Folding the Sky

-22-

When Zuri and Aldric shuffled back inside the warehouse, they found Kalindi futilely scrubbing at the windows, Jem lying supine on the floor, and Chike sweeping around her with an old broom that was missing a fair percentage of its bristles.

Zuri and Aldric dropped their supplies to the floor: canned vegetables and beans, a loaf of bread, some old blankets they'd found outside of a clothing boutique, a jug of filtered water that would last them through the week if they rationed it properly. The other three Celestials looked up, but no one spoke, as if Zuri was simply going to pick up where she had left off.

Aldric inched backwards to nudge the warehouse door shut, and then he just nodded at her.

Zuri cleared her throat. "The deal is off."

Kalindi froze, dropping her rag. Jem sat up in alarm. Chike just sighed.

"The deal?" Jem sputtered, dragging herself upright, setting her glasses straight upon her nose. "Hang on—you mean with Sorin? What does that mean? He's going to tell everyone Kalindi's here?"

Zuri wandered towards a small set of stairs, one that led up to what had once been a loft or office space. There, she collapsed against the steps, letting out a long sigh. "I don't think he will," she said. "I know too much about him for him to do that. Outing us would mean outing himself too."

"Know too much about him?" Kalindi asked, and paused. "I don't understand. You spoke with him again? Did he attack you?"

Aldric and Zuri shared a knowing glance. "He attempted to, yes," Zuri said. "But only after I provoked him."

Jem looked at her tiredly. "And why the hell would you do that?" Her eyes shot to Kalindi. "I thought we weren't poking the bear."

Aldric snorted. "He's a bit smaller than a bear."

"What?" Jem asked.

Zuri didn't think there was any way to say it except bluntly, so that's what she did. "Sorin is one of us," she said, and watched as varying degrees of surprise flashed across the others' faces. She didn't blame them, as she'd felt much of that herself: the shock at meeting another one so like her, the bittersweet realization that their similarities were what tugged them apart at the seams. "He's a Celestial; he can disguise himself as a cat. That's why he's been so hard to keep track of."

A wordless breath passed, long enough that it made Zuri wonder if perhaps they hadn't heard her.

They had, however.

Jem collapsed into laughter, flailing back against the floor, her whole body shaking with the effort. Kalindi was shaking her head at Jem, while Chike and Aldric both had a look on their faces that said they wanted to laugh but at least had the self control not to.

Zuri didn't blame them, she guessed. The omnipotent, inscrutable force that was Sorin commanded a certain bout of fear that didn't exactly match that of a common domesticated feline. If anything, though, the fact that he had managed to torment them in spite of that made him all the more terrifying. That, and she couldn't erase the flickers of his past from her mind: the betrayal and the utter loss of innocence that had made him who he was.

Ever since the visions had shuddered through her, ever since she'd looked into his eyes and saw the fear pulsing just behind them, there had been a pang in her heart, subtle but undeniable. Only then, as Jem clamped a hand over her own mouth to stop her laughing spell, did Zuri realize what it was.

She felt sorry for him. Against all odds, she did.

"Jem," Kalindi said, dragging the other girl to her feet. "Are you done now?"