Inkling

7.11 Extremely Discontented

5:15 P.M.

Adam was seething. He was fidgety and breathing hard and not walking in a straight line. As soon as Max had seen the state Adam was in, he realized he must stop him from whatever it was he wished to do. For it would surely get him killed. Running was not something Max felt he could do at this particular moment, but still his legs picked up their pace to reach the brother of a man it was Max's fault was gone.

"Wink!" He called, somewhat weakly. Either Adam did not hear him, or was doing a fantastic job of ignoring him. Max ran faster, fast enough to grab Adam's elbow. It took a hard yank to halt his pace. The look Adam gave Max was icy and terrifying and made him very much regret this particular choice. But Adam did stop. He looked ready to fall over. For all they knew, Lincoln was still alive and well but Adam's eyes were already filled with grief.

Adam motioned for him to speak. He looked terrible, bruises on his face and a split lip. Max had a feeling he did not look much better.

"You are going to get yourself killed if you go off all by - where are you going!" Max called, for Adam had turned his back on Max with a dramatic roll of his eyes and was indeed walking away.

"Adam Wink I am having a rather shit day and I swear I will stop you in your tracks if I must."

Adam did stop, and for a moment Max feared that he had stopped Adam by accident, just by talking about it. It was known to happen. But Adam turned back around and stared at Max, who had gotten the eerie feeling of being in a showdown in a dime western novel. His head was swimming, pulling against the corners of his consciousness like it was trying to forcibly shut him down. A soul so infected with black magic could not go on for very long.

"Why do you care?" Adam made no move to come closer and Max feared his legs would not support him if he tried to take a step. They shouted at each other from twenty feet away.

"Why do you." It was not a question and Max felt that they both knew why. Because the answer would have been too obvious. It was all too obvious. They both cared because it was Lincoln. Neither knew him terribly well but Max felt a terrible hollowness that was more than just the curse. It was Lincoln and Lincoln was magnetic, he smiled at strangers on the street and they felt just a little bit better. He scowled and yelled and sometimes fought, but it was all endearing.

Because it was Lincoln and Lincoln was gone and neither wanted to imagine a world without him. But where Max was scared, Adam was angry. Was it because he had just tried to come find Lincoln after running off? Was he angry that they had gotten him wrapped up in their big mess of a situation?

When Max's knees started to give away he did not fight it and allowed himself to sink gently onto the street. Because he was tired. Because black magic was eating him from the inside out.

Because all of this was his own fault.