Sister Cities

Part 28: Vi

She moves forward again until the chain is pulled taut. It leaves her two feet away from the bars. I study her eyes again, and as I do, I realize she's studying mine too, looking distantly confused— checking that I exist, maybe.

"What's wrong?" I ask. We're on a time limit. I shuffle the keys again, wishing I had any idea which one I'm looking for.

"I can't," she says softly.

"Can't what?"

"Leave."

My heart is so loud that I think she just said "Leave." "One more time?"

"I can't leave. I'm staying."

"What?"

"I'm staying. I don't want you to get me out."

I stare, the key ring limp in my hand. "What do you mean? Why not?"

Sevika laughs from next door. "She didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"She did this on purpose. She wanted to be locked up."

"I know," I say, turning back to Powder. "I know you sabotaged the rebellion on purpose. That was a brave thing to do. But you don't have to stay here because of it. We can get you home—"

"No," she says. Her voice is sharp now.

Backup guards could be coming after Caitlyn. The one on the floor will wake up soon. Powder must still not be convinced that I'm real.

Before I can think about it, I close my fingers around the bars in front of me. My weight shifts, not on purpose, and I have to shut my eyes. Then I reach between the bars, slowly, slowly, ignoring how close I have to press to the rough metal, and cup her face in my hands.

"It's okay," I say quietly. "It's me. I'll take you home, and you'll be safe. It's gonna be fine."

She turns one soft cheek closer in toward my palm. One of us is shaking, or both of us.

She's holding something herself now. I stifle a gasp. She follows my eyes to the bunny I last saw at her tea party, with Silco dead at the table beside us.

"You went back there?"

She nods.

"Why?"

A purple tear runs into my hand. "So I could keep some of you."

"Keep— what? I'm right here, Powder. You don't need that thing."

"But I'm not going with you. I'm staying here."

"Powder—"

She drops the bunny, grabs my wrists, and pushes them down. "Stop calling me that!"

Stop calling me that! It's Jinx now. Powder fell down a well.

"I want to stay here," she says. "I came on purpose. Go away or they'll hurt you."

I can't tell how much of my panic is about her being where she is and how much is about me being where she is. "This is Stillwater. They're gonna hurt you. You need to come with me, and whatever's going on, we'll talk about it at home—"

She laughs piercingly. "Home? You're real silly, sis."

"What's 'silly' about that? You've been living at the fort with me and Ekko and Caitlyn, and you'll come back with us, and we'll keep on how we were."

"And the enforcers will find me and kill all of you," she says. "Or I'll see something strange and get scared and kill all of you myself."

It clicks. I reach for her again, but she backs up until she reaches the wall. The sleeves of my jacket hang off her skinny arms.

"Jinx," I say. "That's not gonna happen. We know how to avoid the enforcers. And you've been so good so far— why would that change now?"

Another tear glows on her face.

"Please," I say. "I want you back."

"Well, it's selfish of you to want me back." She shouts it loud enough to make me flinch. "It's selfish to put dozens of people at stake just because you have some delusion about who I am!"

"It's not a delusion."

"Powder is dead!"

"Then who saved hundreds of lives tonight?" I say. "It sure as hell wasn't Jinx."

"Shut up and go away!"

"I told you before— if you really don't want to be around anyone else, me and you can go somewhere by ourselves. We can—"

"No. I don't want that either."

The rattle of her chain is like a siren; I feel it inside my head for much longer than I can hear it. I take a deep breath, clutching her bars, hoping for the cold to chill my blood.

"Let me get this straight," I say. "You would rather die in prison than come home with me?"

"That's what I said."

My key ring clatters against the floor. We both watch it glint. The chip of blue in her eye is the brightest thing in this tomb.

"Please," I say again. "Please, Powder. I need you with me. I can't leave you here."

"Do you need me?" she asks, pulling my jacket around her like a shield. "Or do you just feel guilty?"

I back away.

"At least that's something you have reason for," she says.

That's when we hear a scream, forty stories removed, and both look to the ceiling.

"Take this," Powder says, and kicks something across the floor so it slides under the bars. "Ekko's plan worked," she says. "The start of it, at least. He said so."

It's one of the enforcers' communication devices. I pick it up just as I hear another scream, this one shaped like my name.

I look at Powder and she looks at her socks.

"I'll come back," I say.

But she just says, "Don't."

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Intro lyrics from "Ghost Towns" by Radical Face and "you wrote 'don't forget' on your arm" by flatsound. 

have a great day friends :) these two sure won't