Feather Dark

Chapter 24

Leigh

"Are you enjoying our reversal of fortunes, Cobbe?" Sevic sneered at me from the armchair beside the bed as I brought her a breakfast tray. "Playing warden? Trapping me as I once trapped you?"

I laid the food on a side table. "I know your brain works better than this, boss lady. I told you yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that – you're not a prisoner." With a frustrated arm wave, I indicated the door. "You want to leave? Go."

She sniffed, turned her face out the bedroom window. "A ruse, I'm sure. You and your leader would use any excuse to shoot me in the back as I walked away."

"Dude, we're not like you or that Bob asshat."

"Don't call me dude, young man."

"Well, why don't you tell me your actual name?" I walked to the window, intercepting her gaze. "You're free now. You don't have to be Bob's bitch anymore. Take back who you truly are."

She flipped her long silver hair, and turned her sharp cheekbones up to the sky, the light catching the savage bruise that still marked her face. "My name is Sevic. I serve my department, and I serve them faithfully."

"Ugh, you're so stubborn." Frustrated, I shook my head, as if she was the child, and I was her vexed carer. Her pigheadedness reminded me of how Noah would become fixated on something like a Bible verse or a redundant rule and refuse to even think about other possibilities.

We'd been at this for days now. Sentinel had led me to a little house by a lake, far from any major cities, a weirdly peaceful setting after the explosive events we'd just experienced. When Sevic had woken up, I'd had a speech ready, and I repeated it again every day, trying to get through to her. "Sevic, I couldn't leave you there because they would have killed you. You're not a captive – if you tell me where you want to go, I'll take you there – no strings attached."

She snorted – the same response I'd been given each time – and waved me away.

"At least eat something," I suggested, taking yesterday's tray with me as I gave up and left her alone. "My pancakes are world-famous, and they don't deserve to be left wallowing in a shallow maple syrup grave."

I padded through the house on bare feet. It was a modern home encircled by a wide deck where I was spending most of my time. After emptying the tray of spoiled food into the trash, I grabbed a mango from the fridge and joined Sentinel on the deck. "Where did you get mangos from around here?" I asked him. Sentinel had taken charge of the logistics, organising food and checking in with central comms, while I was doing Sevic-duty.

The bat man smiled enigmatically from where he stood at the railing. "I have my ways."

"My parrot loves these." I smiled sadly as I peeled the ripe fruit. Bitting into a chunk of orange, I said, "I miss my bird."

"Where did you leave them?"

"With a friend." My old university professor, Doc Warner, had agreed to care for Buster while we were winging it out in the wild world, but the smell and taste of my pet's favourite treat brought back powerful memories of a home life I'd taken for granted and now missed like crazy.

"This life does not always allow for simple luxuries like pets." Sentinel's dark brow creased in empathy. "It is not fair."

"It's really not. Why do we do it again?"

"For noble causes. To keep our kind safe."

"Yeah? Well, we wouldn't have to keep anyone safe if her agency," I tilted my chin in the direction of Sevic's room, "would leave us the hell alone."