Lilium

Nineteen

Nineteen

Oliver watched his phone buzz across the table with a faint sense of amusement. Each vibration made it scuttle over the wood like a wayward cockroach; though it would still for a moment in between calls, it still returned to its jittery dance before long.

Vrrrrr. Vrrrrr.

Gabriel Gonzalez called forty times in the span of half an hour.

Rei watched the phone rattle, her hand in Oliver's. "I'll give him this," she said. "He's persistent."

"That he is." Oliver tipped his head back and watched the road. With a sigh, he cupped his hand over the phone – momentarily stilled – and flattened his hand against the table. When the phone came back to life, it tickled his palm.

"Isn't it getting a bit annoying?" Rei asked. "That buzzing is all I've heard this morning." With that, she picked up her cup and drank.

A car sped by the coffeeshop, kicking up dirt in its wake. Oliver glanced over to his hand and admired the black swirls of ink that licked his knuckles.

"Annoying?" He stretched his legs out and knocked his toes together. "Certainly. It's bound to drive me insane." After a moment, he closed his hand around the phone. Shockwaves surged up his arm.

"Don't tell me you're going to answer that," Rei said over her cup, eyebrows arched.

"Nah." Oliver bounced his cell up and down in his palm. "Not counting on it." Then, without another thought, Oliver reeled back and lobbed it towards the asphalt. It exploded on impact, the shards spraying the cars around it.

Rei's hands flew to her mouth. "Are you crazy?" She dove for it, only to recoil at the last second as a car whizzed past. Among the crunching of gravel came the shattering of glass and plastic.

Oliver stood, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and cocked his head to the side. "That was... anticlimactic." He looked over. "Don't you think so? I thought it would be more exciting than that."

"What did you expect? It's not that big."

He chuckled. "That's what she said."

"Real mature, Ginger."

He sighed. "But no, I guess, thinking about it, it went just as expected." After a moment, he glanced along the sidewalk before stepping onto the asphalt and gathering the shards in his palm.

"What are you doing?" Rei asked.

"Cleaning." Oliver returned to her side, everything awkwardly cupped in his palm, and held it out to her. "It wouldn't be right to just leave it there."

"...Right." With that, Rei rose and gave him a cool look. "It doesn't matter, anyhow. It's just a cellphone. And..." She waved a hand around. "No one really sees us."

"It's evidence."

"That we were here." Rei pointed at her feet. "But from now on, no one can track us anywhere." Then, "But whatever. Do you know where we're going?"

Oliver pulled at a pocket and slid the remains of his phone into it. "After Lilith, obviously. I'm not the only wanted one."

"But she's..."

"In a safehouse? Exactly. I have to get to her before the Magistrate does. Or the Scourge..."

"At this rate," she said, "you should've just left your phone intact. We've already sealed our fates."

The ground rumbled under their feet and they shared a glance.

"This is what you wanted," he said. "No use complaining now." Then he took her hand and pulled her forward. "Come on."