The Empty World | The Empty World Sequence [complete | rewriting]

Thirteen

He looked at Shade. He was curled slightly, eyes closed, a hand reflexively clutching at either heart or pendant beneath his shirt it was impossible to tell.

Morpheus slipped from the room. He went up through the narrow passage lined in spider silk to the Halfangel room. The TV was in there because where the years of being small species had made others defensive and distrustful of outsiders while most Halfangels only survived by latching onto people unlike themselves, they didn't mind the others coming in to watch TV. Absinthe was sitting before the TV brushing the blue hair of a child with very slender limbs. "I saw him," she said.

Morpheus sat down by her side. He glanced up at the TV. The children were watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. Children with bony limbs, strangely colored eyes, and wings were cheering for Jack, as he danced through the Oogey Boogie's booby-traps. Absinthe bent to the girl's ear. "I'm going across the room, dear. You stay and watch your movie."

She pulled Morpheus up with her, and took him across the lounging bodies to a place near one wall. Spider and Laudanum and a frail looking girl were sitting under the thickest spider webs, with a deck of cards and a bottle between them. Spider lifted the bottle to his lips and took a swig. He looked up. "Hey, it's Murphy! You want us to deal you in?"

"I just want to lie down."

"He's got a thing for Julien," Laudanum giggled.

Absinthe kicked her brother. She bent and lifted a blanket, then crawled under with Morpheus. "Don't tell everyone, Laudy," Absinthe whispered, "Think. Not everyone's going to understand, especially Julien."

"Sooorry!"

A tendril slipped from Absinthe's back and snatched up the bottle. "You leave off this stuff a while."

"That's mine!" Spider cried.

Absinthe raised herself up to look around Laudanum at Spider. "Listen Lampwick," she said, "My brother doesn't need you leading him astray. This stuff is strong enough to give him convulsions." She lay down again and turned to face Morpheus. "Are you OK?" she whispered.

"Sin, I've got to do something...I've got to talk to him or something. I think I'm supposed to."

"What do you think you should do?"

"I don't exactly know. Somehow...I can remember him laughing and making fun of me, because he said I must have lied when I told him I'd never kissed anyone else. Sin, I must have kissed him. Here, somewhere, soon."

"Maybe, now that Shade's here, things will get better. He'll see what it's like for all of us and do something."

Morpheus was shivering under the covers. He squeezed Absinthe's arm. "I can't even think of all that. I can't even if I try, I just keep thinking of him."

Absinthe pulled him closer and tried to keep Morpheus from shaking. "You've done enough to help all of these people, don't feel bad because you think of Julien. Don't you feel bad. You always know that you'll be together sometime, don't you?"

That had never really helped.

"It gets better?" Morpheus whispered, it occurred to him now the words were more PSA than magic spell, but Julien had warned Morpheus might find them cheesey in the future. He wasn't being bullied because he had a boyfriend, he was just stuck in a rather timey-whimey relationship with his boyfriend.

When night came, Morpheus went to the room where Shade and Julien had slept. Opium and Mazaret were outside the door telling the others not to try going in yet. Opium asked Morpheus to go make sure they were awake. He went into the room. Shade was awake, looking like he really did hate the shirt he was wearing. Julien was sound asleep, a more healthy looking Joy awake and draped over his shoulder. Morpheus picked up her shirt and offered it to her. "The others will want to come in, you know," he whispered. He glanced at Shade.