Page 53 of Quiet
“Let me help.” Alex moved forward to get on Briar’s other side.
“Stop! He can’t take it right now. Touching is bad. Too loud.”
Alex sputtered. “But you’re touching him.”
“Isa . . . I mean, I’m okay. Not too loud.” Isa fought against gravity to get Briar on his feet. This time Briar managed to help a little. “Tell everyone Briar just exhausted himself. Finals week wore him out. I’ll take care of him.”
“Briar, are you okay with this? Do you want to go with Isa?”
“I can’t speak for you right now, Briar, you have to tell him what you want so we can leave.” Isa didn’t think he’d be able to get Briar out of there if Alex wasn’t on their side.
Briar tried to focus on Alex, wincing like the light was burning his eyes. He flashed an okay sign with one hand, and Alex relaxed.
“Call me if you need anything, Isa. Anything at all. I’ll try to keep anyone here from asking questions.”
“Thanks.”
Isa steered Briar toward the door. He could tell Briar was trying to help as much as he could, but Isa still felt like he was carrying twice his own body weight as he helped the man outside. “You can’t begin to understand how insulting it is for you to be able to carry me around like a stuffed animal, but dragging you outside is enough to give me a herniated disk.” Isa gasped as he eased Briar down on a secluded bench outside. “Is this better? Because if it isn’t, I’m going to need Alex to get you anywhere else.”
Briar gave him another laser beam stare. He was a little better, but nowhere near close to okay.
“Should I go find this fairy? Maybe I can make him undo whatever he did to you.” Though how Isa was going to find a fairy was beyond him.
Briar’s eyes went wide, and he grabbed Isa’s shirt in a death grip. That was a big, fat no.
“It’s okay. I’m not leaving. I’ll stay right here.” Isa stroked Briar’s hair, brushing it away from his forehead. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out, okay?”
Briar nodded slowly. His head was canted oddly to one side. “Touching . . . is better.”
Isa pulled on Briar’s shoulders and directed him to lie down with his head in Isa’s lap. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. I can understand even if you don’t. I don’t know how, but I do.” He threaded his fingers in Briar’s hair and petted him like his own personal cat. “Like, I can tell you really like this. That it makes things quieter.”
Briar made a sound not unlike a purr, enhancing Isa’s cat imagery.
“Something that guy said really spooked you, didn’t it? It’s not just what he did to you.” Isa stroked Briar’s forehead and tried to sink into the mysterious connection that was allowing him insight to Briar’s thoughts.
“He said he would come back?”
Briar nodded and rubbed his cheek against Isa’s thigh.
It was getting easier now. He just needed to leave a little bit of empty space inside his own mind so Briar could fill it. Then all he had to do was listen.
“Then maybe we can wait here until he finds us.”
Briar hmmed against Isa’s leg and continued to allow himself to be petted.
“What did you do to my cousin, human?” A cold voice asked from the shadows. The open hostility in it sent a shiver down Isa’s spine.
A tall man stepped out of the shadows. He looked exactly like the fairy from Briar’s memory.
Briar jerked up from Isa’s lap and then promptly fell over, forcing Isa to catch him before he planted face first onto the ground.
“What didIdo?” Isa asked indignantly, putting himself between the man and Briar. “What didyoudo? Just look at him! He needed what you took away. What a shitty thing to do to someone. Did you even ask him before tinkering around with something you didn’t understand? Do you like kicking canes out from under blind people too?” Isa struggled to keep from sinking under Briar’s weight as it pressed down on him.
The malevolent aura surrounding the man vanished, making way for mild surprise. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” Isa said hotly. “He was perfectly fine before running into you, and now his mind is so noisy, he can’t even think. I don’t know what you took from him, but you need to give it back. Now.” Isa glared and made a littlegimmegesture just to make sure he got his point across.
“Well, you are just the cutest thing I have ever seen. No, sorry, second cutest.”
