The Inevitable Eclipse

Chapter 18 - The Fallout

The city had never faded so fast. As if it had never been there at all. People were calling to her but she did not hear them. She noticed nothing until she caught her reflection in a store window. A passing ghost.

Illumina skidded to a stop and met her own glassy eyes. Was that really her? The girl was also dressed in gold, her face hidden by the same shimmering, conniving fabric. But her eyes were feral. Her cheeks were gaunt. Her jaw was clenched. 

Like someone had spilled water over a portrait of Clarissa. Faded, smudged and not fully set, but on its way to becoming something heinous.

When Illumina shook her head the girl in the window shook hers. They moved in sync, two wind-up toys set off at the same time. And when her chest heaved, so did the girl's. Bile burned the back of her throat. She no longer wanted to see the stranger in the window. She spun around and the bile threatened to rise further when she realised where she was. The statue that Void, that he, had blown up was in front of her. What remained of it anyway.

She turned her head to the ground, to her own shining boots, it seemed to be the only place that she could look and not see him, or worse, herself. Ezra had done that. He blew it up. To make a statement? Or for revenge? Those words that Void had said never left her, 'with me and Clarissa, it's personal'. So many nights she had spent pondering his words. Then, of course, Void was Void. She had not given thought to his real name or what he did outside of his vigilantism, because, if she was honest, she did not want to humanise him further. She had already gotten dangerously close to him and she couldn't think of hurting him by what she was doing. So she simply refused to consider it.

It was almost impossible to conjoin her mental images of Void and Ezra. Except that afternoon's revelations had forced one piece into place, which in turn, revealed a significant part of the picture. The answer to why it was so personal. Why he was so angry. Understanding Ezra the way that she did, it made perfect sense when all the pieces aligned.

She would not be Clarissa.

Illumina ran the other way.

***

They arrived before he did. Hawk was standing, leaning on his cane and Owl was perched on the top of the table, her legs crossed, back straight as an arrow. So when he stumbled through the entry way and into the base, they both startled.

"What is it?" Hawk said. "Are you hurt?"

His legs had carried him from the alley way all the way to their underground base, but it seemed that was all that they could do. They turned to water beneath him. Void reached for a chair and dropped himself into it. Everything was so heavy. Like the whole world had been submerged under water and he was the only one surprised by it.

Owl jumped off the table and stood beside him, one hand hesitated above his shoulder. "Void?" She said tentatively like he would shatter if she spoke too loud. Would he? He wasn't sure. What would happen if he simply crumbled and faded away with the wind to somewhere far away? Would he reform from the ashes the same person he was, or someone stronger and more equipped to manage the hand that he had been dealt?

"We're in trouble," He said. "We need to go. What did we say? How much does she know?"

"Slow down." Hawk moved closer to him. His brows knitted together. "How much does who know?"

Void did not miss the shared look between Owl and Hawk when he said, "Is there less air down here than normal?" But it was a genuine concern. The air had to be changed in some way. Thinner? No, thicker. Harder to get in. Harder to get out.