Lucky and the Killer ✔

Gone

Zee stepped out of the shower—dripping wet. He threw a towel around his body after roughly drying his hair. The bathroom door shut behind him, and instead of seeing Lilly, he saw Sarah. With her new power, she could find anyone anywhere. Zee groaned.

"What are you doing here, runt? Where's Lilly?"

"They're gone," Sarah said simply as she flopped over on his bed and picked the book off of the night stand. She kicked her shoes off and scooted further up onto the bed with the book. In her eyes, all she could see were the dots of people in the kingdom. She couldn't even see to read.

"Gone?" Zee asked with raised eyebrows as he began to dig through the drawers to find a shirt and pants.

"Gone," Sarah said. "Their dots are gone."

"What the hell, Sarah?" Zee yelled as he threw on his shirt over his damp skin. "You decided to tell me this now?"

"Yeah," Sarah said, "you couldn't have stopped her anyway. I can feel people, too, remember? She was royally ticked at King."

"At King?" Zee asked and dipped into the bathroom to put on the rest of his clothes.

"Yeah," Sarah sighed. "I wish I couldn't feel everyone all the time. Zee...will it ever go away?"

Zee jumped into his shoes and staggered out of the bathroom—heading for the hallway and leaving Sarah perched on his bed with a book.

"Talk later, kiddo," he said.

"Okay," Sarah sighed, but he was already running down the hallway.

"King!" Zee yelled. "Damn it, where are you?"

"He's in the basement," Sarah called out, turned a page in the book, and blinked away a tear. She threw the book into the floor and bit her lip. "Stupid dots!"

***

King sat in front of Liz, picking at the dirt on the bottom of his black boot. Liz sat in the cell—a whirlwind of perfume and pout. They'd been talking for awhile already, but it took King ages to even get her to start. He'd pulled up a chair and sat outside of her cell, and she'd all but spit in his face.

"Are you going to let me out of here or what?" Liz sighed.

"Not yet," King said. "You lied to me, and you're still lying to me, so you can sit there and think about it."

"What am I five?"

"Not far from it, in my eyes," King said.

"But I'm your sister. I thought you loved me. I thought you would be happy to see me."

"I do, and I am," King said, "in a way. Liz..., what do you think about Sean? I just...level with me on this one, okay?"

"Dad...," Liz sighed. "I don't know why you two hate each other so much. That's what I think. I get that he's not a great person, and that...having Death as a dad isn't something anyone really wants, but is he that bad, King? I am alive right now. I'm here in front of you breathing only because of him."

"What's he doing for you? In exchange for coming here?" King asked instead. "He doesn't bring anyone back unless it benefits him. I know that."

"He...said," Liz stammered. "I just can't tell you."

"Still can't be up front with me, huh?" King asked as he put his elbows to his knees and propped his head up.

"It's not that," she said. "It's just...what Helix said. You're not being up front with me, either. Are you, King?"