Chapter 3
The potion worked almost instantly.
Vi jolted violently forward with a gutteral yell, caught in time only just by Caitlyn.
“Vi.” Caitlyn said softly. Vi. You’re safe, you’re okay. “Easy, easy, easy.”
I thought my m- Vi’s eyes swam back into the room, her vision clearing with every jagged breath. Caitlyn.
Their eyes met. A burst of energy between them. As if the world, the sounds around them dimmed into nothingness. For a moment, Vi felt something she hadn’t felt since she was a child.
Safe.
Home.
Caitlyn, I-
“We need you back on your feet.” Caitlyn stood suddenly, ripping her gaze from Vi’s face. “What was the name Sevika gave you? Jinx?”
“Right. Jinx. How could I forget?” Vi grunted as she sat up. My fault…
Caitlyn’s face was unreadable. As soon as Vi met her eyeline, she looked away. Pacing the small room, hands fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Vi groaned and stretched upwards.
“We’re going to have to be more careful now. Silco will be watching…” Are you okay? I need you to be-
I’m fine, Cupcake.
“Stop calling me that.” Caitlyn muttered, crossing her arms as she cocked her head and observed the old crayon marking on the wall. Vi gulped, emptying her thoughts, not wanting at all to broach anymore painful memories. She shook slightly, wincing, hoping Caitlyn wouldn’t notice. She wasn’t so lucky.
“You used to live here?” It’s that name again… Powder. “Who’s Powder?”
Vi inhaled deeply, steeling herself as she clutched the side of her that really should be hurting right about now. Instead it was just pain in her chest.
May as well be honest.
“My sister. I thought she died, but, no.I have to try and find her.”
“How do you not know if your sister is alive or dead?”
“It's hard to check up on people from inside a concrete cell.”Don’t fucking do this, Caitlyn.
“What, you don't have parents?”
She couldn’t take it. Her breath was ragged, her heart in ruins. It felt like too much at once until she exploded.
“No! They were killed by enforcers.”
They looked at each other before Vi turned her eyes away. She felt sick, full of adrenaline, her head was throbbing. It was all too much.
I’m sorry, Vi, I didn’t-
Forget it.
Vi-
“I said, forget it Caitlyn.”
I shouldn’t have-
A sound outside and they were both on high alert. Vi moved silently forward, pushing Caitlyn just slightly behind her. It was Silco.
Stay back Vi moved towards the entrance. Leaning her head against the frame for a moment before wrecking the door open. Her whole body tensed.
There he was.
He looked meek, but appearances were deceiving. Surrounded by prefigures, it was the purple sheen of liquid in the vials cupped in his bony fingers that struck her first. An odd thought flitted into her mind and she found herself shielding the doorway, angling her body to keep Caitlyn out of sight. Her eyes widened. She didn’t feel prepared.
Of course he found us. She exhaled.
“Vander's prodigy.” Silco’s voice was level, calm. It made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. “I've regretted that we never had the opportunity to speak.”
She clenched her fists, eyes darting to a familiar looking figure to Silco’s left. It was like a ghost from her past. Her eyes fixed back on the man before her. She steeled herself again. WIth purpose, she moved forward.
Caitlyn, stay out of sight. Don’t let him know it’s not just me here.
Vi-
No. Stay. it means I have backup if things…
…Okay.
“What have you done with my sister?” The evenness of her own voice unsettled her. It was devoid of emotion. Like she hadn’t just spent a decade agonising over the loss of her family. Like she hadn’t been wondering-
“I've freed her.” Silco said, casually. Like it was an obvious fact. He tossed two more vials to waiting, grasping hands. “Candidly, I thought you were the prize of your secondhand family. But Jinx..” Vi winced, her face fixing into an ugly expression. She held herself back from charging at him right then and there. The figures beside him writhed, purple veins flashing neon under pale skin. Like a lightning strike through storming clouds. “Oh. She is more than I ever imagined.”
She narrowed her gaze.
A faint voice pulsed through her thoughts.
Vi, what’s happening.
Hold your ground, Caitlyn.
I don’t like where this is going.
Please I- “I'm gonna find her and erase whatever fucked-up delusions you put in her head. But first, I'm gonna bring your bullshit empire down all around you.”
There’s a weak point here. In this… place. I think if we put enough pressure on this beam…
She heard a faint creaking from inside the house.
What are you saying?
I’m saying I think we need an exit.
And you’ve found it?
Yes.
“You don't know your limits, girl. It's what got Vander killed. What drove your sister away. And it's why I'm here right now.”
Shambling forms shuddered towards her. She had seen this before, lived through it by the skin of her teeth. This was a fight she couldn’t win a second time.
Vi, we need to go now.
I know.
So why-
“Yeah, well…” She glanced behind her. “You talk too much.”
She waited until the figures were barely a fist away before turning on her heel, arms readied at her head before stepping and slamming her body weight into the fist aimed directly at the lean-to’s weekpoint. WIthout waiting to see the place she had grown up, the place that held strong so many memories for her family crumble and fall, she snatched Caitlyn’s hand and bolted, narrowly avoiding the purple tinged skin of the figures around her.
Stay with me, Cupcake.
They bolted, running as far as they could. It didn’t feel like she had been stabbed mere hours before. She felt her heartbeat pounding in her ears, overshadowing not just her voice, but Caitlyn’s too, asking her if she was alright if they needed to stop, to slow down, if she was okay. She couldn’t deal with it right now. She practically wretched Caitlyn upwards out of the sump, finding busier streets the higher they climbed. She bashed into a large man, him calling out some slur as she did. She turned, anger bubbling over before Caitlyn stole her hand away from rolling into a fist.
Not now, love, please.
Suddenly everything was blue.
Her eyes fixed on a plume of smoke, obscured by the ramshackle buildings around her. She could be anywhere in the world and she would find it, she knew that. That was the promise she made. WIthout a second thought to Caitlyn, she had to follow it.
“Vi?”
I’m sorry, I need to-
She ran, as fast as she could towards it and away from everyone else in the world. Nothing else filled her thoughts more than her sister in that moment. It was everything, all consuming. Powder was still thinking of her? She was okay? She was reachable? She could be… found. Of everything that happened today, this was the thing that fully set her ablaze. She had to find her.
She threw herself upwards, vaulting walls and scaling fire escapes until finally, there was a familiar silhouette that was simultaneously warmingly familiar and completely alien. But it was her. They locked eyes, oh god, it was her.
Her little sister. Her reason for living, her biggest mistake. It took everything not to throw herself at Powder’s feet. Her heart cracked but glowed with warmth.
“Powder?”
Her face hadn’t changed, not really. That expression, that look- god, she couldn’t keep it together as the clouds of tears flooded over her eyes.
“Vi?”
That voice! It was her, fuck it was actually her.
“Oh, Powder!”
She launched herself at her little sister, wrapping strong arms around her skinny body. She smelt the same but different. Like home and like something else entirely. Something in her told her to be cautious, that it had been so long, but she couldn't find it in hersleft to listen. She only realised she was holding in her breath when it exhaled in a long gasp as her sister grasped her jacket around her.
“Powder, I’m so sorry.” It would never be enough but she had to say it. Cradling her face, she wiped away the tears that had begun to flow freely from her sister’s eyes.
Vi, where are you?
She ignored the voice in her head.
“I tried to come back I- I promise I did, but I- I got arrested.”
“Marcus-?”
“I dunno, doesn’t matter.” Vi shook her head, her own tears spilling out in resigned streaks over her cheek. “ I Just-” She sighed heavily, the wight leaving her shoulder. “I never thought I’d see you again!” She had to hold her. She collapsed around her sister. It took every muscle in her body not to sob hysterically then and there but the relief kept her buoyant.
“Are you real?”
It broke her heart, how could it not? She could only reassure her.
“Yes, of course.” This was her. This was Powder, her little sister. The light of her life. SHe hadn’t changed a bit, not really. Every rumour she had heard, every lie Sevika and Silco told- This was her. How could she have ever doubted that? “It’s me, Pow, your sister-”
Vi? Goddamnit, where are you?
She pushed Caitlyn’s voice out of her brain. She focused back on her sister.
“I’m here.”
Tear ran in ribbons down Powder’s cheeks. She looked away from Vi’s face, ten years of hurt floating to the fragile surface between them. .
“Things changed when you left… I changed.”
Vi pulled her sister into her. She found herself cracking, her voice catching in her throat as she tried her best to find comfort in this long-awaited moment. The jolting smell of smoke, gunpowder and something more bitter drifted towards her, her nose crinkling. In a moment, Vi found herself jerked away.
Powder had a gun, her spindly arm was steady, a hard expression on her face. It was pointed just beyond her shoulder.
What the f-
She whipped around. Caitlyn was standing just beyond. The air fizzled with tension. Caitlyn’s eyes darted between the two of them, her face pinched.
“Who’s she?” Powder near growled.
“Who are you?” Caitlyn held her ground. In a twisted way, Vi couldn’t help but feel admiration for her, how she stood her ground unwaveringly with a fucking gun pointed at her. Their eyes met.
Caitlyn, back off, please.
What’s happening?
Just give me a minute. Please.
Is this-?
I’ll handle it, Caitlyn, please.
“It’s okay,” Vi raised her hands, edging a step between the two of them. “She’s a friend.”
“Sevika wasn’t lying?!” Powder’s gaze flicked between the two of them. The gun turned on Vi. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Caitlyn flinch forward slightly.
Stay out of it, please.
She’s got a gun, Vi!
Yeah, and so do you.
Caitlyn scoffed a small laugh. Powder’s eyes narrowed as they fixed on Caitlyn, though her gun was almost touching Vi’s jacket.
“You’re with an enforcer?”
Your sister is Jinx!
Don’t call her that! Vi’s head jerked towards Caitlyn, jaw clenching. Please, just-
“Oh, I get it.” Powder’s giggle raised the hairs on the back of her neck. The gun shook as she laughed. Her tone was jeering. Vi knew from the look on her face she was loosing her. “Vi and the piggy sitting in a tree!”
“Powder, please-”
“Did you come to arrest me together? Is that why you left- SHUT UP” Powder whipped around, swinging her gun towards nothing. “She wouldn’t- just do that to-” The gun was back on Caitlyn. “You. She left me because of you!”
“Powder, that’s not true, I told you! I was in prison, she helped me out-”
“You come back to rub it in my face- Would you SHUT the FUCK up!”
Please, just get out of here.
Vi moved quickly, She pushed the cold metal barrel away from them, stepping directly in front of her sister.
Vi, I’m not leaving you.
“I’m here for you, only you.” Vi stepped closer, placing a cautious hand on her sister’s shoulder..“You can fire that thing if you want but I’m not going anywhere. I’m NOT going to abandon you again.”
Powder looked at her, her brow furrowed, breath coming in tight gasps before shaking her head violently and raising the gun again.
“Everybody shut up! I need to think.” She paused, “Wait, do you hear that?”
The caw of a crow and plume of smoke was the last this Vi registered before a flurry of people darted around her.
Vi!
She raised her fist, back to back with her sister. Readying herself for a fight.
GET OUT OF HERE!
But it was too late. The last thing she remembered was how hard the concrete rooftop felt against her cheek, making her wonder if she was back in Stillwater again.