Torn Apart

I'm Not Giving Up

Dulcie wasn't holding a ball. It was too soft and flat and it scrunched up between her fingers like cloth. And her eyes weren't open, they were closed, so she couldn't even see what she was holding. She cracked her eyelids, peeking out cautiously.

Her heart hit her ribs so hard that something must have broken. It was like when she heard Vivi talking with Lewis' voice and using ghosts, and knowing that because Vivi worked with ghosts she must have found Lewis somehow. And then getting hugged by Vivi, but it was really her brother.

This time it was really really her brother, and he was holding her like he did when she had nightmares about killing hundreds of people with her voice or turning into some horrible featherbacked monstrosity and being driven out of the city with torches and pitchforks. His face was sadder than usual, and his eyes didn't look normal, and his hair swayed and flickered a little like fire, but it was him.

He wasn't looking at her yet. She reared up, wrapping her arms around his neck fiercely. He started, and for a moment he vanished. She slipped a fraction before he caught her, reforming in the space of a blink.

"Sorry! Sorry, Dulcie. Are you okay?"

She squeezed tighter.

"Hey." He settled himself, rocking slowly. "Hey, it's gonna be okay."

She wasn't afraid of what was going to happen. At least, not right then. She just hadn't seen him in so long, but she couldn't get the words out.

Someone cleared a throat and Dulcie lifted her head. Arthur stood in the doorway, a sodden towel hanging around his neck and his hair hanging limp in a shaggy mop around his face. The last time she'd seen him with wet hair, they'd all been playing in the yard and he'd been chasing Lewis with the hose.

"Thanks for the shower." Arthur ran a hand through his hair. "And dealing with my clothes." He put on a grin that didn't work very well. "Can't meet a goddess covered in mud, right?"

Lewis watched him, saying nothing.

The grin went away. "Yeah. Well. How's the patient?"

Lewis' head swiveled around to glance behind him, and following his gaze, Dulcie saw the unicorn princess-Chloe.

There was a very small glow around her and she looked just like she did in Dulcie's dream. Except her horn wasn't long and straight like in the dream. It was small, maybe as long as Dulcie's hand, and it twisted a little to the side.

"Probably awake any minute," Lewis answered. "The light's been dying down for the last hour. The hole closed up completely, I'll take that as a good sign."

Arthur sighed. "Pretty sure I'm the last person she's going to want to deal with when she wakes up."

Vivi's voice piped up from across the room, where Lewis had been staring earlier. "You think she'll know?"

"Undoubtedly." Arthur fiddled with the towel ends. "There's different levels of perception, and it's not as visual as the curses, but I'm probably giving off a million signals that can be read by the right creatures."

Lewis' eyes shifted back to Arthur. "What do you mean 'not as visual as the curses'?"

"Something I haven't gotten around to telling you. I see it on you." He gestured at Lewis and Dulcie. "Lew, you've got thorny vines strung tight out of... well." He passed a hand briefly over his own stomach, averting his eyes. "Aji's got flowering creepers around her neck and hands."

A form shifted nearby, and Dulcie caught sight of Aji. Her sister hunched over, close to Lewis, but not quite touching, now gripping one wrist like she wanted to break it off.