Damsel[ed]: Some Rescue Required (#2 of the Damsel[ed] series)

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Reconcile

We herd our small flock into the alley and hope no one says anything to anyone about what happened or what they saw. Mayor Curtis is in a horrible state of shock, but she manages to cuss out Juniper and Storm, who tell us to leave before things get uglier—they'll call a Taxi.

The first expression Gats manages is a glare that he throws at them. Heaven has finally put him down, and as soon as she does, he curls up against the sword, his head tucked against the blade. Blood, still wet, clings to his face.

Kepler was sitting outside, listening to the whole thing go down with her snout tucked between her wolf paws. She finds me, panting. It's a happy reunion between us, as happy as one can get between a panting wolf and a boy who watched his mother die. If I can call Owl that. It's still hazy, like I dreamt it all.

Heaven sets Jaylin down beside me, casting just one suspicious look over her shoulder. It softens when she catches Jay's eye, a tight smile worming its way on her tensed face. But it only lasts a second. She grabs Gats and squeezes him into a bearhug. It's long and silent and would be awkward in any other situation, but the two hug each other so hard it's like they're afraid of being torn away. "I'm so sorry you had to..." she starts, but she never finishes.

Heaven doesn't cry, or at least, when she does it's rare and out of frustration rather than grief. So listening to her cry at all, even if only a little, makes me feel uncomfortable. Like I've walked in on something I shouldn't have.

"We should go," I say to Jaylin, my mouth so close to her ear my cheeks tinge with a hot flush.

"Yeah." She leans against me, one arm wrapped around my shoulders and neck. Her hair brushes my skin, so soft I want to run my fingers through it. The thought makes me blush. We had a long talk about our relationship while I was still in chains. And now, I don't want to say anything about it at all. Everything hurts and all we've said feels distant now. I like her in one way and she likes me in another. The sun is a glowing splat across ther smooth blue sky, and its warmth seeps into my skin. Right now, Jay and Kep are all I can think about without everything getting foggy and dim.

"Can you stand." I don't mean to speak in such a clinical tone, but right now, a new headache rolling in, the image of Owl crumpled dead on the floor seared behind my eyes, that's the only way the words come. A clipped, monotone robot voice.

"Angel, I'm in physical, mental, and emotional pain."

"Well," I say, swiveling my head toward Heaven and Gats. Hev's shoulders quake, her tattered shirt cackling against her skin. That girl goes through clothes faster than Clark Kent. "That makes four of us."

Jay eyes me up and down, scraping dried sweat off her eyelid with her thumbnail. Grit and blood streak the back of her hands in long lines down her fingers, like chalk outlines. Above her temple, a gash of black blood. I'm cleaning it off before I even know it, nails scraping at the lines of gray drawn up around it. She lifts her eyes, the right corner of her lip curling up into a smirk. The other seems too tired even to twitch, so she just stares at me, giving me that haunting half-smile. "Talk somewhere private?" she asks. "Like Death Tower?"

For what I think is the first time, the name doesn't faze me. Looking back on it feels almost like a sort of nostalgia. I let a long sigh. "Well, Jay, I'd have to fly us up there."

"Good on your wings?"

"Trying," I say, noting the ebb and flow of our dialogue. It sounds rhythmic to my tired ears, something I want to keep up for the sake of the melody. "I think it's easier when I'm not running for my life."

"Won't hit the ground like last time?" She bats her eyes at me, her voice reverberating with a sweet, innocent softness. I wish someone would conk me on the head so I could forget everything.