The Fear You Know

11. Written in Flesh

 Eli could FEEL the explosion of words bursting onto his skin, and hoped the others were too busy to notice. Peter's eyes had been caught by some strange trinket sitting on one of the nearby shelves, and he moved toward it, but if he turned back, he would see the massive black lettering which now stood out on Eli's skin like a freshly inked tattoo .

Eli cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Adrian was my father."

The siteless woman tapped her fingers together, clicking her tongue again as she ran her vacant eyes up and down Eli, "So the exclusion finally got the old bastard then."

The careless nonchalance in her words caused him to draw back slightly, and he felt heat rush to his face, "Don-"

She cut him off, "Calm down boy. I mean no disrespect to your father."

At first Eli wasn't sure how to respond, filling an uncomfortable half minute with silence before," How did you know about the Exclusion."

She patted a book she had resting in her lap, "Didn't know for sure, but last time I saw your old man he seemed different, strange, almost distant. It probably won't surprise you to know, boy, that your family has a history of serving the Exclusion." She shrugged, "It seemed like a matter of time."

Eli paused a frown on his face, "My father never mentioned anything about...." his voice trailed away, unable to say the words, though it wouldn't have mattered anyway, the words on his skin were more than enough.

Luckily the woman was unable to read them.

The woman snorted, "Of course he didn't tell you. How could a father explain such a thing to his son? How could he explain the inexplicable pull of Exclusion? How could he explain that one day he might just up and walk away without an explanation."

Eli stayed quiet though his hands were clenched into fists. He didn't want to hear these words spoken out loud, knowing they were almost certainly true

Their conversation had managed to draw a measure of attention from the small crowd inside the room, and he could see the whites of sidelong glances as a few of those people discreetly peered over at them from behind glass shelves, though their discretion was mitigated by the words of curiosity scrawling over their skin. Eli took a very long deep breath, trying to silence the thoughts in his head as he looked down at her.

"I need your help."

Peter wandered over from the other side of the room looking up at the ceiling so as not to bother Eli's privacy.

The woman turned her head towards him as he approached repeating that same strange clicking noise that was quickly becoming synonymous with her presence, "Brought a friend with you I see...."

Eli tried very hard not to think the thoughts that popped into his head, but it was no use. Peter for his part stayed dutifully looking up at the ceiling.

The woman hummed softly to herself as she turned in the direction of Peter, "Affliction doesn't wear you well, though I dare say the Exposed wears you like a glove."

Peter frowned, "How did you-"

Eli cut in, "Tykhe, knows more than she should, which is why she has been my father's contact in the city for a very long time."

The woman chuckled low in her throat.

Peter glanced at her, frowned, shuffled awkwardly, and then just as quickly looked back up at the glass ceiling above.

"Ask your question boy, I don't have eternity to wait on you."

Behind her head, a small pendant in the shape of a circle with bird feathers hanging from it by strings trembled gently in the air currents of the room.