Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

LIX: Something Quiet

Ch. 59: Something Quiet

"Holy—!" Mara's shoulders jumped, and she scrambled backward, trying to put more distance between herself and the Zombie in the other cell. The chains tensed, keeping her a mere meter away. Mara's breathing quickened, and she couldn't even blink as Alessa, the Zombie, reached toward her. "Shit," Mara whimpered, leaning back to avoid her touch. "Shit!"

Alessa's bloodied, dirty, claw-like hand touched Mara's. Her skin was pale and dry and dead. It was porous like a sponge and covered by multi-colored stains that made her think of fungal colonies under her skin. The fungus was clearly in full command of Alessa's body.   

The words disappeared from her mind, replaced by the soft sound of Alessa's muzzle clanging and rasping the bars of her cell while she tried to get close enough to bite Mara. There was no violence in the gesture, though, just a lazy sort of recognition that sent shivers chasing down her spine.

"I can't believe they locked me in this place with her," Mara whispered.

Granny laughed at that, the sound round and breathless. "Oh, Mara. I doubt they were paying any attention to your new...quarters. The only thing your friends want is to evacuate this place. The Kerana tree is dead and the HQ—like this entire pocket dimension—is now crumbling."

A pang of guilt and pain rippled across her chest, so she cleared her throat and tried to pin her attention back to Granny. She didn't have enough energy to respond, much less to do something about it, but she could sketch a lazy smile and keep the conversation going. If this place was going to shit, Mara would probably be lost with it. A captain going down with her sinking ship.

Except this captain had punched the main mast through the hull of her own vessel, and she'd now see the bottom of the ocean from its brig.

Mara looked at the tips of her shoes. The dim light from Granny's candle was enough for her to see the small droplets of blood—or sap—on her shoes.

"Shouldn't you be leaving with the other Sents, then? Or did you come to make fun of me? To laugh at me for believing a demon and killing another?"

Granny's smirk widened at that, ugly and cruel. "Oh. Child, no." She crouched in front of Mara and smirked. "I'd never lose my time with something like that. I just came to say goodbye." She leaned forward. "It's not safe for us to stay with the Sents any longer, is it?"

Mara sighed. At her right, the iron bars moaned as Alessa forced her head between them with enough force to bend them. The clack clack clack of her rotten teeth biting the air was the only thing filling the silence. It felt as if she was buried already, lost in the nothingness of the black hole that slowly ate away the walls and floors and everything in the HQ.

She didn't know where the SA Sents would go, but she knew one thing—Jano would still be their Director, and he would still have the same thirst for the beyond-fleshers' blood.

"Yeah. I guess it isn't safe anymore," Mara finally said.

Granny nodded and got up. She stood still for a moment, looking to her left. Her expression was half-hidden by the poor reach of the candlelight, and her shoulders tensed as if watching something only she could see.

"Well." She huffed. "I better go. Tácia thinks she can protect Falchi and me, but...she can't save us both." She faced Mara, the hurt in her expression evident only in the strain around her forced grin. Her voice took a careful edge, low in volume as if sharing a secret. "Listen, child. If you ever need me, I'll be in the place you should never have left. You'll know where to find me."

Mara wanted to ask where, but before the words took shape on her tongue, Granny had disappeared. The candle she'd been holding fell; Mara expected it to tumble and return the dungeons to darkness, but instead, it hit the floor with unnatural precision, almost like the reversed footage of a floating object.