Undercity: Manifest

Chapter Ten

Sadie ran through the ground floor lobby and barley missed the barrier before it was lifted. Cold air hit her the second she made it outside. Whilst her body stopped for the briefest of moments to decide where to go, she couldn't gain any hold on her racing mind. Tears didn't fall despite her devastation. Having no idea how to even let her feelings out made her feel like she was going to explode. Her legs took off before her brain caught up. Before she knew it, she was running again.

She offered no apologies to the people she shoulder-checked as she ran past, barley registering her surroundings, as buildings flashed by on one side and traffic on the other. The city grew thinner the further she ran. Growing heavy from fatigue, she knew she needed to stop. A small empty park situated on the edge of the South District was where she finally found refuge. Allowing her legs to fall from beneath her, Sadie broke.

It had grown dark by the time Sadie was too exhausted to cry anymore. She knew she was cold, but she didn't care. Her pursuit of answers had only left her torn open and exposed.

The effort to stand sapped what little energy she had left. She swayed on her feet before righting herself and looking around her. Her phone was still in her bag abandoned in Payden's lab. Thinking about going back and facing her after her outburst was enough to persuade herself to walk home.

The familiar glow of the streetlamp opposite her block of flats would normally fill Sadie with some semblance of happiness knowing she would walk into her flat, greet Emilie and fall into easy conversation about their days. Today, it served as a reminder that the one person she needed couldn't be there for her forcing forward the fact that she held knowledge which would destroy both of them.

'Sadie.' A familiar voice called her name. It sounded far away, almost like it was travelling through a haze.

Her weariness made even turning to face Zach a chore. She looked at him, devoid of all emotion, and watched as he dialled a number on his phone before lifting it to his ear and stating, 'She's at home', to whoever was on the other end.

They came looking for her, she realised. Of course they did. They couldn't risk her spilling their dirty little secrets. Like the flicking of a switch, her grief gave way to anger, and she was about to direct it all at the Mystic in front of her.

'I'm done!' She fired the words out with every fibre of emotion she could find.

'Let's get you inside. You must be freezing'. She must have looked like shit because Zach sounded the softest she had ever heard him sound. His actions and words resembled the way someone would speak to a cornered animal, and she hated it.

'I said I'm done.' She didn't raise her voice instead speaking with cold detachment.

Zach moved towards her. In any other situation she would recognise it as an attempt to comfort her, but he was the last person she wanted to be around right now. In her mind, he was the catalyst to the turmoil of emotions she was now consumed by.

'Leave. Me. Alone.' Sadie could barely manage the few words she spoke. She needed him gone and was sure he would give up eventually- people always did.

He didn't stop walking towards her, in fact, he walked straight past her and held open the lobby door waiting expectantly for her to enter. She wanted a fight, and he wasn't giving her one which only served to piss her off more.

'Fuck you!' She seethed through gritted teeth.

Zach still didn't bite. Before she could go at him again, she heard two sets of footsteps approach her from behind. Dante and Payden were who she now faced when she turned to look. Payden was holding her bag and wore a look of guilt across her face which she made no attempt to hide. Then, as if she needed more confirmation she was in a state, she registered that even Dante looked sympathetic. Or at least, as close to sympathetic as an emotionally stunted warlock could look.