Torn Apart

Won't You Let It Lie?

"Dulcie?"

Sea-blue eyes peeked up from under thick, cotton-candy curls. She sat in Lewis' lap, one of his arms hooked tight around her waist, the other bracing his position in the fork of a particularly spiked tree. The spikes didn't bother him, and with Dulcie on his lap they didn't touch her, but he didn't want to risk slipping up and dropping her. He maintained a skeletal appearance for now, the better to warn off would-be attackers.

"Yeah, Lewis?"

He was starting to worry about several things. It had been two days-or three? Sometimes he'd been too focused on finding their next spot to keep track-and no sign of Vivi. She was supposed to come get them. That was Arthur's plan. Had she been caught? If she had, was there another way out of here before Demeter returned with her pet Shiker? And, more immediately, where could he get food for Dulcie? They had the squished remains of half a tomato, but neither mentioned it no matter how loudly Dulcie's stomach growled. Both knew it was too valuable to spend on her hunger, especially if Lewis was taken from her. Water, thankfully, was no problem, though he had to be the one to gather moisture off the leaves of the ravenous hedge walls.

"Lewis?"

He'd started talking early that morning, partly to distract her from the hunger, partly to distract himself from mounting fears, and conversation had drifted to Kay. He wasn't surprised that Dulcie had little close interaction with Kay, it seemed each sister was more or less her own island, eying the others with longing or awe. It was no exception with Dulcie. Though Kay did little more than make some of her meals and help her get dressed when she was younger, her shadow stretched long in Dulcie's mind. She couldn't say enough about wanting to fly just like Kay when she finally fledged, though Aji was notably absent from Dulcie's fantasies.

"Leeeeewwwwwis."

Fingers dragged back and forth across his vision, and he heaved a sigh. "Dulcie, do you think if Kay was still.... Was still with us, that she could ever forgive me?"

Dulcie blinked. "For hurting Arthur?"

Lewis' skull sank toward his neck hole. "No. Dulcie... when I was mad at Arthur, I was also mad at Kay. It's complicated, and I was wrong. But I thought I was right, and because of that I hurt her." His skull sank into his chest cavity and he rested his forehead against his own ribs, unable to look Dulcie in the eyes. "I hurt her right where her biggest fear was. On purpose."

Silence.

"And after that, I said horrible things to her. By the time I realized I was wrong, she was dead and Arthur had a monster in him. And maybe if I wasn't so angry at them, Arthur would have figured out what he needed to know faster. But I didn't." He gave a soft laugh. "And Vivi thinks she's the one that messed everything up."

There was a gentle knock on his chest. His skull rose back up to the neck hole, peeking out. Dulcie's solemn expression split into a smile when she saw him. "You look silly doing that. Big scary skeleton hiding from his little sister," she teased.

Lewis snorted. He probably did look ridiculous.

Her smile faded and she reached her arms up, hooking them around his empty collar. "You sorry for it?"

He hung his head. "With all my heart."

"Then she'd forgive you. You were the best brother, Lewis. We all knew it. That's why it was so bad when you were gone."

He tightened his arm around her waist, the corners of his eyes crinkling upward. "Thanks, Dulcie."

"When we get out of here, you're staying, right?" she asked.