Lucky and the Killer ✔

Just to See You

Helix hovered his hand above Sarah's frozen shoulders. He crouched down to look at her face. It'd been awhile since he'd seen it so up close like that. It was crying, like it usually was. He sighed.

"Liz always screws up," he said. His breath mixed into the air and drifted up towards the wall of the palace. The smoke seemed as drawn to the lights above the windows as much as the moths were. "But, I'm surprised to see you out here. You're just who I wanted to see."

Lucky couldn't even blink. Her eyes stared out over the two of them like a broken doll's, and it made her want to scream—if only she could. She hadn't changed at all. He was obviously a bad guy, and she couldn't do anything about it. Maybe, if she focused, she could break the hold that was on her—whatever kind of hold it was.

Helix's mouth flattened into a thin wince. He hated to see Sarah that way. She was so absolutely terrified of him, but she should have been. He couldn't argue with any of that. He gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and stood back up.

"Good girl," he whispered. "Just be still."

A tear fell from Sarah's cheek as Helix tapped his foot once, twice, and finally, three times. There was a loud pop. It came from behind them. There was another. Smoke started to fill the air around them. It was gray and misty—like the gunfire. Lucky couldn't even shiver.

She forced her eyes shut. She had to move. She couldn't just let something bad happen to Sarah. Sarah was always there for her. She always made her laugh and smile. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. It shouldn't have been Sarah that had to go through the torture of ruling the god-forsaken place. It should have been her burden. It should have been her punishment—not Sarah's.

"Sa-rah," Lucky mumbled. She was moving. It was small, but it was working. Lucky told herself to focus more, but the smoke was almost overwhelming. She'd completely lost sight of Sarah in the gray mass. If she didn't snap out of it..., she didn't want to think of what would happen. She had to get back to King. He might have been in trouble, too, for all she knew.

"I love you, kiddo. Sorry about all this," Helix said, but he was invisible, too. He placed his hand on her shoulder and ran his fingers up to just behind her ear where he placed a small curse. Then, he moved to Lucky.

"Lucky," Gray sighed. "You and I have a job to do."

"H-huh?" Lucky tried to speak.

Helix laid his fingers to Lucky's skin this time, just behind her ear, and placed another curse mark. It would be critical that he got both of them. This would probably be his only opportunity to do it, and it was nice that Liz had her own affairs to occupy King.

"I came back in time just to see you, Lucky," Helix said with a bit of a smile. The future was bleak, and he was being completely honest. He was trying to alter it, and the only way to do that was to kill King before he finished that mark of his. Everything was lining up, but at least he was making progress by marking them.

"What a-are you?" Lucky stammered, but it was too painful to breathe let alone speak.

"Power hurts," he said with just a touch of empathy. He was done. He turned to walk back through the smoke—just as quickly as he'd came. All he had to do was wait on Lucky to change. That, he knew, would take a bit of time, though. So, he left.

As the air cleared, the stiffness in Lucky's body vanished. She fell to the ground and gasped for air on her hands and knees. It took a minute for her to snap back and start looking for Sarah. Did he take her? She looked.

"Sarah!" Lucky yelled. Sarah lay in front of her on the palace's patio. Lucky stumbled back to her feet and ran over to her. "What's wrong? Sarah!"