Page 115 of Inextricably Tied

It’s enough to make her feel like she’s earned the largest drink from the fountain, so she fills her cup with dark soda while Flint’s coffee brews.

“Excuse me?”

Harbinger turns blankly to the girl behind her. “Yeah?”

Harbinger’s eyes narrow before it dawns on her. She barely recognizes this girl without blood caked to her face. No wild fear in her eyes, bones no longer protruding…

Evie.

FORTY-TWO

Harbinger

Liquid seeps into Harbinger’s sleeve. Only then does she realize the soda’s overflowing.

“Oh, shit. Hi. Sorry.” She pulls back her drink, fumbling to clean the mess off the counter. By the time she tosses the wet napkins, a customer huffs behind them. Harbinger navigates Evie around him to the chip aisle before she takes her in.

In the midst of the cloud around Harbinger’s mind, she hadn’t noticed Evie’s emotions growing closer. Hadn’t realized how near they were to Evie’s town, as if something had drawn them there.

There’s an awkward length of space between them. The bruise has faded from around Evie’s eye. At sixteen, she’s taller than Harbinger, teal jacket hanging off her shoulders. Seeing Evie here among bright plastic packages, her sneakers shiny and new, makes Harbinger’s heart twist in her chest.

“Hi,” she breathes again.

“Hi.” A wrapper crinkles in Evie’s hand. Sunflower seeds.

Harbinger nearly bawls.

Evie glances uncertainly at Harbinger’s helmet. Harbinger pushes back the skull, opening the visor so their eyes can meet. It’s the first time someone new has relaxed at Harbinger’s skeletal face.

“You got your bird,” Harbinger manages. The parakeet looks like a different animal on Evie’s shoulder, nuzzling her cheek and chirring as she laughs.

“Yeah, he’s doing better. I’m sorry — I don’t know your name. I never got it during…everything. And the OID wouldn’t talk to me about you all after.”

“Harbinger.”

Evie’s lip quirks. “Harbinger,” she repeats. “Of good things.”

Harbinger’s throat is tight. “You’d be the first person to think that.” She fights down the pricking feeling behind her eyes.

Evie rocks on her feet. “I never got a chance to thank you…”

“It was nothing.”

Evie slows as she blinks. “You got trapped in a cellar. And tortured. And the house burned down.”

A laugh croaks out of Harbinger, the first real one she’s given since… “Ok, maybe it was something.”

Evie’s laugh is musical, dimpling her cheeks before she presses her lips together. “I wanted to thank the others, too. The gargoyle, and — the night terror? Are they here?”

Pain surges inside of Harbinger, a tap turned sharply to full blast. “Um. Flint — the gargoyle —” She clears her throat. “He’s back at the motel. And Agony…” Her voice wavers. She tries to hold it steady. “He didn’t make it.”

A cloud falls over Evie’s face. Her gaze skirts to the ground. “Oh. I’m so sorry.”

Harbinger doesn’t know what to say. Evie’s toes press together, eyes glassy and distant.

“He…when I first saw him, I was so scared. He looked like he could rip me apart. But once he recognized me, everything changed. The air around him…” She gestures with her hands. A tiny smile forms on her face. “Everything felt safe. Good. For the first time in a long time.”

Harbinger tries to swallow the lump in her throat. “He’d be very happy to hear that.”