Black and Blue

16 - Jack's Boss Sees Through Walls (Or Something Like That)

Nyx changed tones so quickly after that, it was jarring.

"So, you're here to volunteer yourself?" she asked with a smile. A genuine one, at that; I couldn't begin to comprehend how she associated herself with literal demons. I gave a hesitant nod, forgetting to ask exactly what she meant by "volunteer." She grabbed my hand without a second to waste and started dragging me towards one of those tall, crooked, shadowy halls.

"That's a relief. It's been a while since anybody's come here to become a healer, you know. We might have to start forcing people." She chuckled to herself, and I wasn't as reassured by her voice now, in the dark, no less. Her irises seemed to glow, turning kaleidoscopic the more she looked back to make sure I was still following. I only now was starting to question anything of what she'd said; I had broken out of the trance, my anxiety and learned phobia taking the wheel. Was she really a healer, or was she about to convert me to her weird, demon-worshipping cult? She definitely didn't seem like she'd been lying, but would this be the best way to get ahead in my career? Was coming here even a good idea in the first place?

Had Jack been right?

"Um, Sawyer? Oh, god, I'm losing her. Did something happen?"

I was shaken from my little daze there and held out my hands to stabilize myself. We were standing in front of a charming little wooden door, with a figure carved into it that I couldn't decipher. Nyx looked at me with worry, and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"No. Sorry, it's—I'm fine. Really."

"You sure? It's your first time in the realm, isn't it?"

I nodded and dropped my gaze to the floor, my face flushing.

"That's always the hardest one. Well, no use standing out here in the dark! Come in."

Nyx's office, if it could even be called that, was no larger than a college dorm room and about as decorated as one. I could spot two or three things that might've had the slightest bit to do with healing, and about ten others that gave off the impression you were entering a psychic scammer's lobby. In the corner there were two small wooden seats with no backrest, though I didn't quite feel like they classified as stools, either. Nyx pulled them both up to the middle of the room and gestured for me to sit down.

"...what was your surname, again? Rafael?"

I took a seat and nodded, a tiny bit more hesitant than before.

"Perfect. You know, the archangel Raphael was responsible for healing in his little circle. Abrahamic religions, all that fun stuff." She scribbled something down on an old piece of paper attached to a rusty clipboard, eyes squinting in a childlike manner at the word "fun." I laughed and fixed my gaze on a far corner of the room—not that far could really be used to describe any of them.

"Yeah. My parents kind of flipped when I told them I wanted to study medicine, and everything. I-in a good way, of course. Gave me the whole Sunday-school lecture for free. I think I was, like, ten."

"Hm. Old enough to know, I suppose." She flicked a stray piece of hair out of her face and set the paper down, looking at me with one eyebrow raised and a knuckle to her chin. "Fit. Intelligent, determined, polite...that's what I see in you right now," she said, almost like a motivational speaker. I blinked, unsure of exactly how I was supposed to respond to that. Luckily, Nyx didn't give me a chance.

"Oh, don't worry. We'll put you to good use. Now, on the subject of healing with magic, or whatever you wish to call it..."

Who is "we"?

—

She got straight to business from there, and I was sent back home with a spinning head and too many mixed feelings to count. My old worries of whether Jack had been right about the realm adamantly refused to die—and if my "place" in the demon realm was at all hazy before, I definitely got the message about two weeks later.