Page 66 of Static/Cling

“The only way you could know this place so well is if you’ve been here,” Bjorn said, not giving them the chance to deny it.

Sal was quiet.

Roger cleared his throat and Bjorn remembered he was there. Clearing his throat was his affirmative response.

“Rog,” Sal snapped.

“You’re one of them?” Bjorn asked, beginning to drag Leif back through the door.

“No!” Sal said.

“No,” Leif croaked, and Bjorn stopped. “They were being held here.”

The sound Roger made reminded Bjorn more of a hurt dog than a human.

“Kassian and Rufus and Randalph got me and Roger out,” Sal said. “Kassian from the outside, Rufus and Randalph from the inside. But it cost them. Letting us escape is what got them sent on the mission that—” They pulled in a harsh breath. “We are not leaving Kassian or Roger to these monsters,” Sal said, voice like steel.

“No. Of course not,” Leif agreed. He straightened, pushing away from Bjorn, but taking his hand. “Let’s get this over with.”

It was no surprise to Bjorn how whatever was trapped in that stairwell affected them both. While it sent shivers up and down his spine and felt like the air was slippery on his skin, the worst he could say was that it was unsettling.

Leif shook visibly. His hand in Bjorn’s was white-knuckled and his grip painful. His eyes got big and stayed that way, so Bjorn could see the whites, and he made soft, unhappy whimpering sounds in the back of his throat.

“I am so sorry,” Sal whispered more than once. “Leif, I am so sorry.”

Leif made no response. Bjorn didn’t think him capable of speech. By the time they’d climbed two floors, his shirt was soaked in sweat and his bangs plastered to his forehead.

“He’s not going to make it all the way up,” Bjorn said, eyeing the next landing and the door that would lead them to safety.

“I’m fine,” Leif insisted through clenched teeth.

“You know what this is,” Bjorn said, pulling Leif against his side and reaching for the door handle.

“A trap,” Leif agreed with his thoughts. Sweat trickled down the side of his face and Bjorn kissed it away.

The salty wetness sizzled between his lips and Leif’s skin and he regretted, for a moment, removal of the clothes that let them touch without that eternal barrier.

“A trap,” Leif went on, “for anyone who thinks they might sneak in and mess around in the heads of anyone in this building.”

“Can you do that?” Bjorn asked, startled by the idea, but not as much as maybe he should have been.

“Not hardly.”

“But it does tell us a bit about his power,” Sal said.

“Don’t.” Leif gulped in a breath and pushed away from Bjorn to propel himself up the next flight, away from the door. “Have.” He groaned. “Power.”

Bjorn groaned too, because seeing the pain in Leif’s features was brutal. But Leif probably had the right idea. If they bailed anywhere before the top floor, there was likely security in place to incapacitate someone like Leif, whatever he could or could not do.

When Bjorn joined him on the landing between doors, he glared up at him, blue eyes feverish and wide. “You have to get me up there.”

“This is killing you.”

Leif shook his head. “No. It just hurts like fuck. But you’re good. Just get me up there, and I’ll be fine on the other side.”

He leaned so heavily on Bjorn by the last flight Bjorn was more or less carrying him. He’d already turned the handle at the top when Leif grunted at him to wait.

“Why the fuck?”

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