What Crawls Below

17 § High Tide

For a moment, Cyrus nearly crumbled under the realization he was back to square one: alone, damned and on the run from whatever would come for him next. For over a month he'd simply been prolonging the inevitable.

Then Tuesday placed a light touch on his arm and tethered him back to reality. No, he wasn't alone, even if he didn't understand why--she'd been so furious with him not so long ago. Remembering how he'd considered her loyalty unshakeable, Cyrus realized it shouldn't be surprising. Raziel had said it himself: this kind of thing...it always comes back.

She was still hurt, Cyrus could see that in how her hand rested on him only briefly before dropping just as quickly; however, Tuesday was a thousand other things in that moment as well. Exhausted. Lamenting. Remorseful. He knew because he felt all those things too, and they warred within him until the emotions all blended together and he couldn't tell the difference between them any longer. It was like when he'd nearly drowned--unable to tell up from down, rock bottom from shore. It was like he'd been driven out to sea on nothing but a tiny life raft filled with holes, and the both of them were going down together.

They wandered silently, absently, until the sky was as black as an oil spill but it no longer appeared empty to Cyrus. It was a blank slate, waiting patiently for the morning to come, as it always would. A small part of him wondered if he should be afraid, if Nevaeh was still out there and would want to exact her rage upon them. A bigger part remembered the world was not as black and white as he once believed, and that she was in pain, too...but not everything in pain lashes out.

Still, they couldn't amble along forever. Eventually Tuesday had to acknowledge the nearly non-stop vibration of her phone and answer it. Cyrus could hear the panicked shouts of her aunt; Tuesday could barely get a word in but somehow managed to console her and promised she was coming home now. When Cyrus fell out of step, she glanced back at him with raised eyebrows.

"I think this is where we say goodbye," he muttered, kicking stones that littered the street and sending them rolling away into the darkness.

"Not yet," Tuesday responded. She was biting her lip but it still wobbled, hinting at the tears that were sure to come. "We both just lost someone. I'm not gonna lose you too, not now. Not yet."

Beyond words, Cyrus could only nod and let her drag him along. He didn't have enough energy left to care about Mary's reaction when he once again showed up on her doorstep--but it ended up not mattering. She looked between him and her niece, and the state they were in must have been blindingly apparent because Mary opened the door wider and let them both in.

"What happened?" Mary asked in a slightly unsteady voice, busying her nervous energy by whisking around the kitchen and readying a pitcher of tea.

Tuesday didn't bother masking the truth. This was, after all, the only other human they knew who could have possibly believed them. With an increasing level of horror, Mary listened; by the time Tuesday had finished, Mary's hands were shaking too hard to continue her work and she sank heavily into one of the dining chairs.

"I had no idea how far deep you were in," she said quietly, tears now sparkling in her own eyes. She glanced at Cyrus with no malice and added, "You poor children."

Of course, Cyrus would have a feeling she wouldn't be so kind if Tuesday had told the whole story, straight from the beginning, not just that night's events. He was not in the place to argue though.

Tuesday spared Cyrus, who had not spoken during the whole story, a nervous glance. "What can we do to fix his, y'know...situation?"

Mary did not respond immediately, rubbing at the frown lines that had appeared on her forehead, cutting deep lines there. "The last time that demon," she finally said to Tuesday, tone souring on the word, "was here, we actually discussed that. You remember when he said you make him more human?" She gave a curt nod in Cyrus's direction.