Gracie Abrams is eking out a solitary existence, fighting day-in, day-out against the drain of working customer service and nursing two newborn kittens in her off time. Out on her own ever since her sister moved in with her boyfriend, the burden of...
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Patty came out from the doorway, trailing one hand against the frame in a caress. Each heel stepped directly in front of the other, making her body sway and totter like a pendulum. A goth pendulum, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"...what?" I asked.
Kakashi's closed eyes looked eerily still. He should have woken up as soon as we'd walked into this room, but there wasn't even a twitch beneath those lids, let alone a flutter of his lashes. An overwhelming feeling of wrongness shuddered up my spine, but I managed to drag my body around, turning to the High Priestess. Futilely, I held my arms out, shielding Kakashi's body behind me.
Talia fell behind my outstretched arms, too, their eyes wide like full moons. Sam, still huffing and puffing against a wall, came to a shuddering stop. She creeped over to us as we faced her mother.
Keep calm. Just keep calm.
Sure. Who wouldn't be able to stay calm when placed right in the plot of a horror movie?
"Your face looks ill, kit," Patty said, but her grin didn't waver. Her hands rested on her hips. On anyone else, it would look something like a superhero pose. On her, it looked like the last thing you saw before you were turned into a toad. "Remember to breathe. You mustn't forget the important things."
Oh, I breathed, alright. With a shock and a shudder, I breathed real hard.
As if Sam had rested her back against a burning hot stovetop, she flinched ramrod straight. Those words had obviously struck a nerve in the girl, and I wondered if Patty had done that on purpose, or if she talked to everyone like she was disciplining a student.
I took a few moments to attempt calming my mind. It didn't work. No amount of breathing techniques or counting to ten, holding my breath or using my five senses was going to cut it. There wasn't enough time for me to talk myself down from this. The attack was coming, and there would be no stopping it. Already, Patty grew hazy on the edges as her red hair melded with the orange lights from outside. I felt like I saw more shadows than had existed earlier, and when I blinked, they multiplied.
I wasn't even sure I was still blinking. All I knew was the very still man standing as if he was an inanimate figurine behind me.
"Is he dead?" I asked. I didn't care about her tone, I didn't care about my dignity. This was more important than that. "Is Kakashi dead?"
"No, kit," Patty said, and a giant whoosh of relief had me seeing stars. But the anxiety wasn't so easy to get rid of.
The two teenagers stayed silent on either side, so we found ourselves at an impasse. I knew I had to be the one to break through. I knew that. These two were scared of this woman. She'd left too many scars on their psyches. I knew all that.
