Now You See Me

Seven: Marilyn

I didn't notice Marilyn at first.

I had a portable stereo propped on the bedside table – David had lent it to me – and was playing Aces High quietly, making shapes with my fingers according to how I imagined it would be to play an electric guitar.

"Aces High," she said, and I jumped, almost knocking the stereo off with my knee. She was dressed more obscurely than I had seen before; her shorts were a little longer, and she wore a dark hoodie instead of a vest with net sleeves. She didn't look any friendlier. "You like heavy metal?"

"Apparently," I said, and my fingers closed around the tickets lying on the bed beside me. "It's, a, er... It's an experiment. To try and get some memory back."

"Right." She stood for a moment longer, listening to the music that I couldn't concentrate on anymore; I was too surprised at the fact she was having a civilised conversation with me. Her lips moved without speaking, mouthing to the lyrics as she tapped her foot to the rhythm. "You don't look like a metal type," she finally said. It was blank, just a statement, as if it didn't really matter to her but she thought to make the point anyway.

"I never would've guessed if my mum hadn't told me," I replied, tempted to switch the music off to see if she would leave, and come back when I switched it on again. I kept it on, though. The music seemed to keep her placid.

"I can tell," she said, before she shrugged and walked out again as quietly as she'd come. I blinked at the same time the music changed.

I sat there for a long moment with the new song playing, one I didn't recognise, half-expecting her to come back. When she didn't, I got up and peered into the corridor, to find that she was gone. Instead, Courtney was ascending the stairs, numerous shopping bags adorning her wrists and crackling as they brushed against the banisters. She looked up when I moved to stand up straight, and her face shone in the corridor light.

"Oh, hi Damien," she said. "Was I that loud?"

"Do you need any help?" I asked, as she tripped on the top step and almost launched herself onto her front. I closed the door behind me, locking it so that Lorien couldn't get in, and went to take some bags from her.

"Thank you. I don't think I could've got them all the way." She smiled, rubbing at the red marks around her wrists. "I may have outdone myself this time."

I glanced into one of the bags and, in finding a multitude of gaudy bras, hastily withdrew my gaze and nodded in agreement.

"If that makes you uncomfortable hun, don't look in the other one," Courtney said, smirking at me.

Naturally, I looked; I found half of Anne Summers in lingerie folded into it.

"Told you," she said, leading me up the next flight of steps. I urged my cheeks to cool off; something as simple as ladies' underwear should not have made me this uncomfortable.

Courtney's room was on the third floor, along with Thea's, David's, Leia's and Lorien's. She told me on the way up that Lorien had come to them at a time when they were particularly busy, and so the only room they could assign him was on the staff floor. He preferred the lower levels, she said, which was probably why I found him in my room so often.

"Why doesn't he move into one of the spares, then?" I asked, following Courtney into her room and placing the shopping bags on her bed. "There are plenty, aren't there?"

"He also likes listening to the rain," Courtney continued. I think she ignored my incredulous look rather than missed it. "You can't get him downstairs when it's pouring outside."

"Oh right," I said, nodding as if it made perfect sense, "Did you have a good time?"

She looked surprised that I'd asked. "Yeah, it was great. We don't get to do it very often. Why'd you ask?"

"Just curious," I replied. "Would've sucked if you were out on a crappy trip for this long."

She grinned at me, taking the bra bag and starting to put the items in one of her drawers. Soon she was struggling to close it. "God, I need to clear this out." She muttered, flicking at a strap that was still hanging over the side. "I'm not ever going to wear most of them again, I don't why I keep them." She sighed, and then continued at her usual volume. "Anyway, what did you do this afternoon? Anything good?"

"I visited my mum," I said, and her face lit up. "We talked for a bit. She's looking into getting a bigger bath put into the flat."

"That's nice," Courtney said. "Is everything alright with her, then?"

"Seems to be." I frowned. "Just feels like there's something she's keeping from me."

"Oh. Well, she wouldn't if she didn't think it mattered, right?"

"I guess not."

She smiled at me, and I found myself tentatively smiling back. Courtney had a confidence that was infectious.

Moments later, I was back at the door to my room and in my peripheral vision movement revealed Marilyn's presence again.

"You left your music on," she said, as a particularly loud guitar screech reached me through the wood.

"So I did," I murmured whilst unlocking the door. Her presence made me uncomfortable, and it was something more than the fact that she drank blood to survive. I couldn't put a finger on it, but that didn't mean her company was any less awkward. There was an air about her that made me feel like she was forcing herself to be around me, even if she initiated the contact.

"I make you uncomfortable," she said, as I was about to step inside. I paused. "Don't I?"

"The sudden appearances are unnerving," I said, slowly, not wanting to offend her in hinting that I wanted her to go away.

She smirked. Then, as suddenly as it came, the emotion was gone, replaced by stoicism and accompanied by her shoving her hands in her pockets and walking away, like she hadn't meant to give anything away. I went into my room and closed the door immediately; I switched the music off and sat on my bed, staring at a stain on the carpet while my heart thrummed in shock.

There was something very wrong with that girl, and whatever it was, it seemed to be directed solely at me.