THE BEAST ─ five hargreeves

[ 044 ] mission improbable: round two

XLIV.

m i s s i o n
i m p r o b a b l e :
r o u n d   t w o

—"OW," SAID FIVE.

"'Ow' is right!" retorted Zara. "God, the nerve you have—showing up after ditching me here for ages and ages! Have you anything to say for yourself? Jerk!"

Five was silent for a moment—just staring at her. His lip was stinging, and he could faintly taste blood, but that wasn't what startled him.

It was Zara.

Somehow, he had got it into his head that she would look different. And she did—more or less. Her hair had grown out a little and was braided neatly, and she was maybe half an inch taller, and she had a men's leather jacket draped over her shoulders inelegantly (oh, shit). But the fact was that she seemed very much the same as when he had seen her last.

Looking at her, Five felt that familiar, fluttery feeling. She was twice as alive as anyone he had ever met, and that, in some strange way, appealed to him very much. It was something in the scarlet line of her mouth, in the straight glance of the dark eyes, in the thin white scar curving down the cheek like a phantom serpent.

"Five?" She waved a hand in front of his face, and he immediately snapped out of the daze. "What's the matter? I asked if you had anything to say."

He stared blankly at her. There was many things he had to say—none of which he was inclined to at this particular moment.

Five cleared his throat and asked: "Do you have a Band-Aid?"

For a minute, she said nothing. Her face softened, her lips half-parted.

Zara reached for her bag. Five had a brief idea that she was going to pull out a gun and take a pot-shot at him. To be honest, he wouldn't really put it past her. But in her hand was a box of bandages.

"Paw Patrol or The Lion King?"

. . .

—THEY WERE SITTING together on the grass. Five now sported a bright pink Paw Patrol bandage on his face. He had asked for The Lion King.

"I'm still mad at you," said Zara, as if to remind herself of the fact.

"No, you're not," replied Five.

She gave a defeated sigh, and repeated the words. "No, I'm not. But I should be. You stranded me in Texas for six months."

Five shrugged. "You shot me, lied to me, betrayed me, destroyed a bathtub, and tried to end the world."

There was a pause.

"Call it even?" said Zara.

"Fine."

Zara looked over at Five. Kiki was on his shoulder, and he was feeding her walnuts. She was very excited about his return, and kept bouncing up and down.

The late Autumn night was warming. Dogs barked, then felt silent one-by-one. Zara looked up for stars and saw none. The sky was covered with low-hanging clouds just thin enough to allow a little vague moonlight to seep through. Presently, the moon shone through a rift in the clouds, and lit up Five's face. She might have been imagining it, but Zara could've sworn he looked a year or so older.