Now You See Me

Forty: To Be In Possession

"What took you so long?"

I gave Chris a weak smile as I entered the bathroom. "Sorry. I went to speak to Courtney upstairs."

The sound of the door closing behind Feila made him jump and slop water over the side of the tub. It took him a long moment to recover; his eyes stayed fixed on the door like he feared that someone would come through it and attack him. He slowly relaxed as minutes passed and nothing happened.

"Is she a friend?" he asked, tearing his eyes away and looking at me. "I don't think you've mentioned her before."

"Yes. She works here."

He was being vague again; when he looked at me, he appeared to stare straight through me at the wall. I felt uncomfortable that he was so vacant when I thought about Lorien's concern on the way here. I kind of wished Feila hadn't left, but I had a feeling that Chris wouldn't have talked to me much if she'd still been present.

"You need to have a bath or something," he said into the gap. A damp hand brushed water over the red flaking skin on my wrists, leaving a trail of green scales behind it. "You're all sore."

"I know," I replied, moving my wrist self-consciously from his reach. "I was planning on it soon."

As he nodded and returned to staring through me, I observed him from under my fringe. He was acting out of character – Leia had said it was trauma, but I'd seen him in the lab and during our escape, and this was too different. It wasn't until we found an exit that things went pear-shaped, and they'd been getting steadily worse. I felt an intense urge to run to Leia's office and blurt out my fears, and it was a challenge to keep that hidden from him.

"Well, if you're okay," I said, stepping back from the tub and making a move towards the door, "I need to talk to Leia before she heads to bed. I'll check up on you later, okay?"

His gaze sharpened. "You're leaving already?"

Alarmed by the change in his expression, I took another, bigger step back. "Yes. I'll be back later, though."

"You only just got here." He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing." I cursed myself for stuttering. I'd seen a ghost of the expression I'd caught before; the menacing one that made me feel like he was hunting me or something. I took another step back, and my heart jolted sickeningly as he began to get out of the bath.

"You're lying," he said, settling on the ledge so he could dry off. He looked more lucid than he had in days, but I had this funny feeling when I met his eye that it wasn't Chris I was looking at. "Come on, tell me."

"No." I blurted it out before I could stop myself. He paused in getting down from the edge of the tub and stared at me in surprise.

"Why not?"

I didn't know what possessed me at that moment, but I turned and ran. Perhaps the terror was irrational – I'd been through more than enough to excuse it – or perhaps it was the sinister edge to his tone. Perhaps it was the overly intense stare. Whatever it had been, I found myself just moments later hurtling into Leia's office and almost knocking myself out on her desk. Papers flew out of her hands as she jumped, and the purple light she'd been powering flickered and nearly went out.

I tried to get up off my hands and knees, but my limbs wouldn't respond to me. My heart was in my throat and I couldn't seem to draw enough breath; what I did manage scraped like glass through my lungs. I couldn't see properly; multi-coloured stars sparked and swam over my field of vision.

"Breathe, breathe, Damien!" Leia was yelling – or was it the echoing in my ears that was doing it? "Breathe!"

She grasped me under the arms and pulled me into a kneeling position. Hands not losing contact, she manoeuvred around me until all I could see was her face, peppered with stars and swimming in and out of focus. I was vaguely aware that I was still hyperventilating and that there were tears on my face, but I was so lightheaded that it felt almost like I was observing it happening to someone else.