“We,” Avery affirmed, and for a while she strode by herself.
“Wait!” Saga called after her. Jogging to catch up, she caught the crookof Avery’s elbow.
Touch-starved did not begin to describe the last two hundred years for Avery Hemlock. She had felt plenty—but it had all been pain. Nightmares took many forms in the sleeping curse, each brutal in their own unique way. No longer accustomed to gentleness, any touch felt like violence. The instant Saga’s hand made contact, Avery twisted out of her grasp and put several steps between them. Her heart pounded as her hands rose instinctively to defend herself for an incoming onslaught.
But it never came.
The two stared at each other in surprised silence.
Saga didn’t move, hands at her sides. The sepia of her skin appeared a little more ruddy around her eyes and cheeks. “Please,” she said.
Avery slowly lowered her own hands and swallowed.
“I need to know what this all means,” pleaded Saga.
“Is this a personal or existential question?”
Saga laughed, but she didn’t appear to actually find it funny—it was a strange, stressed little sound. She licked her lips nervously and swallowed. “I don’t know. Probably both.” It was strange seeing someone who had been so incredibly capable look so lost. “I just found out my world isn’t what I thought it was.”
Avery took this in thoughtfully before she spoke—each word deliberately chosen. “It means…Imeant what I said. I could use someone with your skill set. Finding out you’re not quite whoIthought initially…was surprising, that I will admit. However, all in all, it doesn’t change my opinion. Ihavebeen out of London, and it has become almost completely unfamiliar to me. Iamstruggling to acclimate. After today, I suspect you are now standing on theotherside of this scenario with a similar dilemma.” Avery allowed herself a moment of naked vulnerability and struggled to find the courage for her next words. “Perhaps we could help each other.”
Saga considered this. “I help you navigate what the mortal world has become in your absence, and you help me understand…fey?”
“I help you understand magic,” Avery clarified. “How it exists in thisand the Otherworld. Those innately born with it, those who have learned to harness it, and everything in between. Unless you’d prefer to forget this ever happened.” A sick feeling churned in Avery’s stomach. “I wouldn’t begrudge you that.” Though she knew she would feel disappointed, she could not fully explain why.
Saga took a step back as if suddenly concerned Avery might cast some sort of forgetting spell on her right then and there. “I’ve never been very good at just letting things go.”
“That’s a bad habit,” Avery remarked, but she knew she felt nothing but admiration for it. “You should perhaps check that curious look about you, it has the occasion of getting one into a lot of trouble. On my honor, you’d be safer without it.”
“Would I?” Saga asked. “Or does it justseemsafer because I wouldn’t know what might be out there?”
“Ah, there’s the rub.”
A comfortable silence fell between them. They could hear the cars on the nearby road, birds chattering faintly, and even the wind rustling through the leaves. Avery couldn’t remember the last time she’d found a comfortable silence with anyone, at least not while still very actively engaged in conversation.
Perhaps that’s why it had been so easy to believe that Saga could not have been human. Whether of this world or the next, there was an air of magic about her. It set one strangely at ease almost instantaneously. Her energy was content—not to be confused with complacent. It felt strangely nostalgic to Avery. Like she was coming home to a place she’d never been.
“I should talk with my family,” said Saga at last.
Of course. “I imagine there is much to say.” And Avery didn’t envy that she would not be present to hear any of it said.
“But…” There was a restraint about Saga’s demeanor, though whether she was resisting saying “no” or “yes” in that moment wasn’t clear. “I’ll let you know?”
“You know where to find me.” Avery gave Saga the same respectfulnod she had the porter and Rachel, and turned on her heel to depart. She was surprised to find that she was hopeful Saga would say yes. Perhaps it was sentimentality—a longing to re-create the camaraderie she’d once felt before she’d been locked away. Perhaps—
“Wait, hang on, we both have to get back to the tube!” Saga called after her.
Ah. That was right. Concealing a smile, Avery merely walked faster. “No, I’m afraid we’ve said our parting words. The only sensible and polite thing to do now is to pretend we’re complete strangers.”
“You’re gonna navigate back to Baker Street on your own?”
Damn it.
Chapter 8
Saga
It was to both Saga’s amusement and annoyance that Avery absolutely kept to her word. Mostly. She noticed the way Avery kept her in her periphery the entire time while she pretended to study the map, then slunk after her.
