I care about because of an inability to let go of old pain. Look at me, look at Riv. Both hunted because of an age-old grudge, nothing more yet if we're caught we'll still end up dying for it." She sighs. "I guess part of it was about us though. The inability to have a happy ending part."

"You still think this will all end in pain and loss?" I ask softly, seeing her sight again and her shoulders slump. Shrugging in defeat. "Lo that doesn't have to be the way? Remember what you said about the lesson of the novel and how two of the two kids surviving the ending overcame it? Maybe those two kids are us in our story?"

"Maybe shit I....I-I don't know," She looks pale. Tired too. Something that between the nightmares and whatever is still making her sick in the morning doesn't help. Along with her worrying about me and what'll happen to her it's a recipe for her to look like that. "I don't know Mads because I-I can't see the end of this. I want to but I'm no supernatural creature like in the stories we all read as kids. No seer to see the future. Just an ordinary girl looking for a little peace. A little love." She sighs and rests her head on my shoulder, my arms around her. Holding her. "I'll be ok Mads. I-I somehow think one day a long way down the line we all will. Or as okay as we can be given what we'll have lost to get there."

"Sounds a little doom and gloom for a supposedly happy prophecy," I whisper to her and she sighs. "Sorry no tact," I mumble and she laughs, the sound soft yet somehow not as haunted as I expected. "Maybe there is a happy ending. For all of us."