Unexpected Darkness

Recovery Road

~~~

The aftermath of Baltimore was an avalanche that neither Diane or I wanted, but it happened nonetheless.

We talked to the Baltimore police and they arrested the man that Cassandra had subdued and were going to take him in for questioning. They had seen him luring girls around the motel and finally had the support to build up a case on him.

Atticus was going to be taken to New York to be prosecuted. Evidently there had been some pretty damning evidence left in the hands of police by a very insightful and observant reporter. Cassandra took us back to New York where we talked to the NYPD as well.

I had to explain what happened—we all did—and Diane had to give her story of what happened after she'd been lured by Atticus' false promises.

The process was long and arduous and made me thoroughly uncomfortable, but I answered everything truthfully... except for the case about how Atticus died.

"The coroner's report says that he suffered cerebral hemorrhaging but there were no contusions to his head." The officer wasn't surprised by just this, he was also surprised how I'd managed to climb into a second story window with no ledge or tree nearby for support.

"Are you really going to remain silent?"

I continued to say nothing. I wasn't sure what I could say to be honest. I sucked at lying, and it was definitely clear that something happened.

"It was self-defense—"

"No one's arguing with you that it's self-defense, but what I'm wondering is how you managed to do what you did."

There was a knock on the door and the detective was interrupted from interrogating me.

The door opened and a man came in wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He looked a like a proper adult with glasses and all. He stuck his hand out to me and gave a gentle smile.

"You're Cynthia right? I'm Nico Ragno, your lawyer." I was confused for a whole minute but shook Nico's hand nonetheless.

"Umm..."

"Cassandra called me," he explained and I immediately relaxed. "Can I have a minute alone with my client?"

The detective grumbled but obliged and left and Nico sat in his seat.

"So, Miss Dahl, Cassandra tells me you have a little shadow friend in that necklace of yours."

I clutched it defensively, "Why did she tell you that?"

Nico leaned back in his chair with a smirk on his face.

"Aside from the fact that I know all about Cassandra's Sixth Sense secret about seeing dead people. My wife is karma, like literally, she manipulates people's luck all the time—she's not one hundred percent at it so I'm sorry for any previous inconveniences in your life—my adopted daughter is an escaped test subject from Veil Corporation and my newborn son is showing promising signs of being just like his mother." He sat up straight and smiled a wide unerring grin. "So Miss Dahl, I think you can see why Cassandra entrusted me with the big secret of your shadow friend."

"Altair's not coming out," I said flatly and Nico held up his hands.

"That's fine, I just want to know, is he malevolent?"

"Only if you're evil," I said nervously.

"Well then I should be in the clear," Nico chuckled. "Now let's talk about your case, you'll find I have an uncanny knack for my job, thanks in part to my beloved wife, but I told her I was going to pass The Bar on my own steam and that's exactly what I did. So I'm not just a lucky lawyer, I'm a good lucky lawyer."

I was beginning to have faith that things might turn around for the better for me.

~~~

Nico had it arranged so I could visit Diane at the Hopedale Rehab Center. The doses of heroin Atticus had been giving her in the week needed to be flushed out her system and she needed lots of therapy for the things she'd endured.

"Um, this Nico guy is really nice," I said sitting next to her in a perfectly maintained courtyard. "He knows about weird magic stuff like us so he's trustworthy. He showed me pictures of his kids and his cat, Peaches."

"Sounds nice," Diane wasn't even looking at me.

"Diane, I'll never understand what you went through, but I just want you to know I'm not going to leave your side. As you once said to me 'I'm here' and I'm not going anywhere."

Diane leaned into me and started crying on my chest.

"Everything he was doing was to pull me away from you!" She cried. "He made me think you were deadweight to me, that I deserved better than you, but I don't deserve you Cyn, and I'm the worst friend ever."

"No, you're not," I told her softly, "You were manipulated by his sweet words and golden promises. Which was easy for you to fall for since you wanted them so bad. You're not to blame, you're the victim."

"When did you get so smart?" She asked with the faintest traces of a smile.

"Don't you remember how we became friends? I've always been the wise bookworm."

Pressing our foreheads together we embraced warmly pushing away the darkness, just a little bit further.