Sympathy for the Devil {Liam Stewart | The Darkest Minds}

25. Ghosts

When Ruby enters ahead of Cate, she sees a single bed in the middle of the room, and the two people she loved the most sitting tensely on it. Liam was facing the window, elbows resting on his knees, Mags sat back against the headboard, knees drawn up to her chest. It's Mags who looks up when Ruby enters, eyes hidden behind a new set of glasses they had procured for her, and she sits up, alert.

"You're okay!" Mags murmurs, and Ruby can hear how exhausted she is. Ruby sits gently on the bed, giving her a tired smile. "You are okay, aren't you?" Sitting up further, Mags shifts her weight on where's she's sitting on her hand. It must be twitching again. Ruby nods gently. Liam is still looking out the window, he barely shifts when Ruby wraps her arms around him, chin resting on his shoulder, or when Mags moves to curl up beside him, laying her head in his lap.

"Crazy thing is, I had- we had all these plans." Liam mused, fingers moving gently as he began carding his fingers through Mags' soft, clean hair. They all knew he was speaking to Ruby, voice uncharacteristically tender, "all these places we would take you."

"We'll be okay," Mags assured him, saying the things she knew he was thinking, her eyes unfocused as her chest tightened, "we just can't let them separate us." Liam nodded once, moving his hand down her arm to hold her hand in his, leaning into Ruby's hug as he did so, being as close as possible to both girls.

"I know it sounds cheesy, but," Ruby's voice was quiet, warm and sincere, and Mags wanted so badly to just hold her hand, "I'd do it all again if it meant that I'd met you both."

"You really think that?" As he turned, Mags could see the smile on his face, and found herself mirroring it.

"Yeah." With a gentle confirmation, Ruby looks down at Mags, who's smiling up at her. It hits Ruby that neither of them know what's about to happen, what they're about to give up for their freedom... what she's willing to give up for their freedom.

"I mean, the way I see it," Liam began, "us three; inevitable." Mags knew where this was going; when Liam was feeling especially sweet, he liked to think about possibilities, what if scenarios, how he would meet her in other worlds. With everything that had been happening, he hadn't let himself feel like that, but it warmed Mags insides knowing that despite the circumstances, he was happy. "I'm gonna tell you a story, okay?" Looking down, Mags could see the glimmer in his eyes, and he goes back to stroking her hair as he talks, and Mags lets her eyes drift closed.

"So it's Summer in Salem, and you're suffering through another boring, hot July working part-time at the ice-cream parlour." Liam begins, eyes drifting out of focus as he builds this world around them with his words.

"Ice-cream?" Ruby asks, and Mags stifles a laugh.

"And one day, the ice-cream parlour runs out of ice-cream, and... and that happens, you know," he lets himself laugh, "and your dad says, 'hey, let's go to Virginia Beach'."

"Where are you in the story?" Ruby asks, voice barely more than a whisper as to not break the moment.

"Me? Well... well I'm in Wilmington, suffering through another boring, hot Summer," he considers for a moment, "working at the garage, before I head off to some fancy university, and my mom can't bare to see her baby leave, so she packs us up for one more week together at; Virginia Beach."

"I see where this is going," Ruby murmurs, but something off about her voice, and when Mags opens her eyes, she sees Ruby looking back at her, tears in her eyes, "where's Mags in all this?" She asks, before Mags has time to say anything.

"She's visiting her brother," Liam muses, hand stilling in Mags' hair, "he's away a lot, in university, but it's Summer, and so he's got the time and the space in his sharehouse to have his favourite little sister over," Liam pauses, expression like he's about to laugh at a joke that only he understands. Mags is frowning up at Ruby, concerned, but Ruby gives her a watery smile and gently shakes her head, "and it's also great because his Summer job is a lifesaver gig across the road from his flat, at, that's right, Virginia Beach."