Page 127 of Architecti
Dead end after dead end.
No books or texts exist.They were all either burnt or vanished with the angels.Lex leant me her dictionary, but it’s so rudimentary, and these runes are complex.It’s as though every ounce of angelic language was sucked from our realm when Father disposed of Architecti.
I put my head in my hands, the frustration gnawing into my bones.
One of my moths flutters across my living room, its wings are so threadbare I really need to reanimate it again or I’ll lose him.But it’s such a gruelling process for their little bodies I’m always reluctant to put them through it.
He seems tired as I let him flutter around my cheek.I imagine he’s kissing me hello.
“Sweet thing,” I say and carry him back to the moth room just as there’s a soft knock at my penthouse door.
It will be Midnight and her friends.Reluctantly, I pad to the door.I wondered how long it would take them to visit.Bastien and Lex barrel in, their arms full of texts and papers.
Midnight follows, her arms equally full though she doesn’t look at me.
My body strangles me in a cocktail of sensations: my heart sinking while my stomach flutters like one of my young moths.Strange how we can hold conflicting things inside of ourselves.My fingers twitch, desperate to reach out to her, to hold her and touch her.
“Studying hard, are we?”I ask.
“Finals are killing everyone, don’t even think I’m going to make it to the exam,” Lex moans.
“And I thought Bastien was the dramatic one.We’re still a couple of weeks out,” I say, smiling.
“Rude,” Bastien huffs.
I am about to highlight that he’s making my point for me, but I figure it’ll be lost on him.
Lex chucks her stuff on the table and opens the cupboards.“Bastien, can you make that thing again?It was delicious.”
“You mean the chicken salad?”he deadpans.
“Don’t be like that, you know it had a fancy sauce.”She shuts the cupboard and hustles him into the kitchen while Midnight and I stand opposite each other, neither of us quite sure of what to do.
Her eyes flit to my neck, lingering there longer than normal.
“Is it on display?”I ask.
She nods.
I lower my eyes to the floor.Even her proximity is bringing out the runes now.I don’t want to consider what this means, what the consequences of this are.
“I’m sorry I reaped them.I didn’t mean to scare you,” she says.
“Is that what you thought?”I ask.
She nods, her eyes welling up.
“Gods, Midnight, no.Thank you for doing it, you saved me.They wanted me dead.”
“Then…”
“It’s my fault she’s dead.It just shook me, is all.I needed some time out.From…” But I stop myself because saying it would hurt her, and I don’t want to do that either.
“From me,” she finishes.
“I…” I start.
She holds her hands up.“No.It’s fine.I get it.I knew from the outset you weren’t able to commit, to have feelings for me.You were straight with me, and the fact that I developed feelings for you, is on me.”
