Torn Apart

Being Any Other Place Than This

"Tell me again." Teles stood at the edge of the mansion imprint. She dug the tip of her shoe into the grass, raising a puff of ash that drifted off on the early morning breeze. Sunlight had just broken over the horizon by the time Vivi finished catching her up.

Well, she was caught up on everything except who really killed Kay. Vivi couldn't look anyone in the eye when she purposely skimmed and twisted what happened in the cave from the second-hand accounts she'd gotten. Squire had accepted the blame for a reason. If he hadn't blown the whistle on Aji, no way was she going to be the one to tell Mrs. Pepper.

"Which part?" Vivi asked, licking her lips. Her throat rasped. None of them had supplies on them and whatever dimensional capabilities that mansion had, it had taken the van and all their gear with it. If they survived this case, Vivi swore, she would work out a disaster checklist to follow and it would include not stranding your teammates no matter how distracted you are. Nevermind that they were supposed to follow shortly, what if it didn't work?

"When he killed Kay." Teles turned to Aji. "You were there with him. What happened?"

Aji shoved her hands in her pockets, face pinched. "He just killed her, like he said. You know. When that thing was first in him." She cracked her neck. "He couldn't hold it back enough, I guess. Learned fast after that. What more is there to tell?"

"The figures who took her away. What did they look like? What did they say?"

"Three of them, dressed in raggedy robes and hoods. They said Arthur's thread was supposed to be snipped, not Kay's, but that they couldn't snip her thread. Something about their threads were too tangled together."

"And?" Mrs. Pepper pressed.

Aji's shoulders rose, her jaw flexing. "And they said she was dead even if they couldn't snip the thread, so they were taking her."

"And?" she pressed again.

"And what?" Aji snapped. "What do you want from me? They took her and disappeared like they weren't even there, then Arthur lost it again and nearly killed me too. Or does that even matter? You were so set on protecting Kay and killing Dulcie. What about me? Where am I in all this?"

Vivi bristled, but held her tongue.

"Right here. And alive," Mrs. Pepper responded flatly. "Something neither of your sisters, or several dozen children in the correctional institution can say."

Aji sucked in a breath like she'd been slapped. "How dare you."

"How dare I?" Teles rounded on her. "I trained you from the day you fledged. Control your song, fight every urge. Don't give in! Keep yourself calm! I gave you every tool I had and you were..." she cut herself off.

But Aji picked it right up. "Weak. Go on. Say it. I was weak. Not as strong as Kay. Not as good natured as Kay. Not as kind or loving or hard working as her. I get it." Her face was pale and a vein pulsed at her temple. "Kay's cursed and you try and keep her close to the home. Dulcie's cursed and you try to send her to hell to keep her safe from Demeter."

"Hades," Teles murmured.

"Whatever!" Aji exploded. "And me? You let them clap cuffs on me and haul me off without even coming to visit!"

"I gave you the tools you needed. You didn't listen." Teles folded her arms tightly.

"Right, you'd try a twisted way of short circuiting Dulcie's curse, but you give me a few lessons and figure if I can't fight it then it's my fault."

"I did all I could to keep you from becoming me!"

"Hey!" Vivi clapped her hands sharply, drawing the attention of the two sirens. "I'd love for you two to get your family laundry dealt with, I'm sure Lewis would really like to see this stuff aired out, but we're a little busy right now. So could you knock it off? You're piledriving my jenga tower."